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Speaker Advice for Bitzie System (Take II)
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miT View Drop Down
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    Posted: 28 Oct 2016 at 12:20am
Good evening all,

Apologies for not being active around here for a while; it's been busy year with the new job, the birth of our little boy, moving house and sudden family health issues. After somehow surviving on auto-pilot, I now need my music back so as to de-stress. (Just to clarify, it wasn't shelved by choice; my PC failed before Benji was born and furniture came first ever since.)

With the PC currently being operated on as a temporary fix until I can get a replacement, I hope to have it back up and running soon but that leads me to my current problem. My "office" in the new house is essentially a large cupboard (1.8 x 1.7m) and I am convinced my existing 8" coax active monitors (Fluid Audio FX8) will be overkill for such a small room so I'm in the market for something more suitable.

Ash had long ago sorted me out with some Sennheiser HD540IIs but I don't feel comfortable using headphones anymore with a 6.5 month old at large so I need to get some new speakers. I have tried a few and liked the Genelec 8020C but need a second demo for these. I have looked at the Equator Audio D5s as I like the coax sound "signature" but I'm unsure if 5" speakers would also sound messy in my tiny room, plus I have to find somewhere to demo them. Any ideas? Am I missing any other small/desktop monitors? And what size speakers would be ok in this room size?

Thanks in advance,


miT


Edited by miT - 29 Oct 2016 at 6:27pm
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Ash View Drop Down
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Great to see you back again; it's certainly been a while. I have used the Equator D5 active speakers in the past. Their reproduction was pretty decent but lacked purity and in a small room, the bass of such a cabinet speaker is going to be accentuated and boomy. I eventually sold mine because I didn't enjoy them enough. It was with this listening experience that I opted for the Slee Proprius monoblocks to well and truly sort out speaker amplification; no need to upgrade this part of the chain now. The cost was hefty but was worth it. Then all I had to do then was find great sounding speaker cones to pair with them, which don't even need to be expensive or fancy to give superb results. The Proprius monoblocks themselves are suitable for any room size whilst the optimum size of driver is variable and dependent on the volume of space you need to fill with sound. You can just mount good drivers on cardboard baffles or in cardboard boxes and put grilles over them if needed. Would be really cheap to do.

How is the condition of your HD540II? If you've taken good care of them, their potential sale value should be pretty high. Thumbs Up They're great but if you no longer find yourself able to use them, selling is an option. Just remember how they sound and let this guide you. This or other audio items could be tactfully sold in order to liberate funds for speaker audio. I did tactful selling of all the headphones I used to own, to essentially pay for the speaker equipment I now use instead. I only have two K1000 now and I may take that down to one eventually. 

A Bitzie and Proprius combo is a superb core system that will get the best out of whatever transducer you put on the end of it. If you can go down this route, you won't be disappointed.


Edited by Ash - 28 Oct 2016 at 2:54pm
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Graham Slee View Drop Down
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What's needed is a pair of nearfield active monitors.

Nearfield because they're designed to work at short distances between you and them.

Active because you need an amp built in (obvious).

Your room isn't much bigger than the inside of an outside broadcast van. The beeb used to use LS35A's when they wanted high fidelity mix downs.

The problem with the LS35A is they don't have an amp built in. If money was no object a pair of Proprius and a pair of LS35As would be the perfect solution (with suitable cables).
That none should be able to buy or sell without a smartphone and the knowledge in how to use apps
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Ash View Drop Down
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Points: 4334 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Ash Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Oct 2016 at 10:04am
I highly endorse a pair of Proprius monoblocks; they are fantastic. I don't endorse the LS3/5a though; they don't do Graham's Proprius any justice IMO. I'd prioritise getting the Proprius to pair with your Bitzie then the electronics aspect of your system is sorted. after this, you can focus on your choice of cables and speaker. I highly recommend buying your own speaker drivers and at first mounting them on cardboard to learn how they and the room sounds. If you buy an active box speaker, you don't have the freedom to change the bits of it that aren't so good.
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Points: 1468 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Richardl60 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Oct 2016 at 10:07am
Going off beam a little but talking of the LS3/5a, I know Graham is attached to his. They were quite prevalent at hifi shows in the late 70s early 80s and were not to my taste, in the main due to their limited LF frequency range and their design brief unlikely to reflect the domestic needs or a larger room as graham sets out above.

Falcon accoustics have sunk a lot of time and effort in to recreating the LS3/5a to as close to original spec as possible (15 ohm I believe) and from what I recall expensive in relative terms to their size (as we know size isn't always everything it is what you do with it).

Given that Jerry who runs falcon is a huge IMF (transmission line fan) and owner last time I heard of the top end IMF rspm/SACM models which provide extremely low, controlled (subsonic <20hz) capability, it does appear at first appearance that investing time and money in the LS3/5a. Maybe he recognises the attributes of the LS3/5a or just sees it as a business opportunity, but there does seem to be an outlet for these 'minis' again.

Any views on Falcon's midget gems Graham?
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Richardl60 View Drop Down
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Points: 1468 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Richardl60 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Oct 2016 at 10:10am
Ps missed a few words out in mid flow - I do find typing on iPad more difficult than it was in very narrow type box Andy large fonts. Not sure whether this the website set up or ipad?
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Fatmangolf View Drop Down
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Having heard Graham's LS3/5A's powered by Proprius amps at pretty close range in the old HSC work shop, I would endorse the recommendations I've read above. I was very impressed by the precise positioning of instruments and effects across left to right in the mix on a mixture of songs/tracks, and the depth of the soundfield on some classical recordings was remarkable with instruments in the right places away from the front of the orchestra.
 
Jon

Open mind and ears whilst owning GSP Genera, Accession M, Accession MC, Elevator EXP, Solo ULDE, Proprius amps, Cusat50 cables, Lautus digital cable, Spatia cables and links, and a Majestic DAC.
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