The best mini monitors you have heard?


Two ways, either stand-mounted or small floor standers. If you have good experience, could you share? I have been using the Kharma 3.2s for a few years, so take that as my reference point. I have heard the Magico Minis...impressive initially but too aggressive for prolonged listening..and arguably overpriced IMHO. I haven't heard the MKII version. I recently heard the Dynaudio Confidence C1, driven by Plinius electronics. I was impressed, esp when i found out it can be had for 1/3 to 1/4 the price of the 3.2s or the Minis. What else is out there? please share.
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You mentioned Magico Mini fatigue from prolonged listening....you also mentioned you liked the Dynaudio C1.

I may hazard a guess that you might be finding the ceramic driver audible ringing to be fatiguing. There are a couple of ways that the inherent ringing of these lightweight rigid drivers are stiffled. The first is an aggressive notch filter so that the ringing is electrically damped. The second is to place rubber dampers on the cone (the typical dots you see on the side of the cone).

Stick to ordinary damped drivers like the C1 soft dome and polypropylene woofer (woven fabric or paper and composite designs are good too, provided they are well damped). You will have many more hours of fatigueless enjoyment without the ringing. Less rigid damped cones breakup also... but in a much less detrimental manner.

This is all quite intuitive...if you hit something rigid then it will make a noise and then ring like a bell at a characteristic frequency whereas something soft will just make a single thud (with no nasty extended breakup). If you don't believe me try this experiment; hit a pillow with a drum stick and then try hitting a cymbal.....one will give an impulse then nothing whilst the other will give you an impulse and then ringing. Now try hitting the cymbal with your hand but this time grab it exactly just after you hit it (dampen it) ....this is what notch filters and rubber dampers are doing on a rigid cone (trying to stop its natural internal tendency to ring like a bell)

IMHO, extremely rigid drivers are great in theory but fatiguing in practice unless very well controlled (exremely hard to do as you may have found with the cymbal exercise). My suggestion is to avoid them. There are very many great sounding monitors that use well damped drivers. Dynaudio C1 is already a good start.
Shadorne, I don't think the Magico Mini has ceramic driver. The Kharma 3.2 has a ceramic driver, but is overall warmer than the Mini. I haven't seen/heard the MKII version of the Mini, so can't say if the new one is different soundwise. I was impressed by the Dynaudio C1 for its outstanding performance and its relative pricing. On my list for sure, but just wondersing what else is out there. Thanks to all for your thoughts.
The best two-way I've heard to this day is a diy design bij Scan Speak, the Reference Monitor SE. http://www.audiocomponents.nl/speakers/scanspeak/reference/scanspeak-reference_eng.htm Here you'll find a description and some drawings. The one I've heard was even more painstakingingly crafted by adding a facetted baffle.
“Ringing” is just as bad as “wobbling” which all these soft cones suffers from. The Magico's uses a sandwich cone design that reaps the best of both worlds. Extremely stiff yet well damped for its constrained layer construction and also extremely light. Quite a bit more sophisticated them most drivers on the market.
There's a few smallish speakers that im going to audition. I've talked to several people that i trust in the audio business. I've longed for a small to medium sized floor standers but there is a chance i will be in a smaller listening enviroment once i relocate so to be safe im looking at monitors as well. Keep in mind i have to build a system from the ground up including components. So im opened to Solid State or Tube gear depending on the speakers i settle on. The speakers i want to audition are as follows.

Merlin VSM
Merlin TSM
Escalante Juniper
Escalante Pinyon
Rockport Mira monitors (new)
Dyn Audio C-1
Mark & Daniel Maxiumus
Mark & Daniel Aragon