Barefoot MM27 Active Speakers for Home Audio

I've been impressed enough by comments from professional users that I've ordered a pair with the dedicated Sound Anchor stands. Don't know about other countries, but here in Canada it's a four-month waiting list, so I can expect take delivery in Feb. 2011.

My "reference" for many years is the Tannoy AMS-12A, an active monitor that uses a variant of the Tannoy 12" dual concentric driver with the onboard electronics designed by Hot House Audio in New York State. They were only made for a few years, circa 1998-2001 and retailed for around $9K/pr.

Hey Dr-joe - please let us know your thoughts when you get them. I suspect the negative responses here are merely due to differences in tastes. Being a pro speaker these will sound fairly clinical and very tight in the bass. A design that would not suite fans of Wilson type designs.

I demo'd a pair in my room and compared them directly to Dynaudio C1.

Overall, they are very good speakers---but I really feel they work better in more nearfield conditions. My pro audio friend completely agreed. We both preferred the C1s in my room---when sitting around 11-12' back.

They did not sound clinical to me at all btw. Probably because of the use of a soft dome tweeter.

KeithR

As we all know , buying a speaker is a subjective decision. There is also a difference between speakers designed for home use and those built for the studios that record what we listen to.

My son has a studio in Chicago and bought a pair of the Barefoot monitors. He had Adams before he bought the Barefoots, the Adams were 2/3 the price, but he is happy as a clam. I heard them and was impressed.

For $7,500 a pair they use great drivers, supplied by Madisound, and are self powered to boot. I was tempted to buy a pair, and I'm a DIY speaker builder.

FWIW, I heard a pair of Tannoy Series 1200 monitors at Sonicraft and am going to buy a pair. He had Subs on the bottom and the sound was fabulous! The Tannoy's are not nearfield monitors as are the Barefoots but they great for playback at a greater distance- 8 to 11 feet.

Visit WWW.Sonicraft.com for a treat. You'll see the finest array or RTR machines in the states. If you'd like to have a chat with my son about his Barefoot monitors, he is at Scott@strandedonaplanet.com.

As is typical with all studio guys, they keep vampire hours, work until 6 AM and sleep till 3 or so in the afternoon.

If I had a choice , I'd opt out of the Barefoots for home audio.

Ken

Keithr,

Good to read your comments, though I hope you're wrong about them not sounding optimal at 10-12 feet distance, because that's how I plan to use them! In any case, there's enough demand among professionals combined with a bottleneck in the supply, so they shouldn't be hard to pass on if I decide to stay with my AMS-12A. . .

Shadorne,

Good to hear from you. I'll definitely post some comments after I've had the MM27s for a while--from the point of view of someone who's used professional studio monitors for domestic listening for many years. . .

Happy listening all!

Regards,

Joel.