Second the Vanatoos
The Vanatoos are darn good, but they didn’t grab me quite like the Navis did.
Thanks!
I’m considering newer Swans as well.
He loves the Edifiers as well.
He acutally wasn’t impressed by the Elac Navis, which I’m surprised about.
I have some thinking to do!
As far as my NEEDS, I don’t need Bluetooth or any sort of digital anything in the speakers, but I might have to accept that that will be included in the speakers I choose.
I have a single 34" Ultrawidescreen monitor, so my speakers are currently pretty far apart, on either side of the monitor. I’m using an external Topping D10 DAC. Great little DAC!
Think the Elac Navis are ok for nearfield listening? This will be on my desk.
Try taking a USB stick of tunes to a Guitar Center of Sam Ash (one will not allow customer stick into their system… I don’t remember which) and try their most expensive monitors… probably $1K Adams. There you will get a feel for a powered monitor designed for near field listening. They are pretty interesting. Further, the good ones have all kinds of dip switches to control response etc.
I know you are interested in more expensive units, but this will give you a feel for what a studio monitor is like. If interested, Sweetwater carries pretty much everything has a wonderful return policy.
Please report back.
Peace
Bruce in Philly
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Ok, I’m considering getting some unpowered speakers and a nice set of passive speakers.
I’m am looking at the Buchardt S300, because I hear from many reviewers they are better for near field listening that the S400s. The only thing is that they are still quite LARGE.
If I go this route, I’d have to find a nice, beefy integrated amp. I suppose would lower my speaker budget to $1000 to make room for the amp.
Hrmm, thoughts.
Was at T.H.E. SHOW in Long Beach a few weeks ago. Wave Touch Audio was one of the most impressive rooms with their book shelf speakers. New, they retail for $3500. But you can find earlier model used for less than $2K. One of the best soundstages I have heard from speakers even10X+ in price. The funky waveguides in front of the drivers look rather goofy but they perform as advertised and the sound quality is nothing short of serious. I immediately pick up a pair used the day after the show for $1400 and I didn’t even need any speakers. I will eventually find a use.
The S300 Mk II according to Srajen is a first rate option but you might want to e-mail Mad’s and tell him what your trying to do and get his opinion on which model is preferable. For “beefy” integrated amps at a reasonable cost look at the W4S mInt or the Nord Integrated amp with the IcePower 1200AS module.
Funny, in my recent search for current alternative class D amps (based on various different modules) as well as upcoming class D tech, Nord was one of the often recommended brands.
Colin makes good products at fair prices and is easy to work with. I own one of his NC500 amps with the Nord buffer and also a 1200AS based amp and prefer the IcePower based amp. Another alternative is the Nuprime IDA-16.
S 300 og Rogers ls 3/5
S 300
S 400
In about 10 months A 400 is ready. It is active. It’s so secret that I can’t show a photo.
Any plans for an active S300?
The new S400A
S410A : Its close to the design of the S400 and then not really. It looks like it with the waveguide, it’s just on top now (we can do time alignment in the DSP here). The cabinet is a bit deeper (4 centimeters). The big change is that we here use closed cabinets. We have one woofer in the front, and one in the back over the active system. Each woofer is in its own cabinet inside so we can time aligned the back woofer. They don’t have much space to work with so we need a ton of power for them. Here we have 3 x 150 w of some brand new class d chips from Texas Instruments and a powerful power supply to support them. We have a high quality DSP and the CS4398 DAC in each speaker as well. They can be connected via WISA to our hub and remote. You can use any WISA receiver for that matter so the system is very flexible. You can also simply connect them via XLR to your own preamp and run them analog. But using our hub, you will also have the ability to use our Room correction, witch is a topic by it self. But in short, it’s made directly to handle the issues in the bass caused by the room (sub 250hz) and it touches nothing else! I really can’t emphasize enough how fantastic this actually works, and it’s very easy to setup as well and measure your room with the mic.
World news S700A - S410A
For those interested in the cheap end of things, and something that actually fits on, and works with the average desktop nearfield environment, I received a pair of the IK iLoud Micro Monitors ($300) and they are a hoot. Really impressive little overperformers. I also didn’t need them, but what fun - and portability. They work like Audioengines and the like in that the electronics are all in one speaker, and that connects to the other speaker with a four-pin DIN type cable.
Bluetooth, RCA and mini stereo inputs. A 3" and a 3/4" silk dome tweeter. How they make the sound they do, I’m not sure. They’re best on a surface right in front of you, but for kicks I set them on top of the Harbeths and fed them and one sub with the Junior directly. The average Joe would think the Big Speakers were on.
Their new, more “serious” MTM monitors just came out, so I ordered them as well (even though I don’t need them) just because I HAVE to hear what they do. They’re configured more like a regular studio monitor with just a combo 1/4" TRS/XLR line in, and each speaker is identical (sold individually rather than in pairs). Would likely make a kick ass little surround setup if you had a surround preamp. They can be laid on their side in a cradle for a center application. Both models have 1/4-20 stand mount holes.
The MTMs are (2) 3.5" with a 1" silk dome, biamped with 70 and 30 watts respectively.
Cool! I am very tempted to get a pair for my wife’s house in the south of France, but a little voice whispers that since we are only there about a week a year it would not be very sensible 
Were my wife both still living, and had a place in the south of France, I would not worry about sensible. Just sayin’. Admittedly further away from here than from you ; ).
Recommendation goes to Finnish Genelec active speakers. They are widely used in studios and audiophiles all over. Excellent for desktop use also. There are parametric dsp´s on more expensive models but even their 1K€ for pair speakers give very accurate sound. Check them out. We have their biggest model in local audio shop for listen too,around 80K€. What a beasts they are. Only discern goes to looks ,some don´t like it but sound is priority one…
I would’ve mentioned them earlier, as I’ve used them for years as studio monitors. Recently been on the desktop rather than stands due to limited space, and with desk stands and DSP tweaked, they work fine. They would not be my first choice for non-work listening though.
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Yamaha MSP5, with the Stellar Gain Cell DAC they sound awesome, admitted the ELac Navis 51 Bookshelves sounded better, but those would have set me back another EUR 1998, on top of the EUR 1800 (US$ 2030) I paid for the SGCD + EUR 500 (US$ 560) for the cables. Not worth it considering the SGCD gave the Yamy’s a second life. They still sound Stellar.