the biggest differences between both is the low mid.
I found the SRP800 to be just a bit lazy in the low-mid while being very articulate in the high-mid.

This problem don't exist anymore with the SM300 and the mid-driver.

They are articulate and precise across all the frequency range. They also sound huge and the sound is quite impressive for the client.

So they are some real workhorse. Would like to upgrade to the SM3200 in the next year or 2, but i'm not in a hurry since the SM300 are really great

Ok, I put spikes again under my stands. I had that setup before but I read on internet that spikes just make more vibrations than regular feet. I had to turn down the lows for another -2db. And wow, there is so much tighter sound that i couldn't believe. I probably am hearing true studio monitors for the first time, but theese were cheap. Much better separation between lows and mids now, and low end is much more controlled.

Cheers!

Hello,

How much is minimum distace recommendation for Sm300, and for how much do you keep them? Thanks.

(for not opening new post)
Ok. I bought cheap Adam Hall level 3 cabels with golden tip on jacks as my old Klotz cabels fellt appart after 6 years of use. The sound is now much more sterille (i dont know iff i appreciate it so much now). But the samples are now locked in the air and image is stable with more information in the heights. It is better for mixing now, but i guess that i will have to get used on it...

Cheers.

Im not quite sure about the distance. Mine are about 1 meter and a half. Using for Mastering, May go with the SM3200 in a near future.
They are not so expensive considering I tested them against way more expensive monitors like Kii Three or bigger PSI, they easily passed the test.

Hello,
Im new on this forum (Im a just a music lover ) and I have a Sonodyne SRP 205 (HIFI version of SRP 800). Sonodyne say that this is just the same speakers.
I have Nuprime DAC 9 conected with Sonodyne-s.
It sounds great. The only thing that worries me a bit is whether, in my case, a double DA conversion is carried out given that I have a DAC 9 before the SRP 205.
Sorry for my bad English.

regards,
Simon

Just thought I'd mention that Studio Spares has the SRP range in stock, I thought they'd disappeared form Europe/North America. Love my SRP800s...

https://www.studiospares.com/search-...name=match_and

Not only that http://www.velvetsound.net/en/sonodyne-65/

so who has tired these next to small Genelecs (8010/8020/M030)?

I need speakers to be pretty close to the wall, so the SRP400's front porting appeals.

Well, my room is heavily treated (I have a thread about it and in a month, it will be even more treated for the VLF).
The only culprit in my room is the floor dip at about 100 Hz and to remedy that, I am planning to use SM300 pair with a pair of SLF210. Why 210 and not 312? Well, 312, depth wise is 4" deeper than 210 and I will not have that much space. But technically, my absurd looking configuration will remove the floor dip.

Here is my placement configuration. (Earlier I had Eris E66 when I started learning. Those speakers suck. But I am unable to sell it here in india and so I am keeping it).
Basically the each SM300 and SLF 210 will make an almost full range 4 way system and Each Eris and SLF 210 will make an almost full range 3 way system.
The image is drawn by me. From top to bottom we have SLF 210, Eris E66 and then SM300. This will be configuration of each side.

What do you guys want to add?
(As per my tests with rew, my absurd configuration may work)

Why you dont go with SM3200 instead? They go lower than SM300 and are probably more compact without subwoofers... I have SM200 and my mixing skills are poor. Cannot get that clarity and depth as it is in commerical music (on cheap tv speakers)! Then again, i know it is a deep crap wrapped in a nice plastic bag... :D

Well. The reason is floor dip.
The floor dip can only be remedied, if the sub is on floor or at certain heights. I have checked this already with REW.

So whatever I do, I need Subs to remedy the situation. This is why I am going with SM300+SLF210 because together they can go as low as SM3200.

Regarding the low end on the SRP400 - would there be a staggering lack of low end vs KH120's/Abacus C-Box/Eve SC204's/KS C5 for example?

I'm not looking for a bass monster, I already have some huge 8" speakers too - I just don't want the bass to be so absent its hard to do a quick mix on them.

Also whats the current status of Sonodyne? I don't hear a lot of buzz about the outside of Gearspace, and even here they are not flavour of the month like 5 years ago. We only have one fairly silent seller of them here in UK (Studiospares)

This is my story...


I have been using sonodynes since 2014. I started with the srp 400 after hearing good reviews about them. I was probably the first person to use it in Kolkata (where Sonodyne is based) They indeed sounded really good and I still use them as my second reference. The initial model had port chuffing issues which got replaced by the company.

In 2016 I added another pair of sonodynes...this time it was the SRP 800.
Again, nothing negative to say about the sound.
But then, after 2 month of purchase, one of the speakers started showing issues. The gain dropped randomly making it unusable. The service guys were unable to detect the problem and returned it to me after doing some general checkup. The same issue reappeared after six months and just like the first time, they couldn't find any fault! The issue stayed till January 2020 until they changed the entire internal components including the dsp board.

