Barefoot MM27 Active Speakers for Home Audio


I have been auditioning the MM27 monitor in my home system for the past few days and have been favorably impressed by its clear midrange, and tight and powerful bass output.

Does anyone have long-term experience with this speaker? I am wondering whether it remains impressive over time, or whether it has a "shock and awe" effect that goes away with extended listening.

Thanks for any responses.

Jeff
jeff_arrington
Hey Dr-joe - please let us know your thoughts when you get them. I suspect the negative responses here are merely due to differences in tastes. Being a pro speaker these will sound fairly clinical and very tight in the bass. A design that would not suite fans of Wilson type designs.
I demo'd a pair in my room and compared them directly to Dynaudio C1.

Overall, they are very good speakers---but I really feel they work better in more nearfield conditions. My pro audio friend completely agreed. We both preferred the C1s in my room---when sitting around 11-12' back.

They did not sound clinical to me at all btw. Probably because of the use of a soft dome tweeter.

KeithR
As we all know , buying a speaker is a subjective decision. There is also a difference between speakers designed for home use and those built for the studios that record what we listen to.

My son has a studio in Chicago and bought a pair of the Barefoot monitors. He had Adams before he bought the Barefoots, the Adams were 2/3 the price, but he is happy as a clam. I heard them and was impressed.

For $7,500 a pair they use great drivers, supplied by Madisound, and are self powered to boot. I was tempted to buy a pair, and I'm a DIY speaker builder.

FWIW, I heard a pair of Tannoy Series 1200 monitors at Sonicraft and am going to buy a pair. He had Subs on the bottom and the sound was fabulous! The Tannoy's are not nearfield monitors as are the Barefoots but they great for playback at a greater distance- 8 to 11 feet.

Visit WWW.Sonicraft.com for a treat. You'll see the finest array or RTR machines in the states. If you'd like to have a chat with my son about his Barefoot monitors, he is at [email protected].

As is typical with all studio guys, they keep vampire hours, work until 6 AM and sleep till 3 or so in the afternoon.

If I had a choice , I'd opt out of the Barefoots for home audio.

Ken

Keithr,

Good to read your comments, though I hope you're wrong about them not sounding optimal at 10-12 feet distance, because that's how I plan to use them! In any case, there's enough demand among professionals combined with a bottleneck in the supply, so they shouldn't be hard to pass on if I decide to stay with my AMS-12A. . .

Shadorne,

Good to hear from you. I'll definitely post some comments after I've had the MM27s for a while--from the point of view of someone who's used professional studio monitors for domestic listening for many years. . .

Happy listening all!

Regards,

Joel.