Which Hi-end monitor for near field listening

Silverline SR17's will do all you require (as I'm sure some of your other candidates may). Don't know what you are intending to pair them off with. At 89db they are moderately efficient so fairly versatile. Great at near field listening and disapear like Casper. Just another (extraordinary) candidate for your list.

Marco

As good as the SR17s are, I really recommend listening to the SR15s as well. To my ears, they are much better speakers all around. Waaay more PRAT, and a clearer midrange. Granted, many prefer the SR17s, but it really is worth giving the 15s a shot.

WOW, I'll have to take a listen to those at some point as PRAT and midrange are two areas I find the SR17's excel to a tremendous degree. I'd definitely encourage you to listen to the less expensive monitors as the SR17's are currently $1200 more than the 15's and will be going up in price again soon. I do think Alan Yun makes some outstanding products. A couple of things I'd like to point out: On the SR17's at some point in their production Alan swapped out the tweeter for a superior version. I can't recall the year/serial number but I'm pretty sure they were in production for a few years before he did that so there are many used examples with the older tweeter. Also, the current production version that I have uses the most idiotic massive speaker terminals that really are a PITA if you use spades. I don't know if he is using this on all his speakers, and I'm not sure if there is some trick I'm missing to use these terminals, but if so, I have not been able to figure it out and went over to banannas.

On another note, a good friend of mine is currently having an issue with the veneer finish on his SR17's. Seems the paper thin veneer (which is quite beautiful in fact) had started to reveal the seams, and the grain is raising on them as well with some bumps forming underneath in a few spots. This is happening on all four sides of the boxes so is not likely due to any specific exposure to sunlight as one might suppose. They've always been kept in an temp-controlled environment, and well maintained. My friend has contacted Alan to see if the warranty will cover the repairs (a simple swap over of the components to new boxes). In content the warranty does cover it, but, according to my friend Alan is not stepping up to the plate on this one as of yet (he'd offered to pay for half the cost of the boxes and charge the balance of $400 to my friend + my friend would be paying shipping both ways). The warranty, on the other hand, implies complete coverage of such a problem. This does surprise me as he otherwise has a fine reputation in the community and, as I said, his products are outstanding. I'll be curious to see how the issue is resolved, especially since it was me who turned my friend on to those speakers. I've seen the speakers in question and they do indeed seem to have something gone wrong with the veneer on all four sides. In his discussions with Alan he mentioned that he was once again revamping the design of the SR17 for 2006. He'll be going to a thicker box wall (from 1" to 1.5") using the same drivers with a new (improved) crossover. The available finishes may also vary. I don't know if similar upgrades will occur with his other models as well.

Marco

S23chang said: I Best recommendation is ATC SCM10. Aside from being a choice of recording studio's reference speakers, it's hard to find anything else that can beat it in such a small room. Since passive is hard to match, I recommend the active version. I'm very sure it will sound better than most of the speakers you listed above. The SR17 doesn't have the dynamic and the deep explosive bass you're seeking for.

Am I missing something here? The ATC speaker you are recommending has a frequency cutoff range of 45hz-22khz. The SR17 is 38hz-28khz and has tight, controlled bass lower than a monitor of that size has any right to in my experience. The ATC you're recommending has an 80db efficiency rating limiting it's use to either the active model with the integral 250 watt amps (which I'd imagine have a whole lot of room for improvement), or the passive model requiring some significant amplifier muscle to drive them. Have you actually compared these two choices side-by-side? Seems like a 'unique' recommendation and I'd not heard of it till now so I'm curious about your assessment of these two choices.

Marco

I would rather have a little more backward than forward sound.

I wouldn't call them "mini" monitors, but if you like a laid-back sound I might suggest listening to the Harbeth line. I've listened to a friend's Harbeth Compact 7's at length and they are very nice indeed, but in fact a bit too laid back for my taste. I was not using them near-field so could not comment there. He loves'em and I can see the appeal if you are into that kind of sound. I'd say the SR17's I prefer would be somewhere in between, but definitely not a 'forward' sounding speaker that puts the performance out front. They use the Dynaudio Esotec drivers (both woof and tweet). They definitely do a disappearing act like nobody's business. I wouldn't call the midrange "thin" so perhaps, again, not the right recommendation for you. Take a listen to the Harbeth's if you have the opportunity.

Marco

From the spec, they should be very easy to drive and match well with most of the amps. They just sound thiner than what we would like. Also, the lower frequency is just not there. Lack of clarity and no punch. You would wonder where is the bass as it claims 38 Hz vs 55 Hz of ATC. Again, these are just our opinions so you can choose whatever you prefer.

Needless to say, this has not been my experience at all with the SR17's and I've owned two different pairs (one of the earlier models, and currently a recent one). Nothing in your description of them resembles my impressions of them so I imagine it may be a matter of synergy. Either that, or your friend did not allow them to break in long enough as, by all accounts, they do have a long break-in period. I've used them with about five different amps, both tubes and SS. I did experience some lack of low end using the Pass Labs Aleph 5 with them, but I do think that was a drawback of that particular amp. My favorites have seemed to bring more muscle to the task: Mesa Baron and currently a Portal Panache. In spite of having heard more than once that the SR17's are voiced for tubes, I have not found that I like them as much with the lower powered tube amps I've tried them with, but they were still great performers here...just better with more power behind them IMO. Those amps were Quicksilver Mini-Mites, Quicksilver EL34 Triode Prototypes, and a revamped Scott 299C (going from 35W to 17W respectively). I'm pretty sure I've read all the online reviews and comments on Internet forums on these monitors and absolutely none reflect the same experience you and your friend had, so I'd have to guess something was amiss there. Regardless, I'll definitely look to check out those ATC's sometime...sounds like a worthy candidate!

Marco

In general my experience has been the floor standers can certainly bring more authority to the music, more often than not bringing the bass down lower and, of course, moving more air in the room. Where I feel that monitors excel is in creating the width and breadth of soundstage, as well as in their disappearing act and imaging. Don't get me wrong, floorstanders can do all that too, and pretty darn well. But I'd say, at a given pricepoint, the monitor will excel those specific areas, especially the later two (again, as a broad generalization). I'd have to agree with Larryi that monitors do not necessarily lend much authority to a convincing full-on orchestral piece. But they do render the more simple acoustic and vocal pieces in very satisfying ways! It just depends upon what you are after, and what programming you listen to most of the time.

Marco