Ordered a pair last week for Long & McQuade Monster Days 6 months free financing.
Also getting the Iso-Acoustics Iso-155 stands for them.
They should be in this week
Now I have to redo my computer studio since I was using a Denon 7.1 receiver as an AV hub.
The receiver, my old unpowered monitor speakers and blu-ray player are going.
Now it's the comp into the audio interface into the powered speakers and the HDMI from the comp straight into the monitor.
Hoping for a smooth transition

 

I like and trust them. I've been working on very different genres and projects with them, from Trance to Neo Classical Movie Music to synth sound design, and I always had a very good result, more professional engineers liked the sound of the mixes and presets done using them.
But I'm certainly not the right person to ask, as I dont consider myself as a professional engineer.
I'm only a composer and sound designer who mixes his work.

This old article from Paul White at Sound on Sound gives a good technical and practical idea of what the Event Opal are:
https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/event-opal

 

Those Alpha's should be perfectly fine. Just like any monitors, you need to spend some time with them and learn how they sound in your particular room and space to work with them properly. You're just going to start that process all over again with a new pair.

The enclosure on them is a bit silly, I have the newer EVO 50s and those big plastic sides hang off my speaker stands where my previous Tannoys were a perfect fit. I thought about removing them, but they're probably doing something for the enclosure so best leave them in place. I wouldn't trade these things for anything in the world unless I was stepping up to 'real' Focals or 'real' Adams or Genelecs or something.

I would NOT drop a pair of Alpha's for JBL LSRs or Yamahas or Kali's in the same range. That's a lateral move, might even be backwards.

 

True, it's a small setup for a normal sized studio i guess, but this thread is about 7" maximum without a sub. What's special about the Klasiks as far as I can say now is the price - if they really perform like 2k or 3k 7" monitors like many engineers claim. But they look too oldschool for me also.


Event Opal are a lot more expensive, any other recommended 7" or smaller ones that are not mentioned yet?

 

Last edited: May 31, 2023

That's an expensive experiment. If only a few inches from a wall, it should be common sense to head for front-ported monitors, no?

BTW, i bought a pair of Neumann KH120's (the original ones) three or four years ago and have never regetted it. They really sound exellent for the size, with well-balanced, detailed mids and non-fatiguing highs. Mixed through them, they translate very well for me elsewhere.

You're right about the outrageous price of matching with a neumann sub. I instead paired my KH120s with an old yamaha SW10 sub, which sounds fucking excellent all the same, outputting agreeably amazing, full spectrum sonic dominance, though tbh i hardly ever use the sub, 'cos since i became familiar with the KS120's i've hardly felt the absolute need to & use cans (HD600's) if/when i need to scrutinise my low end without terrorising the neighbourhood.

 

Last edited: May 31, 2023

I hope somebody might have experience with the Klasiks close to the wall? I also always thought I have to go front ported but I have since read some other statements about it. For example Genelec advices to put it's back ported monitors from 5 to 60cm from the front wall, that's close, like touching the wall with the cables, the same like now with my Focals. I can always remove bass I guess (?) What's with the rule of thumb to leave one diameter of the port behind the monitor? Furthermore the Klasiks seem to operate more like a sealed design and can also be operated with the vents blocked. I'm still not sure. Luckily I can try the monitors and return them if they don't fit.

By the way, would you recommend the KH120a also for bass heavy music? The genre I'm working with has a lot happening in the 40Hz area. Kickdrums around 43Hz fundamental and so on. I'm in love with the appearance (and reputation) of the KH120. Unlike the Klasiks. They look to oldschool and are quite big. But it seems like they would be perfect with me without a sub.

You are right! The Focal are great after all. I don't want to sidegrade that would be a pain.

 

My advice will be to save a little, and that will bring you one level up from whatever members have mentioned here. A good example will be the Dynaudio LYD 48. Relatively small, 3 ways, super accurate and translate great to other systems. I use both CORE and LYD series and can say that you can do much much worse than using LYDs. Finally, remember that monitor selection is totally subjective, and at the end it comes down to budget, and personal taste. Indeed, what sounds good in MY room could sound like shit in another. Therefore, try as many as you can IN YOUR ROOM before making any decision. Listen to us, and most likely you will end up regret it down the line.

Edit: Some of you are under the impression that all monitors are make equal. They are not. From cabinet design and construction, to quality of components used there are way too many variants for anyone to even think that a $500 speaker sounds the same as a $5000 one. Like everything else in life, you will get what you pay for.

 

Last edited: May 31, 2023

coaxial Kali Audio IN-5 are good choice, don't get fooled by their ridiculously low price,

fresh new more expensive contender is Fluid Audio Image 2 but I haven't yet heard those

 

Well, as long as that's an option, you should definitely give the Klasiks an audition at home! All i would definitely say is that the KH120s sound great, are very well made (and heavy for their size!) and are most definitely high quality kit.

I work on all kinds of music that has plenty going on in the low-end, though i'm certainly no club/house/techno producer... No, on their own the KH120's are simply too small to supply reliable low-end information for club-edm tracks.

 

I was running a pair of the focals myself up until about 6 months ago then made a switch to PMC 6’s, I’ll never buy another speaker again, a little pricey but if you have the cash there I honestly would not recommend anything else, 18 years of production and never have I heard sound so pristine with a design that is aesthetically porn as

 

PMC's are great sounding speakers but 3x the OPs budget. I had my eyes on a pair of PMC 6-2 listed on Reverb for under $6k but it obviously was a scam.