After having so much hard time with the 800s, I decided to get the SM3200 last month..which is their flagship model.
After receiving the speakers and olay8ng some of my reference tracks, I could immediately hear some port rattling issues from both the speakers. After testing them further with sine sweep I found out that they are rattling at 125hz and 178hz respectively. The guys at Sonodynes assured me to replace these with a completely fresh assembled pair. After 15 days of waiting, I got a call from the CEO stating that the new pair is also having similar issue and according it him, it has to do with the cabinet moulding process which needs to be fixed from scratch. Once the issue is fixed, they can deliver me another pair (without issues hopefully) in 2 months.

As these were my main monitors in my studio, I cannot wait for so long...so I decided to drop Sonodynes and purchased the Neumann KH310 instead. Really happy with my decision now I must say...

My experience with the brand is pretty bad. Not complaining about the sound though...they are really good in that department. But sometimes, reliability is more important than anything else.

Also, I am NOT the only person who had issues with their products. I know many more people who faced similar things.

I feel really bad sharing negative experiences about a brand from my hometown whose office is just 5 kms away from my place!!! But people need to know the whats really happening.



Ps. I have some gut shots of the SM3200. I can share them here is anyone is interested.


Thank you

Please share.

Sounds like your SRP400 at least survived quite well?

Yeah...the first pair had port chuffing issues which got replaced.

I’ve been very close to buying a pair of SRP400 on many occasions. The one seller in the UK has decent warranties, but not sure i can be bothered with the hassle!

The 800 is really expensive, that i’d never take a punt on!

I would risk and go with Sonodynes. I have them for 6 years without problems. For what price did you found SRP400? Because i bought new SM200 for less than 1000 bucks from Velvet Sound, with shipping from England lol. You can contact them but their mail didnt work, for me at least, last time . Iff yes, search here on forum for Ivo Sedlacek, he is the owner of Velvet Sound. One thing that makes me wonder is why they recommend in manual that you must project sound in listeners forehead. In that setup you dont hear speaker signature at all. When tiliting them to the ears the sound really opens and stereo image becomes precise.

SRP400 are about £530 street price from StudioSpares but I'm going in another direction now I think. Want to try some Sonics Animas if at all possible.

I've had no luck with Velvet Sound in past, can never get any interest out of them.

Well, here is my story.
Sonodyne, as a company sucks.
Although they know how to perfectly knock off Genelecs and that's the reason some of their speakers sounds and measures really good. No doubt on that.
But as a company, based on reliability, management, handling, it sucks bigtime.

So I bought SM300 pair with a pair of SLF312 subs.
Now, SM300 shows port chaffing noise at around 97 dBSPL which may be okay because no one's gonna monitor at 97dBSPL anyway.

It has bracing. But they used hollow metal rods as braces. Still can't find why they were trying to save like 10 USD (at max) per speaker by not using a 12mm-ish Solid metal rod and instead using12mm-ish hollow metal (most probably Iron) rod.

Much like Genelecs, they do use a Noratel transformer. They use BB 24/48 conversion. If there were some Digital Input capabilities, it would be great, but anyways...

The class A/B amped Tweeter have a pretty good Hiss at idle. My room has 27dBA noise floor and I can hear it pretty good. But let's not start nitpicking.
The Transformer does make some noise. It would have been better to use an SMPS instead.

But now comes the worst part.
Sonodyne engineers don't know shit about REW, Step Response, how one can get the Waterfall etc and this was pretty perceivable while talking to them.
So basically, if reliability is you first concern, it is a big NO NO.
But again, sounds and measures good.
SM300 was dsp balanced.
Now, the blunder.
SLF312 is analog.
Sonodyne couldn't rip off anyone.
So they made or designed one themselves.

One of the worst subs ever.

It is a 12" sub with two flared backports.
Now, as per their LMS Measurements and mine with 6 cycle FDW (although my room is absorptive down to 20Hz and I didn't need FDW but still did it anyway), the port is tuned very very narrowly around 37-38 Hz and the port has a steep 24dB/Oct roll off.
Now only the driver, has an Excursion protection HPF at 40Hz, that too at 24 dB/oct.
I measured everything exactly as per how the LMS manual states.
The results are basically around 48dB/Oct roll off.
So from 40 to 30, SPL lost was 15.8 dB.
Their stated FR, on website says, -3 at 30Hz and -10 at 25Hz which is roungly 24 dB/oct. Which is fine from a ported sub still. But inside the manual that came with the box, it said, -6 at 30Hz and -10 at 25Hz which translates to within 12-18 dB/oct Roll off slope.
But their OWN LMS Measurements and Mine (which were pretty much same) didn't measure anywhere near stated response.

Oh, I didn't tell you. But right after I bought the two subs, they were off by 6dB wrt each other. So their sensitivity was not matched.

