I recently got these speakers and thought I would give some subjective comments about them.
Get ready for a wall of text.
I'm using them with PC speakers and don't have the best setup, but I would say I have a better set up than the average person. Using with Motu M2, Sonarworks, JBL LSR310 sub, and on diy wooden desktop stands.
I know that calibration isn't everything, but even after profiling them, I find these speakers to be a mixed bag. The sound signature is neutral-dark and smooth. There is a sense that the tonal balance is more accurate than I remember. The mid-range does have increased clarity. It does feel opened up, but not in a drastic way. I noticed details and things seem more easily discernible in the mid-range. But it's strange to me that the clarity is coming from that place and not the top. And even though I was using this sub before, I feel like it is now highlighted in a way. If I watch a spectrograph with music, those lower bass regions that really light up when a beat kicks in; I can really put the image to the audio I hear.
The tweeter is my problem. I chose these speakers because of the coaxial dome for the enhanced placement. Even if you have stands, you still may not be able to get them to the perfect ear height or tilt. The increased vertical sweet spot is more important than reducing bounce.
The tweeter is.... dark? There is an overly smooth feeling to it. Where is the zzzzzing or imposing or piercing nature? Now, I'm not saying I need it to fatiguing , but I detect a lack of bite that isn't as simple as just EQing it in. The simple tilt control in Sonarworks does not address it.
We all have our own unique experiences of audio growing up - the music, the trends in production, the hardware used, the quality level, the context it's listened to, the room acoustics, our own ears.... ultimately adding up to an abstract concept of how we think things are "supposed" to sound.
When I think of high frequencies, I expect them to be sharp. Attention grabbing if necessary, piercing but not overly, transient rich, *fun*. You get the point. Glitchy noises and distortion is supposed to sound digital and distOrT-eD. Enhanced sense of clickiness and directional percussion. I guess there is an element of "ugliness" that I expect to be present that acts like the bass equivalent of body or weight. An impact that highlights that frequency range.
Here's an example I use for context:
There are some whistle tones in this song that are quite clear and I feel they are supposed to cut through the mix and really catch the listener's attention. On these speakers though, they sound noticeably darker and don't have the same kind of impact at all.
Actually, any kind of music that I remember being very distorted or forward is a hell of a lot smoother. Disarmingly so. This song is so intentionally distorted, but now it's just not hitting the same:
Do I just like distorted treble? I understand these are studio monitors and aim for a neutral sound as well as being non-fatiguing, but they seem too non-fatiguing. I have taken care of my hearing since I was still in single digits and have had zero sound damaging accidents growing up, either through real life noises like a concert or heavy machinery or something artificial, like playing headphones too loud, too long. I have babyed my hearing. I don't desire bright treble to make up for damaged hearing.
I have no choice to keep them right now because that's the beauty of buying online and opening late lol. I'll try to maybe get used to them but they seem shockingly different than I expect or even want and I can see myself trying to offload them in the future.
The three-way,
but make it economical, speaker area is a real unicorn right now. The price jump in trying to find anything else that is three ways quite drastic. I think the cheapest you can aim for is barefoot footprint03b which is $2,000 before tax. And that has one of those reduced vertical Sweet spot designs too.
I wish they had used a metal tweeter or done something exotic like a square AMT (that way they could add some vertical sweet spot. aren't AMTs already ultra-wide anyway? They can afford to trade some width).