Rank studio monitors/active speakers you have heard

[Ziltoe]

I've only heard a limited number of active speaker; those I have owned or still own.

My ranking [same room, same listening distance ~ 6 feet]:

1. Genelec 8050B
2. Kali Audio IN-8
3. Genelec 8020B
4. Mackie MR8MK2

 

[Absolute]

Top three ranked after fond memories of emotion they gave me at the time, not necessarily how I would rank them in a comparison.

1. Grimm ls1 + sub
2. Kii Three bxt
3. Genelec 8351

All the cheap/small ones have sounded rather dull to me, in random order;

Kali Lp6
Adam a7x
Yamaha hs8
Krk rp5
Adam t5v
Yamaha hs5
Neumann kh80

 

[richard12511]

personally I would rank the ME Geithain ML 811 K1 at the top.

https://www.me-geithain.de/en/ml-811k1111.html

https://www.me-geithain.de/en/assets/media/products/studio/ML811K1/en/ML811K1 Prospekt ENV02.pdf

Review here: https://www.me-geithain.de/de/assets/media/products/studio/ML811K1/Stereoplay 02_2019 ML811K1.pdf

Curious how they're crossing over the 10" midrange to a 1" tweeter. Is there a big waveguide under the coax protector plate?

I really want to hear any ME Geithain speaker, but they're really hard to find over here in the US.

 

[richard12511]

I wouldn't be too sure on that...

Ha! I was about to write the exact same thing, word for word! I'll add this.

 

[richard12511]

Same here, so I prefer ranking them in groups of similar sonic quality levels, sorted alphabetically:

Class AAA
Geithain 901K
Geithain 921K
Kii Three with BXT
Neumann O500C with Neumann FIR controller
Neumann KH420

Class AA
Adam S3X
D&D 8c
Genelec 8260
Genelec 8351a
Grimm Audio LS1
Kii Three
Neumann KH310

Class A
Genelec M040
Kali IN-8
Neumann KH120

Class B
JBL LSR305
JBL 308MKII

Please keep in mind those are imho all great monitors in their respective price ranges which I would all recommend, I didn't include any loudspeakers which I didn't like (so Class C to Class...) as I luckily forget most of these quickly.

Are these rankings based on pure 2.0 channel setups? or with subwoofer support? I'd really like to do a 2.0 channel stereo setup with BACCH for one of my rooms. Had a chance to compare my 8351b against D&D 8C, and it was clear that the 8C was the better speaker for 2.0 listening.

Current plan is to find a way to hear Kii, D&D, and Grimm all in the same place and preferably blind before making any decisions. I'm not comfortable spending that kind of money otherwise. It's looking like I really need to add ME Geithain to that list, which makes it even harder .

 

[richard12511]

S Tier:
- Barefoot MM27 (Hands down to this day my favorite speakers - effortless volume and turn-on-a-dime bottom end all while being the clearest of any speaker I've ever heard)
- Genelec 1031 (This is where Genelec got their rep and they were a lot easier to work on than the 80X0 series I've used - none of that warm fuzzy boomy quality with all the excellent low distortion characteristics)
- Barefoot FP01 (Like the MM27 but less, albeit not quite as unforgiving about excessive top end)

A Tier:
- ATC SCM25A (actually pretty good, not a ton of low extension but the mids were very accurate and translated well)
- Focal Solo6 Be (straight up better in every way than the Shapes or Alphas - more accurate, not turbo-bright, lower distortion)

B Tier:
- Dynaudio BM6 (didn't use these extensively but they were a lot easier to work on than the Shape 65s I had at the time...)
- Focal Alpha 65 (actually pretty easy to mix on all things considered, but deffo a step down from the Shapes in terms of distortion)
- Genelec 8030 (or was it 8040? Either way, rather warm and fuzzy sounding as @Ilkless said was entirely accurate)
- Focal Shape 65 (tear your head off bright and kinda boxy, but once corrected for the distortion performance was pretty good)
- Yamaha HS7 (not fun or all that accurate, but a decent "sanity check" monitor though not as good as NS10s)
C Tier:
- Equator D5 (very dark, but the coaxial design was nice!)
- Adam S3A (Weirdly boxy and port noise galore - especially unimpressive considering they were 5 grand a pair!)
- JBL LSR305/308 (Hard to describe these. Despite the flattish measurements they sounded like a cheap hi-fi - although they did at all angles)
D Tier:
- Adam A7X (Scoop boom and fizz - hard pass! Also port chuffing was bad)

