I was thinking the same thing in regards to the feet. I have the adjustable sound anchor stands but I'm wondering if I'm going to have to order the wider platforms for the SM9's to stand on. Now that I'm thinking about it..80lbs is a lot per speaker... I'm hoping the sound anchors will work period lol...
I was thinking the same thing in regards to the feet. I have the adjustable sound anchor stands but I'm wondering if I'm going to have to order the wider platforms for the SM9's to stand on. Now that I'm thinking about it..80lbs is a lot per speaker... I'm hoping the sound anchors will work period lol...
There are actually 2 different places underneath the SM9 where you can put the feet so it will fit on most stands.
and, you can use the 'outside' positions when you use them directly on a console top.
As for the sound anchors, that's what we use and the SM9 fit perfectly on the standard version, no need for custom here. and the sound anchors can support way more than 80 lbs (I sat on it for a while just to confirm it would be safe to put the 9s on them! )
Needles to say, these are great speakers. I listen to these babies a few times now. The strength is the top quality Focal drivers build in to these solid blocks of 37kg a pop. But most of all are the absolute no compromise high quality amps that are build in.
There is not a other speaker on the market that comes with this level of amplification.
For people that makes money listening to music or just audiophile brothers this is the bomb, believe me
passion4sound
Last edited by Texas25; 28th June 2011 at 10:42 PM..
Reason: none
Needles to say, these are great speakers. I listen to these babies a few times now. The strength is the top quality Focal drivers build in to these solid blocks of 37kg a pop. But most of all are the absolute no compromise high quality amps that are build in.
There is not a other speaker on the market that comes with this level of amplification.
For people that makes money listening to music or just audiophile brothers this is the bomb, believe me
passion4sound
You're right about the amplification and I can tell. Believe me this is the bomb!!
That reminds me, I am the son who custom made re-designed/modified all your gearslutz you have at your home (including your still fabulous Focal SM8's) :D
That reminds me, I am the son who custom made re-designed/modified all your gearslutz you have at your home (including your still fabulous Focal SM8's) :D
See you soon
With kind regards,
Bas
en de circle is rond, thats evolution :^) euh... Soundev.......
We toured the new Focal SM9 monitors around the UK last week - dealers and studios - response was better than we could have wished for. 22 pairs ordered!
Needles to say, these are great speakers. I listen to these babies a few times now. The strength is the top quality Focal drivers build in to these solid blocks of 37kg a pop. But most of all are the absolute no compromise high quality amps that are build in.
There is not a other speaker on the market that comes with this level of amplification.
For people that makes money listening to music or just audiophile brothers this is the bomb, believe me
passion4sound
I do not have any "real arguments" against your statement, because I have not heard them. Saying tough, that "people that make money listening to music or audiophile brothers" equals Focal SM9 are "beeing the bomb" for them, is somewhat "undefined". I am beeing overcritical here.. I am sorry. After my listening expierences with solo6, twin6 and SM8, I can not believe that there will be a "ground-breaking" update from Focal.
all personal opinion here..
maybe it is a ground-breaking speaker, which must have a total different voicing. I am still not sure, where the high frequency distortion from the older models comes from, talking about those additional overtones which make the image of the speakers seem wider and the overall sound air-ier..
Simon, I am not trying to bad-mouth-talk your product. I am in the game for a new set of mid-fields, that's why I am interested as well.
__________________
Quote:
"recording engineers don't die, they are dragged into the grave by the shear weight of their balls."
Malcolm Chisholm
@garryrobson cool, were these pairs final production versions or is focal still demoing pre-prod?
When will the customers receive them? Is ETA still unknown?
This demo pair is final version. Deliveries commence late October 2011 although, with a huge quantity of back orders already on Focal's books, it may be a month or two after that before free stock is on the shelves.
I do not have any "real arguments" against your statement, because I have not heard them. Saying tough, that "people that make money listening to music or audiophile brothers" equals Focal SM9 are "beeing the bomb" for them, is somewhat "undefined". I am beeing overcritical here.. I am sorry. After my listening expierences with solo6, twin6 and SM8, I can not believe that there will be a "ground-breaking" update from Focal.
all personal opinion here..
maybe it is a ground-breaking speaker, which must have a total different voicing. I am still not sure, where the high frequency distortion from the older models comes from, talking about those additional overtones which make the image of the speakers seem wider and the overall sound air-ier..
