Yes it has happened, we have joined the penguins and jumped off the cliff. We got the MM27's about a week ago and fell sub, woof and tweeter. Sorry for the bad pun.
The first thing we noticed was that they were very forgiving as far as set up. Our room does not have a huge sweet spot in terms of speaker placement, but they seemed to sound identical in various positions. This was weird as we have auditioned several speakers and never found this to happen before.
Next was the sub. After doing a lot of tracking and mixing on ProAcs and NS-10's, it took some getting used to hearing so much more low end information. But the great thing was how connected the sub sounded to the rest of the speaker. Suddenly a drum set sounded like drum set--the whole thing. You no longer had to fill in the blanks, and you could actually hear the most detailed nuance about your kick, everything from the attack to the sustain. And just as important, what all that low end info was doing to the rest of the sound. It was also very easy to tell depth of field and where each instrument was sitting in relation to others.
One of the initial problems was listening to CD's for pleasure. There are many schools of thought about monitors, one being that you should be able to monitor on something that is enjoyable to listen to, and another, that speakers should tell the whole truth and this often means having to endure some pain. One of the pleasures of working on ProAcs is that we have found them very easy to listen to and that they translate well. (However, it was always a bit of a guessing game when it came to the bottom end.) The first few CD's we listened to were difficult on the Barefoots, as they made records I'd listened to for years a bit less enjoyable. They sounded like I remembered them, except there was some glaring extra information that I prefered NOT to hear. I knew there was a problem here, since most AE's want to hear as much as is possible, or so I thought. On the otherhand, we know that many have mixed on, for instance, NS-10's for years, and have made it work great. So in dealing with the Barefoots, it's defintely a new thing for us, and led to many discussions between all of us at the studio about different philosophies about listening.
So we have taken the plunge and so far it has made our jobs much easier-- we hear more, can make more accurate decisions and work faster. It’s like an electron microscope. A big added bonus for us is the volume. Our main room is old school with no seperate control room, so after a take, the band could be a bit frustrated not hearing back their take with the same intensity. The Barefoots get as loud as a jet and never break up. But there’s an added benefit: the feeling of playing a drum kit in the room, and then walking over towards the Barefoots and hearing not just the same sound you played, but the depth and intensity being the same. You FEEL like you are standing in the front row of a club with a drum set being pummeled right in front of your eyes. The realism is freaky-deaky.
Another thing I’ve noticed in reviewing various CD’s, is that as you go through the years, there definitely seems to be a brightness factor happening, especially as you hit the digital years. It’s great being able to finally distinguish this with confidence. Not to mention, when you crank or cut eq, the Barefoots really reveal the character of the eq. Crap gear seems to not hold up as well on these.
So the initial reaction is overwhelming. Also have to mention that Vintage King and Barefoot have been especially great in the customer service department—a huge benefit when dealing with a new product.
Please excuse the long raving rant here, I hope this helps some of you sitting on the fence.
rll
www.mavericksrecording.com