Excited to see FP01 measurements(big thanks to @direstraitsfan98 ). Great to see a Genelec/Neumann like(high end objective focused) manufacturer over here in the US. We need more to choose from.

 

[Pearljam5000]

Are these rankings based on pure 2.0 channel setups? or with subwoofer support? I'd really like to do a 2.0 channel stereo setup with BACCH for one of my rooms. Had a chance to compare my 8351b against D&D 8C, and it was clear that the 8C was the better speaker for 2.0 listening.

Current plan is to find a way to hear Kii, D&D, and Grimm all in the same place and preferably blind before making any decisions. I'm not comfortable spending that kind of money otherwise. It's looking like I really need to add ME Geithain to that list, which makes it even harder .

Was the 8C better than 8351B in everything or just the bass?

 

[test1223]

Curious how they're crossing over the 10" midrange to a 1" tweeter. Is there a big waveguide under top coax protector plate?

They use an array of 4 tweeter in front of a bass midrange driver.
It is similar to the Rl 930. The directivity matches perfectly at about 2kHz.
All Geithain speaker are very good.

 

[MGG]

Ha! I was about to write the exact same thing, word for word! I'll add this.

Subjectively I liked pair of ridiculously expensive PMC main monitors I had opportunity to listen to in local studio though it could be largely due to professionally treated room and equalization.

 

[richard12511]

That's wild. Never seen anything like that, but it seems to work . Do you know do they keep the tweeters from interfering with each other off axis?

 

[thewas]

Are these rankings based on pure 2.0 channel setups? or with subwoofer support?

Pure 2.0 setups.

 

[richard12511]

Was the 8C better than 8351B in everything or just the bass?

Mainly just the bass. I'm no good at describing particular frequency region speaker differences. I really should train my ears/brain to what all the different frequency ranges sound like. All I can really say is that the 8C sounded a very little bit darker in overall tilt, but both sounded very neutral(to my ears).

I'm thinking that there is a range from 100-450Hz where the 8C is clearer than the 8351b, and adding subwoofers to the mix wouldn't fix that. Only way to fix would be to get the W371.

 

[AnalogSteph]

Come to think of it, I haven't actually heard that many.

Tier I
K+H O110 - The KH120A predecessor. Great speaker, and quite small actually. A touch hot in the treble I think, and adjustments aren't quite what they are on the newer model. The transformer in one seems a bit sensitive to DC on the mains, luck of the draw I guess.

Tier II
TASCAM VL-X5 - Decently flat, though little bass. ~1 kHz issues (port?). Mine were B stock galore - 1x relay issues, 1x some buzz. Very low noise otherwise (less hiss than even the O110). Vertical directivity uneven, so I doubt the claims of 4th order XO, or maybe time alignment is not good. Woofer quite high 3rd order distortion (unreliable relay may not have helped). Utterly unserviceable without application of brute force. I think I had the later cost-cutting version. Fairly big for a 5".

Tier III
JBL 104 - a solidly built, fairly loud but a bit screwed-up 4" coaxial in pill shape that needs a bunch of non-trivial EQ. Some hiss (apparently less than 305 though).

Presonus Eris E3.5 - not that much bass, vertical uneven, but other than that you can get these to sound pretty decent.

Cambridge Soundworks PC Works - A little 2.1 system from way back in 1999, 5" sub and 2.5" sats. Place the sub(let) right behind the sats, plug up the BR port with an old sock, adjust sub level properly, and you actually have a pretty decent little PC sound system with a bit of "loudness" left to it (angle sats out to tame highs). Some hiss. My parents had a newer model with 3" sats and a bigger sub, could never get that to sound good.

