Barefoot 27 vs 35

[surflounge]

Originally Posted by eclipse

Hi
Has anyone here had a chance to hear the two Barefoot monitors
side by side??

Yes at AES last weekend. Meeting Thomas and his great crew was a highlight.

I put money down on both pairs of Barefoots because the 35's sounded surprisingly good (even in that convention hall) and the 27's can handle loudness if I find a room big enough to put them in. I know Barefoots are a wise investment. Can't say the same for some other monitors there.
The 35's especially impressed me for mixing at lower volume levels.

[needlz1906]

I put money down on a pair of mm27's that are to arrive in April but my room is only 15'x12'x8' . I'm still debating on weather I should get the 35's considering how small my room is. Of course I want the big boys but will the mm27's in this small of a room make sense? Anybody else using the 27's in a small room like mine?

[ELI-173]

I'd also like to hear some thoughts on using the 27s in a smaller room.
I'm in a room that's 18x12x8 (approx). I'm currently using Focal Solo6s, but I'm considering the upgrade this year.

[Greg B]

Originally Posted by ELI-173

I'd also like to hear some thoughts on using the 27s in a smaller room.
I'm in a room that's 18x12x8 (approx). I'm currently using Focal Solo6s, but I'm considering the upgrade this year.

I use Barefoots MM27s in a small, well-treated room. When I bought them I was told that they perform similarly in small spaces to the MM35s because the mid drivers are the same size (5") and that the main difference is that the MM27s have a little bit better upper mid and bass response, regardless of room size. I've been happy with them, but I still need to do more tests in my room to see how flat the response is at listening position.

[needlz1906]

how big is your room greg B? How far off the wall do you have your mm27's?

[feck]

I use my MM27s in a pretty small room as well - they perform beautifully. Of course you want to treat your room as well as you can.

[Player1]

Originally Posted by needlz1906

I put money down on a pair of mm27's that are to arrive in April but my room is only 15'x12'x8' . I'm still debating on weather I should get the 35's considering how small my room is. Of course I want the big boys but will the mm27's in this small of a room make sense? Anybody else using the 27's in a small room like mine?

My room is slightly larger and well treated and these guys sound fantastic! You will not be sorry buying the MM27's. Big time punch in the room. Congrats! Who knows, they might show up early.

[ssprod19]

I had the MM27's but found it was too much for my small-ish room and ended up turning off the sub a lot of the times. Now I'm curious how the MM35's will sound.

[Greg B]

Originally Posted by needlz1906

how big is your room greg B? How far off the wall do you have your mm27's?

My control room is only 13.5 x 11.5 x 8. Here's a photo to give you an idea:
/Control_Room_Rack_Recording.jpg

[needlz1906]

wow looks awesome! GIK traps in the corners?

[Greg B]

Originally Posted by needlz1906

wow looks awesome! GIK traps in the corners?

The corners have Realtraps Mondotraps. The side walls have self-made rigid fiberglass traps, and the back wall that you can't see in the photo has 3 large Realtraps diffusors. The ceiling and wall behind the speakers both have RPG Abflectors.

[Ted Krotkiewski]

Hello everyone!
I want this thread to keep going.
Any more people with experience from using both MM35´s & MM27´s ?
Based on Thomas Barefoot´s words there´s is really no difference in the speakers performance except at higher volume levels and that the 27 goes a little deeper in the sub.
There are some people saying that they do sound different and doesn´t deserve the hype from the MM27´s. And others say that they're every bit of the 27.
Unfortunately It is not possible for me to try them out since I live in Sweden.

Any more hands on experience??

Thanks!
//Ted

[nickelironsteel]

the mm27 make any death metal band beg me on their knees to turn them down, the mm35 not.

oh, and the mm27 sound unforgivingly true. if you're into that thing.
in any case make sure to have a pair of ns10 and a boombox within grabs.

[Greg B]

Originally Posted by nickelironsteel

the mm27 make any death metal band beg me on their knees to turn them down, the mm35 not.

oh, and the mm27 sound unforgivingly true. if you're into that thing.
in any case make sure to have a pair of ns10 and a boombox within grabs.

Yes, because the MM27s have two mid drivers there is a little more presence in the upper mids, which can sound a bit harsh on some records or fantastic on great records. They are brutally honest and will let you hear everything, including what you don't want to.

[Ted Krotkiewski]

Originally Posted by Greg B

Yes, because the MM27s have two mid drivers there is a little more presence in the upper mids, which can sound a bit harsh on some records or fantastic on great records.

ok.. here comes a stupid question. But as said before, I am stupid.
The mm27 seem to translate in a perfect magic way that works for so many. Would you say that the lack of upper mid forwardness changes this "perfect magic" translation that everybody loves with the mm27.

Originally Posted by Greg B

They are brutally honest and will let you hear everything, including what you don't want to.

Would you say the same about the mm35´s?

Thanks and sorry for my auestions.. I know they´re hard to answer.
mjjaauuuu
// Ted

[shortstory]

We did not have the opportunity to listen to both the 27s & 35s in our room prior to our purchasing the 35s- but I did A/B them at AES to get a taste. Here's my assessment having owned the 35s for at least a year at this point-

Our control room is 16x22 feet and was professionally designed & treated. It is flat across the entire frequency spectrum with an RT60 of 0.35 secs.

Obviously, no one should be spending $6-8k on these monitors before investing in room treatment & making sure their room is solid.

We have a variety of monitor options in the CR including the MM35s, NS10s, Genelec 1030As, a mono aurotone, and a crappy 3" radio.

