Headphones and Speakers

for nearfield on my wifes homeoffice desk a 2.1 setup with:
a pair KEF Q100 with frontport and an old JBL 10inch downfire sub
we tried before the Q350s- my wife decided that they are to large for her likings

the center image is really nice and staging is ok for the mini bookshelves beeing placed in about the correct 3x 60 degree triangle (between the listening position and the 2 speakers)
the sweetspot at the listening position is not as wide for 2 people- however for 1 person wide and deep enough
a pair of LSR305 would certainly have a way better sweetspot, though the JBL are too ugly for my wife :frowning:

so for now and us a nice looking and ok sounding solution

if I had the budget not spent for different headphones and DAC/AMPā€™s in the last monthsā€¦ the KEF LS50 would be first choice for style and looksā€¦ maybe in 2020ā€¦ not the highest prio

4 Likes

This is why my JBL 305s are currently in a box and my Edifier speakers are on my desk currently lolā€¦

1 Like

I see. The Ediā€™s look sharp :metal:

The ā€œnewā€ glossy 306p is even worse. I would have taken the first 305s and be ok or upgrade to genelecs later. The Kali LP-6 is still cool for entry level.
The Adam Audio T-Series not to forgetā€¦

2 Likes

@MartinTransporter @TylersEclectic , have either of you heard of/about these?

4 Likes

Not yet - have to check it out toworrow. Thank you!
itā€™s already 3:23 am in munichā€¦
Happy new decade and good night :slight_smile:
Stay save guys

5 Likes

Happy New Year!

5 Likes

That is a cool looking speaker!

Have a happy new year! Iā€™ll be editing photos then gamingā€¦then sleep well before midnight :laughing:

6 Likes

Enjoy. Happy New Years!

4 Likes

I am currently considering a nearfield setup for my work desk.
For now, I am 100% headphones, but being able to experiment nearfield would be something interesting. I am a fan of low level listening.
I have a iFi Neo iDSD and was considering just adding the JBL LSR305 mkii. As these are active, I believe that would make an amp unnecessary. Would this setup make any sense?
One other issue is that I would not be much apart from the speakers. What would be the minimum distance you would recommend?
Thanks a lot.

It depends on where you normally sit in relation to where you have space for your speakers. Typically the speakers would be 5 to 6 ft apart, toed in slightly to aim at your regular sitting position, 3 ft or so from each speaker. That would be a starting point where you can fine tune from there.

The iFi & JBL setup should be a nice one.

Mark Gosdin

2 Likes

In general the distance from you to the speakers should be about the same as the distance between the speakers.

For a desk you usually donā€™t have a lot of choice where things can go but getting too far away from an equilateral triangle will effect imaging. You start hearing individual speakers when they are too far apart.

Pointing them toward you a bit can help.

Plus, having a monitor between the speakers is never going to be ideal so I never have perfection or super imaging as a goal anyway.

2 Likes

Iā€™ve been thinking about plunking $10k down on the Sr1a/HSA1-b/Bifrost2 for classical music. Part of me wonders if nearfield monitors would be better though.

Are nearfields generally better than headphones at a roughly equal price point? (I only listen to classical music) Are they highly sensitive to the room? I split my year in two different places: in one apartment, theyā€™d be in a big room. In another apartment, a fairly small one.

I cannot think of one example where you get more performance out of a speaker system than a comparably expensive headphone system.

Itā€™d depend very greatly on what near field monitors you went with, how you drove them, what your preferences are (and whether youā€™d need to add a subwoofer to achieve them - classical music, unless itā€™s just simple small ensembles, still needs proper bass/sub-bass), as well as where they are positioned relative to you, other objects, and any walls.

Ported speakers are sensitive to position relative to the wall. Any bass enhancement will be VERY sensitive to the room and your perception of that bass highly affected by your position relative to its source (i.e. you often canā€™t put a subwoofer where you want it if you are going for the best sound).

3 Likes

I think if youā€™re going for nearfields then you canā€™t compromise on speaker placement (like finding the sweet spot where the low-end is most balanced which typically requires you to be away from the wall) as @Torq already mentioned. If you do compromise, then youā€™d be better off using headphonesā€¦

1 Like

Iā€™ve considered the same question and came across these ribbon near-field speakers, yet to hear.

https://www.magnepan.com/model_mini_maggie

3 Likes

That looks cool! Too bad itā€™s a bit impractical for desktop useā€¦

1 Like

You took the idea right out of my brain. Have been looking at the mini Maggies and searching for my use case.

1 Like

May that use case not evade you. These are tempting but Iā€™d have to hear them first.

Thanks for all the tips and info. Sounds likes its headphones over nearfields. One last question: when buying nearfields, do you need to be highly cognizant of the specific room? Or can nearfields basically work in any reasonable room, itā€™s just a matter of getting their placement (vs the wall, each other, you) right?