Genius SP-HF500A - Super cheap 2.0 PC system (~40€ retail several years ago). I think it even is a real 2-way (3" plus dressed-up cone tweeter or something). Looks decent, build very cheap of course, hum galore, but sound is actually quite decent otherwise. Hiss moderate.

 

[direstraitsfan98]

@dfuller Why do you think the Genelecs were “warm and fuzzy” sounding? To me, that indicates a lack of detail, or less detail and certainly not a good thing. If anything, they should be the most clean sounding out of any of the monitors you mentioned. Or is that just not the case? Ps. Jelly of your MM27... I’m planning on upgrading down the Barefoot line one day as well. I haven’t shared my thoughts on how they sound yet but let’s just say... they do everything my JBL did better aside from dynamics.

 

[pierre]

Recent speakers that I own or worked with:

A
Genelec 8341+W371
geithan 901K
neumann 420
kii3
genelc 8361
jbl m2

B
focal trio
focal sm9
psi a25
psi a18

The room is much more important to me than the monitors in this class. They are all good and with some dsp amazing.
in a good room, they all shine.

 

[Senior NEET Engineer]

1. ATC SCM25A
1. Focal Trio6 Be
2. Dutch 8C
3. Genelec 8351A
4. Genelec 8341A
5. Genelec 8030C
5. Focal Shape 65
6. Kii Three
10. JBL LSR305

 

[test1223]

That's wild. Never seen anything like that, but it seems to work . Do you know do they keep the tweeters from interfering with each other off axis?

It is like a mini linearray. All tweeter share the same frequency range. They are placed close to another so it is similar to a longer planar tweeter. So you have a distance depending frequency response due to the none spherical waves in this frequency range. The frequency response at some angles isn't perfect, but you can't hear these artifacts easily if at all. You get less source separation and no bigger dips, which you get with classical speaker at the crossover frequency.

 

[DigiPete]

I value low distortion, full freq spectrum (20-20kHz), sharp image (i.e. co-axial drivers), linearity in room (i.e. DRC), cost efficient, predictable performance at any SPL, full digital signal path. Semi treated room 15-60m2.

Genelec 8331A + W371A
Genelec 8260A + 7271A sub (2.0 and 5.1) *
Genelec 8361A
Genelec 8260A *
Genelec 8250A *
Genelec 8010A + 7040 sub (Motu M4) (boat) *
Genelec 8030B * (son)
Genelec 8010A * (GF)

* I have 'had' these setups for +8 years, except the two 8010 based.

Today, my main setup would be from "the Ones" series, but the advantage are too marginal to trade up my current rig.

I will not include other brand monitors or speakers I just heard briefly in comparison.
Sufficient to say that Genelec 8260's always won over all other monitors of any price until "the Ones" came around.
Probably a combinations of Genelec's excellence, but mostly co-axial drivers and GLM - Genelec's DRC and sub integration tool.

 

[dfuller]

@dfuller Why do you think the Genelecs were “warm and fuzzy” sounding? To me, that indicates a lack of detail, or less detail and certainly not a good thing. If anything, they should be the most clean sounding out of any of the monitors you mentioned. Or is that just not the case? Ps. Jelly of your MM27... I’m planning on upgrading down the Barefoot line one day as well. I haven’t shared my thoughts on how they sound yet but let’s just say... they do everything my JBL did better aside from dynamics.

I don't have MM27s - just used them in the past. As for the Gens, it's a combination of the upper bass hump and the suck-out around the crossover. Easy to fix with a little DSP, but that wasn't in use in those studios.

 

[Bjpenn88]

Interesting seeing a lot of love for Genelec, Neumann, Focal in the monitors under $1000 range and not so much Adam. I recently bought the Adam A5X and am a bit unsure about keeping them since the sound feels like something is off about them, they feel a bit grating to the ear at times. I did EQ them a bit last night and they sounded surprisingly much nicer. Thinking I might return them and try the Neumann KH120 instead, but also waiting for Amirs review on the A5X, it seems a member recently sent him a pair to review.