David Lai
2. Studio Monitors and Their Various Personalities
I spent about 30 minutes in the Studio and Recording room, listening to the studio monitors they have on display, connected with my laptop and Babyface Pro FS (I don't know how they route the audio, but each monitor fed inputs from my Babyface, amazingly). I heard the music I brought, which meant classical music, orchestral film soundtracks, and 20th century crooners like Frank Sinatra. What I remember they have are the following:
Focal Alpha 65 Evo, Shape 65 and Solo 6s;
IK Multimedia ILoud Precision 6;
Kali Audio LP6 and IN8, second gen;
JBL 305 mark II;
KRK Rokit5 G4;
Yamaha HS8;
Genelec 8040;
Adam Audio T7V;
neumann KH310;
There was a pair of PMC speakers, but I forgot the model. They are about $3000, and has limited bass response. They have a 6.5-inch woofer and gill-shaped tweeters (or something like that). Jason, my guide, led me to feel them, and they are indeed very solid made. There was also a Dynaudio speaker, but I forgot the model.
There are only 2 pairs of 3-way speakers, the Kali IN-8s and Neumann KH310.
This short impression post is based on a serious music listener who's into good music reproduction, and not from an audiophile / hifi view. What I look for is a pair of speakers that I can listen to for a long time, and that reproduce the music and instruments as I remember them from listening to concerts and hearing actual instruments in real life.
We started with the neumanns, and I immediately felt the localization of the instruments and 3D soundstage. However, the not-so-pronounced low frequencies was something I had to get adjusted to when I first started listening. But after a few minutes, and also feeling the sub frequencies of the orchestral bass having unmistakable presence, I understood why these cost $5000 or so per pair, the most expensive of all the speakers. Indeed, they make fun and sustained listening, that I fell in love with them. We then cycled through the various speakers from left to right, some of them I was able to recognize the brand, and a few even the actual speakers themselves. It goes to show even studio monitors are tuned differently, and each company has their own "personality" in manufacturing speakers. Here are some initial impressions:
Kali Audio's LP6 is the best entry level speaker, and its over all performance and response is fun to listen to. The hissing, though improved on V2, can still be heard. Their IN-8s on the other hand, is a point-source monitor that have cut some corners in my opinion. The bass response is not deep enough, and their higher frequencies do not punch like I was expecting. However, the point source experience was unforgettable, and the concentration of the sound was something I noticed as soon as Jason switched to them.
Genelec 8040 and the Dynaudio speakers I heard had a similar profile -- slightly tamed highs and a warm sound. May be a bit on the "bland" side, so certainly only for some select musical genres.
The Yamaha HS8 has this nasal sound which I recognized and disliked when I heard the HS5s in late 2019. The bass was OK, but certainly not good for classical or jazz music.
The Focal Alpha and Shape 65s I loved a lot, but not so much the Solo 6s. The Solos have this sharpness, thanks to the beryllium tweeter in the speakers. These bring punchiness to the vocals and a big band, but when in a long sustained French horn note, or the entire brass section of a symphony orchestra, the sound will become grating and tiring on the ear.
The KRK and JBL all have a spike on the high frequencies, and not as faithful sounding as their expensive counterparts.
The PMCs have a limited bass response, but the mid and high frequencies are so fun to listen to, and the directivity of the speakers is legendary, helping the soundstage experience.
The Adam Audio T7V has a bit of a souped up mid-bass which is good for pop and country music, but doesn't dig deep enough in large orchestral passages. The IK Multimedia Precision 6s is not so precise in my opinion, from what I remember, they roll off very quickly in the high frequencies, but their mid and low end are fine.
All the speakers are sounding out-of-the-box and not tuned, and the room where they are housed in is big and spacious, but not reverberant so as to effect the demos. Of the speakers I heard, I loved the neumann KH310s and the Focal Shape 65s the best, the latter I have in my apartment, but it's not this reason why I love them. The KH310 has the best soundstage and imaging, and the sound profile is fit for long listening sessions. If one get subwoofers to go along with them, it would be a great full-range system.
The Focal Shape 65s have a more pronounced low end compared to the Neumanns, but not hyped. They soundstage and image in the nearfield, as opposed to the near to midfield of the Neumanns, and they are good for a smaller room and limited space setup. For people on a budget, the Kali Audio LP6, Focal Alpha 65 Evo, or even the Adam Audio T7V are good alternatives and have similar sound character to what I'm looking for in a loudspeaker for both listening for fun and occasionally doing recordings and mixing.
So much for now, this is lasting far too long.....
David