The 35's are plenty loud in the room. We chose them as the 27s were overkill as far as SPL & we felt the 35s were more consistent in the mids across the listening levels from low thru high- we tend to monitor at lower levels and I do think the 35s are more stable across the levels. When listening to the 27s at AES I felt the mids responded a little differently at lower vs. higher levels- but the 27s are great, don't get me wrong.

When we had the room analyzed and looked at all the monitoring from the sweet spot, the 35s were completely flat across the freq spectrum which to me is not ideal but offers a solid alternative knowing that. I prefer the response of the 1030A's which gives a bigger bottom with a taper on the highs (the test results look like a 'boot'- the ankle is the left side low end boost while the tow tapers down on the right side highs) which gives me the kind of results I like (subjective)- along with working on the NS10s; but switching to the MM35s is a nice alternative and the clients love them- and they are screaming loud for the GTR players that want to play in the CR.

I would say the 27s are unnecessary unless your CR is bigger than 350 sq/ft (or if you may grow into that).

Bottom line is that they are an excellent client 'main' in a smaller room where you don't have 'mains' to blast for the client.

My .02

[phatbeatstudio]

Originally Posted by dhiltonlittle

it is really hard to explain. they allow you to really hear exactly how much vrb, delay, compression, etc you are applying. everything just translates so well for me. leveling, panning, fx, frequency, whatever. i also check on ns10s and mixcubes throughout the mix. they definitely will not make a bad mix sound good. if your mix sucks, it's going to sound horrible. what they allow you to do is clearly hear what is horrible!

+1

It can't be communicated well enough how much detail these MM27s have. They are the most inspiring piece of music equipment I have ever owned. I still just throw on a CD and listen for the pure enjoyment of the sound. The sound lets you hear way deep into your mix reverb tails EQ delays lowend frequencies you name it and these do it superbly.The sound is 3 Dimensional in a way I have never heard before these. I cannot say enough good things about the BAREFOOT MM27s and Mr Thomas Barefoot himself. Great products and if you ever have the misfortune of needing service Thomas Barefoot will actually communicate to you directly. I mean how amazing is that .With a product of this quality and the owner founder inventor visionary himself will take the time to speak with you. I don't see how any company could offer service that good but they do !!!! AMAZING PRODUCTS BY AN AMAZING COMPANY

[nid]

Originally Posted by phatbeatstudio

+1

It can't be communicated well enough how much detail these MM27s have. They are the most inspiring piece of music equipment I have ever owned. I still just throw on a CD and listen for the pure enjoyment of the sound. The sound lets you hear way deep into your mix reverb tails EQ delays lowend frequencies you name it and these do it superbly.The sound is 3 Dimensional in a way I have never heard before these. I cannot say enough good things about the BAREFOOT MM27s and Mr Thomas Barefoot himself. Great products and if you ever have the misfortune of needing service Thomas Barefoot will actually communicate to you directly. I mean how amazing is that .With a product of this quality and the owner founder inventor visionary himself will take the time to speak with you. I don't see how any company could offer service that good but they do !!!! AMAZING PRODUCTS BY AN AMAZING COMPANY

I agree with all the aforementioned pluses of the Barefoots (we have the MM27) except for the service. We have an issue with the mid drivers and were practically blamed for it by the company and consequently abandoned.

Concerning the good reputation of Barefoots playing very well in small rooms: Our control room is relatively small (W3m x L7m x H3,5m) and nicely (but not perfectly) treated with RPG bass traps, rockwool panels, cloud, etc. What we immediately noticed compared to our older Genelec 1031 and Dynaudio BM15A was the low end, which was very excessive with the MM27. The area around 30Hz got much boosted (10db or so). That's of course the fact that they have excellent bass response and the room now shows it's real problems (speakers close to walls). We were, more or less, forced to buy a Coneq to smooth the curve down. I'm just mentioning this so that people with small rooms don't rush to buy Barefoots hoping they will solve all of their acoustics problems. The strong point of these speakers is that they sound so fast, clean and natural that they give you a good overall impression of a mix (compared to other speakers) even if there are excessive room acoustic anomalies, after you get used to them, like in every room. But that doesn't mean that you can work as productive (achieve mixes that translate really well) as in a well treated room.

[Ted Krotkiewski]

Thank you for your answers!
Shortstory, Really great info you gave us! Thank you!
I will propably go for the MM35´s. my studio seems to be a bit too small for the mm27´s What do you think? unfortunately don´t have the dimensions.
Here it is:

//Ted

[shortstory]

Originally Posted by Ted Krotkiewski

Thank you for your answers!
Shortstory, Really great info you gave us! Thank you!
I will propably go for the MM35´s. my studio seems to be a bit too small for the mm27´s What do you think? unfortunately don´t have the dimensions.
Here it is:

//Ted

Hi Ted-

Just saw your post now. I certainly think 35s are sufficient based on your studio pic. Again- it is of course your decision- but honestly I think if you put 27s in that room you would almost create some issues given the size & the fact that it's really more of an informal work-shop space (don't mean that negatively & it looks cool- but it doesn't look like a formally designed acoustic space).

I would recommend you look at the acoustics of the room regardless of any monitor choice. You can do some room calculations yourself using freely available room calculators (they're not perfect but at least a start) and then maybe have someone help do some pink noise readings.

But to answer your question, I think 35s would be preferable unless you expect to move into a big CR in the future.

There's a pic of our room with the 35s for reference at:

Show your Consoles!

it's post #274

The room looks bigger than it really is due to the wide angle lense, but it's about 350 sq/ft with 8 ft ceilings & treated accordingly. One thing I think you should watch for is how the low end reacts in your room- and the 27s would be significant. The 35s are already serious & go down to about 35 hz.
We had to build a huge bass trap at one end of the CR to balance our room out.

Good luck-