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S.M.S.L Tabebuia

They are hardly "monitors".
I know that.
I wish people would stop calling every pissant pair of tiny bookshelf speakers "monitors". It's just pathetic.
But they do.:rolleyes:Monitors is now a very common word (of course improperly) used to describe little bookshelf speakers. Whatever they are passive, from consumer top brands, or designed for professional purposes.
Changed to "bookshelf", anyway.
 
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I know that.

But they do.:rolleyes:Monitors is now a very common word (of course improperly) used to describe little bookshelf speakers. Whatever they are passive, from consumer top brands, or designed for a professional purposes.
Changed to "bookshelf", anyway.

This is true, with the advent of the "home studio" just about any speaker can be and is called a "Studio" monitor and cheapo acoustic foam is "full sound treatment". LOL
 
However, these monitors are clearly designed for desktop use, and offset tweeters at nearfield distance is not good for anything. In the nearfield you will hear the soundstage get more narrow and more wide as the sounds pass through the x-over range. The more complex the music, the more jumping around the soundstage will do.
The effect you describe does not happen irl, the offset is too small and the drivers are too close together for it to happen. The advantage of offset tweeters in nearfield is that you can control the width of the soundstage by placing the tweeters on the inner or the outer side. It's handy when your monitor or your desk size doesn't allow you to put the speakers close/wide enough. And, of course, it helps controlling the edge diffraction.
 
The effect you describe does not happen irl, the offset is too small and the drivers are too close together for it to happen. The advantage of offset tweeters in nearfield is that you can control the width of the soundstage by placing the tweeters on the inner or the outer side. It's handy when your monitor or your desk size doesn't allow you to put the speakers close/wide enough. And, of course, it helps controlling the edge diffraction.

I have found it to be 100% true in real life. I have used offset designs up close and had to get rid of them BECAUSE OF THE ISSUE. Did I set out to prove a point, no. I had a mountain of speakers at my house, large small, old, new and I was going through and listening to all of them before getting rid of the ones that I felt served no purpose. The ones with tweeter offset all had the issue I described.

The fact of the matter is human hearing is WAY more sensitive to changes in the horizontal plane vs the vertical.

Just flipping my desktop speaker upside down produces, after smoothing, a max 5db difference in FR. HOWEVER, the issue isn't FR, it's spatial location. When I use my mission speakers as designed with the tweeter on the bottom, I can locate sounds coming from the tweeter, NOT good for nearfield such as a desktop. Same thing with offset tweeters.

Get a pair of offset tweeter speakers, play music with drum cymbals in them. You can hear the soundstage width shift as the cymbals ring out.
 
Get a pair of offset tweeter speakers, play music with drum cymbals in them. You can hear the soundstage width shift as the cymbals ring out.
I have a pair, in fact, they use the same tweeters as these SMSLs. I've never had this problem with them.
They are 5 inch, maybe with 6.5 or 8 inch speakers it would be noticeable, but I doubt that.
 
They're pretty cute. Seems a bit pricey for what you get - I'm very surprised SMSL didn't go for an active design. I suppose they want something to be used with their speaker amplifiers.

Question, does them being designed for such a specific use case(angled up directly on a desk or other flat surface exclusively in nearfield) affect how the measurements should be performed(I don't think so) or interpreted(maybe)?
 
I have a pair, in fact, they use the same tweeters as these SMSLs. I've never had this problem with them.
They are 5 inch, maybe with 6.5 or 8 inch speakers it would be noticeable, but I doubt that.

I'm glad they work for you. Getting a good sounding desktop system has been the bane of my existance. I keep going back to some old mission 760 speakers that have a well damped textile tweeter. I have tried just about every type of speaker/drivers at my desktop and just can't get the sound I want.
Nearfield and SQ just don't mix well, IMHO.
 
I'm glad they work for you. Getting a good sounding desktop system has been the bane of my existance. I keep going back to some old mission 760 speakers that have a well damped textile tweeter. I have tried just about every type of speaker/drivers at my desktop and just can't get the sound I want.
Nearfield and SQ just don't mix well, IMHO.
Maybe you prefer more soundstage, so you need some reflections?
 
I'm glad they work for you. Getting a good sounding desktop system has been the bane of my existance. I keep going back to some old mission 760 speakers that have a well damped textile tweeter. I have tried just about every type of speaker/drivers at my desktop and just can't get the sound I want.
Nearfield and SQ just don't mix well, IMHO.
Not sure if it's something you tried before(or have space for) but for me putting my speakers on floor stands and setting them behind and to the sides of my desk really helped make everything work. But I have fairly oversized speakers for regular desk use, and the space to have my desk away from the wall with some wasted space behind it, so it's probably not a universal solution.
 
Not sure if it's something you tried before(or have space for) but for me putting my speakers on floor stands and setting them behind and to the sides of my desk really helped make everything work. But I have fairly oversized speakers for regular desk use, and the space to have my desk away from the wall with some wasted space behind it, so it's probably not a universal solution.
I have done that, and it works pretty good for music but if I want to enjoy a movie or media it is too distracting having a normal PC monitor and 5 foot wide speaker set up.
I just need to find the right balance of sound for music and media. Something that has just enough excitement but is smooth enough for streaming movies/music
 
Oddly shaped cabinet. Very cool that S.M.S.L. is branching out into speakers. Has anybody heard these? Of course, they should be on Amir’s list to review.
 
I got these in and they sound pretty amazing, hard to believe they can sound so good from such a small speaker, it must be the down ported design, they pump out some serious bass.

I imagine S.M.S.L have put a fair bit of thought into these as they are an anniversary edition speaker, I strongly suggest listening to them before making any assumptions :)

(If you are in melbourne AU and want a demonstration you can P.M me)
 
Fyi Thomas and stereo has done a review in youtube
 
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So, none of you prolific commenters have auditioned these speakers? That’s worse than useless. AudioSCIENCEREVIEW, remember. I’d love to read impressions from someone with actual first-hand knowledge.
Well, that's a hell of a useful first comment, for sure...:facepalm:
 
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