Do you preferred Monitor / Neutral or Coloured / Warmer Speaker

[Witterings]

I am looking at upgrading some speakers and appreciate I'm only going to know which I prefer by actually listening to them both but I was just generally interested if most people had a leaning towards a precise, monitor type sound, or if you'd generally err towards something with some colour / a little bit warmer, finding the studio monitor sound a bit too clinical.

Flip side of the same coin is one's more likely to be a truer reflection so theoretically should be better but in the real world a mixing engineer adds some colour to a mix anyway so it's not a true and clean sound by the time it's a recording .... the instrument that most reflects this to me is drums which without being various effects being applied sound pretty harsh and horrible.

The 2 speakers I'm considering are Spendor A1's and PMC Prodigy 1's, the PMC's I think would generally work better in my room / placement but as I say it's more just to get a general consensus / opinions from other people as to what their preferences are and if there's any reasoning behind it.

Interested to people's thoughts and preferences.

 

[Gray]

Some describe coloured as musical.
Neutral is musical to me.
Cant stand rolled off treble and warmed up bass.

I've got PMC twenty21 (on the end of a Cyrus amp).
Seen the Prodigy 1 in at dealer - and thought it looked nicer than in photos 🤪
It was actually the Prodigy 5 floorstander that they had set up - and I had a brief listen (from a Naim amp).
That sounded a bit overblown in the bass to me....but possibly because I'm used to standmounts.
I reckon the Prodigy 1 will sound good.
(I really fancy a Prophecy 1, but not it's price).

 

[matthewpianist]

I had a pair of Spendor A1 a few years ago, with a Rega Elex-R. They need power behind them to come alive. When they do, they can sound very admirable, but not especially engaging in my experience. I had auditioned them before buying, against a pair of Linn Majik 109s, but I wish I had compared them to a wider variety of options, because I ended up losing money and wishing I hadn't bothered. That isn't to say they're bad speakers, because they are superbly engineered and some people love them, but they are marmite in being so clinical.

 

[daytona600]

Neutral / Flat speakers only if have you have a totally treated room
Sound is 75% your room not your speakers

Fantastic speakers in a poor room will sound terrible , Average speakers in a great room will sound Fanstatic

Modern Studio monitors can to tuned to your room with Software / DSP / Microphones

 

[The_Lecht_Rocks]

I’m listening to Esbjorn Svensson Trio just now on my Prodigy 5s and I do reckon they are the most beautiful sounding speaker in my wee snug. I love them and they are just so well bodied and musical with the EXA100 driving…

If however I was in maths big room listening to my TX9s I’d feel the same, but the signature is so different!

And in the small study the ATCs are utterly transparent!

It all depends on the room, the speaker interaction and the amplifier matching to the speakers.

I honestly think there’s no perfect or correct sound……

 

[Al ears]

Neutral. Cannot have some software telling you what's best for your room......

 

[PieterG]

The instinctive reply should be: neutral. After all, you want an accurate representation of what was recorded.

My idea - true or false - is that neutral speakers can be tuned to taste by applying minimal EQ. For my taste, in my untreated living room, i add some body and take away some sharpness in the higher frequencies. I'm fairly certain that the lean baseline reflects the character of the speakers, while the bright treble comes from reflections in the room.

Sometimes i question whether KEF is the best choice for the sound i prefer. But i'm happy with the modest EQ tweaking, and i keep the benefit of a good stereo image and staging from speakers that are not too fussy about positioning. My ears might prefer Dynaudio, but my wallet does not.

If you're a purist you might reject EQ and look for that perfect (elusive?) speaker that makes your setup sound exactly like you want, in the room where you listen. To people with that approach i say: make sure your room is perfect first.

I don't know the speakers you're considering. If i was auditioning in a demo room, i would prepare a playlist and some notes about what i do and do not want to hear in my new speakers.

 

[Gray]

If i was auditioning in a demo room, i would prepare a playlist and some notes about what i do and do not want to hear in my new speakers.

I took a USB stick of my test tracks to the last dealer demo - just to check that the speakers met a minimum standard, before moving on to a home loan.
(The home loan ruled them out).

