Best nearfield monitor?

"true deep bass response" & "dynamic contrast and extreme dynamical outburst" ....if you mean fairly accurate but deep bass rather than copious amounts of room shaking resonant distortion then my suggestion would be an active monitor with a reflex port such as Genelec 8250A. Most pro gear can handle much greater dynamic range than consumer stuff as the audio engineer listens to recorded music prior to it being purposely compressed for consumers LP's and CD's.

Hello Inpieces,

Is this for a recording industry application, or a home audio application?

When you say "true deep bass response", how deep is "deep"?

The requirement for extreme dynamic contrast without compression (or more realistically with minimal compression) is best served by prosound drivers. I don't have any experience with the Genelecs mentioned by Shadorne, but they're probably an excellent choice.

Now for listening at very close range, a coaxial type driver has some definite advantages. Be aware of this: A coaxial's response will be the worst exactly on-axis. You want to listen from about maybe 15 degrees off axis. Don't aim a coaxial right at your ears, especially for nearfield listening. Same thing with a round horn or wavguide.

Speaking of which, a company called SP Technology makes an excellent two-way waveguide-based speaker called the TimePiece. Very good dynamics (even though it doesn't use prosound drivers) and very good bass extension. You will need a lot of power though - the Timepiece isn't very efficient.

Best of luck in your quest,

Duke

I have been monitor shopping for a long time, trying literally 20 different monitors ranging from $500; Von Schweikert Audio VR-1 and NHT Classic 3's, up to the Dynaudio Contour S1.4's and Splendor monitors 2K+. I also was looking for a bottom end that could light up my ears without dragging in a sub. Bottom line... Dynaudio 1.3SE's... absolutely amazing. The low end is estonishing. I cant say enough about how these monitors just disapear in a room but can pump like no other. I will not be changing anytime soon. Hope that helps!

My system is in a small room and for years I had various minimonitor speakers (B&W, Celestion, ADS, Essence) there as I sat nearfield. I supplemented the bottom end with a subwoofer but always wanted to try a floorstander that would improve bass and dynamics. However, I didn't want to give up the soundstaging/disappearing act that minimonitors excel at. I then tried some Wilson Sophias and then Watt Puppy 7's and was very pleasantly surprised at how well they soundstage, easily as well as the minimonitors I had. And the bass and dynamics are a big step up.