Active Monitors for small room

[wgb113]

I've decided to make my system simpler and am going to purchase a pair of Dynaudio BM Series Active Monitors in the near future. I've found over the years that I prefer a near-field setup for serious listening and have found the Dynaudio Series to be the most pleasing in my price range. The room they will be used in is small, only 10.5' x 12.5', and serves as a study/office as well. I am trying to decide whether the BM5A's will fit the bill or if I should step up to the BM6Amk2. 95% of my music collection is rock music from the 60's through today. I will be connecting my iMac directly to my DacMagic and then on to the Dynaudios. Placement is yet to be determined. They will either be placed on the desktop or on dedicated stands. If I go the latter route I will use my iPod Touch as a remote.

 

I am not looking to get into a debate on active vs. passive or Dynaudio vs. another brand. Just looking for suggestions on speaker size in correlation to room size with active monitors.

 

Thanks,

Bill

 

 

[kana813]

Lots of info on active monitors over on:

 

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/forums/

 

[PJH]

Hi,

I own a pair of Dynaudio Focus 110A active monitors and I use them in a small room (12' by 12') but the back of the room opens up to the rest of the house. I sit about 7'-8' away from them the speakers and they sound great. They sound good from anywhere in the house, really.

One interesting aspect of these particular speakers is that they seem to have a very wide dispersion pattern, even when I am in between the speakers, at my equipment rack, I can clearly hear the highs and mids. I believe it is due to the very large dome of the tweeter. The BM series has very similar drivers and I expect very good sound from them in any room. Another plus is that active speakers sound very dynamic at low volume levels. Also, these speakers have adjustable bass, mid, and high levels so room size and speaker placement become less of a problem for the speakers.

I feel that the Dynaudio range of active speakers are the perfect answer to many varied applications and the 110A's produce the best sound I have heard in my home and for a reasonable price.

I have a pair of Dynaudio MC-15's on my "must have" list for my video system and for use as a portable system.

 

[wgb113]

What type of music do you primarily listen to? My only reservation is that most of my collection is modern day rock music which is heavily compressed during the production/mastering stages and that the Dynaudio's might be too revealing of that.

 

Those Focus 110A's are sweet looking!

 

Bill

 

[PJH]

They are very revealing to be sure.

Unfortunately I listen to everything but modern rock or country and western.

For what it's worth, I really enjoy the Chemical Brothers through these speakers but I don't get the impression that their music is compressed.

I also enjoy some of the Trip In Trance stuff which sounds great.

Reading your post over again, I see that you have 60's and up rock. Well I am a big Zeppelin, Hendrix and Stones fan, among others of the same genre.

I have a very smooth but revealing pre amp, a Sim Audio P5003.

 

 

[ramagochi]

If you can, try with the Dynaudio BM6A (Mk I) (ugliest than the Mk II), I prefer so much over the MkII (I have a pair of BM15A but I heard all Dynaudio active speakers in studio)

 

[wgb113]

What about them do you like more?

 

[ramagochi]

Sounds better to my ears. Better bass and less congestioned midbass, this will be the reason why Dynaudio still manufacture the MkI

 

I heard all the Dynaudio range of amplified monitors (I was searching a new pair of monitors for my studio), IMHO the better sounding is the BM15A followed by the BM6A, IMHO the poorest sounding Dynaudio's are the Air 25 (price/sound) (The AIR range isn't good except the AIR15 but is inferior to the BM15A).

 

[Ajax]

Hi,

I have the Adam A7 active studio monitors (from Germany) hooked up to a Benchmark DAC HDR playing FLAC and ALAC through Media Monkey and iTUnes respectively.

 

I am delighted with the sound - very transparent and acurate. The singers sound like they are in the room with me and the double bass certainly sounds like a double bass. I use this set up in my home office which measures 15' x 12'. It certainly doesn't require a sub.

 

I play all types of music but mainly rock as well as high res 24/48 from B&W's Society of Sound web site.

 

Anyway certainly worth an audition if you can manage it.

 

 

 

[wgb113]

I've now decided to sell my DacMagic for a Benchmark DAC1 since the latter has a built in headphone amp. I've always wanted a pair of AKG K701s after hearing them at a friend's house so the Benchmark will fill the bill of DAC w/ balanced outputs and a good headphone amp all in one.

 

I'll have to do some searching on the Adam A7. I think I've seen it in comparisons to the Dynaudios in some threads over on GearSlutz.

 

Cheers!

Bill

 

[VT Skier]

If you're sure you want Dyns, which I also love, I'd recommend posting your question at the Dynaudio owner's thread at the AVS forums (link below). I also agree that the Focus 110As are extremely good, although expensive, having heard them at CES in the Wadia room. Bigger and better than the MC15s, but almost twice as expensive.

 

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=686371