Nearfields for audiophile listening?

Discussion in 'Speakers' started by sashafuckinggrey, Feb 27, 2016.

  1. Riotvan

    Riotvan Snoofer in the Woofer

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    Yeah i wanted an 8" for the same reasons as you stated. Right now i have a pair of XTZ 99.25 mk2 on stands and i was thinking of going for the floor standing version. But that one is probably too much for this room, i tried them before and it was a bit too much but in retrospect that might have been the room mode. Both 99.25 and 99.36 use 6'5" drivers, the floorstander has an extra one for bass.

    Using a highpass is going to be tricky without changing amps with these passive speakers afaik. My budget is about 3k but for that i would have to sell my amp, i should get about 1k for it so for passives its 2k for the pair. I have been looking at vintage as well, just exploring the options that are there. So your options are out of my price range. Preference is for no sub and stand mounted with an 8" woofer. Dedicated mid woofer would be nice, but that probably means vintage unless i forgo the mid woofer and go pro. Hence my question about studio monitors. So i agree with you, the top pick for active is the S8R.

    About the room i have done quite a bit of treatment since i tried the 99.36 but there is still an 8db peak at 60hz the rest is quite flat. And to be fair it's enough as it is, i still have to live here ;)
     
  2. murphythecat

    murphythecat GRU-powered uniformed trumpkin

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    2k passives is tough

    id look absolutely at:
    audiovector qr3
    as you dont need your speakers for nearfield and will be listening in mid to far field, why go with nearfield speakers?
    S8r are 4k usd... I think you could get better bang for your buck along more upgradability for the future if you get passive speakers + decent speaker amp.

    4k can get you quite far when you know what to buy in passive speakers. for a very good but cheap SS speaker amp, look for LM3875 DIY gainclone kit from either audiosector or chipamp. something like used atc scm40v2 or harbeth shl5+ with a gainclone amp could cost you about 4 to 5k usd in total and probably bring better results along more choice in the future as you can try different speakers, amps, ect.

    as for vintage, I recommend restored (recapped) Altec or Tannoy speakers
     
  3. Riotvan

    Riotvan Snoofer in the Woofer

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    Yeah all sound advice, but like i said i'm just exploring my options here. I already have a good amp, Lyngdorf SDAI-2175. I was just thinking about a setup where i could use active speakers hooked up directly to my Yggdrasil or add a Freya as a tube buffer for some flavor(i already have a balanced preamp as well). And isn't the difference between near- and midfield mainly a matter of spl and driver size? The S8R and S7R are speced for mid and near field per Quested's website. In the past i have had good experiences with the Focal Solo6 in midfield use. But i sold those because i moved to a big place where it was definately farfield and now i moved again and i wish i didn't sell them....

    I will explore your passive suggestion's, thanks for your help :)
     
  4. Hrodulf

    Hrodulf Prohibited from acting as an MOT until year 2050

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    Mid and far field speakers achieve proper summing from individual drivers only from certain distances. Usually 2m and up. They're also more capable SPL wise to energise larger rooms and compensate for distance.
     
  5. Riotvan

    Riotvan Snoofer in the Woofer

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    Right but this does not exclude nearfield's from being used in midfield right? Please correct me if i'm wrong but i wouldn't be surprised if 2 way's with an 8" woofer worked better in mid field then nearfield.
     
  6. Hrodulf

    Hrodulf Prohibited from acting as an MOT until year 2050

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    For most nearfields mid-field isn't much of a problem. Just keep in mind that you're losing headroom and driving at higher output hence extra THD/port-fart can occur.

    As for 8" bookshelves, it's all about tweeter and woofer acoustic centres having the same distance from your ears. The further you go the less the difference. Mid field will be better as long as you don't run out of steam at higher SPL's.
     
  7. Riotvan

    Riotvan Snoofer in the Woofer

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    Thanks for clearing it up, seems the S8R would be fine for my situation then. I'm not a loud listener at all so headroom should be more then fine.
     
  8. mrflibble

    mrflibble Friend

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    I'm considering bidding on some Technics speakers. There are two different auction lots, one pair of speakers is a bit larger than other. I'm not sure which pair would be best suited for nearfield (desk) usage. The smaller speakers have a woofer size of 120mm (4.7" approx) and a crossover frequency of 3.5Khz, the larger speakers have a woofer size of 160mm (6.3" approx) and a crossover frequency of 3Khz.