 

[Rodolfo]

The reports and the adjectives are entertaining, yes, but generally, ultimately, they themselves do not matter to me: I'm fortunate to not be "questioning" regularly, instead to be so satisfied with my learned tastes, first. and then that my modest so-matched equipment can reproduce my media such that it makes me smile, in awe regularly, and so appreciative and thankful that I can still respond joyously to gifted artists, favorite artists, and good recordings, (plus live performances) because of my healthy ears, brain, and heart after all these decades.

 

[nopiano]

I never used to think about this. When I was a lad, the ‘monitors’ were BBC influenced, and that either meant Spendor BC1 or Rogers LS3/5a. With LPs and typical amps they seemed pretty lifeless and boring, and the Spendor boomed while the little Rogers bottomed out on warps!

Far better were powerful (for the day) Harman/kardon or Sansui amps with US sealed boxes by Acoustic Research.

Fast forward to 2017 when I last made a big decision on speakers I chose ATCs. The sheer clarity won me over, plus I loved the evident engineering and the fact they were made in Gloucestershire.

To most folk, the preceding Sonus fabers, and the subsequent ones I found are completely different. Sf tend to sound very ‘saturated’ and rich tonally, not that I think my ATCs are lean. Most of all, they both tell me what I want about the music. And both are good - to my ears - on piano and speech, two things that really matter to me.

To answer the question, there’s not much ‘reasoning’ but I did spend a lot of time listening. Hence I know what I’m seeking, and you have to be brave to walk away if you don’t find it!

(My 2017 experience was resurrected by our hosts at WHF when the forum was reinstated. I think the odd post is out of sequence, but the essentials are here.
https://forums.whathifi.com/threads/floorstanders-around-£3-000-a-tale-of-two-speakers.107213/ )

 

[The_Lecht_Rocks]

I love my ATC in my study. Their transparency and their lack of interaction in the room gives me a really great “critical” listening experience……… They are only considered lean as they do not embellish any of the recording like my PMC and especially my AlChris !

However, the PMC do warm up the presentation, work with the room acoustic and they wrap me up in a warm blanket of sound and they rock out !

The ALCHRIS do much the same as the PMC but are a much more voluminous speaker in a much more voluminous room but they are a magical creation. Spectacular speakers, hard to describe other than a massive soundstage and a wall of detailed sound with incredible dynamic swing……

I think I’d be hard pushed to decide on any one of my systems and they’re all different consequent to the room they are in and the distance from the speakers….

But the critical point is that a brilliant speaker in the wrong environment will become a poor reproducing speaker !

 

[davidf]

Fantastic speakers in a poor room will sound terrible , Average speakers in a great room will sound Fanstatic

But, fantastic speakers can still sound better than lesser speakers in a poor room.

 

[abacus]

Whatever suits your ears and preferences, going for a specific kind of speaker sounds like a good idea, but if you don't like the sound you will never be satisfied.
I am regularly out listening to live bands and other types of music and so I go for a speaker that can replicate this as much as possible, and I have to say a lot of high end systems I have heard (And some people worship) really suck when it comes to this.

Bill

 

[PieterG]

Whatever suits your ears and preferences, going for a specific kind of speaker sounds like a good idea, but if you don't like the sound you will never be satisfied.

True. Don't buy those ultra neutral speakers because some people on a forum, some respected reviewers, or the "expert" sales guy said so.

In addition, i have tried to learn how to use an equalizer to my advantage. I have a few custom curves that i play with depending on the music genre and the playback volume. These work for me, in my untreated room, but in my opinion it's important that the speakers are close to your preferred sound already without those corrections applied.

I am regularly out listening to live bands and other types of music and so I go for a speaker that can replicate this as much as possible, and I have to say a lot of high end systems I have heard (And some people worship) really suck when it comes to this.

This is one of the things i really like about my system. I play a lot of live recordings, i look specifically for those that were produced very well, and they sound great. Also, i wouldn't consider my system high end 😉

 

[Witterings]

In addition, i have tried to learn how to use an equalizer to my advantage. I have a few custom curves that i play with depending on the music genre and the playback volume. These work for me, in my untreated room, but in my opinion it's important that the speakers are close to your preferred sound already without those corrections applied.

I had a pair of Focal Aria 926's for over 6 months, for their cost I think they punched way above their weight and their detail / clarity was amazing, the only thing that got to me over time was the top end which became fatiguing with long listening sessions.

