Hi Fi speakers/ Studio monitors for 800$

[Kasenumi]

Hello everyone
I am interested to buy the best possible pair of speakers/studio monitors up to 800$ a pair for PC use only (movies, music). Preferably the most transparent, agile, expressive sound, clear vocal and natual bass for the price of 800$.
From the reviews I have narrowed my search to 2 pair of speakers:
1) ELAC Debut 2.0 6.2 budget but good sounding speakers , reviewed by Steve Guttenberg (300 $)
2) ADAM A5X reviewed by Zeos (Studio monitors 800$) 
Though I am open to suggestions if there is any better option for the price up to 800$ for a pair. 
Currently I have Enog 2 Pro DAC and Schiit Asgard 3 AMP. 
What would you advice?
Thank you 

[jaslion]

30 minutes ago, Kasenumi said:

Hello everyone
I am interested to buy the best possible pair of speakers/studio monitors up to 800$ a pair for PC use only (movies, music). Preferably the most transparent, agile, expressive sound, clear vocal and natual bass for the price of 800$.
From the reviews I have narrowed my search to 2 pair of speakers:
1) ELAC Debut 2.0 6.2 budget but good sounding speakers , reviewed by Steve Guttenberg (300 $)
2) ADAM A5X reviewed by Zeos (Studio monitors 800$) 
Though I am open to suggestions if there is any better option for the price up to 800$ for a pair. 
Currently I have Enog 2 Pro DAC and Schiit Asgard 3 AMP. 
What would you advice?
Thank you 

Ya may wanna go to your local goodwill or used store. The times I haven't picked up an amazing pair of studio monitors for 10€ are far too many to count by now.

[The Flying Sloth]

Now, I'm no expert on studio monitors but I've heard great things about the ADAM T*V lineup and considering you can get a pair of T7V monitors for not much more than a single A5X I'd be tempted to get the 7Inch woofer instead. ADAM just kinda doesn't make bad speakers, everything is high quality with the AX series being higher quality than the TV line but with the size in driver difference it becomes a much less obvious choice. Fluff on YouTube absolutely loves the Tannoy Reveal 802s also and I've got a little bit of bias towards Tannoy so you may want to check them out too.

Either way I'm sure the resident speaker expert Derkoli will have a much better answer for you but that's what I've got.

[Derkoli]

4 hours ago, Kasenumi said:

Hello everyone
I am interested to buy the best possible pair of speakers/studio monitors up to 800$ a pair for PC use only (movies, music). Preferably the most transparent, agile, expressive sound, clear vocal and natual bass for the price of 800$.
From the reviews I have narrowed my search to 2 pair of speakers:
1) ELAC Debut 2.0 6.2 budget but good sounding speakers , reviewed by Steve Guttenberg (300 $)
2) ADAM A5X reviewed by Zeos (Studio monitors 800$) 
Though I am open to suggestions if there is any better option for the price up to 800$ for a pair. 
Currently I have Enog 2 Pro DAC and Schiit Asgard 3 AMP. 
What would you advice?
Thank you 

Personally, for that price I would look at a pair of either Yamaha HS8/HS8W's or a pair of Focal Alpha 65's.

 

Each pair has some specific advantages.

 

The Focal's have tighter bass, a more "3D" sound, are smaller and are AB amplified. They also have a slighter better LF response. Focal tweeters also sound amazing. The tweeters on these specific monitors are aluminium, so won't be fatal if you ingest the dust from them if you accidentally break them, unlike Focal's Beryllium tweeters.

 

The Yamaha's are obviously larger. They will play slightly louder, may have fuller bass and will generally sound like larger speakers. They are however less clean sounding than the Focal monitors, and I personally think the Focal's look alot better.

 

After you pick a pair of most likely active speakers, I would grab something like a JBL NanoPatch+ volume controller. It's awful having to turn down your monitors from the gain knob on the back of each one.

 

Please keep in mind that the price stated is only for 1 monitor/speaker.

