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My M20s were humbled

Well, this weekend I got to listen, quite extensively to the new JMlab Micro Utopias. As much as I love my M20s the wind has come out of my sails. I compared (M20s) them to most of the other monitors out there, before and, even, after, my Revel purchase. Never looked back; until now. Yeah, they cost 3x as much: $5700-ouch! No they're not 3x better, but the Micro Utopias are in a class all to themselves, for my ears. This is one killer monitor. Beautiful bottom to top. Midrange, highs (ooh la la) and sweeping deep soundstage to die for. Everything. Still needs a sub, but what monitor doesn't. I'm really quite excited by this ear popping, tympanic tittalating audition. Now, where am I circumlocuting to?--Harmonic Precision Caravelles. Got my order in for a pair of these babies, and now I'm more excited than ever. Why is that? Reliable ears have indicated to me, (quite humbly), that I will do better, for a fair comparison, to compare these new Caravelles to speakers a notch or two higher than the Micro Utopias. I'll keep you guys posted when the deed is done. Also: no subwoofer needed. Monitor speakers that don't require a sub? This is exciting stuff. Probably another month before this happens. Can't talk from experience, now. Just literal hear say. But good hear say.
peace, warren
P.S. You can get more specs on the Caravelles from their website.
128x128warrenh
abe_av
78 posts
 
Absolutely agree with Warrenh on his comment on stand mount monitors! They are 'addictive'--sitting in a sofa, watching them just give me an undescribable joy to my eyes and my soul! Floorstanders aren't even close in this category. This is purely personal, I guess, like 'beauty is in the eyes of the beholder'.....

I'd go monitor + sub route any day.

Abe
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drubin
3,277 posts
 
Not to sidetrack the thread, but how sucessful have people been in adding subs to monitor systems? I've always felt that if I can't get it to integrate perfectly, and if I'm always going to be tempted to tweak the level and x-over frequency for each recording, then no thanks. But it sounds like many of you use subs with great success. Or do you forego them and just live without the bottom octave or two?
megasam's avatar
megasam
798 posts
 
I usually use quality sub with monitors. The proper crossover freq really is one time setting that won't need to change once set, but the volume level of sub I do change slightly depending what music I play. Rock music which usually has pumped up bass anyway gets lower setting and classical music gets higher setting..........I find this a very useful/flexible feature of monitor/sub speaker set-ups.

With large full range speaker you are locked into single bass level response which sometimes is not ideal balance and can overpower the midrange for instance.
warrenh's avatar
warrenh OP
2,299 posts
 
Ideally, I like (that's why I love the M20s) a monitor that has great bass extension to begin with. I let the monitor run full range, and let the sub (in this case, I crossover at 40 Hz) do the rest. Hey, we're going tangential. 'tis the nature of the beast, I suppose....
phasecorrect's avatar
phasecorrect
2,013 posts
 
Nothing images like a well-designed monitor...
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