Nearfields for audiophile listening?

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

  1. Psalmanazar

    Psalmanazar Most improved member; A+

    Pyrate Slaytanic Cliff Clavin
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    Nice upgrade! the treble on the presonus is pretty weird.

    Does the Kali compress at high volumes? I want to know if that 20db of headroom stuff is just ad copy and I should get behringers or something ridiculous to play di guitar and midi drums though

    Has anyone tried the Behringer K6 or K8? The NEKKST ones with the front ports. The genelec clones have etched treble, the tannoy reveals hiss like hell and are also etched, and the kevlar ones are just okay
     
  2. Luckbad

    Luckbad Traded in a unicorn for a Corolla

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    No idea if it compresses at high volume. Don't want to murder my ears to find out either!

    Actually, let me grab my ear plugs and see if I can tell...

    Not that I could tell.

    IMG_20190426_182327.jpg
     
  3. Psalmanazar

    Psalmanazar Most improved member; A+

    Pyrate Slaytanic Cliff Clavin
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    Thanks! Also Good to know you aren’t murdering your ears cranking rap and techno with 100+dB bass like so many idiotic friends of mine have. That has to be worse than playing in front of a dimed stack
     
  4. pippenainteasy

    pippenainteasy Acquaintance

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    [​IMG]

    I can't decide if I like a wider dispersion speaker or a narrower dispersion, small horn loaded driver. It seems like with either I end up preferring different types of music.
     
  5. Luckbad

    Luckbad Traded in a unicorn for a Corolla

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    Do pretty much all powered nearfields have hiss? I was hoping to avoid getting into speaker amps, but I've optimized my computer and environment to be super quiet, and any amount of noise annoys me.
     
  6. ultrabike

    ultrabike Measurbator - Admin

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    Some more than others. It may be product variation dependent too.

    The Mackies I have are class A/B amplified and they do have it. Though you have to be about 1 inch from the tweeter or woofer to hear it. I think the JBLs at similar price have it more. But again, it could be product variation dependent as well.
     
  7. Psalmanazar

    Psalmanazar Most improved member; A+

    Pyrate Slaytanic Cliff Clavin
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    Cheap class d ones do! The more expensive class ab and d ones tend to have unnoticeable hiss.
     
  8. ultrabike

    ultrabike Measurbator - Admin

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    Yes. Possible class D ones have more hiss. But I cannot say that for certain. Also, not all class D are created equal, and most affordable monitors probably do not have top notch class D amplification.

    Again, the one generation old Mackies (class A/B) I have (also entry level), have less of a noise issue than the one generation old JBLs (class D) I heard.
     
  9. pippenainteasy

    pippenainteasy Acquaintance

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    I believe the hiss has to do with the pre-amp section, not the amplifier itself. One of the main reasons it's loud is most powered monitors are run at maximum gain and designed for digital volume control. Ones that are designed like this will generally have audible passive hiss (compared to a passive speaker with an amp) regardless of the price range, this includes the top of the range Genelecs for example which can cost many thousands each.
     
  10. GoodEnoughGear

    GoodEnoughGear Evil Dr. Shultz‎

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    Genelec at least publishes their self-noise, eg: my 8030B is <= 10dB a-weighted in free-field at 1m. I have to get within inches to hear it. You're pretty much right on top of yours though, @Luckbad - even if you got stands and pulled the desk out from the wall your monitor would be an issue. Time for a deeper desk?
     
  11. Riotvan

    Riotvan Snoofer in the Woofer

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    Price doesn't necessarily have anything to do with hiss, my old focal Solo6's were louder then my Questeds. And they're not that much more expensive. Both are acceptable though, best to try them out at home(for more reasons then just hiss).
     
  12. Hrodulf

    Hrodulf Prohibited from acting as an MOT until year 2050

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    For cheapo near fields it's more usual to get hiss from crappy filtering boards. Hum is more often a problem with crappy amps.
     
  13. HAL9000

    HAL9000 Almost "Made"

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    Does anybody have experience with the Pioneer RM-07? Coax driver designed by non other than Andrew Jones.
     
    Last edited: Apr 29, 2019
  14. manatworks

    manatworks Friend

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    Got nice offer for adam A5X , i’m interested to use it for desktop w/isoacoutic stands . Anyone know if its suitable for general listening?
     
  15. Hrodulf

    Hrodulf Prohibited from acting as an MOT until year 2050

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    A5X has port chuffing at higher SPL's. I'd avoid it.
     
  16. Bloom

    Bloom MOT: Bloom Audio

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    Anyone here ever try the Dragonfire Acoustics stuff?
     
  17. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Many do. In terms of hiss:

    Kali LP-6 is a little worse than JBL LSR305 which is a little worse than @ultrabike's Mackies.

    Part of the reason is high gain to accommodate worst case audio production scenarios, say ADR with low gain microphone preamps and monitors being set 10' away from the sound engineers.
     
  18. Luckbad

    Luckbad Traded in a unicorn for a Corolla

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    LP-6 are very capable for the price but I've considered returning them a few times because the hiss annoys me enough that I turn them off any time I'm not actively using them (annoying because the switches are on the back).
     
  19. Psalmanazar

    Psalmanazar Most improved member; A+

    Pyrate Slaytanic Cliff Clavin
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    Return them or plug them into a separate two dollar power strip you can stomp on.
     
  20. Luckbad

    Luckbad Traded in a unicorn for a Corolla

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    I realized right after typing that... The Belkin PF60 has switched outlets and I never use that function. Set that bank to switched and problem solved.
     

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