RERobbins Posted April 12, 2018 Author Share Posted April 12, 2018 7 hours ago, rando said: Not exactly a surprising result. I haven't read it, but did you notice this popped up? Yes, I saw some things about those speakers -- but I've decided to leave well enough alone. If I could go to a local dealer and borrow them (or the Genelec's for that matter) I'd have demoed them in person. I read enough good things about Genelec to feel comfortable purchasing them knowing I could return. The Vanatoo's might surpass them -- but I'm not going to worry about that as I'm at a really good spot. Link to comment
RERobbins Posted April 14, 2018 Author Share Posted April 14, 2018 Another note on the Vanatoo speakers. . . I live in Chicago and attended AXPONA yesterday. I will go back on Sunday. Vanatoo has a listening room. However, my all too brief visit wasn't particularly productive. They were intent on showing how much sound they could get from those little speakers and I wasn't familiar with (or fond of) the music they selected. There were others in the room and I didn't get a chance to try to push things around to get a near field experience or run through a different music selection. To listen to those speakers for a full room sound system after listening to other spectacular systems truly intended for that kind of environment did not work to the benefit of Vanatoo. There was nothing I heard that gave me a moment of buyer's remorse with respect to the Genelec G One speakers. Perhaps I should have purchased both and given the Vanatoos a fair shake. Link to comment
rando Posted April 14, 2018 Share Posted April 14, 2018 You went with the solid selection that didn't exactly answer the highlighted question in this thread. Newer members starting this thread almost never do that. At least a few longer standing members entered this thread with interest in where the acceptable price and performance level currently is. Even though you found joy I thought it worth pointing out PF had surprisingly, at least to me anyways, just posted a review of the question mark Vanatoo's that are small enough to work in cramped quarters. I'm sure a review of them would be of interest to someone. Link to comment
GregWormald Posted April 14, 2018 Share Posted April 14, 2018 Honestly, once you get into the top bracket there is so little real quality difference between models that personal preference is the main decider. Remember, it's the music that is important. Link to comment
Ralf11 Posted April 14, 2018 Share Posted April 14, 2018 sound will be affected by placement, esp. if you have to jam them into room corners like I need to do the Genelecs have ports on the rear which is a problem for that placement; the Vanatoo seem to have passive radiators but no ports, however they seem perpetually out of stock on most of the speakers... Link to comment
RERobbins Posted April 14, 2018 Author Share Posted April 14, 2018 1 hour ago, Ralf11 said: sound will be affected by placement, esp. if you have to jam them into room corners like I need to do the Genelecs have ports on the rear which is a problem for that placement; the Vanatoo seem to have passive radiators but no ports, however they seem perpetually out of stock on most of the speakers... The Genelec's have some tone controls that I believe are intended to help address concerns about placement relative to walls and cornerts. The manual suggests setting the bass attenuation level at -6 dB when near a corner and -4 dB when against a wall. Maybe that helps you @Ralf11 Link to comment
Ralf11 Posted April 16, 2018 Share Posted April 16, 2018 Thx - the tone switch should help I'll add the Dynaudio Xeo 2 to my list too... Link to comment
PleasantSounds Posted April 19, 2018 Share Posted April 19, 2018 9 hours ago, Ben2300 said: Kii three came in mind. Great speakers but for $700 all you'd get is a paint job on these... Link to comment
Ben2300 Posted April 19, 2018 Share Posted April 19, 2018 3 minutes ago, PleasantSounds said: Great speakers but for $700 all you'd get is a paint job on these... Oops, than check out Adam speaker. Link to comment
lucretius Posted April 20, 2018 Share Posted April 20, 2018 On 4/1/2018 at 7:39 AM, RERobbins said: I'm putting together a small desktop system for use in my office at work. Space is at a premium. The speakers will sit on either side of a computer monitor and I will be close. The system will play at low volume. I want powered speakers that I will feed with something along the lines of an Aries Mini or Bluesound Node 2. I believe that speakers of the size of the Audioengine A5 are going to be too big. I'm considering the Audioengine A2+ but am intrigued by Genelec as well. I'm not familiar with Genelec and find the range of their offerings somewhat daunting. The Genelec G One could work. I'd like to keep the speakers at or about $700 for the pair (obviously the A2+ would be well below that). What do you think? Going cheap, A2+ are fine for the money. For the $700 budget noted, I'd go for Adam A3X, better than the A2+. If spending over $700, there are many choices (though stuff from Adam or Focal are my favorites). OTH, I can't stand the Genelecs but YMMV. mQa is dead! Link to comment
Ralf11 Posted April 20, 2018 Share Posted April 20, 2018 1. what bother you about the Genelecs? 2. does it sound like the ribbon driver on the Adam models is well integrated with the cone driver? Link to comment
lucretius Posted April 20, 2018 Share Posted April 20, 2018 4 minutes ago, Ralf11 said: 1. what bother you about the Genelecs? 2. does it sound like the ribbon driver on the Adam models is well integrated with the cone driver? 1. The Genelecs (various models) - overall lacked impact, the mids and highs seemed a little sterile and lack that front to back presence compared to Adams. The smaller Genelecs lack too much lower end vis-a-vis similarly priced speakers. The Adams are just more warm and pleasing all around and mids and highs are better articulated. (Mids and highs on Focals are a little more organic and a little less granular and exciting than the Adams -- Focals for Jazz, Adams for Rock, etc.) 2. I find the ribbon driver and cone woofer work wonderfully together and the ribbon driver gives music that high level of granularity/articulation along with a presence that gets in your head. mQa is dead! Link to comment
