Studio Monitors for Nearfield listening

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EndersShadow

[H]ard|Gawd
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Dec 27, 2008
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I've been out of the desktop audio game speaker wise for a bit. I'm looking for a set of Studio Monitors for use when sitting at my computer desk. They need to be OK close up to a wall. I've already got a set of good floorstanders, but they aren't meant for nearfield and in general a very good source to speaker chain.

I'm looking at KRK Rokit G5's and G6's as they were what I was looking at many moons ago when I was in a smaller space. I think they would still fair quite well with my setup.

Here is the chain I've got. I should note I'm not AGAINST passive speakers, just they must able to be listening to nearfield.

APC H15 & Furman PL Plus Series II -> Computer w nothing but FLAC and hi-rez files -> Black Cat Veloce BNC/SPDIF cable -> Cambridge Audio DacMagic -> Kimber Kable Hero -> B&K Reference 50 pre-amp - ??????? what speakers to get + Elemental Designs A2-300 subwoofer

Now for my floorstanders my setup adds the following: Parasound HCA-1200ii -> Infinity RS-II or Polk RTA 11TL - both with a Elemental Designs A2-300 sub

So help suggest some good studio monitors to me. I'm not against looking at used and I'm currently following some KRK Rokit G6's on eBay.

Any suggestions welcomed. Looking for something on the used market I could find for say under 300 USD for a pair...
 
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EndersShadow said:
I've seen those recommended a bunch. Problem though, they are rear ported which are not good for being close to the wall. They need space to breath I cant give them.
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My pair must not know about that rule. They flank my monitor, the rear panel is about 8 inches from the wall, and they sound terrific. I do have them on some stands to raise the tweeters to ear level. I highly recommend the 305s as an audio bargain.
 
My rear ported Swan M200MKII's don't know about that rule either and they still blow me away every day.
 
EndersShadow said:
I've seen those recommended a bunch. Problem though, they are rear ported which are not good for being close to the wall. They need space to breath I cant give them.
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Mine are about 4 or 5 inches from the wall. Less than ideal but they'll blow most things in that price range and above it out of the water even close to the wall. In the last 3 months or so I've spent more time listening to music on my JBL LSR305 & LSR310S than I have my MartinLogan system and the entire JBL system costs less than one of my ML's.
 
If rear porting is a big deal, I'd look into the Equator D5 as well; though I don't know when those will released again. They've been out of stock for months.
 
criccio said:
My rear ported Swan M200MKII's don't know about that rule either and they still blow me away every day.
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Yeah, I'd looked at the Swans as a possible option, just not sure if I want to go with RCA outputs for these as well as my mains. I was hoping to use XLR for the noise reduction and whatnot, but I'm not against RCA. I also dont know if I really want to deal with 2 sets of tone controls (B&K & Swan) or just the one.

Thanks for putting these back on my radar again.....

Eman D. Rahym said:
My pair must not know about that rule. They flank my monitor, the rear panel is about 8 inches from the wall, and they sound terrific. I do have them on some stands to raise the tweeters to ear level. I highly recommend the 305s as an audio bargain.
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8" is about 7" more than I can give them. I'd consider 8" more than adequate for rear ported.... 1"... not so much hehehe.....

|Tch0rT| said:
Mine are about 4 or 5 inches from the wall. Less than ideal but they'll blow most things in that price range and above it out of the water even close to the wall. In the last 3 months or so I've spent more time listening to music on my JBL LSR305 & LSR310S than I have my MartinLogan system and the entire JBL system costs less than one of my ML's.
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Thanks, thats kinda what I am wanting to go with nearfields. I dont spend tons of time in my office, but when I do, its all nearfield so my big speakers just dont really create the soundstage I want there as they are not MEANT to create it that close.

Just concerned with the lack of space I've got to give them. I've seen those JBL's come up as suggestions in just about ALL my searches, so I will have to see if I can track down a place to listen to them.

heflys20 said:
If rear porting is a big deal, I'd look into the Equator D5 as well; though I don't know when those will released again. They've been out of stock for months.
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Thanks, will read up on them. I tend to move slow and deliberate like a turtle with upgrades, so I'm in no rush. I dont need these today or tomorrow or the next day. I'm going to figure out what I want and then wait till I find a set for sale in price range I'm comfortable with from a decent seller.


Here's a pic so you guys get an idea what I'm working with.

