Ex Machina Pulsar MkII review (via EAC)

[dfuller]

Ex Machina Pulsar MKII 3-way 8-inch Active Studio Monitor Review

Ex Machina Pulsar MKII Review

www.erinsaudiocorner.com

Summary of Erin's thoughts:

While this speaker’s 3-D soundstage was incredible, personally, I think this speaker still needs work. I’d like to see Ex Machina bring down the 100Hz bump by about 2dB and smooth the midrange to get this speaker to “King” status.

Personally, from the data... Not that impressed.

 

[poxymoron]

I saw that and kinda thought the same although the directivity looks stellar.

 

[thewas]

These competing 3-way coaxials measure better, cost less and imho look even look better:

Genelec 8361A Review (Powered Monitor)

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Genelc 8361A studio monitor (powered active speaker). It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $4,995. The 8361A looks identical to the rest of the series except massively scaled up: It doesn't look it but it is extremely heavy. It has a...

www.audiosciencereview.com

Kef Reference 1 Meta Bookshelf Speaker Review

Kef Reference 1 Meta Review

www.erinsaudiocorner.com

 

[dfuller]

These competing 3-way coaxials measure better, cost less and imho look even look better:

Genelec 8361A Review (Powered Monitor)

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Genelc 8361A studio monitor (powered active speaker). It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $4,995. The 8361A looks identical to the rest of the series except massively scaled up: It doesn't look it but it is extremely heavy. It has a...

www.audiosciencereview.com

Kef Reference 1 Meta Bookshelf Speaker Review

Kef Reference 1 Meta Review

www.erinsaudiocorner.com

Tbh, if you drop the coax thing there are tons of speakers that perform better for less money.

 

[YSC]

um~ I think on their own webpage it's ruler flat, now seeing this, though good, would make one question their data..

 

[Sancus]

I don't know how they can have those measurements on their website with a straight face. That is just embarrassing. And the essay of borderline word salad excuses is also pretty sad. They would have been better off keeping their mouths shut.

The speaker's performance isn't great, but it's not horrible either. If they weren't claiming near perfection and failing, I don't think this would even raise eyebrows.

 

[djamesgoodwin]

This site and comments are often hilarious. It's amazing in the audio world that people can have such toxically arrogant opinions about equipment they've never heard. That said, I own the Quasars and they are my primary mixing monitors. They're fantastic, and in my room, have easily bested speakers far more expensive. I have one grips, whoch is the lack of a remote DSP switch for tracking purposes. Otherwise, they're fantastic.

Has anyone compared those genelecs to the Ex Machinas? I mean... genelecs are notoriously coloured sounding monitors. Oy... eye rolls all around

 

[dfuller]

This site and comments are often hilarious. It's amazing in the audio world that people can have such toxically arrogant opinions about equipment they've never heard. That said, I own the Quasars and they are my primary mixing monitors. They're fantastic, and in my room, have easily bested speakers far more expensive. I have one grips, whoch is the lack of a remote DSP switch for tracking purposes. Otherwise, they're fantastic.

Has anyone compared those genelecs to the Ex Machinas? I mean... genelecs are notoriously coloured sounding monitors. Oy... eye rolls all around

I actually have, yes. The Ex Machs aren't bad. They're just not the beat-all speaker. The One line in general is exceptional, and I say this as someone who generally isn't a Genelec fan.

 

[djamesgoodwin]

I actually have, yes. The Ex Machs aren't bad. They're just not the beat-all speaker. The One line in general is exceptional, and I say this as someone who generally isn't a Genelec fan.

Truthfully, no speaker is a beat all. We all know that. I found the Genelc Ones to be better than past efforts, but still quite 'plastic' in presentation. Thats just my mileage. But some of these comments are just hilarious to me.

 

[RobL]

Has anyone compared those genelecs to the Ex Machinas? I mean... genelecs are notoriously coloured sounding monitors. Oy... eye rolls all around

Is this statement strictly anecdotal or do you have evidence of this notorious Genelec “coloured sound”?

 

[djamesgoodwin]

Is this statement strictly anecdotal or do you have evidence of this notorious Genelec “coloured sound”?

Any one person’s view of a loudspeaker is anecdotal by definition.

That said, it is a common feeling in the professional audio world that Genelecs are coloured, particularly in the realm of records (not necessarily post, or film work).

 

[RobL]

Any one person’s view of a loudspeaker is anecdotal by definition.

That said, it is a common feeling in the professional audio world that Genelecs are coloured, particularly in the realm of records (not necessarily post, or film work).

So, no evidence other than personal anecdotes and common feelings of unknown third parties?

 

[djamesgoodwin]

So, no evidence other than personal anecdotes and common feelings of unknown third parties?

Aside from my 28 years of making records, many highly regarded for their sonics and attention to craft? Nope. It’s pure anecdote. And if your resultant point is that the graph tells all, I can assure you, it most certainly does not. I don’t make records by graph, and absolutely nobody listens to records by graph.

 

[RobL]

Aside from my 28 years of making records, many highly regarded for their sonics and attention to craft? Nope. It’s pure anecdote. And if your resultant point is that the graph tells all, I can assure you, it most certainly does not. I don’t make records by graph, and absolutely nobody listens to records by graph.

Well, if you could provide measurements that showed a coloured response, that would be something I guess…or maybe a survey of professional users which indicated a common consensus that Genelecs sound “coloured”. That might be considered evidence. Otherwise it’s really “just like, your opinion man.”
There are many professional users here, I haven’t actually seen that as a common opinion.

 

[Ilkless]

Let me guess, some primitive, boutique cottage industry box like ATC or PMC is conveniently, magically better even though much less effort is taken to systematically eliminate colouration.