 

I've had the APS Klasik (first iteration) for about 3 years before upgrading to the APS Aeon 2 later on. I did use them close to my front wall and they produced a lot of low end. The Aeon 2 are behaving the same way even though they are front ported. I don't know who told you they operate like a seal design but they don't. They are vibey monitors (to an extent). I think they are in the categories that I would call ''best quality for the price point'' but they are not flawless. The bass is tight indeed but not as tight as a sealed design cabinet. They have a few parameters to play around in the back and you should experiment with those settings and placement when you get them. No need to discard the idea of placing them close to a wall if the rendering is to your liking. My Aeon 2 are close to a wall and I prefer them that way then in free air.

I would also highly advise against blocking your monitors port. The design of the woofer is made to work with air circulation. Blocking the port will not only introduce extra low end distortion but also damage the woofer coil and if you drive them hard enough, you could probably blow them. Don't, just don't.

 

Great news!

As for the sealed or ported design: This review mentioned that the port can be blocked and they also did measurements with both options. Measures quite good!
https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/aps-klasik-2020?amp
From the review: "So it looks like, while the Klasik 2020 has a reflex port, it’s actually closer in its low‑frequency high‑pass filter characteristics to a closed‑box speaker. The port doesn’t actually appear to make a huge contribution."


Maybe that's something they introduced in the 2020 version? I have no idea. APS says in the description "recreating the advantages of a closed enclosure, while maintaining the advantages of a bass-reflex enclosure." I assumed that the units ship with a port blocker? But that's just me reading reviews and not being and engineer at all so don't quote me on it.

Does the Klasik have a small sweet spot? I noticed it doesn't have waveguides, doesn't that have an impact on it?

Thanks again for your feedback.

BTW, i wish I could afford the aeons

 

The same soundonsound guy mentioned the same thing in a review in regards to the Aeon 2 and the port resonance that he calculated with the mic inside the port.

As far as I know, no one listen to their monitors with their ears inside the bass port.

The real life result is a bunch of kids not understanding the physics of woofers waiting to get their woofers reconed or replaced by APS and having to spend thousand of dollars to get their monitors back in working order and mine still working as expected with no damage for over 3 years now.

The coil is made to have a certain displacement which is facilitated with the bass port in those design which is why you won't get the same excursion and drivers in a sealed design. The woofers will have completely different properties.

Now, you could definitely block your Bass port but if you compensate for the obvious level of gain loss, you are actually overpowering your woofers and making them work overtime to obtain the same level of loudness. Now imagine if the crossover maintain the same level on your tweeters but your woofers just cant maintain the same level of output...

Anyways, you can read about it and can find some APS users with broken woofers if you google it. That soundonsound guy really ...ah, I wont say anything else about him.

The Klasik and the Aeon dont have a small horizontal sweetspot. As long as your ears are close to the bottom of the height of the tweeters, you can move from side to side on your chair with the same rendering.

APS dont ship no port blocker but, if I remember correctly, Kristan (the APS owner) already said you could block your port as long as you are fine with a lower volume output (I think it was in a gearslutz thread). That mean not trying to compensate for the gain loss by turning up your volume knob.

In regards to what you quoted for the sealed/ported advantages, as I said, it is not as tight as a sealed design but not as vibey as a typical 1000$ back ported design neither.

 

My Neumann KH120II's arrived and I redid my studio to accommodate them.
They're sitting pretty on the IsoAcoustics stands on the 8" poles.
Listening to King Crimson's "The Great Deceiver" like it was the first time.
The audio detail is almost overwhelming and the bass kicks ass more than my old 6" monitors.
"Fracture" just started. Time to go...

 

I've been thinking to replace the KRK V6 Series 2 monitors that I've had for about 12 years and ordered a pair of APS Klassik 2020's. Let's hope that change is good.

 

I'll assume that you have a decent room hence the 7 inch monitor.

 

I personally avoid recommending any speakers, since it's so dependent on so many factors, like a lot of people have said here.

In saying that though, I've used various Genelecs for yonks, and they work for me. They're neutral and unflattering, sure, but once I got used to them they do translate very well. The nice thing about Genes in the same series is that they all sound the same, bigger just means louder and extended bass range. So if I start a tune on 8020As which I've got at home and do a mix, then moving on to the 8040As at the studio just means I can take it from there and rebalance the bass. Though I'm sure other professional brands have the same feature. I've never had the fortune to compare Adam 5's and 7's for instance, though they're not bad monitors by any means. I'm just not too used to them.

And the whole "unflattering" aspect with Genelecs means to me that if I can make something work on them, then it'll work everywhere (i.e. translate). Then again people say the same thing about Yamaha NS-10s...

 

Treat the room.
Then get a pair of good monitors in your budget. Every monitor has its pros and cons.
Get a Sub or maybe a pair of Subs and use something like minidsp or dbxPA2 or higher end Interfaces with proper 2.2 speaker management capabilities (eg Anubis) where you can truly crossover and phase align sub to mains.

For anyone willing to bash me, I used a 3 way from Sonodyne (SM300) and a Sub (AV Sub) from BIC America (PL300) to get this in my room.

(used almost no Octave averaging to show the true data)

 

Whatever else you do please ignore anyone who tells you to block the ports on a ported design. Ignore everything they say forever. Don't talk to their family and don't drive down their street.

Other tips:

1. If the room is small don't be tempted to go for larger speakers to get more bass. They just won't work well.
2. Careful if you add a sub. It's really easy to overdo the bass and undo the balance of the system as a whole.