Have active monitors overtaken HiFi speakers as preferred listening setups?

[cleareyes]

Basically thread title. I was asking around for recommendations for a small living room, 4m x 4m, and I was recommended neumann or genelec. In the reviews, if I'm not mistaken I see active monitors scoring highly. I was at the start kind of set on getting the passive ls50, there was a good deal at them locally for 850 usd, but now I'm looking at the kh 80 dsp, the kh 120 and the jbl 305 mk ii. Are active monitors the way to go from here? When should I rather have a HiFi setup?

 

[Purité Audio]

Decent actives, such as the models you mentioned are going to sound pretty neutral /transparent, you don’t have to worry about the suitability of power amps, they may have useful boundary/eq/bass/treble/lift cut.
I would listen to a pair, if you enjoy swapping component then probably not for you.
Keith

 

[cleareyes]

Hey Keith, thanks for your advice. What does swapping opponent mean?

 

[Willem]

component, I guess

 

[cleareyes]

Like in switching between amps/dacs/speakers? I'm thinking when I buy my setup now, I won't change it for a couple of years. Mostly listen to acoustic music/classical.

 

[Purité Audio]

Yes ,sorry components, I believe ‘pro’ monitors can offer extremely high quality sound quality at relatively modest prices, actives come in all shapes and sizes from ‘traditional’ designs such as ATC to the very latest contemporary designs.
Keith

 

[soundwave76]

This is my prediction of the HiFI speaker future -> active speakers with built-in DSP / room correction + sometimes also a built-in streaming option

 

[Purité Audio]

They already exist, source options are probably best left externally.
Keith

 

[Aaron Garrett]

The Grimm approach -- a streamer that can be used with any set up but matches particularly well with Grimm actives is ideal. Not cheap, though.

 

[Count Arthur]

Is there an advantage to using balanced cables from your preamp or source to active speakers rather than speaker cables?

If so, if you had mono power amps and passive speakers, would it be better to place them close to the speakers and use a long balanced connection and short speaker cable?

 

[twsecrest]

Basically thread title. I was asking around for recommendations for a small living room, 4m x 4m, and I was recommended neumann or genelec. In the reviews, if I'm not mistaken I see active monitors scoring highly. I was at the start kind of set on getting the passive ls50, there was a good deal at them locally for 850 usd, but now I'm looking at the kh 80 dsp, the kh 120 and the jbl 305 mk ii. Are active monitors the way to go from here? When should I rather have a HiFi setup?

To me, studio monitors (self powered speakers) work great for a 2.0 or 2.1 setup, passive speakers work great for a 5.1 or 7.1 setup.
Studio monitors work great for a small group of listeners near each other and detail is wanted.
Passive speakers (5.1 or 7.1) are great for filling up an area (large area) with audio.

 

[Purité Audio]

The Grimm approach -- a streamer that can be used with any set up but matches particularly well with Grimm actives is ideal. Not cheap, though.

Kii have I believe something similar in the wings, makes sense I suppose a complete plug and play system.
Keith

 

[infinitesymphony]

You have a small enough room that any of the speakers you listed should be suitable. Probably want to add a subwoofer for all but maybe the Neumann KH 120 (flat to 50 Hz, -5 dB at 30 Hz) unless the last octave or two is not a huge concern relative to your musical tastes.

HiFi these days tends to be about either filling a large room with sound, about preferring a certain non-flat sound signature, or about aesthetic appearance, IMHO.

 

[cleareyes]

You have a small enough room that any of the speakers you listed should be suitable. Probably want to add a subwoofer for all but maybe the Neumann KH 120 (flat to 50 Hz, -5 dB at 30 Hz) unless the last octave or two is not a huge concern relative to your musical tastes.

HiFi these days tends to be about either filling a large room with sound, about preferring a certain non-flat sound signature, or about aesthetic appearance, IMHO.

I read that the kh 80 dsp is a bit clearer than the kh 120, but was hoping that if I get their dsp sub and pair the dsp with the kh 120, that the sound would improve.