Pro audio is not immune to fetishism of boutique, idiosyncratic speakers, a fetishism that the like of Genelec and Neumann threaten through broad accessibility and good overall engineering without needing to resort to exotic materials, seeming comparatively underwhelming without bells and whistles.

There are specific Genelec speakers I regard as having a "plastic" character, but I can point to quantifiable, repeatable data readily correlated to listening as to why - in particular, the slight broad dip centred at 250Hz of the 8040A and B, that's accentuated by the relative flatness and smoothness of the speaker otherwise. This lower midrange dip conspicuously diminishes the body of the human voice. Having identified this it is trivial to correct this characteristic with a +1db Q0.4 boost. Moreover the One series has no such midrange issue. I think Genelecs may be victims of their own success as seemingly slight FR characteristics stick out in the overall smoothness of the response in a way that wouldn't in lesser, more ragged speakers like from Focal, with tiny peaks and dips throughout the range.

 

[djamesgoodwin]

Well, if you could provide measurements that showed a coloured response, that would be something I guess…or maybe a survey of professional users which indicated a common consensus that Genelecs sound “coloured”. That might be considered evidence. Otherwise it’s really “just like, your opinion man.”
There are many professional users here, I haven’t actually seen that as a common opinion.

I never made the assertion that it's something other than opinion. Though I suppose a proxy for a survey could be a collation of the monitors commonly used by people like myself. I wouldn't even begin to entertain that project, because it's not very interesting.

Let me guess, some primitive, boutique cottage industry box like ATC or PMC is conveniently, magically better even though much less effort is taken to systematically eliminate colouration.

Pro audio is not immune to fetishism of boutique, idiosyncratic speakers, a fetishism that the like of Genelec and Neumann threaten through broad accessibility and good overall engineering without needing to resort to exotic materials, seeming comparatively underwhelming without bells and whistles.

There are specific Genelec speakers I regard as having a "plastic" character, but I can point to quantifiable, repeatable data readily correlated to listening as to why - in particular, the slight broad dip centred at 250Hz of the 8040A and B, that's accentuated by the relative flatness and smoothness of the speaker otherwise. This lower midrange dip conspicuously diminishes the body of the human voice. Having identified this it is trivial to correct this characteristic with a +1db Q0.4 boost. Moreover the One series has no such midrange issue.

Im unsure if this is directed at me, but I'll assume it is.

For starters, I certainly didn't contend that ATC or PMC are better than Genelec. I did say that the Ex Machinas are markedly better, for me, in my opinion, for my uses. I also stated that it's a common feeling in the world of people who make records for a living (myself included), that Genelecs are considered coloured, and that I am of the opinion that the house sound of Genelec is one I call 'plastic'. I'm not sure what is more 'quanitifable' in this subjective regard than my own repeated exposure and use. You claim to have data on your side, and that's perfectly fine for you. I don't subscribe to that dogma, nor am I of the mind that fetishism drives my preferences. Far from it.

That all said - the point of my posting was to observe that those who have never listened to these things often have arrogant opinions about them, based solely on a graph, which is ultimately irrelevant in the context of use. I find that funny, and rather silly.

 

[djamesgoodwin]

Let me guess, some primitive, boutique cottage industry box like ATC or PMC is conveniently, magically better even though much less effort is taken to systematically eliminate colouration.

Pro audio is not immune to fetishism of boutique, idiosyncratic speakers, a fetishism that the like of Genelec and Neumann threaten through broad accessibility and good overall engineering without needing to resort to exotic materials, seeming comparatively underwhelming without bells and whistles.

There are specific Genelec speakers I regard as having a "plastic" character, but I can point to quantifiable, repeatable data readily correlated to listening as to why - in particular, the slight broad dip centred at 250Hz of the 8040A and B, that's accentuated by the relative flatness and smoothness of the speaker otherwise. This lower midrange dip conspicuously diminishes the body of the human voice. Having identified this it is trivial to correct this characteristic with a +1db Q0.4 boost. Moreover the One series has no such midrange issue. I think Genelecs may be victims of their own success as seemingly slight FR characteristics stick out in the overall smoothness of the response in a way that wouldn't in lesser, more ragged speakers like from Focal, with tiny peaks and dips throughout the range.

Further - I would argue that Genelec and Neumann hardly threaten any 'fetishism' within the loudspeaker community. Genelec in particular, was once a boutique company, in a time when boutique companies were outliers. Certainly, they built usable if not excellent products over the years. I recall the 1031s being a much better successor to the abysmal Yamaha NS10, once upon a time.

But to say these companies (particularly Neumann, whose recent monitors have left me cold) threaten the smaller, exotic manufacturers is misplaced, me thinks. ATC and PMC will do just fine, as they always have. And of course there will always be plucky upstarts like Ex Machina, Dutch and Dutch, etc... speakers are subjective enough that there will always be room for more makers, be they exotic or prosaic.

 

[poxymoron]

Aside from my 28 years of making records, many highly regarded for their sonics and attention to craft? Nope. It’s pure anecdote. And if your resultant point is that the graph tells all, I can assure you, it most certainly does not. I don’t make records by graph, and absolutely nobody listens to records by graph.

Care to tell us what monitors you use in your studio? Genuinely interested.

 

[djamesgoodwin]

Care to tell us what monitors you use in your studio? Genuinely interested.

I switched to the Ex Machina Quasars about a year ago. Updated them to the MKII last month. I also have a pair of Harbeth P3esr for secondary monitoring, powered by a Levinson power amp. They have a pedestrian quality that I like to check mixes on.

 

[poxymoron]

I switched to the Ex Machina Quasars about a year ago. Updated them to the MKII last month. I also have a pair of Harbeth P3esr for secondary monitoring, powered by a Levinson power amp. They have a pedestrian quality that I like to check mixes on.

I see that from your earlier post now, thanks.