Yamaha HS8 or Adam T7V monitors

Onlythesound

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I think I need to stop being scared and traditional which means I want to buy a pair of active monitors. The Yamaha HS8 and Adam T7V find themselves firmly in my crosshairs but does anyone have other recommendations up to a max of £500?
Main use would be streaming of Apple Music, via something like an Ifi Zen blue, tv amplification, CD via my Sony Blu-ray player and some amplification for my bad guitar playing. Also thinking about going back to vinyl after decades away. Am I being practical in terms of the apparent limited connectivity for all the kit I’ve mentioned or is this easily overcome using some sort of switched multiple connector box?
Thanks in advance folks.
 
Ideally you will need some way of controlling volume with proper active speakers. Each speaker comes with a gain (volume) setting that is typically only set once to balance the two speakers (free phone spl app will help do that) And then left alone.

You can get passive preamp / channel switches from as little as £20 that would get you going. This nobosound is one example but there are many other, the RCA connection ones tend to start around £30. Or if you are feeling flush then the Tisbury Preamp is worth a look at £150. Or buy an old integrated amp or pre-outs and use that or an old preamp.

Amazon product ASIN B07DNYF22N


this rotel preamp would also do a good job and has a phono input to get you going On vinyl later.


Worth keeping an eye on this as it may go cheap, tuner preamp which are not popular but this is part of the Nad monitor pro series and is a very good preamp and has a good mm/mc phono input and a remote. This would probably be my choice if it goes around £100 (may be dreaming).


Review NAD 1600 Tuner/Preamplifier Review price specs - Hi-Fi Classic

My experience with the HS series (HS7) is that I did not like them for Hifi listening, brutally honest so tracks poorly produced were almost unlistenable, just my opinion, your ears may differ. The T7V or T8V may be better, the Tannoy gold 8 I would add to the list being coaxial which will help stereo imaging and dispersion. Second hand habe a look at the Dynaudio BM5 or what I have Mackie HR824 mk1 (£1500 when new).

Mackie Hr824 in good condition Log in to Facebook

Dynaudio BM6, a tad over budget but has ono Log in to Facebook

The other thought is that you may need a DAC to get sound out of your TV and Blue ray is they don’t have analogue outputs, only digital. These can be had from £25 but there are some very good ones at £120ish notably the Topping e30 and Smsl Sanskrit 10th mk2.
 
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Thanks for that detailed reply @Ugg10 . Lots to think about. Interesting to see your comments about the HS 7 - one of the items that’ll appear on my ‘for sale’ list will be B&W 606s which people often describe as being harsh but my ears have never found that. Still I appreciate that generally active monitors are very honest. Re the Tannoys, they look nicer than most and stand a better chance against the SWMBO factor. 😟. Although I’d have some persuading to do if I went for the Adams!
As regards volume/preamp control, thanks for reminding me about that. Ideally a Dac with volume control would suit best. Bluetooth for streaming I can run through the Sony Blu-ray LDac system.
 
I’d also consider these. At a good price here too.


As for a dac/preamp, it seems for a budget under daft money its difficult to beat one of these.

 
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I think I need to stop being scared and traditional which means I want to buy a pair of active monitors. The Yamaha HS8 and Adam T7V find themselves firmly in my crosshairs but does anyone have other recommendations up to a max of £500?

I might caution you these tend to be designed as near field monitors rather than living room/office active hifi speakers. At least make sure you know what you are getting.
This means they often sound there best when correctly setup at a distance of 1-1.5m from you. They can also be quite brutal on your hearing even at low volumes (though less of an issue with compressed commercial music).

Yes - the sound when ideally set up will often have excellent punch/dynamics, but also may seem a little flat tonally with perhaps in a slight bias in the upper/mid range that can make vocals seem very in-yr-face...

I have worked with near fields for years and have hifi as well. I find hifi speaker are more relaxing and less fatiguing and generally enjoyable to listen to especially at higher levels and for those into EDM music with groove or more likely to get you going, but ideally positioned active near fields with decent amps in them have a precision that I have never matched at the price (compared to only passive speaker cost, never mind adding the cost of a great amp to drive as well). At low levels ideally positioned near fields can be amazing like having the sound injected into your head - really immersive.

