Focal Shape Twin vs ADAM A8V vs Dynaudio LYD 7 vs HEDD Type 07

[dosifey]

Hi,

My default choice right now is the Focal Shape Twin, however, others might be better choices?

I like the fact that I am able to move around with Shapes. Priority is clear and neutral sound, to be used with a subwoofer eventually.

There is not a lot of info and measurements about most of them.

Thanks

 

[stevenswall]

What do you mean move around? They have good horizontal dispersion?

I didn't dislike the Focal Shape Twin, but you might check the vertical dispersion and see if that's an issue for you. EX: If you put a speaker on a desk and the sound radiating at a low or high angle is bad, you'll hear some of that bouncing from the desk. A coaxial speaker can help with that a bit if you'd like to be able to move around both horizontally and vertically.

This seems to suggest there's an issue with linearity on the Focal Shape Twin... If you aren't set on those three speakers you might consider looking at some that have been measured by ASR and have a more even response. The JBL 308p should be more linear for example, or a Kali IN-8 if you want something with a few more features and better vertical dispersion.

 

[dosifey]

The JBL 308p

Thank you, but this JBL seems really basic. Strong contender was ADAM A7V but it does not have auto standby which is important for me, and A4V measurements on here really dissapoint.
I may need to return to HEDD Type 07. It does not seem there is anything better available really, unless I pay around $1500 or more for a monitor.

 

[stevenswall]

What do you mean basic? If it were more advanced but had worse frequency response would you prefer that?

Why are these monitors the ones you are choosing if the Focal can be beaten by a lowly JBL 308?

 

[dosifey]

What do you mean basic? If it were more advanced but had worse frequency response would you prefer that?

Why are these monitors the ones you are choosing if the Focal can be beaten by a lowly JBL 308?

I mean it just looks (and is) very cheap. I had a presonus r80 - another low value monitor. The sound was OK "for the price" as they always add. But the materials (laminated vynil) was soo poor quality, kept peeling off.
Kali IN-8 might be better, but it is still that laminated vynil. Hard to get on Australian market. Does it measure better than ADAM A7V and HEDD Type 07 MK2?

 

[stevenswall]

Adam A5X Review (Powered Studio Monitor)

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Adam A5X powered speaker. It was kindly sent to me by a member for review and costs US $499 each. Despite its small size, the A5X is quite heavy: The back of it got warm so I am assuming it uses class AB amplification or at least a linear...

www.audiosciencereview.com

No measurements for the larger one.

It's decent vs the JBl.

Once you get even frequency response bass extension and dispersion are the next things to solve.

For bass extension a pair of Mackie HR824 speakers I think would do better than these mentioned. A Kali IN-8 will have some advantage with vertical dispersion and DSP correction switches on the back.

I guess what it comes down to is what are you looking for?

Why these specific speakers?

I'd go with the JBL because it's cheap, the Mackie for the bass extension, the IN-8 for the vertical dispersion and room correction, and above that maybe Neumann and then Genelec with a SAM subwoofer.

I'm not aware of anything that stands out for the three speakers mentioned. Two of them have ribbon tweeters, but that doesn't necessarily mean better or worse treble.

 

[dosifey]

Kali on the first instance seems a very cheap three way speaker with very bold claims. I understand that I am limited in my budget at the moment, ($1000 USD per monitor roughly) but the plan is to get decent two way speakers and compliment them with a nice sub a bit later down the track...

Kali Audio IN-8 2nd Wave

Active nearfield monitor 3-Way system with coaxial midrange/tweeter, Drivers: 8" woofer, 4" midrange, 1" soft dome tweeter, Power: 140 Watt (60/40/40 Watt Tri-Amped), Frequency range: 37 - 25.000 Hz (-10 dB), 45 - 21.000 Hz (+/- 3 dB), Maximum...

www.thomann.de

Here is one Kali review:
"too much hype imo


qws 23.11.2022
They are presented as the best BUDGET 3-way speakers because they literally have no competitors at this price point... It seems like a lot people these days are blown away by marketing strats & what's on paper rather than what they're actually hearing...
What you get is a cheap looking speaker with a cheap build quality that delivers decent highs, a clear midrange with a good stereo image and high spl... Now you may ask.. well what about the low-end? Exactly... In comparison to other 3-way speakers they just sound lifeless to me, you can barely feel the low-end energy even in bass heavy music. I'd only consider pairing them up with a good sub, but then again, why get 3-way speakers in the first place if you need a sub to hear what's happening in the lower range.."

Why these models? Well I think that the HEDD is a good quality speaker with a nice feature set (the whole body of it is painted, for example, and not laminated with vynil like most others), some innovative fetures as well (like closed box option, digital connection, good auto standby etc). I do not know in detail how it measures, but it sounds OK. Are there better sounding monitors? Maybe, but I can not buy them all to try.

Others just happen to be in the price range. I was hoping maybe to find a good alternative to HEDD because their DSPs seem a bit fragile.

 

[Ogremic]

I can't imagine how can someone recommend the cheapest JBL's when people ask about speakers in a different class.

I am a bit biased towards Hedd, as I have a Type 07, but I'd definitely try to audition all of them. I really like the sound of the AMT deployed in them, and they sound good at low and high volume. But I'd pay attention to A8V because it's a 3 way and they might sound better at high volume