What computer speakers to get?

[theveterans]

With studio monitor speakers, I believe that they all sound great at their price points IMO. I listen to my Yamaha HS7 at 80-90 decibels A weighted and it’s fine for most songs but can get sibilant with poorly mastered tracks at high volumes. IMO the Yamaha HS7s are at the very most slightly brighter than neutral and since you prefer the R2R sound, you might want to go with Adam F7/AX7 since they’re a shade warmer than Yamahas. Tonality wise, I prefer the brighter Yamahas though. Detail retrieval is equal for both and IMO same level as KEF LS50 whether you go with Focal, Yamaha or Adam

 

[Pharmaboy]

OK, got it. Some of the better powered monitor options work only with (or best with) balanced cabling (ie, my Zenpro modded Yamaha HS7s; anything from JBL), so we'll leave those aside for now.

Sounds like the Adam F7 is a very rationale option, given everything you say. Many people like them a lot (as well as their more upscale "X" brothers). Their AMT tweeter is said to have greater detail & wider dispersion than conventional silk or metal-dome tweeters. Some say it can sound a little bright on some music, but there are level controls that can tame that.

You might be able to get deals on the Focal Alpha 65s w/6.5" mid/woofer and 1" metal-dome tweeter (example URL below)--Focal has discontinued the 65s & their smaller model, the 50s, and current inventory is selling off. If you look hard, you might be able to score the Alpha 65s new for ~$600:
https://www.thomann.de/gb/focal_alpha_65.htm?ref=search_rslt_alpha+65_337430_0

A powered monitor that interested me, but was too large for my desktop was the Mackie XR634. I liked the fact that though it's a bass reflex design, it's not actually ported; the "reflex" part is accomplished by a passive driver positioned against the back wall of the speaker. These are within your price range:
https://www.amazon.com/Mackie-XR624-Channel-Studio-Monitor/dp/B01M07HYI4

(any of these 3 would almost certainly represent quite substantial sonic upgrade over the Audio Engines)

It's well above your price range, but the Hedd Type 07 is a powered monitor that really attracted me. It's a little too large for my desktop, but I liked what people said about its version of the ART tweeter: https://www.thomann.de/gb/hedd_type_07.htm?ref=search_rslt_Hedd+type+07_396315_0

Re RCA cabling, I can recommend 2 low-cost options that will sound pretty good:

• Signal Cable Analog 2: I have 4-5 pairs of these inexpensive but good sounding interconnects in my system. You can get an 8 ft pair for under $100, quite a bargain: http://signalcable.com/analogtwo.html
• Ghent Audio: I have multiple headphone cables from Ghent Audio and very much like their quality construction & sound. The prices can't be beat. I haven't heard their RCA cables, but have no reason to think they'd be any different from the headphone cabling. There are multiple RCA options, all costing under $50 for 6-8' lengths. Here's an example: http://www.ghentaudio.com/part/a01.html

Happy (audio) hunting!

 

[aWildSalmon]

Bose Companion 5s

 

[Neyeah]

OK, got it. Some of the better powered monitor options work only with (or best with) balanced cabling (ie, my Zenpro modded Yamaha HS7s; anything from JBL), so we'll leave those aside for now.

Sounds like the Adam F7 is a very rationale option, given everything you say. Many people like them a lot (as well as their more upscale "X" brothers). Their AMT tweeter is said to have greater detail & wider dispersion than conventional silk or metal-dome tweeters. Some say it can sound a little bright on some music, but there are level controls that can tame that.

You might be able to get deals on the Focal Alpha 65s w/6.5" mid/woofer and 1" metal-dome tweeter (example URL below)--Focal has discontinued the 65s & their smaller model, the 50s, and current inventory is selling off. If you look hard, you might be able to score the Alpha 65s new for ~$600:
https://www.thomann.de/gb/focal_alpha_65.htm?ref=search_rslt_alpha+65_337430_0

A powered monitor that interested me, but was too large for my desktop was the Mackie XR634. I liked the fact that though it's a bass reflex design, it's not actually ported; the "reflex" part is accomplished by a passive driver positioned against the back wall of the speaker. These are within your price range:
https://www.amazon.com/Mackie-XR624-Channel-Studio-Monitor/dp/B01M07HYI4

