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
so for now and us a nice looking and ok sounding solution
if I had the budget not spent for different headphones and DAC/AMPās in the last monthsā¦ the KEF LS50 would be first choice for style and looksā¦ maybe in 2020ā¦ not the highest prio
The ānewā 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¦
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.
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 donāt 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.
Iāve 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, theyād be in a big room. In another apartment, a fairly small one.
Itād depend very greatly on what near field monitors you went with, how you drove them, what your preferences are (and whether youād need to add a subwoofer to achieve them - classical music, unless itās 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 canāt put a subwoofer where you want it if you are going for the best sound).
I think if youāre going for nearfields then you canāt 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 youād be better off using headphonesā¦
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, itās just a matter of getting their placement (vs the wall, each other, you) right?