Desktop Speakers, Minimum $ - Maximum ​🎵

[One and a half]

12 hours ago, Taz777 said:

 

Indeed. I replaced my KRK Rokit RP5 G3 studio monitors with the Ruark MR1 Mk2 bookshelf/desktop speakers and the latter are a world apart in terms of listening pleasure. They're designed to enjoy music. The Rokits were horrendously fatiguing and (subjectively) harsh to listen to.

 

My Ruarks are less than 1m away from my ears on my computer desk and sound a lot better to me.

+1 or more for Ruark. Don't have the MR1, but 2 x R1, R2, R4 at various locations through the house. I like the sound from them, far better than Bo$e and in a tighter, compact frame is a plus for small shelves. Out of the four, not one has failed in four years of operation of daily use. 

 

The Rokit, like many studio monitors, needs to be driven at deafening +110db spl minimum, so perhaps not the most ideal of application near a workstation at home.

[One and a half]

24 minutes ago, Ralf11 said:

Ruarks don't seem to have much distribution in the US

Your loss. There's no distributor in the United States for Ruark product. Each radio features DAB+ and FM, no AM. The US has a different digital radio standard to Europe, Asia and Pacific regions. Goes to show, nothing much of any standard worldwide related to audio, apart from the RCA connector.

[bobbmd]

@sphinxsix i still use my cambridge soundworks(Henry Kloss's company from the 1990's) s200 surrounds(dipole/bipole) still sound great you can probably find them on amazon/ebay for very little $$ or for that matter the ensemble's or the model 6's

i still use all of them plus tower ii's and center speaker with the 'passive' subwoofers in a 7.1 system in my living room with s200's 'between' my ears so to speak in front of my hd tv/monitor/mac mini

you could probably get them all for <<<1000$

check it out

bobbmd

[sphinxsix]

It seems I will choose between JBL LSR305, Ruark MR1 Mk2, Audioengine A2+ and  KRK RP5 (or 6) G3 (that is unless some other interesting proposals appear here). I'll try to find some more reviews of these first but IME it's easier to find a trustworthy $200k speakers reviews than $200 ones

Thanks to everyone who contributed up to this point!

[sphinxsix]

A (surprising) conclusion. First of all I decided that first I need to hear the speakers I will buy. I'm oldschool..   As for Ruarks - I had to rule them out, didn't find a dealer near me. As for Audioengine - I came to the conclusion (without listening to them actually, I'd probably have to order them first to do it) that bass produced by their 2.75 inch 'woofer' (that falls down sharply below 80Hz) isn't for me. I want to hear the lowest double bass octave and this means 40-80 Hz. So no matter how good they are in the remaining range - no, thanks, I need (some) bass. I also decided to put the future speakers 1.2 - 1.5 m away from my ears and avoid the desk reflection, an almost normal stereo setup, they'd have to be quite close to the rear wall though. So it seemed it had to be one of these:

I really wanted the KRKs to sound better - I have sympathy for the brand and their more expensive monitors that incorporate Focal drivers (they still do?) just like my main system monsters. I also like yellow drivers in black cabinets . But when I saw (heard on my headphones) this video:

 

https://homestudiomaven.com/studio-monitors/jbl-lsr305-vs-krk-rokit-5-g3

 

I knew they aren't better. Their midrange and treble sound muddy and not as open as the JBL's. They have also too much bass for their own good in comparison to the 305's (at least when placed quite far from the rear wall). IMO you can forget about the Yamahas if listening pleasure is your aim. They remind me of NS10 - dry, unlistenable midrange (I understand their cult studio monitors status though). The differences and JBL's superiority (MO) were confirmed in Bax Music store in Amsterdam where I compared them in a listening test (took roughly 5 min. I think) but before I took my credit card out of my wallet I asked two guys from the store if there are some other monitors they'd recommend in this price range. They both pointed at these :

 

 

Adam Audio T5V. And both confirmed during the conversation they use Adam monitors in their studios (which did mean nothing to me). Their price was slightly higher than JBL's - €340 against €290 per pair. But that included two internal amps not one . In comparison to JBLs they sounded like ..well audiophile speakers. Much more open in the midrange with much more of a subtle detail in the highs. Better imaging, much bigger soundstage, more 'air' around instruments. Less bass. Much less bass (both were placed very close to the rear wall, I actually asked for it). But the precision, definition, the 'stop and go' bass factor - far beyond JBLs reach! And one more thing - they were timbrally the closest ones to my main system speakers of the three. By a large margin! The decision was simple. I put them in my car, drove home, played some hi-res files and smiled. Their sounded great. Then played some pieces from low bitrate Deezer streaming (that's what they mainly gonna be used for). Here they actually better my main system  They're much more forgiving to low quality formats. I can't listen to mp3 on my main system, it's painful. Shrill and lifeless (I'm a hi-res guy). And all of that for €345! (I also bought a 2x3m cable for €5(!) - almost 300 times cheaper than my 2x0.5m main system interconnect! ). I really can't believe how good the Adams sound! Switching from my main system to the laptop and 2 little, cheap active boxes isn't painful at all, I actually listened to the music on my 'desktop' system last night! I paid €50 more than I wanted to but IMO I got much (!) more sound!

I must confess I just love to buy new audio gear .

I'd highly recommend to check them out if you're looking for $400 near field monitors!

Once again I'd like to thank everybody who contributed - without your input I could have ended up with some real sh..t!

[Taz777]

Glad you got a sound you’re happy with. Enjoy the music.

[sphinxsix]

27 minutes ago, Taz777 said:

Glad you got a sound you’re happy with. Enjoy the music.

Thanks,, for the moment I'm actually enjoying the new speakers as much as the music You know what I mean for sure.

[rando]

That looks to be a very intelligent choice.  Rather a difficult equation making low quality hosted files sound passable without introducing too much coloring or other cheats to hide what is really going on.  

 

My joke about the effect of a 30' x 100' enclosure with thousands of "ports" drilled into it was just that.  Having a wall of music while you climb is a different type of enjoyable experience.

[sphinxsix]

32 minutes ago, rando said:

That looks to be a very intelligent choice.  Rather a difficult equation making low quality hosted files sound passable without introducing too much coloring or other cheats to hide what is really going on.  

 

My joke about the effect of a 30' x 100' enclosure with thousands of "ports" drilled into it was just that.  Having a wall of music while you climb is a different type of enjoyable experience.

I  used to climb too some years ago  I also used to suggest adding some really bad SQ recordings to one's test albums library :

 

Unfortunately this method doesn't work with really uncompromising systems in case of which you will (should) always hear all the nasty aspects of the source material.