Nearfields Monitors: Kali vs Adam vs Focal

[Drew Stephenson]

[tea for two]

Drew as a Mod to represent home recording bedroom studio musicians : yeah I'm down with that.
It doesn't have to be expertise experience level of Eddy, Hugh, JP, MW, Zen, Zuke nor of SoS reviewers writers.
Drew has level headed temperament to be a mod.
Drew takes part on a range of topics across the forum ready to help out even in person such as sorting out in person intonation on a Guitar for a forumee.
Butttt does Drew want to be a mod

[philb]

Drew as a Mod to represent home recording bedroom studio musicians : yeah I'm down with that.
It doesn't have to be expertise experience level of Eddy, Hugh, JP, MW, Zuke nor of SoS reviewers writers.
Drew has level headed temperament to be a mod.
Drew takes part on a range of topics across the forum ready to help out even in person such as sorting out in person intonation on a Guitar for a forumee.
Butttt does Drew want to be a mod

DREW FOR PRESIDENT

[Arpangel]

OK.
We hear K+H 0300 in treated BBC control room.
We both think "f**k" got to have these, they are the dangly bits.
Friend buys them, puts them in his untreated room, he’s unhappy, I’m unhappy, he sells them.
I used them in my untreated room too, the issues with our rooms masked whatever benefits these "superior" monitors could offer, resonant bass booms, standing waves galore.
I’m still using the Berry's, at that point, living in rented accommodation unable to do any treatment, so I sold the K+H's for my friend, if they offered any major benefits over my Berry's in that room I’d have bought them off him, but, they didn’t.
So I stand by my point, if untreated then yes, get some "reasonable" monitors, they don’t have to be crap, but please, there’s no point in spending thousands, it just won’t be worth it.

[ef37a]

OK.
We hear K+H 0300 in treated BBC control room.
We both think "f**k" got to have these, they are the dangly bits.
Friend buys them, puts them in his untreated room, he’s unhappy, I’m unhappy, he sells them.
I used them in my untreated room too, the issues with our rooms masked whatever benefits these "superior" monitors could offer, resonant bass booms, standing waves galore.
I’m still using the Berry's, at that point, living in rented accommodation unable to do any treatment, so I sold the K+H's for my friend, if they offered any major benefits over my Berry's in that room I’d have bought them off him, but, they didn’t.
So I stand by my point, if untreated then yes, get some "reasonable" monitors, they don’t have to be crap, but please, there’s no point in spending thousands, it just won’t be worth it.

My first thought on that Tony is that the Behringers probably have a poor bass response. And secondly, I don't see how paying rent precludes you from stacking some bags of GF in the corners!

And finally: "One Swallow does not a summer make"!

Dave.

[Hugh Robjohns]

Hey, don't knock it! It's not often Arpy's random tales make any sense, but that one is spot on!

[Arpangel]

And finally: "One Swallow does not a summer make"!

Dave.

Dave, I gave up after a few more gulps, namely ATC's and Geithain's, both great speakers, but not meant for my place.

[ef37a]

Hey, don't knock it! It's not often Arpy's random tales make any sense, but that one is spot on!

In his room. In this specific instance and in HIS opinion!

Dave.

[philb]

So I stand by my point, if untreated then yes, get some "reasonable" monitors, they don’t have to be crap, but please, there’s no point in spending thousands, it just won’t be worth it.

Agree totally, although there's two options. Let's say buy some at 1.500 now, put 500 in basic treatment. Then treat room step by step, and monitors are sounding better with every step more in treatment.

Option B: Buy monitors for 500 (obviously worse sound capabilities), other 1500 in treatment. Then wanting to use more of the potential by treatment, trying to sell these 500 ones for 300, having a loss of 200 and still not the money to buy the 1.500 ones.

