Monitor speakers that disappear:best image/staging
Definitely check out the Shelby+Kroll Nano monitors. No matter where you sit they sound great and the soundstage never collapses. I'm starting to sound like a broken record but more people need to hear these speakers Completely agree! The Shelby + Kroll Nano monitors are simply amazing at what you are looking for. If you need deeper bass pair them with a Woofer Monitor and you'll be a very happy camper! http://www.shelbykroll.com/ |
The Reference 3A Dulcets are killer imagers that, with good setup and the right music, of course, completely disappear and paint a spatially coherent performance that can be thrilling. Same for their bigger brother, the De Capo (which I recently traded up to). I am a confessed imaging/soundstage junkie, so the qualities you mentioned are non-negotiable for me, no matter how great speaker performance in other areas may be. |
If you want that holographic imaging, then mounting them on rigid, inert stands is half the equation. I had an insanely cheap stereo I set up for the kitchen, composed of an $89 powered Audio Authority (Chinese) sub that had a built-in stereo amp to power satellites. I tossed the included satellites aside and hooked it to some 30-year-old EPI bookshelf speakers I picked up for $10. I got really good sound. But when I mounted the EPI's on sand-filled welded steel stands, it turned into a virtual reality machine with *insanely* good sound for that amount of money. Another compact monitor I'd look at for imaging is the KEF LS50 50th Anniversary monitor. It's a 2-way coincident driver model and the front baffle curves away from the where the driver is mounted. A recent review in Stereophile rated it as Class A sound for smaller rooms. Blend in a subwoofer or two and it could fill a larger room as well. |
I've found Joseph Audio to be consistenly good in the disappearing act category. Audio Physic does well in that area too, along with many of the others already mentioned. Haven't read all the other posts, but inert stands and sweating the details in positioning are obvious starting points. The other thing is that a lot of manufacturers don't go the extra mile to ensure all drivers are matched to very tight tolerances, and I think that could also play a role here. Lastly and maybe most importantly I'd also mention the room itself. In properly treated rooms images most always seem to be locked in solid, and if a room is not properly treated I find it can be a crapshoot and I too often find myself shifting my head a little left or right to lock things in (especially the center image). As is so often stated here, a treated room is probably one of the most important and most commonly neglected areas in our hobby. I'll also second Newbee's comment about ears not always being perfectly balanced -- good to get that checked especially among us audiophools. |