Past versions of the Adam's have been excellent monitors for mix work, but I always found them to be a bit too intense to work with 8+ hours a day and always preferred something a bit softer from he like of event or mackie, genelec or KRK (though KRK can be a bit forward as well).

I have never used recent Yamaha monitors (though I do have Yamaha hifi speakers) since the original Yamaha NS10 back in my BBC days (late 80s/early 90s) which TBH I though were horrible back then, but they did have some core qualities that made them good in their own horrible way for their main use :)


As for driving strudio actives, well there are hifi pre-amps (some of which are streamers/DACs too ) that may be suitable. Many DACs have an output volume control. There are also a variety of decidedly non-hifi passive devices around that IMHO tend to just add to cable mess and also worth looking at. There are so called monitor controllers which are intended for small studio control room type use which is what I use for mine (Presonus central station - ceased production many years ago, but they may still make something equivalent as do several others). The monitor controller used to exist at all price points from a mininal boix with a pair of in ins and outs and a volume known to a route monitoring routing matrix. The thing I use is somewhere in between and way overkill for listening type use (it has talk back mic and remote control box, multiple monitor outputs, multiple inputs, headphones amps, calibrate level meter etc).
 
Thanks v much for your ideas and input guys. Plenty of food for thought here. Does ‘near field’ mean in practice that anything further away than that in terms of listening position, renders them useless (mine will typically be about 3 metres away) ? I’ve seen some actives described as mid field - maybe these would be better.
@Paul7777x , the Topping E 30 seems like a good DAC to think about. I’ve noticed a lot of folks talking about it on the site.
 
….just had another look at the Thomann site. The mid fields are way too pricey so that squashes that brilliant idea:mad:
 
Thanks v much for your ideas and input guys. Plenty of food for thought here. Does ‘near field’ mean in practice that anything further away than that in terms of listening position, renders them useless (mine will typically be about 3 metres away) ? I’ve seen some actives described as mid field - maybe these would be better.
@Paul7777x , the Topping E 30 seems like a good DAC to think about. I’ve noticed a lot of folks talking about it on the site.

There is no such thing as nearfield, midfield for domestic speaker purposes..

They are studio terms to dictate the size and power of a speaker to enable adequate headroom for full range volume blasts for accurate recording/mastering.

A ‘near field’ speaker cannot change its sound output once it leaves the drivers, so the sound can not alter, whether 1 metre distant or 5 metres (except for sound pressure drop off with distance, the same as any other sound or noise source).

I’ve used a number that I can’t remember of actives at home and none have suffered for it.

As for being tiresome after a few hours, I’ve never found that either.

My current Adams are superbly neutral, very detailed and completely controlled. Anything less is colouration.

I know a lot of hifi people like that kind of smudgyness but I don’t know why.

Any 6 or 7 inch driver in a good quality active speaker will have no trouble filling your room with mighty fine bass down to its limits, which are typically lower than a standard passive speaker because of the better control the DSP controlled power amps offer.

On top of that, almost every active speaker offers non passive boost and attenuation of the bass and treble drivers to help with positioning.

There’s so many to choose from which is the only ‘problem’ with active and studio speakers.
 
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Your logic as ever, is inescapable Sir. Also you hit my particular nail on the head re trying to escape the smudgyness of normal hi-fi. Having dithered for so long I’m now ready to take the plunge into accuracy for want of a better word.
I’m certain from what you’ve said elsewhere on the forum that a pair of properly set up, reasonably priced actives, will outclass my Denon/B&W606/Concept 20 combo by some margin.
 
I’m certain it will sir 👍

And for loud listening, and perhaps oddly, quiet listening, actives have the further advantage of being difficult to unstick.

Their properties remain at both extremes because of the direct driver control.
 
I think I need to stop being scared and traditional which means I want to buy a pair of active monitors.
I think fear prevents a lot of "traditionalists" from taking the plunge but they're missing out on the best sound per pound. We active users were all traditionalists once.

Am I being practical in terms of the apparent limited connectivity for all the kit I’ve mentioned or is this easily overcome using some sort of switched multiple connector box?
Certainly do-able. Just a matter of selecting the right equipment needed to accommodate all your analogue and digital inputs, whilst minimizing the box count I imagine? Several good suggestions already mentioned. This is not a market segment I know much about though I'd throw the Yamaha WXC-50 into the mix as it's a streamer (with Apple play) and has inputs for one analogue and one digital source together with stereo analogue outputs to feed active speakers. Best check specs. before purchase. If you have just the one digital source then you could add the suggested Nobsound passive switchbox to the Yamaha to accommodate all analogue sources.