I do still wonder if I should maybe have just used some EQ to take that edge off which I'm sure was caused by the metal tweeter (haven't liked other metal tweeter speakers for the same reason) because apart from that, they were brilliant for their cost, especially as I picked them up for considerably less as an ex-demo pair in immaculate condition.

 

[nopiano]

I had a pair of Focal Aria 926's for over 6 months, for their cost I think they punched way above their weight and their detail / clarity was amazing, the only thing that got to me over time was the top end which became fatiguing with long listening sessions.

I do still wonder if I should maybe have just used some EQ to take that edge off which I'm sure was caused by the metal tweeter (haven't liked other metal tweeter speakers for the same reason) because apart from that, they were brilliant for their cost, especially as I picked them up for considerably less as an ex-demo pair in immaculate condition.

I’ve a hunch your ProAc ribbons are a bit sweeter than the Focals, but I wouldn’t necessarily attribute that intrinsically to metal tweeters per se. They all vary ime!

My first metal tweeters were in Celestion SL600, which I won, and they were as smooth as silk. Unfortunately they were burgled in 1997! After that I had a silk dome design but they were notably brighter!

 

[The_Lecht_Rocks]

Ribbon tweeters and metal domed tweeters can be too sibilant even mated to great mid and bass drivers I have found…
The trade off is that ribbon AMT sweetness airiness versus wider dispersal which some prefer….i find that top end sweetness difficult to digest. Probably my age and my hearing….

One thing is for sure, when you find a speaker that just works (in my case the TX9 are the absolute endgame unless could swing the TX25s) satisfaction is sweeter than that ribbon tweeeter….

Back from a mountain ride up the tundra and winding up the TX9 with some e.s.t. Life’s great…

 

[abacus]

How to use EQ? here is an article which explains it (Scroll to the bottom if you just want to know what the bands do) however it is designed for recording so some of the info will not be relevant to just playback in a home environment, but you will understand what EQ can and cannot do.

Bill

 

[Witterings]

How to use EQ? here is an article which explains it (Scroll to the bottom if you just want to know what the bands do) however it is designed for recording so some of the info will not be relevant to just playback in a home environment, but you will understand what EQ can and cannot do.

Bill

That is a really useful article, the simple explanation of the bands at the end is brilliant!

 

[Jasonovich]

It really depends on the setting that constructs your audio expectations, just to illustrate.
My lounge AV have four neutral highly transparent Monitor audio speakers, and the centre is the slightly warm and fuller sounding Q Acoustic, moulded to the Atmos format with the little Polks making it happen.
This sound setup, is more about the sound from the visual effects and detail, not for sustained music listening.

My Adam actives give me flat line, true to source neutral sound. Nothing thin about the sound, always full but never exaggerated and excellent across the entire frequency spectrum. The Adams are not your typical active monitors, they have soul!

My headphones particular my planars has the same quality of the Adams but immersive, tainted with a hint of warmth and transparency most speakers have difficulty replicating.

The Dali's in my bedroom is more of an all rounder, never impersonal and yet, incisive and clean without sounding sterile.

I think the best speakers are the ones that are balanced, some warmth, richness of the sound without suffocating the detail. Neutral when it needs to be and engaging at the same time.

 

[PieterG]

How to use EQ? here is an article which explains it

Excellent summary. It looks like i've been doing it right 🙂🙁
This deserves a nice little table...

Frequency	EQ Impact
50-75Hz	Boost to beef up kick drums and sub bass lines. Cut to reduce excessive low-end weight.
80-200Hz	Boost to add body to snares and guitars, punch to kick drums, roundness to bass, and general warmth. Cut to reduce low-end mud.
200-500Hz	Boost to ‘warm up’ vocals, guitars and synths, and add presence to basses. Cut to reduce muddiness.
500-800Hz	Boost (with care!) to bring out the tone of almost any instrument. Cut to reduce ‘honk’.
2-5kHz	Boost to give vocals, guitars, synths and strings clarity, definition and impact. Cut to reduce harshness.
5-10kHz	Boost to add presence and sheen to drums, cymbals and guitars. Cut to reduce scratchiness and sibilance.
16kHz+	Boost for brightness and ‘air’. Cut to reduce high-end fizz.

 

[landco]

The 2 speakers I'm considering are Spendor A1's and PMC Prodigy 1's

There is no point in overpaying for these expensive speakers. You can make any audio you want with a DSP like Dirac or SW