 

https://www.thomann.de/gb/focal_alpha_65.htm

 

https://www.thomann.de/gb/yamaha_hs_8.htm

 

https://www.thomann.de/gb/jbl_nano_patch_plus.htm

[Derkoli]

4 minutes ago, The Flying Sloth said:

Now, I'm no expert on studio monitors but I've heard great things about the ADAM T*V lineup and considering you can get a pair of T7V monitors for not much more than a single A5X I'd be tempted to get the 7Inch woofer instead. ADAM just kinda doesn't make bad speakers, everything is high quality with the AX series being higher quality than the TV line but with the size in driver difference it becomes a much less obvious choice. Fluff on YouTube absolutely loves the Tannoy Reveal 802s also and I've got a little bit of bias towards Tannoy so you may want to check them out too.

Either way I'm sure the resident speaker expert Derkoli will have a much better answer for you but that's what I've got.

I would recommend something from the AX line up from Adam, but I don't think the A3X are enough if you aren't running a properly setup subwoofer. The poor things just can't keep up.

 

I also just think the 8 inch driver on the T8V is a bit sloppy. It just seems like a higher SPL version of the T7V.

 

Really, the cheapest monitor's I'd recommend from Adam are the T5V, A5X, A7X and possibly the A77X. The A77X's are like a £1400 version of my main monitors. I really want to try them out sometime.

[Kasenumi]

2 hours ago, Derkoli said:

Personally, for that price I would look at a pair of either Yamaha HS8/HS8W's or a pair of Focal Alpha 65's.

 

Each pair has some specific advantages.

 

The Focal's have tighter bass, a more "3D" sound, are smaller and are AB amplified. They also have a slighter better LF response. Focal tweeters also sound amazing. The tweeters on these specific monitors are aluminium, so won't be fatal if you ingest the dust from them if you accidentally break them, unlike Focal's Beryllium tweeters.

 

The Yamaha's are obviously larger. They will play slightly louder, may have fuller bass and will generally sound like larger speakers. They are however less clean sounding than the Focal monitors, and I personally think the Focal's look alot better.

 

After you pick a pair of most likely active speakers, I would grab something like a JBL NanoPatch+ volume controller. It's awful having to turn down your monitors from the gain knob on the back of each one.

 

Please keep in mind that the price stated is only for 1 monitor/speaker.

 

https://www.thomann.de/gb/focal_alpha_65.htm

 

https://www.thomann.de/gb/yamaha_hs_8.htm

 

https://www.thomann.de/gb/jbl_nano_patch_plus.htm

Yamaha is out of the list then. Now A5X vs Focal Alpha 65. Which one of those would you personally choose if you had to? 
Besides what are your thoughts on ELAC Debut 2.0 6.2 ? Does it even qualify for a competition against those 2 in terms of "everything"? 

[Ahoy Hoy]

Have you thought of getting a sub.
It makes quite a big difference on the feel of the sound.

Some possible options;
Adam T10S and two T7V.
Yamaha HS 8S and two HS 8.

KRK 10S and two Rokit RP7 or RP8
JBL 310S and two 308P
 

[Derkoli]

14 hours ago, Kasenumi said:

Yamaha is out of the list then. Now A5X vs Focal Alpha 65. Which one of those would you personally choose if you had to? 
Besides what are your thoughts on ELAC Debut 2.0 6.2 ? Does it even qualify for a competition against those 2 in terms of "everything"? 

The A5X VS the Focal Alpha 65's is actually a really hard decision for me. I own alot of Adam Audio stuff so I may be kind of biased.

 

You won't notice a maximum SPL difference between them. They're within 1dB of each other.

 

Really, I would pick the A5X's because of that damn tweeter. The Adam Audio ribbon tweeters sound absolutely amazing.

[Kasenumi]

On 10/16/2020 at 3:02 PM, Derkoli said:

The A5X VS the Focal Alpha 65's is actually a really hard decision for me. I own alot of Adam Audio stuff so I may be kind of biased.

 

You won't notice a maximum SPL difference between them. They're within 1dB of each other.

 

Really, I would pick the A5X's because of that damn tweeter. The Adam Audio ribbon tweeters sound absolutely amazing.

Made a decision to order A5X pair of monitors. Thank you for helping me make this decision :)