Minirig 3.

[n o i s e f l e ur]

I should probably clarify - I wasn't referring to anyone ITT with my comment re: hyping / honest evaluation. I was refering to people associated with the Bristol scene who have relatively high-profile blogs, websites, YouTube channels etc. You know . . . actual hyping, not randomers posting on forums.

Also, I wonder if we're talking about the same thing? Are any of you that rate these highly using the sub? That thing is the very definition of one-note boominess! It wouldn't surprise me in the least to discover that it's the source of mine and Sam's issues with the settings either.

Where we agree is the merit of independence from a mains-supply for a bit of casual listening . . . when they can be made to work as-advertised, which is hit and miss to say the least. Perhaps they have a quality-control problem? They definitely need to hire a decent programmer to address the app and quite possibly the firmware too.

As for Genelecs sounding boomy . . . that's a new one. My impression is they have a slightly forward character to the midrange and excellent imaging, with above-average low-end performance for a ported unit. That holds true for the little 'uns and the bigger set I have, remarkably consistent voicing for speakers of such different sizes.

[Arpangel]

I should probably clarify - I wasn't referring to anyone ITT with my comment re: hyping / honest evaluation. I was refering to people associated with the Bristol scene who have relatively high-profile blogs, websites, YouTube channels etc. You know . . . actual hyping, not randomers posting on forums.

Also, I wonder if we're talking about the same thing? Are any of you that rate these highly using the sub? That thing is the very definition of one-note boominess! It wouldn't surprise me in the least to discover that it's the source of mine and Sam's issues with the settings either.

Where we agree is the merit of independence from a mains-supply for a bit of casual listening . . . when they can be made to work as-advertised, which is hit and miss to say the least. Perhaps they have a quality-control problem? They definitely need to hire a decent programmer to address the app and quite possibly the firmware too.

As for Genelecs sounding boomy . . . that's a new one. My impression is they have a slightly forward character to the midrange and excellent imaging, with above-average low-end performance for a ported unit. That holds true for the little 'uns and the bigger set I have, remarkably consistent voicing for speakers of such different sizes.

I do most of my programming in bed, for various reasons, health being the main one these days. A mini synth, a pedal, and the MiniRig, it’s perfect.
As for Genelecs, as we know, we all have our likes and dislikes, monitors more than ever.

[n o i s e f l e ur]

Sorry to hear your health's not the best fella - I have my own issues on that score, so I get where you're coming from.

Obviously we all have our preferences when it comes to monitors, it's just you're the first person I've ever encountered that describes the Gennys as "boomy" - I wonder if we're on the same page as to what that word means?

To me it means muffled or indistinct in the low-mid / higher-bass register, while simultaneously hyping those frequencies - but perhaps there's a more precise meaning I'm unaware of. I don't really speak Muso, in case it leads to an outbreak of Prog-Hippy or worse - Old-Fart Syndrome!

Anyway . . . that aside, are you using the MiniRig Sub in your setup or is your assessment based purely on the MR3 units sans-sub?

Just for sh*ts and giggles I opened the app earlier to see if it was as bad as I remembered and . . . dear lord below. Absolutely disgraceful. You know things are going to be pretty bad when the modal dialogues are:

OK / Cancle

Well . . . I am not OK with Cancles! An early sign of gout, I believe.

[Arpangel]

Sorry to hear your health's not the best fella - I have my own issues on that score, so I get where you're coming from.

Obviously we all have our preferences when it comes to monitors, it's just you're the first person I've ever encountered that describes the Gennys as "boomy" - I wonder if we're on the same page as to what that word means?

To me it means muffled or indistinct in the low-mid / higher-bass register, while simultaneously hyping those frequencies - but perhaps there's a more precise meaning I'm unaware of. I don't really speak Muso, in case it leads to an outbreak of Prog-Hippy or worse - Old-Fart Syndrome!

Anyway . . . that aside, are you using the MiniRig Sub in your setup or is your assessment based purely on the MR3 units sans-sub?

Just for sh*ts and giggles I opened the app earlier to see if it was as bad as I remembered and . . . dear lord below. Absolutely disgraceful. You know things are going to be pretty bad when the modal dialogues are:

OK / Cancle

Well . . . I am not OK with Cancles! An early sign of gout, I believe.

These days anything to do with music gear isn’t a big deal, I’d be more than happy to work with Genelec's I’m sure, or anything else for that matter, I’m passed the finerys of these things. There are some speakers I prefer, but they are so expensive I can’t justify them.
I’m not using the MR sub, just the speaker, I did resist buying it for a long time, owing to its "trendy" associations, but it just fits the bill.

[Sam Spoons]

Well the frustration continues, I'll wait until support reply to me second and third emails (the one's telling them that their instructions in their first reply don't work). It should be plug and play and isn't. It's a real shame as the form factor is perfect for my needs and it's loud enough (just) and sounds good enough to get the job done but plug and play it ain't

[shufflebeat]

Does the manual say anything about Unplug and Throw?