Most current pics (taken with a iPhone 6 Plus, so they are somewhat crappy....) - gear not totally accurate





Idea as to room size



Panoramic (taken about a year ago when moving in)

 
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EndersShadow said:
I've seen those recommended a bunch. Problem though, they are rear ported which are not good for being close to the wall. They need space to breath I cant give them.
Click to expand...

That's not a problem at all. You don't want bass extension near the wall anyway since the wall already boosts it. Closed box works better near the wall.
 
EndersShadow said:
Thanks, thats kinda what I am wanting to go with nearfields. I dont spend tons of time in my office, but when I do, its all nearfield so my big speakers just dont really create the soundstage I want there as they are not MEANT to create it that close.
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In this case you wouldn't be getting any sort of sound stage. Multiple problems, the biggest being that the speakers are directed away from your seating position.

The tweeter is highly directional so you'll get no direct sound at high frequencies, only reflections. You could vastly improve your sound simply by turning the speakers 45° so that they point at your ears. Not perfect but a lot better.
 
B00nie said:
In this case you wouldn't be getting any sort of sound stage. Multiple problems, the biggest being that the speakers are directed away from your seating position.

The tweeter is highly directional so you'll get no direct sound at high frequencies, only reflections. You could vastly improve your sound simply by turning the speakers 45° so that they point at your ears. Not perfect but a lot better.
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If your talking about the panaramoic picture , they are toed in now, but were not in that picture. I hadn't even started getting things setup at that point beyond getting them up and running and playing music for a couple mins.

If I'm listening to my stereo stuff, I normally push my chair back almost to the back wall and use my wireless keyboard to control playback.
 
B00nie said:
That's not a problem at all. You don't want bass extension near the wall anyway since the wall already boosts it. Closed box works better near the wall.
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So the JBL's are still a viable option, or the KRK's are better since they port into the room?

I get that you dont want the bass boosted, thats why I thought you normally pull them out from the wall.

Additionally am I chasing my tail for nothing here since I will be setting a xover in the B&K for the mains somewhere in the 60hz range give or take to let my sub take over?
 
I have the Alesis M1 Active MK2 and they are front ported and I really like them. I've had mine for over 10 years now.
speaker.jpg


desk%20black.jpg
 
I don't know how you get any kind of soundstage there. The tweeters are so far off axis with no toe-in like that.
 
Believe it or not, it actually sounds fine like that.

my other setup uses smaller monitors and they are faced towards me, but I need to raise them up a bit, just haven't gotten around to making stands to raise them.
lg-34um95.jpg
 
Front porting, rear porting, it makes no difference usually because speakers are omnidirective at those frequencies. If anything, rear port is a bit better for masking air flow noises in the vent.

If you leave 50% of the cross section of the reflex port distance to the back wall, you're still good to go. Put it any closer and then you may start to get extra noise as air speed increases.
 
Also the port is for as low as the monitors will play which is probably in the 40Hz-50Hz range and you have a sub and the pre-amp will crossover them so the rear port that close to the wall should have less of an impact than if you ran the monitors full range.
 
|Tch0rT| said:
Also the port is for as low as the monitors will play which is probably in the 40Hz-50Hz range and you have a sub and the pre-amp will crossover them so the rear port that close to the wall should have less of an impact than if you ran the monitors full range.
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Thanks... I started to wonder if it was going to matter given my planned usage.
 
KEF LS50

Not cheap at $1500 a pair, but about as good as you will find (even at several times the price).
They are rear ported and passive, but leaving enough clearance for the connectors should be plenty for the port also.
 
bleagh said:
KEF LS50

Not cheap at $1500 a pair, but about as good as you will find (even at several times the price).
They are rear ported and passive, but leaving enough clearance for the connectors should be plenty for the port also.
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Yeah, they were on my list, but to pricey. I'm content with my main listening speakers (Polk RTA 11TL's and Infinity RS-II's). If I was looking to combine my rig into one, the LS50's were on my list as were the Usher Mini-X's, but for now I think the JBL's may be my best bet.
 
You can't go wrong with Monoprice studio monitor speakers. They carry three different sizes - 5 inch, 8 inch and 10 inch. I've had the 5 inch monitors for 3 years and they sound amazing. They competed extremely well against M-Audio BX5s a few years ago.
The 5 inch speakers go for $170 a pair on monprice's website. I don't think you can really do much better for the price.
 
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