I asked them to repair and at first they were bit BSing.
So, a senior mentor of mine, Rhitabrata Kar (He posted above as well, named RBKOnline) helped me and I talked to the owner of Sonodyne and then after like 5 days of purchase, they took the sub. They then did something (refused to tell me what they did, and called it a "Trick of Trade") and after 25 days, came back with the subs. They were still rolling off before 40Hz at the same slope. I asked them to take the subs and refund me. Thankfully, I got refund.
But I will never tell anyone to go for Sonodyne if they are wanting reliability. But atleast the SM300 sounds and measures excellent and as per specs.

Well, now I have BIC AMERICA PL300 and with one EQ moveto tame the BIC's proprietary low Q Peaky response, I have flat (+/- 2dB at 1/48dB/Oct smoothing) till 15Hz.

I am sharing my current response and current setup image as well.

Hi All

So after 3 weeks of intensive research of small studio monitors, making a decision on which to get within budget and size then changing my mind multiple times, I almost gave up and just went way over budget. I then received an email from studio spares, a shop in the UK advertising a bank holiday sale. As part of the sale, they were discounting the sonodyne srp400 and srp500 monitors by 50%. I had never heard of them but looking at the tech specs of the srp's, they appeared very similar in size and frequency response to the monitors I was about to pull the trigger on (genelec 8020D's). As an added bonus, they were £400 cheaper per pair and within my budget. So I started looking into sonodyne but couldn't find much except for some old web reviews and couple of threads on gearspace form 2014-2016. But these reviews were mostly full of praise.

So I started reading through this 16 page thread and by page 10 I was thinking I might have found a great set of monitors in the srp400 at a great price (£149 each) as everyone was raving about their clarity and neutral soundscape. Then near the end of the 16 page thread, I was starting to see some people signalling alarm bells. 1. All of the well known and reputable shops across Europe and the US stopped stocking them, 2. a few people having failed units and 3. the company appears to have gone silent.

So after some thought, I decided, for £300 I should give them a go. I decided on the 400's over the 500's due to the glowing reviews and they would fit my space better. I also can't find much on the srp500's. I can live without sub bass as will be using them in a corner of a bedroom next to a wall and figured less bass, less acoustic issues. I also have a decent set of headphones for occasions where I need low bass reference and more volume. So I put in my order and they are coming tomorrow.

Anyways, the reason for resurrecting this old thread is to ask users of the srp400's to share their experiences with the reliability of these monitors. Have they lasted? Have you had any issues with faulty units? Do they still hold up against modern competition? Do you still use them?

I am definitely going to give them a try and am sure they will sound great, there is just something niggling my mind that they may have disappeared from the market for a reason, and that reason is reliability and longevity in use. The shop I got them from has a good returns policy so if you lot start flooding in with broken units and horror stories, I might just return them. (I am hoping very much you don't)

Thanks for bearing with me until the end and I look forward to your comments.

Edit: just found a blog post by studio spares from October 2020 saying they are exclusively stocking synodyne monitors. So Sonodyne do appear to be still making and selling the srp series, but only distributing through studio spares outside of India.

How'd it go, Steve? Just spent the best part of an evening reading this thread only to come to the horror at the end!

Pjowsky they are great. All the good stuff people mentioned in this thread is exactly what I have experienced.
The clarity is exceptional, especially in the mids and highs. I listen to a lot of techno, disco, funk and reggae. These monitors handle them all with ease. The reverb tails in reggae are super clear and the strings in disco songs are really well defined. I can hear all the individual instruments in the string and brass sections. Hi hats and snares are really clean with no harshness or sibilance.
Bass is really tight and well defined. Due to the frequency response cut off, they don't do sub bass, but you probably already know that. I don't listen a lot of music with really low bass, so it doesn't bother me. These go low enough to feel the groove.

I am so glad I took a chance on these and resisted the urge to spend double the price. For the purpose I use them for which is writing music and referencing mixdowns, they are perfect.

Build quality is top notch, they are really heavy and look and feel premium.

So yeah, so far so good with no issues or regrets.

That's great to hear Steve thanks a lot for the update. Looks like my pocket's not gonna get hit too hard then! Cheers!

after 9 years since posting this, on a different account, I finally got a pair of the anodyne srp 400

they were on sale for £99 each, last few pairs in a UK shop

I sold my genelecs as I found them a bit fatiguing for my tinnitus, despite being very nice.

the srp 400 arrived today and I can only agree with the comments in this thread that they sound pure. the way they present the sound is so nice and revealing without being fatiguing.

looking forward to digging into these and it is such a good deal providing they hold out. I've never had a pair of speakers fail on me tho.

glad to finally get them.

was that at Studiospares? I would have bought at that price, still would if they had some!

It was indeed, I luckily got a pair.

would have been instant purchase for me at that price.

What Gens did you have?

yeah i was going to share here but got busy

8020dpm

I did Order them too as they where so cheap an i came across this thread , looking forward to Test em