    This could be thought of as a more general question, what is the ideal woofer size for a nearfield situation? I imagine the larger woofer size would be better for larger rooms and higher listening levels? Usually, I would choose a 5" to 5.5" woofer, but both these speaker pairs fall outside of this range, hence my quandary.

    After having another look at the recent previous posts in this thread, it seems people favour larger woofers (providing the room is large enough). 8" would definitely be too large for my situation, so I'm guessing 6.3" would be preferable to 4.7"? Are there any other factors I should consider, other than room size and listener placement? Are there any pros to choosing the 4.7"?

    Many thanks for your thoughts or opinions.
     
  9. murphythecat

    murphythecat GRU-powered uniformed trumpkin

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  10. mrflibble

    mrflibble Friend

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    SB-F2 and SB-F3
     
  11. Riotvan

    Riotvan Snoofer in the Woofer

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    Had an opertunity to try out Genelec 8040B's at home... Been listening a couple of hours now and wtf these sound amazing. Balanced and everything sounds right after messing with the bass settings on the back for a bit. Don't feel like trying anything else, goosebump city, constantly. Seem to be very source and acoustics sensitive though but i have those covered.

    Sorry if i come across like a fanboy but i just can't f'ing help myself.
     
  12. uncola

    uncola Friend

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  13. bixby

    bixby Friend

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    Congrats, getting any speaker placed right is a bit of a battle. For years I was firmly in the "place them away from the back wall" camp, only to find out how much of a nice suckout occurs in many rooms. This paper helped in that regard:

    http://arqen.com/acoustics-101/room-setup-speaker-placement/

    Much more smooth bass response and excellent imaging in my monitor setup. Enjoy!
     
  14. Valolilol

    Valolilol Acquaintance

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    Excellent article, thank you.

     
  15. Riotvan

    Riotvan Snoofer in the Woofer

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    Thanks!
    Yeah Arqen is a great resource. Ethan winer and gik acoustics have some great info as well.

    Interesting comment about the suckout, i admit mine are quite far away from the walls but that is to maintain the triangle. I found that when i break that rule it always sounds inferior to my ears.

    Nevertheless i have tape and a lasermeasurent thingy so i will try it out. I sit midfield though so not sure how that will sound.

    Great thing about these Genelecs is the amount of settings for the low end and treble, i dialed down the low end and put the treble above 5khz on -4db for a nice mid forward sound.

    Can't wait to get my hands on freya though, i think this old audio-gd pre amp is holding me back.
     
  16. Thad E Ginathom

    Thad E Ginathom Friend

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    Not too concerned about the material, but if and when I need to buy stands for the desktop, i will buy isoacoustics. Maybe I've been fooled, but somehow their arguments on vibration control and alignement convince me. Also, there is no nonsense about space rays and... no audiophool pricing. I figure this cannot be bad!
     
  17. murphythecat

    murphythecat GRU-powered uniformed trumpkin

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    isoacoustic are less performant then basic hemisphere sorbothane at 1/7th the price.



    I have isoacoustic stands here and I prefer sorbothane. save your money.
     
  18. murphythecat

    murphythecat GRU-powered uniformed trumpkin

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    is that your first pair of real monitor you try in your room? id suggest you still try and audition other models you were interested on.
     
  19. bixby

    bixby Friend

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  20. Riotvan

    Riotvan Snoofer in the Woofer

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    Yeah it is and i still might. The shop i bought it from has a 60 day return policy and they carry the Quested's problem is i'd have to send these back first.

    Right now though i'm messing with pre amps, first i used an old Audio-gd phoenix but it gives some distortion so i recalibrated the bias(it was quite off) but still i could hear some distortion. Started to think the Genelec had a bit of a bump in the sibilance region. On a whim i thought why not try my Lyngdorf amp which has balanced pre outs. Sounds allot better now, but needs more testing still.

    Edit: I returned them. Going to try some other speakers, maybe even passive since the Audio-gd amp i wanted to use is a bit shitty. And that Lyngdorf has been flawless so far.

    Edit2: @bixby i got around trying your close to the wall tip with my old speakers. I like it, it passed my bass test quite nicely. Listening to Trentemoller - The Last Resort is very enjoyable, very little in the way of peaks and nulls. This album will show that mercilessly. And reading about SBIR it explains what we're hearing, the peak goes up in frequency and that is the place my room treatment is much more effective.

    Good stuff :)
     
    Last edited: Apr 27, 2017

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