Active Speakers: The usual suspects ....

I have owned/used the Focal Twin6 Be, PMC TB2+ (powered by Bel Canto, McIntosh, Carver, etc.), JBL LSR6328P, Klein + Hummel O300D, some others. All running in a Realtraps treated room.

I would pick the O300 easily as the top choice from that batch -- but -- their dynamics are restricted by builtin limiters, and they will start to trigger at around 86 dB. And activate full time and start to change the response above 92-93 dB or so. Just FYI in case you are running high levels. Some say adding the sub will help that situation, I did not try them that way.

Second place goes to the JBL. A nice pleasing sound, a bit full in the upper bass (sounds like JBLs), a slightly relaxed tweeter. Very rugged and extremely powerful, can really play loud. But keeps good balance at lower levels. The midrange is not as detailed as I wanted, kind of blended. But usable speakers for sure.

PMC... I owned 5 of the TB2+ for a few years, ok for the money at the time compared to the relatively awful Dynaudio BM15 I had been using. But overall the TB2 were very bright and sometimes thumpy, too much smiley-face flavoring to suit me over the long run.

Focal Twin6 -- did not work for me at all, especially in direct comparison to the other models I had available. Heavy upper bass/low midrange, distant treble. I do not like bright speakers and wanted to like these, but they sounded cloudy. The imaging was not to my tastes either, in two different rooms.

But I also extensively compared all these (both listening and recording studio mixing/mastering for several weeks) to the passive Digital Phase EP-SM1 and Zu Druids (with upgraded capacitor) running Bel Canto eVo amps and Zu Libtec cables.... no contest. Those passive setups were by far my top selection for clarity, dynamics, imaging, tonal balance, and especially three dimensional depth. You name it, they had it. The Digital Phase tweeter is phenomenal, as is the proprietary bass resonance design. Easy 35 Hz response from a 2-way bookshelf.

I have no experience with them, but Digital Phase does make their own amps and can fix you up with a mounted 'activated' version if you don't want to chase amps and cables.

Steve

these are supposedly the cat's meow in pro studios:

www.barefootsounds.com

i want to check out a pair myself!

Yeah the MM27 is king of meter bridge monitors for sure - in the tight accurate deep bass department.

A substantial heavy bookshelf sized monitor but with the kind of quality bass at SPL's you normally only get from large 100 liter+ big box cabinets. They are competely void of that typical muddy ported bass sound that you get from almost all ported two way monitors with impressive bass extension.

Barefoot are critcially damped Q=0.71. The subwoofer is actually a SEALED box. You are talking very high quality bass here in a small package. Of course SPL will still be limited/constrained by Hoffman's Law (efficiency of a woofer system is directly proportional to its cabinet volume and the cube of its cutoff frequency) but it is King of anything that size for sure!

IMHO, the raves are justified as there is really nothing like it in the monitor size of speaker unless you add a high sealed quality subwoofer. I think I have heard them called "near-field monitors on steroids". Great choice if you like totally realistic drums.

Thank you for the recommendation. Unfortunately, the MM27 comes in at $7,000 pair (street price), which is way out of my price range, although Shadorne is correct, they've received rave reviews.

Unfortunately, the MM27 comes in at $7,000 pair (street price), which is way out of my price range

Yes - but look at what you get for all that! Plug in an iPod into these babies and you will be in serious rock heaven - nothing else required! Jack Black eat your heart out. Four ten inch woofers - OMG - absolutely ideal for highest quality rocking out in a small space! Despite the high price tag this is actually pretty good value.

In my next life I want an iPod and a pair of these in my college dorm room. ;-)