A little background:
First question, how big should my monitors be?
I'm inclined to pick an 8 inch woofer. YouTube videos from AcousticsInsider, Kali, and Adam as well as other sources have led me to believe bigger is better because:
Second question, given their similarities, which is better for my situation, Kali Audio's IN Series or JBL's 3 Series?
I'm inclined to pick the Kalis, but I'm really not sure. Digging through the reviews, it seems the following points may be relevant in picking a winner:
Third question, which is better, Adam Audio's T Series or the winner between Kali and JBL?
There are a few things I've been going back and forth on:
Final question, did I make a mistake by ruling out any of the monitors below or failing to consider unlisted monitors?
- My budget for the monitors and DAC is around $1,000. I may spend $1,500, but as we get closer to $2,000 that becomes an increasingly difficult sell.
- The monitors will be in a 16x13x8 foot room. They'll be ear level because they'll sit on speaker stands attached to my 80x30 inch computer desk, which backs up to one of the walls in the room. As implied, I will be sitting within a couple feet of the monitors.
- Monitors will play all audio from my computer, but I'm most concerned with how playing music from my computer sounds.
- The second use case is how the monitors sound while playing a digital piano.
- I don't like to listen to loud music so even if I end up with 8 inch woofers, I won't be blasting them.
- I value crystal clear vocals, neutrality, a wide sound stage that feels relatively close/intimate, and imaging that allows you to precisely pin point where every sound is coming from.
- I'm coming up on 40 years old so I may only be able to hear up to 16kHz (at least that's what a YouTube test tells me using the awful in-display speakers I currently have).
- I listen to music for 8 hours Monday to Friday (interrupted only by the occasional meeting) so ear fatigue would be a real problem.
First question, how big should my monitors be?
I'm inclined to pick an 8 inch woofer. YouTube videos from AcousticsInsider, Kali, and Adam as well as other sources have led me to believe bigger is better because:
- Although I don't value playing loud music, I do value the deeper bass a larger woofer typically provides.
- A larger woofer gives you better sound, less distortion, more fidelity, and more headroom.
- A larger speaker cannot "overpower" a smaller room...acoustic panels may be the solution for problems smaller speakers may not reveal.
- I have the desk space and I don't mind the aesthetics of a larger monitor.
Second question, given their similarities, which is better for my situation, Kali Audio's IN Series or JBL's 3 Series?
I'm inclined to pick the Kalis, but I'm really not sure. Digging through the reviews, it seems the following points may be relevant in picking a winner:
- Obectively, the frequency response graphs look very similar, but the JBL might be a bit flatter particularly from 4-10kHz? I'm not sure how this translates into a listening experience?
- The harmonic distortion graphs in the reviews seem to give a strong edge to the Kalis (clarity is really important to me).
- The front port design of the Kalis may be superior for me given that my desk is against the wall.
- Additionally it seems like Kali's 3-way design may be superior for vocal clarity, sound stage, and imaging?
- I may also be (incorrectly?) influenced by the hype/prestige that seems to surround the Kali brand relative to the JBL brand and given the way Kali was founded it seems like they "must" produce a better monitor?
Third question, which is better, Adam Audio's T Series or the winner between Kali and JBL?
There are a few things I've been going back and forth on:
- I'm concerned about the rear ported design of the Adams. However, in this YouTube video Adam Audio seems to acknowledge that although it is ideal to place the speaker far away from every wall, it's better to have the speaker right next to a wall as opposed to within 0.5-1.5 meters of the wall. So perhaps it isn't a big deal? Even still, the front ported design of the Kali may be ideal for my use case?
- A distinguishing feature of the Adam Audio T Series seems to be the Ribbon Tweeter, but I don't know how to evaluate that. I'd love better sounding highs, but I'm also a bit afraid of the elevated highs I see in Adam's frequency response graph relative to the JBLs and Kalis. I want to comfortably listen to these monitors for 8 hours a day and ear fatigue would be a deal breaker.
- The Adams seem to be the clear winner in terms of low bass, but the JBLs and Kalis are doing very well so I'm not sure how much this matters?
- Adam Audio seems to be the most prestigious brand and JBL seems to be the least prestigious brand, I'm not sure if or how that should be weighed because I'm generally inclined to trust objective measurements and fallback on subjective stuff to break ties?
- The Kalis seem to provide the most configuration via the dip switches on the back, but I'm not sure how much that really matters since I can always use EQ software if I want to really optimize the frequency response.
- It seems like Kali's 3-way design may be superior for vocal clarity, sound stage, and imaging (which are things I care a lot about), but I don't know how to quantify that when I look at all of the graphs? Additionally, I've heard the Adams do very well in these categories.
Final question, did I make a mistake by ruling out any of the monitors below or failing to consider unlisted monitors?
- Genelec 8030c, Neuman KH 80, Dynaudio LYD 5, and Vanatoo Transparent One Encore- I considered all of these, but my current finalists had better low end bass. Perhaps some of these speakers are so much better than my finalists that I really should have considered pairing them with a subwoofer to correct this shortcoming?
- KRK Rokit G4- The KRK brand seems to be poorly regarded relative to my finalists. Additionally, a lot of people seemed to say they were bass heavy and far from neutral. I'm not sure why because the objective data I saw on the G4s looked pretty good. Even still, given that I already have 3 finalists I allowed this subjective data to scare me away.
- Yamaha HS Series- I can't remember exactly why I ruled these out. I think the objective measurements may have been notably worse compared to the finalists I've picked.
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