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Nearfield Monitors/Speakers with the best Stereoimaging for small bedrooms o a budget?

knkkskknk

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By Stereoimaging, I mean the placement/spread of sounds and how accurately you can pick out frequencys panned and such.

I've always used headphones and currently have HI-X65's and HD800s and RME ADI-2 DAC
HI-x65 gives me an intimate stereoimage but the HD800s gives me a huge stereoimage where you can hear instruments going from side to middle very easily

I'd imagine this is somewhat of the difference the person below heard when he switched to SAM versions.


I've came upon some quotes such as

"I was on monitors the exact same size as yours, including the sub (8030a + 7050b), just not the SAM versions. They were great monitors and in my very well treated room, did a great job for mixing and recording duties. However it was clear I needed better for the job and I started auditioning monitors again. I came across the Genelec 8351a + GLM a couple years ago... and the difference was massive. what really surprised me was their ability to reproduce the most accurate, razor sharp stereo image I've ever heard from speakers (including some $130k systems I've heard at audiophile stores). Dry center panned instruments and vocals sound like theyre coming from a mono speaker right in front of my face. Wide instruments sound really wide. Phase widened instruments sound like surround sound, but that's rare to find due to extreme mono incompatibility. Stereo imaging became so obviously important to me after mixing on these monitors. Now I could tell when an instrument or vocal was resonating because certain frequencies would kind of "pile on" each other, were as on my previous system, I didn't notice because the stereo field was more smeared and less precise across different frequencies. So, not only are these a fantastic choice for listening, but theyre an invaluable tool for mixing. They've been so good, that I've actually taken up mastering now."

And this quote singlehandedly made me want to buy those monitors lol but they are like 8,000$ so of course, atleast for me, waaaaaaay out of budget.

I am wondering, why would these produce such a 3D stereoimage and not the Genelec 8030a's he had?
He mentioned SAM, which is room correction.
If he had used Sonarworks or IK Multimedia ARCs on his 8030a's, would they also have this 3D stereoimage presentation or is it something more about both monitors being part of the same DSP correction system?

Anyways, I'm searching for a pair of monitors that would be able to give me that type of stereoimage.

It's for mixing / mastering my own music as well as enjoying music, I'm in a small 10x12 room but I can make it work once I buy some bass traps / diffusors and acoustic treatment I believe lol

I heard some people talk about IK Multimedia MTM and that they gave a "stereoimage" of 5K+ speakers. I'm guessing it's the built in DSP again? In that case, would the IK Multimedia Percision MTM
be on par with Genelec's SAM stereoimaging and instrument placement?

Or do you have any reccomendations? Trying to keep the budget around 2K USD for the pair TBH
 
...
And this quote singlehandedly made me want to buy those monitors lol but they are like 8,000$ so of course, atleast for me, waaaaaaay out of budget.

I am wondering, why would these produce such a 3D stereoimage and not the Genelec 8030a's he had?
He mentioned SAM, which is room correction.
If he had used Sonarworks or IK Multimedia ARCs on his 8030a's, would they also have this 3D stereoimage presentation or is it something more about both monitors being part of the same DSP correction system?

Anyways, I'm searching for a pair of monitors that would be able to give me that type of stereoimage.
...

The quote you came across is purely subjective. Trying to pin down reasons for subjective impressions to particular hardware features is a unicorn hunt (impossible). The room is a huge variable/confounding factor too. Perhaps for the Genelecs it was the coherence of the mid/high coaxial &/or their near perfect horizontal and vertical directivity? Who knows.

Your best bet is to ensure a closely matched pair (excellent QA), by getting the objectively best performing speakers you can possibly afford. These are the best measuring $2K/pr speakers tested on ASR to date; scoring at or just below the Genelec Ones:
 
I know it's subjective, but I've found many echoing the same thing about the Genelec's SAM system in the past hour of searching, and I have no choice but to go by others opinions on the internet since there's no store near me to test these out lol

I'd really wonder if it's something special with their Calibration system built into the speakers DSP system, and can an external calibration system like sonarworks/arcs achieve similar results? Or is there more going on besides simple room EQ correction?

"So today I decided to do a quick mix on them just for fun and all I can is is omg. There is no way to put in words how accurate these monitors are. Simply insane stereo imaging, depth and transient response."

"I have the 8250 and I also agree with the ''Simply insane stereo imaging, depth and transient response.'' after calibration."

seems to suggest that the calibration is what's making them sound like this.

"Simply insane stereo imaging, depth and transient response/ 100% agree!"


So I wonder, if I were to buy those KH120's, and used a room calibration software, it would give the same sense as Genelecs SAM calibration system and improve stereo imaging?
 
My understanding is...

For headphones: Perceived soundstage and imaging are a result of the interaction between the driver, earcups and your outer ear (pinna). Angling the drivers, with respect to the pinna, is reported to help here, but no-one seems to fully understand the phenomenon.

For near field monitors: Perceived soundstage and imaging will be greatly affected by speaker placement - hence the recommend equilateral triangle setup. It can also be affected by reflections from nearby surfaces - e.g. desk or side wall bounce. Also, if you do have nearby reflective surfaces (which may be unavoidable in a domestic setup) then speaker directivity could also come into play.

With respect to speaker calibration - Its possible that this could make imaging worse as correcting on axis response can often degrade off axis response. Calibration systems use multiple measurement points to try to mitigate this (and the fact that most humans don't like having their head in a vice :))

However, I have used ARC3 with my iLoud MTMs and I can tell you it's no fun taking measurements in 27 different positions (9 horizontal measurements in 3 vertical planes). I now use the moving microphone method, measure and generate corrections with REW and apply with eAPO/PEACE on my Windows PC.
 
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