(any of these 3 would almost certainly represent quite substantial sonic upgrade over the Audio Engines)

It's well above your price range, but the Hedd Type 07 is a powered monitor that really attracted me. It's a little too large for my desktop, but I liked what people said about its version of the ART tweeter: https://www.thomann.de/gb/hedd_type_07.htm?ref=search_rslt_Hedd+type+07_396315_0

Re RCA cabling, I can recommend 2 low-cost options that will sound pretty good:

• Signal Cable Analog 2: I have 4-5 pairs of these inexpensive but good sounding interconnects in my system. You can get an 8 ft pair for under $100, quite a bargain: http://signalcable.com/analogtwo.html
• Ghent Audio: I have multiple headphone cables from Ghent Audio and very much like their quality construction & sound. The prices can't be beat. I haven't heard their RCA cables, but have no reason to think they'd be any different from the headphone cabling. There are multiple RCA options, all costing under $50 for 6-8' lengths. Here's an example: http://www.ghentaudio.com/part/a01.html

Happy (audio) hunting!

Seems like its down to Adam F7 vs Mackie XR634 vs Focal Alpha 65s(checking price in my country)

Also for these speakers they are unlike my A5+, I have no need to connect left and right speaker yes ? (those cables are not needed yea ?) I just need to connect both speakers to the r2r 11 then r2r 11 to PC/headphone yes?

I am confused with this unbalance in and balanced input in these speakers. is balanced in = XLR male ?, unbalanced in = RCA male ? whats the difference ? is it by preferance or is there a consensus on which is better ?

if its balance input, so the cables I should get is it RCA male to XLR male(if i'm even talking the right thing) from speaker to the r2r 11, Am I right ?

if its unbalance input standard RCA cable (http://signalcable.com/images/AnalogTwo-B.jpg) ?

also notice a current direction for the ghentaudio, does it matter for other cables which direction is plugged from speaker to the dac/amp ?

Currently I just realised i'm using Voodoo Opus 1 Rca Cables, was recommended by the store owner when I got my A5+, he recommended me the speaker-speaker nanotech sp#79 mk-2 cable, voodoo usb cable and some random power cable as well. (any of these re-usable for new speaker + r2r 11?)

Is the speaker power cable stock good enough or is it worth to get a new one as well within reasonable price ?

Sorry for more questions and a lil out of topic as I have little to non technical knowledge on these things.

Thank you all for the time in replying

 

[Pharmaboy]

Sorry--I was less than exact about hooking up these various powered monitors.

1st, you will need a pair of RCA cables (aka "interconnect cable") to attach to the powered monitors. Typically 1 side of the interconnect pair goes to one speaker, and the other side goes to the other speaker (RCA interconnects being 2 physically separate cables representing Left & Right channel). These cables would be plugged into the 2 RCA output connectors on the Audio GD R2R11, then go to the single RCA input jack (or in case of Mackie, single TRS 1/4" jack) on the back of each monitor.

2nd: if your Audio Engine speakers use an "umbliical cable" to connect one to the other, then yes, with any of the 3 new monitors I recommend, that cable would be irrelevant, since these monitors pairs do not connect together (ie, each one has its own amplifiers & crossover).

Re balanced vs single-ended cabling: This is an insanely complicated topic. I'm trying to not get into that here...instead, trying to keep your cabling in the single-ended/unbalanced realm because your sources don't have balanced outputs. If they did, then balanced cabling between source & 2 X powered monitors might be preferable for technical reasons--but it's a moot point since you don't have balanced outputs to work with. Please note that all 3 of these powered monitor brands are OK with use of unbalanced cabling to their monitors. It's in the manual for each.

Re "directionality" of cabling, this is actually quite controversial. Some here believe that the mfr's recommendations for direction of cabling (typically make the arrow on the cable point at the "load" [each monitor] and away from the "source" [R2R11]); others believe that's insane and you can run any cable in any direction. I usually start by doing what the mfr advises.

And re "speaker cables," these are not relevant in a setup using 2 powered monitors, as I'm recommending here. True speaker cables only matter when the monitors are passive (ie, no power built into each) and must be powered by a standalone amplifier. Then, and only then, are speaker cables used.