Difficult

And agaoim, I totally agree that treatment is fundamental in any case, as said, already in contact with GIK; they have a sketch of my room now, and waiting for some further response

[Arpangel]

My theories about treating rooms related to monitors goes out the window completely when it comes to the barmy world of hi-fi, how many hi-fi people have I witnessed who have massive high end speakers in regular domestic living rooms, I sold a pair of Quad ESL63’s to a guy who turned out to be living in a caravan, he wanted his money back as they didn’t sound how he thought they would, what? in an 8X8 caravan? The amount of gear he had in there could have amounted to the deposit on a nice semi.

[RichardT]

My theories about treating rooms related to monitors goes out the window completely when it comes to the barmy world of hi-fi, how many hi-fi people have I witnessed who have massive high end speakers in regular domestic living rooms, I sold a pair of Quad ESL63’s to a guy who turned out to be living in a caravan, he wanted his money back as they didn’t sound how he thought they would, what? in an 8X8 caravan? The amount of gear he had in there could have amounted to the deposit on a nice semi.

Wow, two ELS63s would have taken up a significant chunk of his space.

[muzines]

I sold a pair of Quad ESL63’s to a guy who turned out to be living in a caravan, he wanted his money back as they didn’t sound how he thought they would, what? in an 8X8 caravan?

Crazy! Probably would have been easily solved by connecting his caravan power source using those $10,000 gold-plated connections...

[Arpangel]

My theories about treating rooms related to monitors goes out the window completely when it comes to the barmy world of hi-fi, how many hi-fi people have I witnessed who have massive high end speakers in regular domestic living rooms, I sold a pair of Quad ESL63’s to a guy who turned out to be living in a caravan, he wanted his money back as they didn’t sound how he thought they would, what? in an 8X8 caravan? The amount of gear he had in there could have amounted to the deposit on a nice semi.

Wow, two ELS63s would have taken up a significant chunk of his space.

Yes, there wasn’t room for two people!
I had trouble getting them to sound good in my big room, they were amazing, but you have to give them room to breath.

[Arpangel]

Crazy! Probably would have been easily solved by connecting his caravan power source using those $10,000 gold-plated connections...

They are very sensitive to damp, they hiss loudly if they get damp.

[James Perrett]

I sold a pair of Quad ESL63’s to a guy who turned out to be living in a caravan, he wanted his money back as they didn’t sound how he thought they would, what? in an 8X8 caravan?

I've heard them in a similar sized empty room. There were real issues with the sound but the owner was completely happy with them.

I've found that my Tannoy dual concentrics work well in poor rooms because the dual concentric driver allows you to work very close to them without the stereo image breaking down. This minimises the contribution of the room - a bit like a pair of giant headphones. However, they are even better in a properly treated room.

And to go back to the previous debate - I've actually heard the sound of NS10s improve in a room with poor acoustics. We used to use them on top of the cupboards in our fairly large and echoey kitchen where they lost much of their harshness and even seemed to have some bass.

[Hugh Robjohns]

I've heard them in a similar sized empty room. There were real issues with the sound but the owner was completely happy with them.

The ESLs radiation pattern is fig-8, so you get a lot of HF bouncing off the back walls that you wouldn't get with more conventional speakers

I've actually heard the sound of NS10s improve in a room with poor acoustics. We used to use them on top of the cupboards in our fairly large and echoey kitchen where they lost much of their harshness and even seemed to have some bass.

Two boundary layers to lift the low end, and well off-axis to the tweeter... works for me!

[Arpangel]

I sold a pair of Quad ESL63’s to a guy who turned out to be living in a caravan, he wanted his money back as they didn’t sound how he thought they would, what? in an 8X8 caravan?

I've heard them in a similar sized empty room. There were real issues with the sound but the owner was completely happy with them.

I've found that my Tannoy dual concentrics work well in poor rooms because the dual concentric driver allows you to work very close to them without the stereo image breaking down. This minimises the contribution of the room - a bit like a pair of giant headphones. However, they are even better in a properly treated room.

And to go back to the previous debate - I've actually heard the sound of NS10s improve in a room with poor acoustics. We used to use them on top of the cupboards in our fairly large and echoey kitchen where they lost much of their harshness and even seemed to have some bass.

