With the notable exception of ATC's (which are v good and v expensive), Harbeths and B&W's, I personally haven't heard full size studio monitors that sounded truly great in a normal domestic setting. Don't forget they are usually optimised to sound OK in a heavily treated control room / mastering suite - i.e. a fairly "controlled" acoustic environment. They can be a touch "bright" in normal rooms with wooden floors and reflective walls nearby for example. Many untreated/non-corrected rooms also have a tendency to bass boom and mid-range suckout. IMHO this is the reason why a lot of people like the "BBC" style Monitors which (IMHO) are voiced the opposite way.
Also a lot of the construction cost goes in making them bullet-proof to withstand abusive levels over long periods of time. However, they are active which has A LOT of benefits in terms of dynamics etc - provided that the amps have not been scaled down to save cost. It's a pity that there aren't more examples like Meridian in this domestic niche. They are nice (and expensive). One (rarely mentioned) downside of active speakers is that if you lose one of the amp modules you've kind of lost the whole system (for repair) - it's not like you can just swap-in another amp... Also there is a school of though that putting the amp inside the cabinet is not a great idea from a vibrational standpoint. I still think there is a lot to be said for this approach though. -- Phil Leigh ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Phil Leigh's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=85 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=30823 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