For you w/any of these 3 models of powered monitors--it's RCA cabling all the way.

As for specific connection tips on each speaker...

Mackie HR624: Per the manual, these have a 3-pin XLR input + a 1/4" TRS (ie, non-balanced input jack on the back of each monitor. For your purposes, you could use a standard RCA interconnect cable running from the R2R11 to each monitor; then slip on an RCA-to-TRS (1/4") adapter on the RCA jack before inserting into the 1/4" TRS input. I used these adapters for several years. They are cheap and effective.
http://mackie.com/sites/default/files/PRODUCT RESOURCES/MANUALS/Owners_Manuals/XR_Series_OM.pdf

Focal Alpha 65: It's even easier w/the Focal, since it has an RCA input jack on the back of each speaker. There is a sensitivity switch (0 dB to +6 dB) associated with the input jacks. The manual advises you to start out w/this switch at the 0 dB position and adjust as needed (pg 16):
https://www.focal.com/sites/www.foc...talog/document/alpha-user_manual_fr_en_es.pdf

Adam F7: Again, this one is easy because an RCA input jack is provided on the back of each monitor.
https://www.adam-audio.com/content/uploads/2016/11/adam-audio-user-manual-f-series-en-de-cn.pdf

 

[techtonic]

I've listened to and owned many different 2.0 speakers from 3" to 5" and size made the biggest difference. Even the low priced LSR305 sounded good compared to expensive same sized ones such as the KEF LS50W. Maybe I'm not that picky but the differences were not massive. When you start reaching above consumer crap, you start paying a lot more for a little better in most cases. This has been my experience with any type of audio equipment.

With audio, there's really no substitute for listening no matter how people describe imaging, separation, brightness, etc. These are often generalized, not measured, and possibly psychoacoustic. Go to Guitar Center or your local boutique audio shop and hear a few. Use people's recommendations as starting point for research but never trust anyone but your own ears. That said, if you can hear Swan M200 MKIII, do it. They sound better than the Audioengine A5+ to me but again, wasn't massive.

 

[Pharmaboy]

My 2nd pair of powered speakers was the Swan M200 MKIIIs (after a decade w/a 2.1 NHT system). I had searched a long time for powered speakers anybody said sounded good (most powered speakers/monitors are used by music professionals whose standards are quite different from music appreciation types like me)...and that led to the Swans

I really liked the Swans. They're inexpensive, in speaker terms; attractively built; and sound pretty good. There are things they don't do all that well (spacious/airy treble; soundstaging; deep bass; same quality at low volume as at higher volumes), but what they do is pretty musical overall.

However, I slowly realized I wanted a bigger mid/woofer driver in whatever powered speakers I had--to get more oomph in upper bass/lower midrange area, before the handoff @80 Hz to the subwoofer (SVS SB1000). The Swans have a 5.25" woofer, and I wanted at least 6". To make things more interesting, I have space limitations on my desktop (particularly depth) that make monitors/speakers deeper than ~11" impractical. Since powered speakers/monitors have built-in electronics, they usually are deeper than passive designs. Problems, problems...

That commenced another lengthy search. As usual, the hardest part was finding anyone who used a given pair of powered speakers/monitors to listen to music (vs mixing music). After collecting information, reviews, and user comments on dozens of potential candidates, I ended up ordering the Zenpro modded Yamaha HS7s, which I've been using since summer of 2017.

The HS7s are a big step up from the Swans in looks, size, power, and (in certain ways) sound. They're also a PITA because the mfr strongly recommends using balanced input signals to power them. That meant getting the best single-ended to balanced converter I could find, which turned out to be easier than it sounds. The HS7's have rather excellent bass for their size (they can be used quite effectively sans sub), and are superb at reproducing music at low volume (most of my listening is at relatively low "background" volumes in home office). However, when I crank them up, tonality problems creep in: primarly a "clangy"/slightly "shouty" quality in upper midrange w/some brightness; and a thickened bass register due to the port being too close to back wall. They actually sounded better in every way when I initially burned them in (in the garage) w/plenty of space in front of & behind them. My desktop environment doesn't allow them to sound their best.

They're really good monitors. But the search goes on. Decided to return to passive speakers, after decades away from them. Another long period of research ensued, not just for speakers, but also for an amp that can fit the desktop. And there are many more passive speakers to consider than there were powered monitors. When one considers passives, the entire "audiophile" speaker market beckons. After deliberation, I decided a sealed design (vs the usual bass reflex design) would work better on my desktop by a more peaceful coexistence with the backwall of my office.

Finally ended up getting a pair of ATC SCM12 Pros. I've been eager to hear ATCs for a long time, but their powered monitors were huge and expensive. Suddenly, a relatively affordable used pair of these passive ATC monitors fell into my lap. I had them in a separate room, hooked up to the used class D amp I got (Wyred4Sound ST-500), and they sounded quite good. Refined, lots of detail w/o brightness, and excellent bass (in fact, shockingly good bass). As usual, the real test will come when all this hardware gets wired into my desktop system.

All the speakers/monitors mentioned in this post and other recent ones here are either ones I've heard & liked (Swans, Yamaha HS7s, ATCs) or read many good comments about. Just goes to show that in audio, it's the journey, not the destination.

 

[Neyeah]

Sorry--I was less than exact about hooking up these various powered monitors.

1st, you will need a pair of RCA cables (aka "interconnect cable") to attach to the powered monitors. Typically 1 side of the interconnect pair goes to one speaker, and the other side goes to the other speaker (RCA interconnects being 2 physically separate cables representing Left & Right channel). These cables would be plugged into the 2 RCA output connectors on the Audio GD R2R11, then go to the single RCA input jack (or in case of Mackie, single TRS 1/4" jack) on the back of each monitor.

2nd: if your Audio Engine speakers use an "umbliical cable" to connect one to the other, then yes, with any of the 3 new monitors I recommend, that cable would be irrelevant, since these monitors pairs do not connect together (ie, each one has its own amplifiers & crossover).

Re balanced vs single-ended cabling: This is an insanely complicated topic. I'm trying to not get into that here...instead, trying to keep your cabling in the single-ended/unbalanced realm because your sources don't have balanced outputs. If they did, then balanced cabling between source & 2 X powered monitors might be preferable for technical reasons--but it's a moot point since you don't have balanced outputs to work with. Please note that all 3 of these powered monitor brands are OK with use of unbalanced cabling to their monitors. It's in the manual for each.

Re "directionality" of cabling, this is actually quite controversial. Some here believe that the mfr's recommendations for direction of cabling (typically make the arrow on the cable point at the "load" [each monitor] and away from the "source" [R2R11]); others believe that's insane and you can run any cable in any direction. I usually start by doing what the mfr advises.

And re "speaker cables," these are not relevant in a setup using 2 powered monitors, as I'm recommending here. True speaker cables only matter when the monitors are passive (ie, no power built into each) and must be powered by a standalone amplifier. Then, and only then, are speaker cables used.

For you w/any of these 3 models of powered monitors--it's RCA cabling all the way.

As for specific connection tips on each speaker...

Mackie HR624: Per the manual, these have a 3-pin XLR input + a 1/4" TRS (ie, non-balanced input jack on the back of each monitor. For your purposes, you could use a standard RCA interconnect cable running from the R2R11 to each monitor; then slip on an RCA-to-TRS (1/4") adapter on the RCA jack before inserting into the 1/4" TRS input. I used these adapters for several years. They are cheap and effective.
http://mackie.com/sites/default/files/PRODUCT RESOURCES/MANUALS/Owners_Manuals/XR_Series_OM.pdf

Focal Alpha 65: It's even easier w/the Focal, since it has an RCA input jack on the back of each speaker. There is a sensitivity switch (0 dB to +6 dB) associated with the input jacks. The manual advises you to start out w/this switch at the 0 dB position and adjust as needed (pg 16):
https://www.focal.com/sites/www.foc...talog/document/alpha-user_manual_fr_en_es.pdf

Adam F7: Again, this one is easy because an RCA input jack is provided on the back of each monitor.
https://www.adam-audio.com/content/uploads/2016/11/adam-audio-user-manual-f-series-en-de-cn.pdf

Thank you for the clarification.

Also compared to a5+ which only have 1 power cable.
Any of these new monitors are using 1 power cable each right ?

Also for dekstop listening would a subwoofer be recommended for this setup ?

If with subwoofer, how would the connection go ? speaker -> sub - > dac - > pc ?

 

[Pharmaboy]

Yes--for each of the 3 powered monitor brands I recommended, there is 1 power cord per monitor (ie, each monitor has its own amplifier built-in).

Subwoofers are tricky. Coming back to your listening preferences: are you accustomed to listening w/a sub? Do you have one w/the A5+s?* If yes to either question, does your desktop environment accomodate subs, in terms of space & distance of cabling?

*If you have an AudioEngine sub, it only partially solves the sub issues mentioned below (ie, it has an output RCA jack--pair--but no crossover)​

I have a single sub, which works well in my small home office w/space constraints. I would happily install a 2nd sub if their was room, but there isn't.

Assuming you want a sub, the issues of wiring & how to set crossovers come up. Strap in...more complexity:

WIRING: None of these 3 powered monitor brands allow for looping out of an RCA cable from the monitor to a subwoofer. That means you have to somehow get at least 1 RCA cable to the sub, in addition to the RCA pair that go from your headphone amp/preamp to the monitors themselves. This gets tricky--where does a 3rd RCA line come from, if not the amp/preamp (see solution below).

CROSSOVERS: While you can run the powered monitors "full-range" along w/a sub (ie, no attenuation of bass frequencies on the monitors), the sonic results are usually pretty bad. I've done this & don't recommend it. You tend to get a thickening of bass below ~80 Hz, or whatever upper frequency limit is set on the sub, because the 2 powered monitors + sub are reproducing the same bass frequencies. The other problem with that is that when you somehow relieve the powered monitors of bass reproduction (again, below 80 Hz, for purposes of discussion), this frees up amplifier headroom & current for all the remaining frequencies, and the sound may slightly improve (powered monitors put out the most power & experience the most electronic "stress" when reproducing the lowest bass notes they're capable of). This all points to somehow putting a crossover in the system to divide frequencies, with everything above 80 Hz going to the powered monitors; and everything below 80 Hz going to the sub.

It is possible to purchase a high-quality separate crossover to do all this (I have one), but the cost & complexity get kind of crazy. For the moment, I'll focus on a subwoofer solves both the wiring & crossover problems all by themselves: the SVS SB1000 (the one I have).
https://www.svsound.com/products/sb-1000

This is a relatively inexpensive ($499), small, high-quality sub. It's perfect for my desktop environment. It's a sealed design, not ported, which usually produces the best music listening results (the most natural, non-hyped bass, plenty deep for music). People who want to use their sub for movie soundtracks/TV watching may prefer the ported version, but it's larger and typically doesn't repro music with quite as much finesse.

But the main characteristic I want to point out is how the SB-1000 handles wiring & crossover:

• It is designed to accept the RCA output pair directly from your amp/preamp
• It has a built-in crossover set at 80 Hz (12 dB/octave drop in frequencies above 80 Hz)
• It has an RCA output jack that outputs all frequencies above 80 Hz to your powered monitors--again, with 1 of the RCA output cables going to each monitor
• Total cost & complexity (beyond cost of sub itself): you'll need 2 fairly long RCA cable pairs, not just one, to connect to your powered monitors
• The SB-1000 is "old-school" in terms of settings--no cellphone app, no room correction. Just get down on hands & knees; fiddle w/level & other settings; then listen to see if it sound good

 

[Neyeah]

Yes--for each of the 3 powered monitor brands I recommended, there is 1 power cord per monitor (ie, each monitor has its own amplifier built-in).

Subwoofers are tricky. Coming back to your listening preferences: are you accustomed to listening w/a sub? Do you have one w/the A5+s?* If yes to either question, does your desktop environment accomodate subs, in terms of space & distance of cabling?

*If you have an AudioEngine sub, it only partially solves the sub issues mentioned below (ie, it has an output RCA jack--pair--but no crossover)​

I have a single sub, which works well in my small home office w/space constraints. I would happily install a 2nd sub if their was room, but there isn't.

Assuming you want a sub, the issues of wiring & how to set crossovers come up. Strap in...more complexity:

WIRING: None of these 3 powered monitor brands allow for looping out of an RCA cable from the monitor to a subwoofer. That means you have to somehow get at least 1 RCA cable to the sub, in addition to the RCA pair that go from your headphone amp/preamp to the monitors themselves. This gets tricky--where does a 3rd RCA line come from, if not the amp/preamp (see solution below).

CROSSOVERS: While you can run the powered monitors "full-range" along w/a sub (ie, no attenuation of bass frequencies on the monitors), the sonic results are usually pretty bad. I've done this & don't recommend it. You tend to get a thickening of bass below ~80 Hz, or whatever upper frequency limit is set on the sub, because the 2 powered monitors + sub are reproducing the same bass frequencies. The other problem with that is that when you somehow relieve the powered monitors of bass reproduction (again, below 80 Hz, for purposes of discussion), this frees up amplifier headroom & current for all the remaining frequencies, and the sound may slightly improve (powered monitors put out the most power & experience the most electronic "stress" when reproducing the lowest bass notes they're capable of). This all points to somehow putting a crossover in the system to divide frequencies, with everything above 80 Hz going to the powered monitors; and everything below 80 Hz going to the sub.

It is possible to purchase a high-quality separate crossover to do all this (I have one), but the cost & complexity get kind of crazy. For the moment, I'll focus on a subwoofer solves both the wiring & crossover problems all by themselves: the SVS SB1000 (the one I have).
https://www.svsound.com/products/sb-1000

This is a relatively inexpensive ($499), small, high-quality sub. It's perfect for my desktop environment. It's a sealed design, not ported, which usually produces the best music listening results (the most natural, non-hyped bass, plenty deep for music). People who want to use their sub for movie soundtracks/TV watching may prefer the ported version, but it's larger and typically doesn't repro music with quite as much finesse.

But the main characteristic I want to point out is how the SB-1000 handles wiring & crossover:

• It is designed to accept the RCA output pair directly from your amp/preamp
• It has a built-in crossover set at 80 Hz (12 dB/octave drop in frequencies above 80 Hz)
• It has an RCA output jack that outputs all frequencies above 80 Hz to your powered monitors--again, with 1 of the RCA output cables going to each monitor
• Total cost & complexity (beyond cost of sub itself): you'll need 2 fairly long RCA cable pairs, not just one, to connect to your powered monitors
• The SB-1000 is "old-school" in terms of settings--no cellphone app, no room correction. Just get down on hands & knees; fiddle w/level & other settings; then listen to see if it sound good

Let me share my room layout and setup if you don't mind.
Haha please ignore my mess ! haha kind of just moved back to Indonesia not long

https://ibb.co/hO44O7 back of table
https://ibb.co/e1uSbS
https://ibb.co/c967bS

To answer your question no, I do not use a sub currently. But i am so curious and wanting to try having a sub. With my room layout/space do you think a sub is recommended ?

I have no idea of any sub except was looking at adam S7 until your recommendation of SB-1000 earlier.

By the way I just got back a quotation on
(All prices for a pair)

Focal Alpha 65 in my country its crazy, RP 19.971.000 = USD 1467
Mackie HR624 = 18,300,000 = USD 1346
Mackie HR824 = 22,600,000 = USD 1663
Adam F7 = 12,730,000 = USD 936
one seller selling at USD = 699 (but checking stock)

Can't find Airmotive 6s price

Can't find SBS1000 as well for now.

For pricing of course i love F7 the most LOL

Though honestly at a5+ now listening to my kind of music, charlie puth etc etc.. Bass seems solid enough just curious/want that additional omph by abit = ) though iseems like a sub is going to add a substantial amount of cost dang~

I lost count the number of RCA cable i need from your explanation with sb-1000 hahaha

 

[Pharmaboy]

Wow--the pricing on those 3 monitors is insane. Indonesia might be the best place of all, but apparently audio isn't one of its high points.

You certainly could keep the A5+s and just add a sub. It looks like the SVS SB-1000 would fit behind the left side of your desk (facing into the center). That would be an interesting experiment... The SB-1000 would give way better quality than Audio Engine's ported 8" sub, plus it allows crossover-filtered output to the monitors, which the AE sub does not (it allows RCA outs to the sub, but they're not crossover-filtered).

Reminder about cabling: w/the SB-1000 used the way I use it, to get a crossover-filtered output the monitors, you would need 2 RCA interconnect pairs:

• 1st pair goes from L+R RCA outputs of R2R11 to the L+R RCA inputs of SB-1000
• 2nd pair goes from the L+R RCA outputs of SB-1000 to inputs of monitors
• You do the measuring in your setup. Looks to me like ~6' long RCA interconnects would do it, unless for some reason you locate the R2R11 farther away from the sub than what I'm assuming w/std desktop placement

Your monitors are relatively close to the back wall (as in my setup), so you really can't run sub + powered monitors w/o crossover filtering of lows on monitors. Correction: you can do anything you like--but the risk of running monitors + sub full signal is bass bloat. I've done it/I've heard it.

BTW, are you hip to HifiShark? It's a great way to aggregate used listings from all over the world. Just go to www.hifishark.com, enter any of these monitors' model # in the search field, and see what's out there. If you register, you can save any number of searches.

All to say you might have better luck finding something iike an F7 used vs new.

For example, here's my "results" page for a search of "Adam F7."
https://www.hifishark.com/search?q=Adam+F7

Most of the listings are used/F.S., but a few might be new. Perhaps one or more would be less expensive to Indonesia than the usual retail channel?

 

[Neyeah]

Wow--the pricing on those 3 monitors is insane. Indonesia might be the best place of all, but apparently audio isn't one of its high points.

You certainly could keep the A5+s and just add a sub. It looks like the SVS SB-1000 would fit behind the left side of your desk (facing into the center). That would be an interesting experiment... The SB-1000 would give way better quality than Audio Engine's ported 8" sub, plus it allows crossover-filtered output to the monitors, which the AE sub does not (it allows RCA outs to the sub, but they're not crossover-filtered).

Reminder about cabling: w/the SB-1000 used the way I use it, to get a crossover-filtered output the monitors, you would need 2 RCA interconnect pairs:

• 1st pair goes from L+R RCA outputs of R2R11 to the L+R RCA inputs of SB-1000
• 2nd pair goes from the L+R RCA outputs of SB-1000 to inputs of monitors
• You do the measuring in your setup. Looks to me like ~6' long RCA interconnects would do it, unless for some reason you locate the R2R11 farther away from the sub than what I'm assuming w/std desktop placement

Your monitors are relatively close to the back wall (as in my setup), so you really can't run sub + powered monitors w/o crossover filtering of lows on monitors. Correction: you can do anything you like--but the risk of running monitors + sub full signal is bass bloat. I've done it/I've heard it.

BTW, are you hip to HifiShark? It's a great way to aggregate used listings from all over the world. Just go to www.hifishark.com, enter any of these monitors' model # in the search field, and see what's out there. If you register, you can save any number of searches.

All to say you might have better luck finding something iike an F7 used vs new.

For example, here's my "results" page for a search of "Adam F7."
https://www.hifishark.com/search?q=Adam+F7

Most of the listings are used/F.S., but a few might be new. Perhaps one or more would be less expensive to Indonesia than the usual retail channel?

Seems like those are viable options.

I have to ship to singapore and handcarry back to Indonesia.

If direct shipping to Indonesia the govt will have 25-30% goods(depending on product type) clearance tax, 10% tax, 7.5% another form of tax, easily 35-50% payable as tax. Its dumb.

I may maintain listening without sub. uncomplicate my life LOL and Can't find SBS-1000 online anywhere in indonesia !

Edit: NOOOOOOOOOOO didnt think of it before but now with buying internationally shipping to Singapore
the gate is wide open..

Adam F7, vs Alpha 65 vs Airmotiv 6s vs Mackie HR624

 

[Pharmaboy]

well, then..."my work here is done"

seriously, happy (audio) hunting.

BTW, just look for SB-1000 in hifishark (they're all over the place, new & used): https://www.hifishark.com/search?q=SB-1000

 

[nuraman00]

+1!!


Yup--Yamaha HS7s. But not stock--mine are new & modded by ZenPro. I've never heard stock HS7s, but a few people who've heard them stock vs Zenpro modded said the modded ones sounded better (that's why I ordered them). It added ~100 to the cost, but so far, I'm mostly satisfied.