Any reason I should choose the kh 80 over the 120 or vice versa?

 

[stevenswall]

Are active monitors the way to go from here? When should I rather have a HiFi setup?

"HiFi" is becoming like vinyl:
-Do you like the aesthetic of HiFi speakers?
-Do you enjoy changing out componants like DACs and amps and/or seeing the glow of tubes or pretty cabling?
-Do you have several passive speakers you may want to try over the years?

If so, go with HiFi speakers.

If however:
-You want something that plays all genres equally well
-You want the most accurate, matched amp/dac and drivers to provide flatter sound.
-You just want to "see the music through a clear window" and not worry about chasing componants

Then I'd go with studio monitors. Keep in mind you get a little locked into one or the other if you get a source that outputs to speaker wire connections (HiFi) vs feeding studio monitors from XLR.

Note on the LS50 vs studio monitors: The LS50 has excellent vertical and horizontal dispersion, something even most studio monitors can't do. With most Hifi or studio speakers, you are locked in a vertical plane, and if you stand up during a movie, or have seats that are relatively close or at different heights, or ceiling or floor reflections, the balance of frequencies from low to high will change a lot with anything that doesn't use a coaxial driver like the KEF. The only other speaker I've seen that comes quite close and has a normal 2-way setup is the KH80.

 

[infinitesymphony]

Any reason I should choose the kh 80 over the 120 or vice versa?

If you want the built-in correction features, the KH 80 DSP could be a better choice.

KH 120 goes lower and a bit louder, and if/when Amir measures it my guess is that it will reveal itself to be a bit less directional, which is the usual downside to small near-field monitors.

 

[dshreter]

To me the biggest consideration is if you can get a front end with the features you're looking for at the price you're willing to pay. To explain, I do think powered monitors have surpassed passive speakers with an amp for any of the relevant performance attributes and this can be done at a competitive or better price with actives.

Where things still get a bit messy is what you use on the front end for volume control and input switching. There isn't much out there in the form of a stereo pre-amp that accepts HDMI inputs, with easy remote volume control. It's not that there aren't options out there like this one from NAD, but I've found that most are either more expensive than I'd like or inconvenient to use because they're really meant for the studio.

 

[cleareyes]

The only other speaker I've seen that comes quite close and has a normal 2-way setup is the KH80.

Am I to understand that this is an advantage the kh 80 has over the kh 120?
Thanks for the rundown. I'm getting active monitors then.

If you want the built-in correction features, the KH 80 DSP could be a better choice.

Wouldn't the kh 120 also get the correction features when paired with the kh 750 dsp?

 

[infinitesymphony]

Amir has not tested the KH 120 yet, so its characteristics are probably not well-known among the ASR community unless someone passes through who has familiarity with the data Neumann or other testers have published. Personally I do not know enough about how to read these results yet to arrive at my own conclusions about directivity.

Wouldn't the kh 120 also get the correction features when paired with the kh 750 dsp?

Someone with familiarity with Neumann's DSP will have to chime in here. I would hazard a guess that each speaker needs to contain its own DSP because the correction for each speaker will be slightly different.

 

[cleareyes]

To me the biggest consideration is if you can get a front end with the features you're looking for at the price you're willing to pay. To explain, I do think powered monitors have surpassed passive speakers with an amp for any of the relevant performance attributes and this can be done at a competitive or better price with actives.

Where things still get a bit messy is what you use on the front end for volume control and input switching. There isn't much out there in the form of a stereo pre-amp that accepts HDMI inputs, with easy remote volume control. It's not that there aren't options out there like this one from NAD, but I've found that most are either more expensive than I'd like or inconvenient to use because they're really meant for the studio.

Hadn't really thought about that, but at first I'm just thinking of connecting my computer and playing either local flac files or streaming spotify/tidal. I also have a raspberry pi lying around, and if I recall correctly I could build a streamer out of it.