Full-Range to Monitors

Lots of great points already made. I’m not a big subwoofer fan maybe because I’ve never owned a very high end make/model so standmount monitors never gave me the sense of completeness that I like for my mostly low/mid volume music listening levels. My favorite size now is midsize floor standers, like 35” tall, on a short stand to bring it up to the 42”- 45” listening height. 

I recently had a pair of Paradigm Prestige 95Fs and McIntosh XR100s. In the end I dumped the floorstanders for a pair of Focal Sopra 1s. Initially it was for the silly reason of us having a small child and I figured it would be easier to replace banged up speaker stands then fix tower speaker cabinets, but that ended up being a non issue. In the end I’m thrilled with their soundstage and imaging. For monitors they went down reasonably low, but I ultimately ended up adding a pair of JL Audio Fathom subs and after that I don’t see me ever going back to full range speakers. In all honesty a friend has Focal Sopra 3s and I prefer the sound of my 1s with the subs over the 3s. Given they are in different rooms , with different electronics, but I’m definitely in no rush to swap my Sopra 1s for 3s. Unfortunately due to my initial concern, I do have a brand new pair of Focal sopra speaker stands collecting dust in my garage in case my original pair see any damage.

chachi -

The JL audio has the single feature I admire most: great self-calibrating software.

Otherwise I think they are way too expensive.

But besides that, they are pretty awesome and I like how you are thinking.

Best,

E

I also want to point out how much technology has really changed. Honestly the sub/satellite system from M&K was awful.  The sub was under powered, and in the room, without any EQ or room acoustics, it was either feast or famine. There was no good combination of settings which let me have a wonderful, immersive sound.

Now, a little miniDSP and the right measurement software and I'm in absolute musical and HT heaven. Of course, I make loudspeakers so what I consider easy may be a royal PITA for a lot of audiophiles. My point is just, the state of the art for the old satellite/sub concept has improved by decades. Not to mention vendors like Hsu putting out AMAZING hardware for dirt cheap prices.

I have never heard a system that was digitally EQ'd that did not sound unnatural.

If you find low bass room effects hard to deal with do not use subwoofers.

Reproducing lower than 30 Hz will just lead to frustration in all but the biggest rooms.

The transition from main speaker to subwoofer is always unnatural IMO.