Which Hi-end monitor for near field listening

I'll support Elsned's recommendation for the Green Mountain Audio Callistos. The recommended set up for these is to have the distance between the speakers equal to your listening distance. My near field listening is at 9 feet, they dissapear better than any other monitor I've owned. Sub 50hz, won't be a problem either.

Mirage MRM-1 Reference Monitors.

I ran a pair in a very small room in nearfield and loved them. They were designed to be setup in nearfield and mimic the sound of the big bipolar Mirage designs in a small package. Usable bass well below 50hz. They do need power though, 86db if memory serves.

These speakers are not for everyone though. I found them to excel at jazz and female vocals, good for classical at lower listening level (ie don't try to recreate a life-sized concert hall and you're okay), mixed bag for anything else but typically pleasing.

As good as the SR17s are, I really recommend listening to the SR15s as well. To my ears, they are much better speakers all around. Waaay more PRAT, and a clearer midrange. Granted, many prefer the SR17s, but it really is worth giving the 15s a shot.

WOW, I'll have to take a listen to those at some point as PRAT and midrange are two areas I find the SR17's excel to a tremendous degree. I'd definitely encourage you to listen to the less expensive monitors as the SR17's are currently $1200 more than the 15's and will be going up in price again soon. I do think Alan Yun makes some outstanding products. A couple of things I'd like to point out: On the SR17's at some point in their production Alan swapped out the tweeter for a superior version. I can't recall the year/serial number but I'm pretty sure they were in production for a few years before he did that so there are many used examples with the older tweeter. Also, the current production version that I have uses the most idiotic massive speaker terminals that really are a PITA if you use spades. I don't know if he is using this on all his speakers, and I'm not sure if there is some trick I'm missing to use these terminals, but if so, I have not been able to figure it out and went over to banannas.

On another note, a good friend of mine is currently having an issue with the veneer finish on his SR17's. Seems the paper thin veneer (which is quite beautiful in fact) had started to reveal the seams, and the grain is raising on them as well with some bumps forming underneath in a few spots. This is happening on all four sides of the boxes so is not likely due to any specific exposure to sunlight as one might suppose. They've always been kept in an temp-controlled environment, and well maintained. My friend has contacted Alan to see if the warranty will cover the repairs (a simple swap over of the components to new boxes). In content the warranty does cover it, but, according to my friend Alan is not stepping up to the plate on this one as of yet (he'd offered to pay for half the cost of the boxes and charge the balance of $400 to my friend + my friend would be paying shipping both ways). The warranty, on the other hand, implies complete coverage of such a problem. This does surprise me as he otherwise has a fine reputation in the community and, as I said, his products are outstanding. I'll be curious to see how the issue is resolved, especially since it was me who turned my friend on to those speakers. I've seen the speakers in question and they do indeed seem to have something gone wrong with the veneer on all four sides. In his discussions with Alan he mentioned that he was once again revamping the design of the SR17 for 2006. He'll be going to a thicker box wall (from 1" to 1.5") using the same drivers with a new (improved) crossover. The available finishes may also vary. I don't know if similar upgrades will occur with his other models as well.

Marco

S23chang said: I Best recommendation is ATC SCM10. Aside from being a choice of recording studio's reference speakers, it's hard to find anything else that can beat it in such a small room. Since passive is hard to match, I recommend the active version. I'm very sure it will sound better than most of the speakers you listed above. The SR17 doesn't have the dynamic and the deep explosive bass you're seeking for.

Am I missing something here? The ATC speaker you are recommending has a frequency cutoff range of 45hz-22khz. The SR17 is 38hz-28khz and has tight, controlled bass lower than a monitor of that size has any right to in my experience. The ATC you're recommending has an 80db efficiency rating limiting it's use to either the active model with the integral 250 watt amps (which I'd imagine have a whole lot of room for improvement), or the passive model requiring some significant amplifier muscle to drive them. Have you actually compared these two choices side-by-side? Seems like a 'unique' recommendation and I'd not heard of it till now so I'm curious about your assessment of these two choices.

Marco

Add Focus Audio FS688's to the list. Small 13"x7"x10". Gorgous woodwork. Go to an honest 45hz.

I use them in a 12x13 room and they work exceptionally well in this small space. Before and since my purchase I have listened to bookshelf and floorstander from Revel, Vienna Acoustic, Sonus Faber, Mirage, PSB, Paradigm, Reference 3A, Thiel, Meadowlark, Epos and Martin Logan.

Nothing I've heard has made me second guess my decision.

BW Maxx