I’ve always found infinite baffle speakers worked well in my room, things like NS10’s, they sounded tighter and more controlled.
I’ve really got to get rid of these Berry’s, but I’m stumped as to what to replace them with, I’d like sealed boxes, but they tend to be expensive.

[MarkOne]

I’ve always found infinite baffle speakers worked well in my room, things like NS10’s, they sounded tighter and more controlled.
I’ve really got to get rid of these Berry’s, but I’m stumped as to what to replace them with, I’d like sealed boxes, but they tend to be expensive.

Acoustic Energy AE22s still come up on eBay occasionally

Lots of people around these parts really liked them back in the day

[tea for two]

When I checked out Audeze EL8 Planar open backed headphones reviewed by Sam https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/audeze-lcd-x-el8
it was clear to me EL8 are more Hifi headphones.
EL8 sound impressive clear yet not as accurate as my K712 which I had at hand to compare.
Accuracy is more important to me.
Yet if going for a Hifi sound I can understand someone purchasing EL8 mixing mastering to it.

Similarly in an Untreated room I can understand a person getting some decent Hifi speakers that sounds impressive clear in this untreated room, mixing mastering to these Hifi speakers with reference to some commercially released music played on same Hifi speakers.

Also how many hours did we spend in our yooooff laying on the floor speakers on the floor listening to records, tapes.
This is how I mix my own music nowadays.

[Aled Hughes]

I’ve always found infinite baffle speakers worked well in my room, things like NS10’s, they sounded tighter and more controlled.
I’ve really got to get rid of these Berry’s, but I’m stumped as to what to replace them with, I’d like sealed boxes, but they tend to be expensive.

Acoustic Energy AE22s still come up on eBay occasionally

Lots of people around these parts really liked them back in the day

This is what I’d recommend in a heartbeat if you’re looking for a great sealed box stereo pair. They’re not exactly small, but it’s a wonderful speaker.

I’ve just sold my pair to The Elf since I’m going for multiple smaller speakers for Atmos etc., but I don’t believe I’ll be hearing a sonic upgrade over the AE22!

[Arpangel]

I almost bought a pair of AE22’s when they came out, I liked them a lot, I wish I had.
They are rare secondhand now, if anyone knows of any I’d be grateful.

[Essex Boi]

I almost bought a pair of AE22’s when they came out, I liked them a lot, I wish I had.
They are rare secondhand now, if anyone knows of any I’d be grateful.

Right now there appear to be two sets on eBay and one on Reverb. Don’t know they’re the ones you’re referring to.

https://reverb.com/uk/item/47662155-aco ... e-speakers

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/175463000836

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/234938638486

[Arpangel]

I almost bought a pair of AE22’s when they came out, I liked them a lot, I wish I had.
They are rare secondhand now, if anyone knows of any I’d be grateful.

Right now there appear to be two sets on eBay and one on Reverb. Don’t know they’re the ones you’re referring to.

https://reverb.com/uk/item/47662155-aco ... e-speakers

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/175463000836

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/234938638486

Thanks a lot, the Reverb pair look OK, Peterborough, but the other two are Glasgow and Birmingham, a bit too far.

[Sam Spoons]

Agree totally, although there's two options. Let's say buy some at 1.500 now, put 500 in basic treatment. Then treat room step by step, and monitors are sounding better with every step more in treatment.

Option B: Buy monitors for 500 (obviously worse sound capabilities), other 1500 in treatment. Then wanting to use more of the potential by treatment, trying to sell these 500 ones for 300, having a loss of 200 and still not the money to buy the 1.500 ones.

Difficult

And agaoim, I totally agree that treatment is fundamental in any case, as said, already in contact with GIK; they have a sketch of my room now, and waiting for some further response

Total cost for DIY panels in my 4 x 4 m room, <£350. that's 7 x broad band absorbers and 3 x bass traps. The difference compared to the untreated room is massive. As I said in my earlier post, buy the Neumann KH80's and spend £500 on treatment, the extra £1k may get you another 10% improvement over the first £500 but the first £500 will get you 70-80% of the way.

