Nearfield speakers

[Fretless]

Here is an article from Steve Guttenberg on his top 10 of current nearfield speakers. That is - small-scale boxes that you can use on your computer desk.

http://www.cnet.com/news/sonic-frontier ... CAD767ae48

I've heard the Mini-Maggies powered by a high-end system and they are capable of serious audiophile sound, but also come with a serious price tag (unfortunately).
Currently I have a pair of Creative Gigaworks T40 II's hooked up to a Roland USB DAC with NVA SC for my computer audio fun. The slightly bassy output of the boxes is tempered by the neutrality of the SC and is just fine for me. Crank 'em up and they are really quite impressive.

[jandl100]

I heard these Ferguson Hill desktop horn + sub speakers at a Show and was very impressed!

http://www.fergusonhill.co.uk/product_details.php?id=7

[Fretless]

Love the 'Radar' dishes - I'd have to get a bigger work-table, though ...

[wallace]

I use an e-dac,an AP10 into an old pair of Alesis studio monitors with LS3 cable .Listening to Ben Webster on spotify premium,with a cup of coffee,mmm tasty,no wonder i never get anything useful done...

[jandl100]

I'm not far off near-field with my main system, it's the best way to reduce the sound being boogered up with too much in the way of wall reflections, imo - although you'd need a big desk for my speakers so I guess that's not what you are talking about here .
Things get too swimmy and ill-defined for me if I am too far away from the speakers and/or in a very big room.

[Fretless]

My main system is also set up in a relatively small room where I sit about 2.5m from the speakers. And agree that the imaging is very precise. In this case, though, nearfield would mean that you are within 1.5m.

When I heard the Mini-Maggies they were in a medium-sized dem room with room to breathe, and the sound was very spacious with good Imaging. What I liked less was that the lower end came from a centrally-placed bass radiator unit that messed up the sound stage somewhat. The drivers are roughly the same as used in my MMG's but it was a close call on what was better (Mini-Maggies are more than 2x more expensive than the MMG).

A noticeable difference with the bigger panel Magnepans was that the soundstage was more linear, stretched between the 2 tweeter units. The usual Magnepan sound is far more vertical with a definite above and below element in the placement of instruments.

The Doc has pointed out the weaknesses of magnaplanar speakers, and that is probably evident if you drive them hard. Due to the limited space of my listening room, volume levels are kept low and I derive much pleasure from these 'giveaway'' panels. As a note, the Magnepan MG12 is almost identical to the MMG, but its enclosure is slightly larger and better finished.

[wallace]

I use an e-dac,an AP10 into an old pair of Alesis studio monitors with LS3 cable .Listening to Ben Webster on spotify premium,with a cup of coffee,mmm tasty,no wonder i never get anything useful done...

Just gone back to the JPW 310's,much more fun..It's kinda nice having a spare room full of speakers..

[Fretless]

.It's kinda nice having a spare room full of speakers..

Envious of you - I wander throught the local thrift shop from time to time and they occasionally have nice bits of old hifi kit there for next to nothing. I do have a strange pair of smallish speakers lying about in the attic - perhaps I'll experiment with them a bit.

[Fretless]

Dug the speakers out - it is a pair of Soundcraft P1 made by Bose (yuk!) and the rubbers around the bass drivers are completely perished. Is it worth repairing them, or should they be binned? Any advice, please.

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

Bin!