[jon]

Hey Thrill, I promise we'll hide the gennies when you're in town.

FWIW...I've never been able to like 1031s/1030s/1029s...but they are certainly the most popular nearfields (after NS10s) among the other engineers I've seen. Some of them have been using them for a long time and know what their mix needs to sound like on them. Which is a pretty darn valid reason to use 'em.

I can understand why many folks don't understand the NS10 thang. I've been using NS10s since the late eighties, hated them for probably the first 3-4 years (at home with a mediocre amp), and never really enjoyed them very much except when sitting on an SSL meter bridge. On an SSL, something combines right acoustically and they become great monitors for mixing...my personal favorite. But on two speaker stands behind a ProControl or straddling a computer screen, I wouldn't enjoy using them either.

So many nearfields out there just seem to have hyped highs and a relative lack of mid-range content...now and then I stray away but quickly go back to the NS10s and horrortones. For setting final levels at low volumes, especially, it's hard to beat them.

Brystons behind NS10s work really well. I've got a pair of $2500 C-Audio RA3001s behind mine (a separate chassis for each channel) and they sound great too.