[tea for two]

I like mixing early in the morning. I find after giving my ears a chance to rest from the previous day's noise, my judgement is better in the early morning.
Also there's far less surrounding outside noise so that helps me as well.
I couldn't mix on monitors, speakers, in the mornings as I live in a flat.
Headphones it is.
Premium Sound in Kensington, London, they let me audition over 2hours nearly a dozen headphones all the way up to £3K. Auditioning is downstairs so there's some privacy. Really accomodating staff. They just left me to it.

I know hearing the sound from monitors speakers is preferred by many. However, if there are other things to consider as neighbours, unsociable hours we like to mix, then we don't have much of a choice except to go headphones. More so if we don't have a separate acoustically treated studio room, only lounge/bedroom/kitchen to mix in.
Whereupon it's well worth taking a train journey to audition headphones to choose the ones suitable for the music we make mix especially if we are going to drop £1K+ on cans.

[ef37a]

Can I inject a question and perhaps a note of caution here Tea for Two?

You say you do not use speakers because of a possible upset to neighbours? Well, unsocial hours apart, maybe you are running them at too high a level and the cans as well?
I am sat here listening to a Beethoven piano trio some two mtrs from my Tannoy 5As and find the volume level perfectly 'natural' and on a meter that is indicating 65 to 70 dBC average with the finale peak at 78dBC. Tom McKinney is in fact louder on average than the music! I find that level for music quite satisfactory and I am registered deaf!
I switched to R1 (the sacrifices I make for this forum!) and cranked the volume to an average of 85dBC. Too loud for me and could be a nuisance at 1am!

Hugh has 'done' monitor calibration at least a couple of times this decade? The usual level suggested for monitors is 83dBC but Hugh has always stated I understand that the low 80s is often too loud for a 'domestic' situation and 10dB lower is more acceptable. By just my personal preference and luck that is where I seem to be!

So I am saying Tea, you should not be annoying folk, at least not at civilized times and you 'might' be running cans at damaging levels?

Dave.

[tea for two]

Can I inject a question and perhaps a note of caution here Tea for Two?
I am saying Tea, you should not be annoying folk, at least not at civilized times and you 'might' be running cans at damaging levels?

Appreciated E.

I started mixing just after 7am lol.
It's cause I'm currently working on an EDM album with some heavy beatz low Bass. It's the only EDM album I've made.
Most of my other stuff I can mix at low volume which I tend to do.
My ears are slightly damaged over years of abuse, more so my left ear. Even though I can hear 20Hz I have to increase to +3dB on a Sine Wave Test Tone in Logic Oscillator to properly hear 20Hz.

[ef37a]

Can I inject a question and perhaps a note of caution here Tea for Two?
I am saying Tea, you should not be annoying folk, at least not at civilized times and you 'might' be running cans at damaging levels?

Appreciated E.

I started mixing just after 7am lol.
It's cause I'm currently working on an EDM album with some heavy beatz low Bass. It's the only EDM album I've made.
Most of my other stuff I can mix at low volume which I tend to do.
My ears are slightly damaged over years of abuse, more so my left ear. Even though I can hear 20Hz I have to increase to +3dB on a Sine Wave Test Tone in Logic Oscillator to properly hear 20Hz.

WHY on earth are you struggling to hear 20Hz Tea?!! There is nothing remotely musical going on down there and only the very biggest speakers in a huge room could reproduce it.

Dave.

[Hugh Robjohns]

T42 is currently immersed in an EDM-fest which involves a deep rumbly bass. It's intended for playback on big club and festival PAs which can generate 20Hz.

Although while we can, technically, hear 20Hz, in practice we feel it which obviously isn't something that can be done over headphones.

[tea for two]

I have lost meself to EDM for my sins