Speakers; Studio, listening, live

Here are some details about the setups I’ve enjoyed over the years.

Studio

KEF LS50’s with adequate high-quality amplification are for my money the best nearfields available under $1000. I have a set of these calibrated with Sonarworks and couldn’t be happier. I have enjoyed Dynaudio’s BM5a’s in the past as well as Event 20/20’s too. I feel Sonarworks or Trinnov is a MUST for these or ANY speakers used for critical listening.

Home

For home theater and listening, I currently use a set of Magnepan SMGb’s. I often listen in different locations throughout my apartment and the fact that these speakers emit from front and back and reflect throughout the room makes them a great fit for my use case. The extreme placement sensitivity, fragility, size, weight, maintenance, insane power requirements and price tag are all very real negatives of these.

In the past, I’ve enjoyed Dynaudio DM2/7’s and Mirage Nanosats paired with an ARC-equipped Anthem MRX-310. I like how the Nanosats just kind of “radiate” the sound from where they’re placed. Loved the similar approach from the Bose 3-2-1 Gemstone system I used to use. I know, heresy. Speaking of, the full-sized Klipsch Heresy speakers blow me away.

Live

For live shows, I think nothing beats the QSC CP8 for small gigs. A stereo pair of these is even better. I think the Bose S1’s work about the same but with lower overall loudness - I currently have a stereo pair of these as a backup PA I can use for rehearsals as well.

For larger gigs, I think nothing beats the Bose L1 Pro16. I used to use Bose’s Model I with the ToneMatch mixer and 2x B1 Bass Modules but found the age an issue and found the sound quality good but not great. If I played more gigs, I’d purchase the L1 Pro16 and never look back.