Okay! Two-way ( no Bryston/Axiom), furniture quality (no JBL 708P or 4305P) and <$5000. Dynaudio Focus 20? Burchardt A500?
Which is it? The SCM20asl was below that at least some years ago (I don’t dare to look at prices nowadays ) another idea to explore if you are looking Active speakers is DSP for the crossover, if you listen only digital is the way to go either diy or you can explore some brands that are using DSP not only for the crossover but to correct driver anomalies even on the fly (well at least is what they claim) Read for example what Devialet claim doing (with the phantoms and also their SAAM for passive speakers) or the Kii 3 speakers, results can be impressive.
The SCM20ASL are no longer listed on there web-site. The ones I mentioned are the SCM19A. My local dealer gave me that price yesterday. Will look into the Devialet's.
I got a pair of Neumann KH 120 it's an active studio nearfield monitor, I use for my second set-up. Very neutral and clean sounding and far from hi-fi'ish. Some will find them boring. For a bigger room the three-way KH 310 is within the 5000 $-range.
If you want ATC, you better get three-way. It means SCM40A ($15000 furniture grade, floor standing) or SCM45A (#13000 black paint, stand mount) as the bottom of lineup.
Hey T .... fun, fun , fun!! I have nothing to offer but my sincere well wishes for the end result being something you will love. This is WAYYYYYY outta my area of knowledge. ..... and T knows this to be true!! .... and he still likes me It's a Canadian thing...
Yes, they are expensive. But when you consider you are getting two excellent 3 way speakers, together with a matched amplifier for each speaker (Bass 200W, Mid 100W, High 50W), it's a pretty good deal. Also, I have been told that the ATC SCM150ASLs are the ones to get, but I have not heard those. The SCM150ASLs are what is used in many of the top mastering studios. They are not that much more than the SCM100s.
Once you get beyond the 50s you start getting issues due to room size, at least over here, US homes are bigger, I totally agree about the value, especially spread over twenty or thirty years of use.
Yes, the 150s are incredible, and are what you need if you want to hear your PF albums properly as that is what James Guthrie currently uses (in M-ch configuration) and the late, great Doug Sax used! For SH's thoughts, see: ATC: I've found the mixing speaker of my dreams.. I've used 50s and 150s a lot. My only experience with 100s was with a custom, dual woofer version made for Sony Music Studios in New York (note this had a vertical form-factor, not the side-by-side of the SCM200, though performance should be comparable). I'm not sure how much you lose by 'slumming' it with the 12" woofer in the 100 compared to the 15" woofer in the 150. Unlike B&W, ATC doesn't offer many dual woofer models as standard (though they will make custom models to order). In a previous life, I had B&W 801, 802, 803 and 805 in my work kit, and I have long used 802s at home. From a spec. perspective, there was not much difference between 801 and 802, but there was a coherence in the bass of the 801 (with its own 15" woofer) that the dual smaller woofer could not match. I suspect the same would happen with the ATCs. Of course, 15" woofers mean large boxes, and demand fairly large rooms. However, a properly set up system of 150s are a joy to listen to, and can hit you in the chest with things like kick drum if you have some fun with the volume control. Due to the 'speed' of the woofer in the 150, some might actually think that they are not well extended in the bass region, but think again!
The larger ATCs really show up how distorted bass is on most speakers, including some big expensive pro monitors.
I do use SCM100A at home. They sound great. Bass extends down to 30Hz. But I have a dedicated listening room where studio version fits well, and thus saved $13000 by forgoing veneer surcharge.
Thanks for the info, but even there smallest actives are twice the price I mentioned in my OP, also I'm scaling down so they may not be much different.
Just wondering if anyone makes an active electrostatic speaker? My searches came up blank but maybe I’m overlooking something. I love electrostats and would be interested in hearing an ‘active’ option if one exists.
How about the Ocean Way Pro2A: Pro2A Reference Monitor Seems well thought of and I think it looks good maybe because of its trapezoidal shape.
Yes, i Yes, I believe I read the review on the Genelec speakers. The reviewer raved about their sonic performance.
Dave Slagle, of Experience Music fame, has done it with old Quads (single and double) combined with tube amps-- not for the faint of heart-- EMIA Re-Visioned Quad ESL 57 Loudspeakers, Garrard 301 Turntable, Schroeder and Schick Tonearms, Made-from-Scratch EMIA Phono Cartridge, and Everything Else I have no idea what other stat makers like Martin Logan do these days at more realistic prices. One thing that caught my eye-- the latest version of the Avantgarde Trio- their largest horn assembly--has an upgrade path to install discrete amps for each horn-- worth checking out just for the eye-candy: https://avantgarde-acoustic.de/en/trio/ I have heard more conventional active monitors--not necessarily limited to residential settings- I guess one of the advantages is the ability to design amps that meet the needs of each part of the bandwidth they are addressing that also sound "the same" (i.e., in my early experiments with bi and tri amping, getting everything to cohere, sonically, wasn't easy). Meridian had some fancy active speakers years ago that were part of a complete system, where the processing units, preamp, control center, whatever, all plugged in to the speakers and you could control all kinds of parameters via the remote if I recall. (When I heard that system, as part of a large home theatre, it was impressive, but I'm not intuitive with computers and the early Meridian stuff was a complete PITA to "program"). I have no idea what the company is up to in this area today. They also got very pricey.
I'm not kidding when I say that kind of hurts. Finding satisfaction will be tough. I know looks are important, but man I wish you could try the LS60s. I'd love to hear your impressions, purely selfish on my part.
I'm getting older and can no longer move the 177# Amati's around. The second reason for the change is we don't do a lot of real music listening in the living room any more, lots of back ground music though. I though we would put more resources into The Pit ( garage ) system where we do most entertaining these days.