As for active nearfield speakers, there are many reviews worth checking out on this reputable website:


I believe active nearfield monitor speakers make excellent hifi speakers when used at typical hifi listening distances of 2 to 4 meters though just like passives, they don't all sound the same. Some actives, like the Yamaha HS range, sound quite mid-forward (shouty) to my ears whereas KRK's often sound tonally darker (too dull) to me. Just as with passives, you need to choose a speaker that suits your sonic taste.

My theory as to why some may find a typical passive speaker more relaxing to listen to for pleasure is that the perceived near-instant transient response to a music signal of an active speaker, often absorbed by the crossover (electrical sponge?) in passive speakers, comes as a bit of a shock. To my ears, many, possibly not all, passives produce a softer sound which some may enjoy (or find less challenging) especially with less dynamic musical genres.

I use budget active nearfield speakers which some have described as bright but I really enjoy them and find them ultra-detailed and exciting rather than fatiguing (could be that my old ears appreciate a bit more treble). But they can do warm and relaxing too, should the recorded material dictate. Basically, they seem true to the source media. Maybe I'd have a different opinion if, like Khazul, I worked with active nearfields all day long. Maybe I'd like to come home to a softer, easier to listen to sound.

Agree with Paul7777x's point - actives I've heard sound the same at low volume as they do at higher volumes. Same is not true of any passive I've ever owned. The original Mission 770 needed serious welly to come alive. I often wonder if my hearing would be in better shape had I discovered actives much earlier in my hifi journey.

I know a lot of hifi people like that kind of smudgyness but I don’t know why.
I'm tempted to say: that's because they don't like music, but I won't.
 
If it were my cash I’d be attempting, with a polite enquiry if this fellow would be prepared to allow you to arrange your own courier at his convenience, and offer him your maximum £500.


I do have a thing for Dynaudios, and regardless of what anyone says about active speakers, I’ve never heard the tiniest word said against the Esotar tweeters in any guise.

And they appear to be in as near new condition as any used speakers I’ve ever seen.

Might be all you ever need.
 
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If it were my cash I’d be attempting, with a polite enquiry if this fellow would be prepared to allow you to arrange your own courier at his convenience, and offer him your maximum £500.


I do have a thing for Dynaudios, and regardless of what anyone says about active speakers, I’ve never heard the tiniest word said against the Esotar tweeters in any guise.

And they appear to be in as near new condition as any used speakers I’ve ever seen.

Might be all you ever need.

I’ve noticed you’re a bit of a Dynaudio Champion in other posts Paul and will certainly look at those but the SWMBO factor will be high. Unless I can be at my most persuasive, current favourite is white, white or something with white in it :facepalm:.

The soundonsound website that @dogfonos mentioned is also a great resource to trawl through which I’m doing as I write! Thanks….so much food for thought though mentally, I’ve made the decision to move to actives.
 
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Aha...

You should tell her black is the new white 👍👍
 
Or, you could try telling her that because of her stance on the colour you’ll need to pay a premium.

All the best people do and all that...

 
Another suggestion sir.

These have been on eBay several tomes and have not sold because people are truly daft.


Out of your price league, but open to a silly offer I think.

And, no dac or preamp required.

Plus a word to the wife about the slight extra expense of accommodating her style needs and it may be doable... 👍

 
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Or, if you want to whack the current budget sideways with a hefty kick,

 
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Or, if you want to whack the current budget sideways with a hefty kick,

You’re a man deploying a flurry of temptations Sir. :devil:
 
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I am a hifi Siren; leading men and their bank accounts to stormy doom.
 
I’m desperately casting around for some rope to lash myself to the masthead….oh never mind, I’ll use some of this overpriced speaker wire :rotfl:
 
I’m desperately casting around for some rope to lash myself to the masthead….oh never mind, I’ll use some of this overpriced speaker wire :rotfl:

Perhaps I’ve found the cure...

Definitely worth keeping your peepers on these, might well get lucky.

 
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