If everything goes fine by the end of the year, I'll be in position to upgrade my current system.
I'm currently using Focal Solo 6, which I enjoy, and I would like to step up to something a bit outstanding.
My use case is mere music/movie enjoyment in an untreated living room of about 5.5m x 7m.
My criteria :
- full range active stereo (2.0 or 2.2)
- best possible sound quality : SOTA flatness/directivity control/distortion/younameit...
- no need for very loud (no idea about specific SPL requirement)
- listening distance is from 3m to 5m away (sofa or dining table used as desk)
- not too technical to setup (looking at you, JBL M2)
- rather an integrated system if 2.2
- good looking, however subjective that is
- max budget is 25k (new)
- buying in 2022
I narrowed it down to :
- Grimm Audio LS1v2 + subs LS1s (~24K)
PROS : Bruno Putzey's design, all reported experiences are dithyrambics, accuracy totally unscientifically confirmed by "Blind test part II" here, can be upgraded over the time to newer versions (when/if they make one)
CONS : no detailed measurements/spin, small (but growing) company
- Genelec 8351B+W371A (~24K?)
PROS : SOTA mains, nice combo with the W371A adaptative woofer and its different modes, GLM, genelec reputation, could be a start for a HT setup if willing to go there later
CONS : not so sure about that "narrow soundstage" (vs Salon2 for example) people talk about here
- The upcoming GGNTKT M3 as a challenger (and probably much cheaper), based on what existing Models do, and the measure glimpses.
Candidates ruled out : passives (Salon2 could have been the exception, but certainly a challenge to find a mint pair and have it shipped from US to my island), other actives like ATC (I like their look, but they are quite expensive and not SOTA), Geithain (don't like the bulk size/look, no detailed measurements/spinorama), Kii Three (SOTA measurements - thanks
@hardisj , but don't like the look, BXT bass module expensive and ugly for me), Dutch&Dutch8C (looks very good for both SQ and esthetic, don't care about distortion, but believed by me to be inferior to the 2 top contenders), JBL M2 (too complicated setup for me), Linkwitz LX521 (complicated setup, ugly), Genelec 1237A/1238A & Neumann KH420 (expected to be inferior to the top contenders, but how certain is that ? by how much ? who knows), Genelec 8361A (ugly, inferior to 8351B+W371A).
I have a kind of crush for the LS1s, but 8351B+W371 is probably the best Genelec can offer for this use case, which says much. Although I'd want to, there is no way to listen to any of them here (Reunion Island, small french rock in the Indian Ocean).
Buying blind would be kinda crazy but I would be game, because any contenders here are, imho, f****** great.
I could have a clear preference for one or the other though, if I could listen to them.
Also, I have no idea how much better these may sound other the cheaper (and supposedly less good) alternatives.
I haven't planned on a trip to Europe soon, but if there was an opportunity of listening to a few of them altogether, would such an event be of interest to any of you (in France) ? It would probably be with buying something in mind.
The input will be an upcoming Topping EX5 through analog.
I later plan to go digital and add room correction with something like Trinnov Amethyst (or Illusonic or DEQX).
What would be your objective and subjective reasons to choose Genelec over Grimm over GGNTKT (writing that, I just realize they all start with Gs) ?
Do you have others candidates I would have forgotten ?