[nicholars]

What are some active monitors that are good for general use?
 
I know most of them are designed to be as transparent and flat as possible... but are there any that make good multimedia speakers?
 
What about Genelec? I noticed they have a crossover at 3000hz, which would probably make them good for multimedia use.
 
Here are some I have found looking around :
 
Swans D1080-IV  
Airmotiv 4
AktiMate Mini+ B  
Vanatoo 
Ruark Audio MR1
AktiMate Micro B 
JBL LSR305
Yamaha HS5
Genelec 8020c  8030B
tannoy reveal 502
 
Which of these would be good for general use? (youtube, gaming, music)
 
When I say "nice", I mean warm sounding with good lower midrange and clear but not sibilant treble, not extremely bright or revealing of compressed audio, generally "nice" sounding like for example B&W 685 S2 or Shure SRH 1540.
 
 

 

[007shark76]

  What are some active monitors that are good for general use?
 
I know most of them are designed to be as transparent and flat as possible... but are there any that make good multimedia speakers?
 
What about Genelec? I noticed they have a crossover at 3000hz, which would probably make them good for multimedia use.
 
Here are some I have found looking around :
 
Swans D1080-IV  
Airmotiv 4
AktiMate Mini+ B  
Vanatoo 
Ruark Audio MR1
AktiMate Micro B 
JBL LSR305
Yamaha HS5
Genelec 8020c  8030B
tannoy reveal 502
 
Which of these would be good for general use? (youtube, gaming, music)
 
When I say "nice", I mean warm sounding with good lower midrange and clear but not sibilant treble, not extremely bright or revealing of compressed audio, generally "nice" sounding like for example B&W 685 S2 or Shure SRH 1540.
 
 
 

I also like warm sounding speakers so I might be able to help you narrow down even though I have not heard any of the speakers on your list. For warm sounding speakers I generally look for ones with silk dome tweeters as opposed to horn tweeters or metallized tweeters. As for the mid, I look for paper composites, carbon, and/or kevlar. Those combinations always seem to have the best warm sound to my ears at least.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

 
Swans D1080-IV  
Airmotiv 4
AktiMate Mini+ B  
Vanatoo 
Ruark Audio MR1
AktiMate Micro B 
JBL LSR305
Yamaha HS5
Genelec 8020c  8030B
tannoy reveal 502
 
When I say "nice", I mean warm sounding with good lower midrange and clear but not sibilant treble, not extremely bright or revealing of compressed audio, generally "nice" sounding like for example B&W 685 S2 or Shure SRH 1540.

 

Add the KRK Rokit series - I actually know of more people using them for listening than for monitoring/recording. It helps that for example anyone into car audio looking for nearfield speakers for their computer it's easy to recommend these since you can say "they sound a bit like, and actually look like, the Focal Polykevlars." 

 

They also have a tweeter channel gain control so you can lower the tweeter output relative to the midwoofer. My friend has his set-up to sound like my HD600 when he puts them out while we're grilling on his roofdeck (I set them up that way in his roofdeck while I'm sitting about 5ft from them - no idea what they sound like in his office but he has never touched my settings on the tweeters, just EQ fine tuning on his laptop's music player).

 

[nicolachel]

  What are some active monitors that are good for general use?
 
I know most of them are designed to be as transparent and flat as possible... but are there any that make good multimedia speakers?
 
What about Genelec? I noticed they have a crossover at 3000hz, which would probably make them good for multimedia use.
 
Here are some I have found looking around :
 
Swans D1080-IV  
Airmotiv 4
AktiMate Mini+ B  
Vanatoo 
Ruark Audio MR1
AktiMate Micro B 
JBL LSR305
Yamaha HS5
Genelec 8020c  8030B
tannoy reveal 502
 
Which of these would be good for general use? (youtube, gaming, music)
 
When I say "nice", I mean warm sounding with good lower midrange and clear but not sibilant treble, not extremely bright or revealing of compressed audio, generally "nice" sounding like for example B&W 685 S2 or Shure SRH 1540.
 
 
 

 
Genelecs are nice sounding.
 
A few caveats:
1. Genelecs with 3000hz crossover are all 'proper' three ways, the smallest pair of them (1237/1238) weighs around 100lb each. (This is incorrect, I somehow confused myself and thought that 2 ways would use the lower cross-over point of the 2) Their compact coaxial three ways (8351/8260) are also very nice though.
2. Some people dismiss Genelecs for being 'treble heavy, fatiguing' while others praise their airy and open highs.
3. Their bass response could accumulate and be challenging for untreated rooms, though you can always roll them off using the DIP switches or GLM that out.
4. Not warm. But you can try to house curve them.
5. I have no personal experience with most of your candidates, with the exception of Genelec(8330 which is basically 8030 + genelec DAC), JBL(305) and Yamaha (HS7).
6. It's always best to test with your own ears/music/room to be sure.

 

[nicholars]

The Adam F5 look like good monitors, out of what I have looked at I think they probably look the best, they also have quite a high crossover, which I find helps to smooth out bad sources etc. They don't aesthetically look the best, but they look like they are the best available for sound quality, obviously this is impossible to tell without actually testing, but on paper and reviews anyway they look the best.

 

[yay101]

The audioengine a5+ would likely work as well, they are super multimedia speakers as they never sound "bad" even internet radio streams are listenable, They are of course not as refined as some of the others listed, but again you cant have the best sound and forgiving sound signature at the same time, its just not possible without some sort of DSP. Good luck!

 

[music4mhell]

  What are some active monitors that are good for general use?
 
I know most of them are designed to be as transparent and flat as possible... but are there any that make good multimedia speakers?
 
What about Genelec? I noticed they have a crossover at 3000hz, which would probably make them good for multimedia use.
 
Here are some I have found looking around :
 
Swans D1080-IV  
Airmotiv 4
AktiMate Mini+ B  
Vanatoo 
Ruark Audio MR1
AktiMate Micro B 
JBL LSR305
Yamaha HS5
Genelec 8020c  8030B
tannoy reveal 502
 
Which of these would be good for general use? (youtube, gaming, music)
 
When I say "nice", I mean warm sounding with good lower midrange and clear but not sibilant treble, not extremely bright or revealing of compressed audio, generally "nice" sounding like for example B&W 685 S2 or Shure SRH 1540.
 
 
 

I have Genelec 8010 and also Swans D1080-IV,
 
Genelec is in A+ category, Swans is in A-.
Other Active monitors from Mackie, Presonus are in A category.
 
Personally i like Mackie speakers.

 

[nicholars]

  I have Genelec 8010 and also Swans D1080-IV,
 
Genelec is in A+ category, Swans is in A-.
Other Active monitors from Mackie, Presonus are in A category.
 
Personally i like Mackie speakers.

 
What do your categories mean? Are you talking about multimedia like the things I mentioned above, or outright sound quality? For example some speakers have extremely good sound quality, like dynaudio for example, but will sound quite bad with anything less than high quality audio files or DTS audio etc.

 

[music4mhell]

 

  I have Genelec 8010 and also Swans D1080-IV,
 
Genelec is in A+ category, Swans is in A-.
Other Active monitors from Mackie, Presonus are in A category.
 
Personally i like Mackie speakers.

 
What do your categories mean? Are you talking about multimedia like the things I mentioned above, or outright sound quality? For example some speakers have extremely good sound quality, like dynaudio for example, but will sound quite bad with anything less than high quality audio files or DTS audio etc.

My category means only with respect to Sound Quality, nothing else.
Personally i put Genelecs above Dynaudio
 
And i listen 320 Kbps Mp3 files on Genelecs feeding from Chord Mojo.