Finally got some new mixing speakers

[Forrrest]

For years (since 2001) I've been mixing on Yorkville YSM1p speakers. Knowing that they've got flaws I've really been wanting to upgrade for the last few years, but knowing your monitor always outweighed the new speakers that I could afford @ 1500$ price range.
I tried a bunch of speakers in that range + some...
Neumann KH120
Adam A7X
Adam P22A
Sonodyne SM 200AK / 100AK
Dynaudio Bm6 Mkii
Dynaudio BM15A
Genelec 8040/8030
JBL LSR4328P
Focal Solo6
Focal CMS 50/65
Mackie HR824mk2



I really really liked the Neumann KH120 and none of the others at the 1500$ mark even compared. I've heard that CBC canada just ordered ~80 pairs of them. Sounds like they're good enough to set the new industry standard!
I did prefer the Focal Solo6 by a bit, but not @ 1000$ more so I discarded considering them.
The Genelec were also really nice, but in a too nice way, I think they're playing tricks on my ears... don't trust the candy! Always follow your gut.

The one hesitation I had with the Neumann was that with bass heavy beats the clipping light would go off at volumes not particularly loud. This light indicates that the internal limiter is being set off. I'm not actually hearing the limiting since it's just the kick drum peaks, but that red light is in your face. The salesman was passing it off on how the mastering for those tracks wasn't balanced and it would normally be ok. (did he forget I'll be mixing un-mastered music on these??) I was recommended a Sub but I really don't like mixing with a sub and I'm not into doubling my budget for one (they recommended a 2000$ sub). For everything else the speaker sounded great. I really liked the upper mids, the lows were well defined (I could very easily make out bass lines). I know these monitors are intended as near fields (~80dB SPL) but I do enjoy LOUD music. Even if I don't plan on doing all my mixing at loud volumes I'd like those volumes available to me. I wouldn't mix on speakers with the limiting light going off, but I know I would just turn them down until the limiter light stopped flashing. Does that mean I'd running to speaker near it's wear point? I don't want to risk that. Having headroom means the speaker isn't going to be operating at 95% of it's capacity. I want speakers that will last 10+years.

So, as usual my 1500$ speaker budget wasn't enough to satisfy upgrading. I did have the Yorkville monitors reconed this last year & I'm not certain they even have the frequency response I'm familiar with anymore. I'm kind of desperate for an upgrade anyways. I couldn't wait another 5years for technology to step up to my budget, so I threw my Mesa mark V amp sale $$$ into the monitor budget and decided to go for the Focal Solo6. They sounded better then the Neumann and they had a lot more headroom, worries be gone! Everything about it felt great (I really like a warm feeling when I'm spending money, is that weird?) These were fucking great monitors to beat!

& then came across the Focal Twin6 on craigslist.
cheaper then new Solo6, and the step up model. DAMMMMN

So that's what I got! Focal Twin6 BE


Fuck am I happy with my purchase.
I plan on setting them up on stand about 12" wider to each side, and laying them horizontal. I'm really happy with what I hear so far.


I'm up for chatting about mixing speakers, what I liked/didn't like about of the ones i've tried recently.

[Noise Supply]

Now I'm very curious about the Neumann KH120 and the Focals. I've used Mackie HR824s a lot, as they are an industry standard in post-production audio for film and TV, so I'm very familiar with them - although I haven't really mixed any band material through them. I'm on the same page as you that Genelecs sound great, but aren't necessarily my style to work with. I got my home monitors years ago, and out of the speakers I tried the only ones that were the same as your list was some Dynaudios and the JBL LSRs. Everything else was different at the time. I thought I'd like the Dynaudios, but they were very "meh" to me. I ended up getting the JBL LSRs and am pretty happy with them. One thing that really surprised me when I got them years ago was how well the automatic room correction system works on the speakers. That's a cool feature, especially at that point in my life when I got them when I was constantly moving them to different rooms/houses. I need to start working on more material at home and get more use out of them. Some day I'll get another pair of something else, not because I don't like them, but because having a variety is nice, maybe I'll look into the Neumann or Focal guys.