Palmer Orbit 11 Monitor Review

[OnAir]

Or?. Then add a LPF in eq and ..done

I use it from a distance of about 4 feet, so quite sensitive to noise.

 

[Bwaslo]

Good point. The cardioid response ends very rapidly and at higher frequency, making that exaggerated step response. Here is the C8C which has lower termination and smoother one:

So a bit of a bump but nice and gradual change from one mode to the other. Of course, not in the same price class or size.

Hmm. Take the Orbit's in room response and add a gentle highpass filter at around 50Hz. Then it would look much like the C8C and the 8C!

Are people reacting psychologically to what looks like a pedestal at LF but due mostly to just over EQd bass?

Bad judgment to set it there, by Palmer, perhaps, but easy to fix with a single eq point.

 

[illusonic]

To be clear, the D&D and Kii control directivity down the better part of an octave lower than the Palmer. The D&D also doesn't engage limiters at 86dB.

And that causes higher distortion. If higher THD is ok with these bigger high-cost speakers THD is shurely ok for the small much lower cost Palmer?
You can also compare to Kii Seven which is in the same size but not price class:

 

[phoenixdogfan]

I'm think that paired with subs, eq, and dsp many of the issues Amir found can be remedied. If you looked at Nunes review, you may notice that distortions in the bass were much lower when the Palmer was high passed at 100 hz. Needless to say, EQ would also fix the large shelf coming from the transition from cardioid to non-cardioid. Something like Dirac would make that fix trivial. I guess the remaining question, then, is how loud could it play at that point. By the looks of it, it may still be quite dynamically constrained at least in the far field. And in the near field, there's the self noise. And in any case there's the uneven directivity. Not nearly as smooth as a lot of other designs.

Obviously, the ideal solution would be to pass on these and just buy C8c's. I'm just trying to figure out which kidney I could better do without.

Amir, as always, an absolutely outstanding review. You've given everyone a lot to think about.

 

[dasherzx]

Seems like just needs eq.

 

[Mort]

Seems like just needs eq.

Can't fix directivity with eq. That's what would make me pause.

On axis, yes. And SPL one can fix with a subwoofer.

 

[sidechain]

They were always designed as a near field studio monitor, I don't get why some consider it as a mid field hi fi speaker option, even Palmer doesn't recommend it.

This is the measurements of the near rear wall preset thats accessible on the speaker itself, if I'm not mistaken it pretty much fixes the bump on the room response graph.

 

[Bwaslo]

I'm guessing marketing opted to have the engineers eq it flat to 28Hz since that looks good in specs. And with dsp, the low corner frequency can be almost arbitrarily selected, so they went that way. Downside was that the speaker can't play very loud in those VL frquencies, and it also results in an odd look in the bass in-room response (but just because it goes too low in frequency). But that's where room eq happens in any rational setup.

 

[Bwaslo]

Top: orbit
Bottom: ki iii
Is orbit off axis terrible?

 

[ernestcarl]

They were always designed as a near field studio monitor, I don't get why some consider it as a mid field hi fi speaker option, even Palmer doesn't recommend it.

This is the measurements of the near rear wall preset thats accessible on the speaker itself, if I'm not mistaken it pretty much fixes the bump on the room response graph.

I remember seeing this DSP preset graph before. Too many doomers in this thread for my taste.

 

[illusonic]

 

[phoenixdogfan]

View attachment 517800
View attachment 517799

Palmer does not look markedly inferior to the Kii 7, does it?

 

[Grimoire]

Palmer does not look markedly inferior to the Kii 7, does it?

At about a sixth of the price for a pair, it looks better to me.

 

[sidechain]

I'm guessing marketing opted to have the engineers eq it flat to 28Hz since that looks good in specs. And with dsp, the low corner frequency can be almost arbitrarily selected, so they went that way. Downside was that the speaker can't play very loud in those VL frquencies, and it also results in an odd look in the bass in-room response (but just because it goes too low in frequency). But that's where room eq happens in any rational setup.

It's something along the lines of:
Current stock tuning should have been called "Bass +4", but they went with their current decision because people are fooled by straight lines on a graph.

Directivity, lower SPL and slight EQ adjustements are trivial at best for those who will buy them for their intended use.

Like I tell clients before a mastering session ; bass is easy to cut but it's hard the create

 

[illusonic]

It's something along the lines of:
Current stock tuning should have been called "Bass +4", but they went with their current decision because people are fooled by straight lines on a graph.

Directivity, lower SPL and slight EQ adjustements are trivial at best for those who will buy them for their intended use.

Pushing a few button on the top side of the speaker is trivial to everyone...

 

[sidechain]

Pushing a few button on the top side of the speaker is trivial to everyone...

Good, faith renewed!

 

[illusonic]

Just dial in the bass you want:

It's not perfect but most people will be perfectly fine with a setting similar to what is shiwn above.

 

[sidechain]

Just dial in the bass you want:

View attachment 517801

It's not perfect but most people will be perfectly fine with a setting similar to what is shiwn above.

Also most of their target customers have Sonarworks or ARC Studio in their setup, the Trinnov crowd probably have fancier speakers.

 

[Mort]

most people will be perfectly fine

And fine is exactly how most people rate it.

 

[PristineSound]

Hard to consider this when you have this: