Active monitors?.... pretty sure I'm done with big sets of components and pretty speakers.

[Whitey80]

Listened to a pair of hideously ugly mid-field studio monitors at an acquaintance's house the other day (Genelec 1037's on an old Denon PRA1500 preamp and an unknown (to me) model cd player in a lightly treated, odd room)

About as simple as it could possibly be, and the hands down best sounding system I've ever heard (beat up on my previous favorite of the KEF 207/2's on the big Mac monos and all the pre's and transport and suchwhats, set up in the hi-end shop in my area).
Drum kit sounded absolutely right. No fancy, made-up words for the whole thing. It just sounded exactly like it was supposed to.

Think I'll be heading this way in my 2-channel setup and selling off the stacks of gear, speakers and cables, etc. (I may have to strip down the cabinets of the monitors and give them some pretty veneering though, WAF is 0)

Seriously impressive, and reasonably priced (he said something like $5500 for the whole setup) compared to the $65k for the other hifi setup I mentioned, and took up little space (2 components on a shelf with the cd's and speakers on opposite side of room on some stands, about the size of the big old bookshelf speakers from the 70's)

Listened for a few hours, and it was really nice, consistently impressive.

Just thought I'd share my experience

 

[fmw]

I suspect much of what you heard was thanks to favorable room acoustics. Nevertheless Genelec are considered high end monitors in the recording industry. There is no reason they shouldn't sound as good as anything made for home use or better. You might also contact Genelec and see if they will make you up a pair with nice looking veneer and grill.

 

[Whitey80]

Could be, but not terribly likely. L-shaped room with a half-wall to dining/kitchen and only had diffusers behind each speaker. I should get him to drag his gear over to my 12' x 18' enclosed room with diffusers, absorption and traps, let him come over and take a listen when he wants! Sounds like a completely fair exchange to me.

 

[fmw]

Could be, but not terribly likely. L-shaped room with a half-wall to dining/kitchen and only had diffusers behind each speaker. I should get him to drag his gear over to my 12' x 18' enclosed room with diffusers, absorption and traps, let him come over and take a listen when he wants! Sounds like a completely fair exchange to me.

You would be surprised by the way some rooms behave with sound. Back in the days when our group was doing bias controlled tests, we did a test at my house that proved interesting. We had a high end system set up in a small 12X12 bedroom. The speakers were B&W 802 which are well respected in the audiophile community. Then we moved the gear to my bedroom which is 25 X 16 and set up a mid fi sub/sat system from Boston Acousics driven by the same gear. The sats were setup at the same listening distance and the L of the room was behind the listeners. Our group preferred the Boston Acoustics in the bedroom by a 60/40 margin. It was all room acoustics and it was a blind test. Nobody saw the speakers physically.

 

[KEW]

I am very interested in this thread. I know one of the moderators here has said they believe active speakers offer something beyond the passive design.
Intuitively, it makes sense to me to feed the exact signal you want into your amps rather than sending an amplified signal to be further controlled by crossovers.
However, you would think that any difference you hear would be easily measured and that someone would have done such a comparison.
All I can say is, to my ear, for $2600, my Focal Solo6 Be monitors are the best deal I've found in higher quality sound!

 

[shadyJ]

The Genelec 1037 are THX pm3 certified, so they are authorized to create THX sound tracks. This is a very high standard of performance to reach, so some real engineering has to be involved. Genelec is no joke, and I am not surprised they could even surpass some higher end KEF speakers, not that the KEFs aren't engineering achievements themselves. The list of THX pm3 certified speakers is not long, and some of these speakers are well worth looking into if you liked the sound of those Genelecs. Other speakers you should check out are the Mackie HR824, Dynaudio Air 15 and Air 20, and the JBL LSR 6332 and 6328, all of which are THX pm3 certified. The Mackie HR624mk2 are THX pm3 certified and are only $500 each. The JBL LSR 6332 are only $1600 each and promise some big dynamics, definitely give those a look, seriously. I bet you those would sound almost as good as the Genelec 1037s and only cost a fourth as much. Also give Adam monitors a look, they sound really great- the A7's sound amazing. ATC also makes very highly regarded pro monitors, but boy are those expensive.

 

[Whitey80]

Thanks for throwing out the recommendations. Too bad those JBL's aren't active (I'm JBL partial from my experience with the Lansing vintage sets!) The Genelecs can be found used, as my buddy had picked his up for $5k that way from a studio that upgraded to the big main monitor types.
A whole lot of indie studios in the Denver metro area to fit with our large and continually-expanding music scene. Might make some rounds and see if anyone is on the road to upgrading and snatch up their old stuff.

 

[shadyJ]

The JBL LSR 6328 is active and is also THX pm3 certified, although it won't quite have the punch of the 6332. I'm sure it would sound great though.

 

[Morg81]

Hi,

I decided to go for active monitors for my HiFi and HC system a year ago, when M-Audio DSM serie's production was stopped > I bought 3 M-Audio DSM3 to use as Left/Center/Right speakers, for a total of less than 800$!
A year later I am totally satisfied, and I even just ordered two more (used) DSM3 to be used as Wide Left and Wide Right to upgrade from a 7.1 installation to a 9.1 one (the new Denon X4000 amp is pre-ordered to manage it).

Once you accept the fact that the look of the speakers is less important than how they sound, it's a no brainer to choose them over "HiFi" version > active filter + dedicated power amps = best result!

 

[Mike Ruby]

Hi,

Just thought I'd post about a 4.1 system I installed for a client recently that I thought offered quite serious performance. I don't see much about active systems but I thought everyone might get a kick out of this.

This system had to be worked in with the interior designers aesthetic requirements.

I used a Pair of PMC twotwo8's with a PMC Sub2 for left and right channel and sub housed in built in custom cabinets that flanked a fireplace. The speakers and sub took up the entire space within the cabinets. The cabinets were just strong skeletons
The PMC's are active two way monitors with Digital signal processing and utilize three internal amps for the drivers - one for tweeter two for amp. The speakers and sub are connected via network cables and have both digital and analog input and outputs. They don't seem that big, but are much deeper than most passive designs.
I used a Marantz AV7702.
I suggested a Turntable for fun. Marantz TT15.

The speakers were not in ideal open space but did have good separation (more than 9') . They were lower than 34" to top of speakers

Very detailed and dynamic response that goes beyond what I've heard in most consumer based systems. Center channel was never really an option and entire existing fireplace was redone to lower TV screen.
The phantom audio image is really good in surround modes as well as audio.

Thought you all might enjoy.
Mike

 

[KEW]

The PMC's are active two way monitors with Digital signal processing and utilize three internal amps for the drivers - one for tweeter two for amp.

Obviously, using two "for amp" is a typo, but I cannot figure out how the two other amps are used. Looking at the photo, there is only one woofer visible, so what about the 3rd amp?

 

[Mike Ruby]

Obviously, using two "for amp" is a typo, but I cannot figure out how the two other amps are used. Looking at the photo, there is only one woofer visible, so what about the 3rd amp?

Yes it was a typo. I meant three amps for two drivers. They use a class D design and bridge the two together for the woofer.

 

[Mike Ruby]

I should add some specs they quote 150watt on the woofer and 50 watts on the tweeter. 35hz-25khz usable response. 115db@1M Max spl.