RERobbins Posted April 20, 2018 Author Share Posted April 20, 2018 5 hours ago, lucretius said: 1. The Genelecs (various models) - overall lacked impact, the mids and highs seemed a little sterile and lack that front to back presence compared to Adams. The smaller Genelecs lack too much lower end vis-a-vis similarly priced speakers. The Adams are just more warm and pleasing all around and mids and highs are better articulated. (Mids and highs on Focals are a little more organic and a little less granular and exciting than the Adams -- Focals for Jazz, Adams for Rock, etc.) 2. I find the ribbon driver and cone woofer work wonderfully together and the ribbon driver gives music that high level of granularity/articulation along with a presence that gets in your head. Very interesting. Can you describe your listening environment? In my case, I'm listening at low volume and am very close to the speakers. I added the Genelec stands to get them closer to ear level -- which seemed to result in greater detail and a better soundstage. If I was listening at louder volumes or further away, my impressions would easily vary. I'm enjoying the Genelecs very much. To my ears they are crisp and precise and certainly more enjoyable than the A2+. It would have been nice to have heard the Audioengine HD3. The Focals are too large for my tight space, it's too bad I wasn't in a position to put them into the mix -- perhaps I'd find them even more pleasing. Once I find something that pleases me I tend to forget about all the alternatives and just enjoy the sound -- until something irritates me or, by chance, I'm blown away by something else I hear. Link to comment
Ralf11 Posted April 20, 2018 Share Posted April 20, 2018 thx for those detailed impressions, lucretious Link to comment
Blake Posted April 20, 2018 Share Posted April 20, 2018 Just throwing out another option for others reading this thread and searching for nearfield/desktop speakers (I know the OP bought his already), I went through several different nearfield speakers for my desktop at work. I finally settled on the Gallo Strada 2's and I've be quite happy with them. I also added a cheap Elac sub. Srajan on 6moons did a "nearfield" review of the Strada's 2's here: http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/gallo14/1.html Poivron 1 Speaker Room: Lumin U1X | Lampizator Pacific 2 | Viva Linea | Constellation Inspiration Stereo 1.0 | FinkTeam Kim | Revel subs Office Headphone System: Lumin U1X | Lampizator Golden Gate 3 | Viva Egoista | Abyss AB1266 Phi TC Link to comment
lucretius Posted April 22, 2018 Share Posted April 22, 2018 On 4/20/2018 at 7:08 AM, RERobbins said: Very interesting. Can you describe your listening environment? The room with the studio monitors is 11.5 ft X 14 ft, arched ceiling, no acoustical treatment and three hard wardrobes, two book cases, one filing cabinet and two desks. A pair of Adam A5X monitors and a Mytek Brooklyn DAC sit on one of the desks situated against a wall, almost in the center of the 14 ft wall, so the speakers are firing across the 11.5 ft width. The monitors are on Primacoustic Recoil Stabilizer platforms which raise the monitors up a bit and give them a 10% upward tilt -- right to my ears. Before choosing the Adam A5X monitors, I listened to various monitors in studio environments. I really liked the Adam A7X's best, but given my desk space (they would be too large) and my room space (bass would be bouncing all over the place) I settled on the Adam A5X's. mQa is dead! Link to comment
Ron Scubadiver Posted April 25, 2018 Share Posted April 25, 2018 Look here for some possibilities: http://noaudiophile.com/System_Search/ Link to comment
lesanderson Posted April 27, 2018 Share Posted April 27, 2018 Look at the Focal Shape 40 and see if they are small enough. They are proper studio monitors and sound great in the near field. All analog design which is increasingly hard to come by. Link to comment
GeneZ Posted July 16, 2018 Share Posted July 16, 2018 Not sure where you want to take this... These are made for audiophile desktop... NSMT Model 5-AX desktop monitor. It all depends upon in what dimension of life one finds themselves living in. For, one man's music is another man's noise. Link to comment
jtwrace Posted July 16, 2018 Share Posted July 16, 2018 Designed by Charles Sprinkle who worked at Harman for years. I'd give them a shot for the $300! https://www.kaliaudio.com/lp6-detail W10 NUC i7 (Gen 10) > Roon (Audiolense FIR) > Motu UltraLite mk5 > (4) Hypex NCore NC502MP > JBL M2 Master Reference +4 subs Watch my Podcast https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXMw_bZWBMtRWNJQfTJ38kA/videos Link to comment
Phonautograph Posted July 22, 2018 Share Posted July 22, 2018 when it comes to small speakers in an office that is heard at low volumes , i dont think you will be doing any critical listening , i haven't tried that particular scenario , but my guess i would prefer a colorful speaker for background music , something like the B&W mm-1 or the focal XS it would have some exaggerated lows to compensate the non existent bass at low volumes and give an overall pleasant experience for background music I remember now that i used my old B&O beolit 12 a couple of times at the office for low volume background music and its exaggerated lows blends nicely as a low volume background music in an office setting , but i would never use them at high volumes i wouldn't enjoy them at all Link to comment
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