Post from Elektronauts, thought you guys might find it interesting too
Had the pleasure of demoing a large portion of current monitors in side by side tests a couple of weeks ago.
Big thanks go to the Production Room in Leeds UK & particularly Richard Powell for essentially rearranging the whole store to accommodate me.
I won't name specific monitors but Yamaha, Adam, Eve, Tannoy, Fostex, JBL, Samson, Genelec etc. were put thru their paces.
We used a wide variety of material ranging from Clasical, D&B, Pop, Hard Rock, Prog, Metal, IDM, EBM, Blues, Funk - you name it!
We also ran test signals, sine, white, pink etc.
One common theme emerged & that was the presence of artificially boosted bottom end. Centred around 100Hz, roughly, depending upon the box.
Didn't have time to run smaart live with a ref mic to confirm it but trust me, it was there!
By far the most transparent speaker & the only one that didn't turn everything between 160 & 400Hz to mush whilst playing back Venetian Snares 'Hajnal', (3 mins 30 onwards),
was...........Drum roll.........
Adam A7X!
When everything's kicking off on that track the detail was unbelievable, nothing came close, even the staff couldn't believe it! I was so impressed I bought a pair!
Also of note, the best bang for your buck, Yamaha HS-8. That's a lot of speaker for not much money!
Interestingly, I was most disappointed by the Adam A77X. I really thought I'd love them but somehow the way 2 drivers handle the low end whilst a single driver deals with mids
(highs go to the ribbon), left me cold.
Anyway, these were my findings, hope it provides food for thought though obviously don't take my word for it, line up some monitors & have a listen for yourselves
Cheers