[Arpangel]

I don’t know what’s going on here, I simply plug in and play, also, my partners son has a couple of these MR's, he can use them with his phone, computer, via wireless, he’s the awkward person I know when it comes to technology, he has trouble with the kitchen radio!

[n o i s e f l e ur]

I suspect the issues may be with the passthrough / stereo-splitting and the LPF when employing the sub - but Sam hasn't indicated he's using the sub, which might add another datapoint to confirm or rule out my hypothesis.

If he is, then we might be closer to identifying a real design flaw. If not, it's probably a QA failure.

As mine were shipped internationally I just CBF with post-Brexit shenanigans when it comes to shipping them back. I just won't purchase items directly from the UK again, better to let someone else undertake the burden of dealing with all that crap as part of their normal business practice.

[Sam Spoons]

No sub here

[n o i s e f l e ur]

Cheers Sam! Well, that would appear to rule the sub out as the exclusive cause then.

Do you find that they'll sometimes operate in stereo but randomly switch to mono with no user intervention?

Intermittent volume jumps or drops?

[Sam Spoons]

I only have a single unit so no stereo link issues . I've been playing with it again this morning and when it works right, i.e. when it connects to the iPhone, recognises the aux input and remembers the right amount of gain/volume (or I get the gain right when I adjust it*) it sounds really good. But, when it decided to play silly buggers it's such a faff to get it working and the number of steps to get there is ridiculous. It is supposed to switch on and connect to aux when you plug a cable into the aux, b ut that doesn't always work and when it does it invariably has forgotten the previous gain settings (despite the 'remember gain setting' switch being 'on' in the app.

I almost wish it sounded cr@p 'cos I could send it back without hesitation but it ticks so many boxes...

* Gain structure is critical with relatively low signal levels like a guitar or looper, too high and the background hiss is horrendous, too low and you can't get enough volume for it to be useful...

[Sam Spoons]

Just had a slightly bizarre reply to my support email which contains the sentance "The pre-amp mode in the Minirig is kind of a "fun extra" which I added because the capability was there." The capability is NOT there with a mic it would be completely useless...

[Conor Maloney]

Resurrecting an old thread to say that these speakers, or the set that I bought at least, are very poor quality. I think I got a faulty pair of minirig 3s – i.e., won’t play audio through cables from a source reliably, won’t pair in stereo mode when cabled, and literally blew out my laptop’s soundcard.

The soundcard is obviously the worst part (well, the worst part was when support lied and assured me that it was impossible for this to happen, and then backtracked when I told them I’d consulted some electrical engineers who said this absolutely could happen). Not interested in paying 25% import fees to send them to England and re-import them, so it’s either sue them for the damaged laptop and get a refund on the speakers (also not too interested in going through that) or just eat the cost.

Obviously, this is not the case with the majority of Minirig speakers, but it happened with mine, and support didn’t even do so much as offer a refund, let alone a replacement soundcard, and lied to me directly about the capability for the speaker to damage electronics by sending voltage out of the 2-way port. I sent them a detailed message indicating what I’d done to troubleshoot, including a factory reset, and their only suggestion was to literally follow the steps I’d already said I’d followed. Shady company and a dangerous product IMO, although the battery life etc. on working speakers is impressive.

Fair warning!

[Sam Spoons]

Funny you should post this now, I was just about to ask @arpangel if he still uses his with synths and how he gets on with the line input?

FWIW I treat mine as as a purely BT speaker these days, the line in is pretty useless and the software pretty flakey but as a simple, loud(ish) BT speaker it is reliable and sounds fairly decent. I wouldn't buy anything else from them though as I found their replies to my queries about the line in to be distinctly unhelpful. I have reverted to using my Boss MicroCube for portable guitar/looper duties.

[Arpangel]

Funny you should post this now, I was just about to ask @arpangel if he still uses his with synths and how he gets on with the line input?

FWIW I treat mine as as a purely BT speaker these days, the line in is pretty useless and the software pretty flakey but as a simple, loud(ish) BT speaker it is reliable and sounds fairly decent. I wouldn't buy anything else from them though as I found their replies to my queries about the line in to be distinctly unhelpful. I have reverted to using my Boss MicroCube for portable guitar/looper duties.

I leant mine to a neighbour, in the summer, and haven’t got it back!
I’m getting a JBL portable speaker, these are truly amazing, in a different league to the MiniRig, how on earth they get the level of deep bass on these JBL's is beyond me, you’d think you were listing to a subwoofer.

[Sam Spoons]

The MicroCube doesn't do bass at all but for guitar/looper duties it is passable. It's a real shame the MiniRig doesn't have something as simple as a functional line input as it's pretty good in every other respect.