I'm running them w/balanced input, which is a pain, since I had to research SE-to-balanced converters, then find a used example of the best-reviewed one. Using it adds to wiring complexity, especially in conjunction w/the sub--but it sounds pretty good, so I'm not going to mess w/success.

FYI, I ran the HS7s direct out of the Violectric V281's balanced outputs for a time (w/the sub disconnected), and that's when they sounded their very best.

I'm back after a long break again.

Previously, my break from March - September 2017 was because I wasn't getting email alerts.

This time, I was getting email alerts, but I wasn't ready to fully immerse myself in the discussion again.

I also just realized when you said it added $100 to the cost, that was per monitor.

Reading the description of what the mod does, it helps increase the bass response.

http://www.zenproaudio.com/yamaha-hs8-zenpro-mod-pair

I wonder if I could get something like that done for the Airmotiv 6s. I wonder if it would help about as much as a subwoofer would.

For 95% of the time, I don't think it's lacking. But for certain tracks, I did want a little more bass, like I used to with a 3 piece system.

ZenPro doesn't carry Emotiva, so it doesn't look like they'd be able to do it.

(It would also get expensive having to ship my monitors there and back, but it was just an idea of whether it was possible.)

 

[nuraman00]

Somehow I managed to miss this post...a couple recent posts.

Re this ("is there a track or part of a track that you think would be too bright on other monitors, but sound good to you on the ZenPro Mod HS7?")--hard to directly answer that. The real truth is a little more nuanced:

• The Zenpro modded HS7s are "voiced" completely differently from the 2 other pairs of powered monitors I've had (1 was very clear but slightly bright on everything/every volume; the other was less clear, more euphonic/"musical" sounding, but lacking resolution, especially in upper midrange/treble.
• My HS7s had this one unusual (to me) quality from the first note I heard on them: there's simply more midrange information coming out of them. The other 2 prs of monitors were 2-way designs, just like the HS7s, and all 2 ways face certain challenges in having a great midrange (which typically is exactly where the crossover between drivers lies...it's easier for 3-ways to have a great midrange). The HS7s just put out a lot of information in the midrange, more than I'd heard before.
• The other outstanding thing about them is their extreme clarity at very low volumes (I do 95% of my 12 hrs/day listening at low volume). My other monitors tended to "fall apart" at low volumes and really come alive w/higher volume, but the HS7s are the opposite: their clarity is identical at low & high volumes; same w/their really good dynamics (loud to soft & vice versa). Even at the lowest volumes, I often find myself startled by this or that instrument or voice on the HS7s, and I mean that in a good way. I can actually listen to them at low volume and hear things.
• BUT... (isn't there always a fly in the ointment?), at higher volumes some glare & hardness creep in on the HS7s. It's at higher volumes that certain cuts that were borderline bright on the Swans sound outright bright on the HS7s. Not every borderline bright cut sounds bright on the HS7s, which indicated to me that there may be a fairly narrow spike in their upper midrange (just a guess)

In all fairness to the HS7s, there seems to be some kind of burn-in effect still underway, which kind of makes no sense, but I'm actually hearing it. I burned these monitors in a medium to loud volume for 150 hrs in my garage (starting at medium volume and increasing as burn-in commenced)...didn't even try to listen to them seriously until after burnin, which is when the higher volume/brightness anomalies were most apparent. But the other night, months after I first installed them in home office, I got in the mood to crank them--and this time, heard somewhat less brightness, even a high volume. That's not to say these are silky smooth, chill/relaxation monitors--they aren't that (they're very clear & incisive). Still, their sound seems to be slowly changing with time.

One more comment, if you can stand it. I run these balanced only, but to get a balanced signal, I have to put the RCA output pair through a single-ended-to-balanced convertor that came recommended. However, since I also have an amp w/balanced outputs (V281), once I hooked up its balanced outputs directly to the HS7s, something I can only do by sidelining my sub. Anyway, that was a very interesting experience: I got the best sound I'd yet heard out of the HS7s. Difference were very subtle, but all in the direction of more relaxed, less bright character. I haven't figured out how to make use of this finding, though...

How do you distinguish between more relaxed, and less resolution?