I now had the opportunity to test the speakers
- ME Geithain RL 906 (price per pair ~ 2500 EUR),
- KS Digital C5 (~1600 EUR) , and
- Genelec 8030C (~1100 EUR)
in direct comparison and I want to tell you about my impressions.
Listening distance was about 1,2 m. Distance between speakers about 1,0 m. Tweeters are placed on ear level und speakers are placed on speaker stands. The room conditions are not ideal (small, asymmetrical), but I have treated it with some broadband absorbers and bass traps from GIK Acoustics (242, 244). The speakers are driven by RME ADI-2 DAC FS as pre-amp.
I tested the speakers. Furthermore I did a blind test with a friend of mine: I switched the speakers when he was outside the room, and then he was led to the listening position with his eyes closed. He is a musician and a quite expericened listener. Furthermore my daughter and my wife did a test with open eyes but not knowing anything (price, reputation of the brand etc.) about the speakers.
All four listeners came to the
same conclusion
independently of one another.
Genelec 8030C
Without EQ: not exciting
With EQ (+2dB at 2500 Hz as
@amirm recommended in his review): much better. Relaxed sound but not very detailed.
KS Digital C5
More detailed than the Genelecs. A litte bit harsh sometimes.
ME Geithain RL 906
Outstanding stereo image. Excellent separation of instruments/voices from one another. For example really mind blowing:
Handel: Messiah, HWV 56 / Pt. 2 - "Hallelujah" - YouTube
Crisp bass. Orchestral drums significantly more precise than the others.
Due to the relatively small size of all the speakers, they only come up to approx. 45 Hz. This should be enough for almost all non-electronic music (except e.g. recordings with organs etc.).
They are all good speakers but the Geithains are by far the best. Maybe they make it harder to enjoy bad recordings. But don't we all strive for the perfect sound?
Another conclusion: All speakers have a smooth frequency response according to my research but sound significantly different under the same listening conditions. Measurements are certainly a valuable means of assessing loudspeakers. But I doubt that measurements can only be used to distinguish good speakers from very good speakers.
Another conclusion: I tried to optimize the sound via measuring the frequency response (Behringer ECM8000 microphone, Behringer UMC22 USB interface, REW measuring software) and flaten the frequency response usind the parametric EQ of my RME ADI-2 DAC FS. It was very difficult to improve the sound doing so. This tended to make the sound sterile and less natural. Maybe I have to gain more experience in eq'ing, but what is certain is that a flater frequency response at the listening position does not automatically improve the sound.