Riccardo,
Thanks for the recommendation.
How do they translate your mix in other speakers? (Hifi, boombox, car stereo)
How long does it take you to be familiar with the speakers?
Before you buy the TB2 S, did you audition any other speakers?

I'll be using it with an amp that a friend makes for me, www.loryco.com about 150wX2, should be plenty for nearfields.

Thank you once again.

Moko

Jbchef,
they translate very well (at least for me) provided that you have a reasonably good listening environment (your room), a good amp (150 watts per side is the absolute minimum but more is .......better as you do not want to hear compression produced from the amp when it is not in your souce and therefore judge the processing your tracks/mixes may need). If you are working in the digital domain a good DAC helpsheh .
I have used Genelecs, Dynaudio, Tannoy, Yamaha etc in the past but I personally prefer PMC. Everybody will agree that the perfect monitor does not exist. It is a personal choice and what works for me might not work for somebody else and vice versa.
Also bear in mind that in order for your recordings to translate well to other systems you need much more than that:
a BIG set of speakers (not nearfields!)
you should be very familiar with the speakers you choose to use
an exceptional and overpowered amp
very good DAC.........
and so on......but that's another story....
If you have never used a transmission line speaker it will probably taka a while to get used to them (it takes a while anyway with any speaker, maybe a little bit more in this case).
Happy listening!

Moko, a couple of thoughts...

They are not a perfect speaker, but there are lots of Genelec 1031As out there for relatively decent money on the used market. I got the deal of the century on mine ($500./pr) but I've seen them sell for $1300./pr on Ebay. For my field/backup set of montiors, they are perfect.

Also, you may want to check out some of the Quested speakers out there. They come in at a pretty large difference in prices but even the really low-end ones sound really good. You may want to audition a pair of the H108s. I've used the F11 (active small ones) and VS2108s (also active) and have been very impressed with what I've heard.

--Ben

Thanks Ben,

I've used Genelecs 1030s and found them great sounding, but don't translate my mixes well, or I've not been familiar with them yet.

I've put the Quested into consideration, and will be listening to them very soon. Translation of mix in diverse genre of music is what I'm looking for. So far, I've seen good response from Adam S3A (heard them at AES, besides AEA booth) and they are very2 nice, except for the price.
I wonder how the lower models of ADAM are doing.

I know that listening and choosing them in my own room will be the most critical thing. I am just narrowing down my choices for now.

So far,
ADAM
Dynaudio
Quested
A friend suggested Truth monitors as well.

I'm also considering SLS Ribbon Loudspeaker and Newform Research Ribbon.

It will be fun for the next two months selecting monitors!

Moko

I think each progressive step up the Genelec product line constitutes a HUGE increase in quality. I use the 1029s sometimes and I really don't like them... The 1030s are better, but I think the 1031s are still more usable. They are a little heavy on the low end, though... The Genelec S30s are amazing-far and away the best of their nearfields, but they are really expensive.

I've used the Questeds and had them translate well for classical, jazz and some rock. They are very true sounding with a good wide soundstage.... I'm a big fan of the sound of soft-dome tweeters. (If you want to hear something really amazing, listen to the mid and high-end ATC speakers- SCM 150s are some of the best sounding monitors I've ever heard...)

--Ben

I agree, ATC are fine speakers and SCM 150 are really good. Genelecs never worked for me (I have used 1031 and 1035).
It is very subjective ... audition as many speakers as you can...and have fun!

Today Bob brought by this DAC-1 and I have to say this thing kicks ass. We just did a quick, very uncientific test by plugging the different sources into the ADAMS, what a difference ! I could also instantly hear the difference on a set of headphones. Great unit, now I need one...

Well I'll be in Nashville this coming Tuesday.....heh

'

you are such a slut.

Cool. If your schedule allows, give me a call, would love to meet you.

(615) 883 2507

I know, isn't it great

I know, isn't it great

you know it.

you may want to bring 3 with you.. so both yall can hear them on a certian surround setup.. tramp.

Tried one out with my NHT A-20/B-20's over the weekend. It's a whole 'nuther world. I'm buying one this week. Now I've got to put my upcoming mixes on hold until it gets here and then after that I'm sure I'll want to remix everything I've ever done.

The DAC1 is good stuff...

The most pleasant surprise for me was the improvement in the low end. I associate bad conversion with brittle highs and high mids, so I figured that's where I'd hear the most improvement.

The DAC1's high end is very nice, but its low end is dramatically tighter and clearer than that of mediocre converters. I always find the low end (kick v. bass, etc) to be the hardest part of mixing, so hearing it clearly has been a great help.

I agree on low end with the DAC-1

I had real battle to hear kick drum in my small room controll room, in conjunction with bass trapping & monitors, it helped.

Ruphus said... That's sort of what I did this past weekend.
I haven't had my DAC-1 long but was telling my brother in law (an audio equipment-phile...not an audiophile) about it. He offered his home theater as a 'testing' area b/c he is looking for some new headphones, too.

Here's the signal chain we used...
Theta Voyager Transport
MIT AES/EBU Cable 1m
Benchmark DAC-1
Sennheiser HD600

The latest Madonna CD is what he offered as a test --- (it's his house --- so what could I say)? We ran out of time to test other CD's so I don't have a scientific result...the kids had to go to bed

By the way, the Madonna CD sounded awful...not the blame of the signal chain or the DAC-1, IMHO.
There was exreme sibilance on her vocals and a ton of other mid-high frequency pain and the hard panning was both disturbing and annoying.

However, I was literally able to hear the spit building up on Madonna's lips as she sang and discern the different timbres of her voice as the songs dragged on. Imaging was quite good from what I could tell, though the mix was off the charts on weirdness. A lot of elements were hard-panned.

Putting the terrible overall sound of the Madonna CD aside, I was not disappointed by what I heard through the DAC and I think he's gonna buy one!!!

Normally he goes through a Krell KAV-Standard Pre/Converter and Krell amps and then on to some Wilson Audio Watt Puppy 6 in a surround setup.
I must say, the CD didn't sound any better through that, either. The CD sounds bad to me in any listening environment ... but we're talking about D/A converters ... sorry to go on the tangent.

I was wondering if any others had listened to that CD and felt the same pain?

Sorry about the Madonna thing...I use the Ken Burns Coltrane CD usually for testing. It seems to reveal major differences in components.

It's been 20 years and I'm still using it!

hi bob,
did you compare it to the dac3 ?
thank you.

As a mastering reference, I prefer not having the extra headroom so I can make sure converter headroom isn't an issue with my masters. When I can make something sound great on the DAC1, it will sound great almost anywhere.

When just listening for pleasure, I'd prefer the new ones.

Me too! I remember this post from 2003. Its gain knob is a little scratchy, but I don't generally adjust it so...