Simon, I am not trying to bad-mouth-talk your product. I am in the game for a new set of mid-fields, that's why I am interested as well.
Hi George,
I will organize a SM9 tour in Switzerland in November. I would be very happy to visit you to demo the SM9 in your studio.
Cheers,
Nicolas @ Focal.
@garryrobson thanks, it'd be great to have some of the people that ordered them could comment on sound vs a) other Focals and b) speakers in this price range: SCM25, 8260s, o300+o810.
@garryrobson thanks, it'd be great to have some of the people that ordered them could comment on sound vs a) other Focals and b) speakers in this price range: SCM25, 8260s, o300+o810.
Thought I’d jump in on this thread with some real world tests
Garry from SCV (Focal UK Distributor) was very kind to bring the Focal SM9's to my studio: London Road Studios. I am also technical director for one of SCV's UK retailers, Studioxchange Ltd www.studioxchange.co.uk **Just thought I’d clear that one up so people don't kill me on here** We retail 20 other monitor brands and i have been testing a lot of them myself personally (please see you tube clips below) I will try to be totally unbiased here as i think that's the fair thing to do. Just for the record i own a pair of Focal Twin 6BEs and also a pair of Adam A8X's / Unity Audio - The Rocks and Yamaha NS10s. My little set up below.
Allen & Heath GSR24M new addition (well new ishhhh)
The monitors I’ve tested recently (a few days apart and for at least an hour a pair) are:
Trident HG3's Focal SM9's Unity Audio - Boulders
They are all roughly in the same price range. You tube links here: [/COLOR][/FONT][/COLOR]
Please forgive the low quality sound, these videos are more to demonstrate that we have actually listened to all of these monitors extensively. I also tested with a high quality Benchmark 2 channel dac convertor and a RME UFX + Focusrite Liquid Saffire
Conclusions:
The Focal SM9's blew me away. quite honestly the best pair of monitors I’ve heard! the clarity and stereo imaging is amazing (i can hear things in song's I’ve never heard before) The response to transients is very good. I can imagine putting mixes together that translate very well to other systems quickly on these. The SM9's are very unforgiving on poorly mixed material and also very unhyped. I was kinda expecting them to be bass heavy but not at all. They are a big step up in terms of soundquality from the Focal Twins (they are twice the price however) and I love my Twins!!! The icing on the cake is the ability, at the flick of a switch, to move to nearfield only mode (the main driver off) the monitor then effectively becomes a sort of Solo 6Be with a slightly different frequency response "nicer NS10's, that don't rip your ears apart would be a good, real world, term for it" In nearfield mode the speaker rolls off sharply below 90Hz (so makes for perfect referencing on how mixes will sound on a domestic hi-fi / car stereo etc.
The Unity Boulders were also very good. Better bass end to my ears than the SM9's (that can be a good thing or a bad thing) and a slightly smoother top end. In a nutshell you'd be able to mix on these monitors for hours. It's very hard to say one is better than the other and I’d put it down to personal preference really. The only reason I’d go with the SM9's over the Boulders is purely because of the nearfields switch mode (for referencing what your mix will sound like on a car stereo or domestic hi-fi / Imac etc. The sonics are very good indeed.
The Trident HG3's are more industrial and i love that you can adjust the mid and high end angle (to narrow or widen the stereo image and sweetspot) again at the £4500+ price point you shouldn't really get a poor monitor really. I will say that personally i found the HG3's to suffer from a lot of port chuffing noise at above average listening levels. these monitors can't be driven loud, the bass end breaks up very quickly. The mids are revealing and again i think it would be easy to pull together a good mix on these monitors. I didn't like the hi end on these monitors much though, the soft dome tweeter was harsh on the ears over long periods without a fair bit of adjustment to the high tone knob trimmer. Having said that the stereo image on these speakers was very good.
Any further questions, ping them my way.
Yes of course we like selling things for Studioxchange, but i'm also a studioowner so i won't be pushing sales onto people. I'm more into the tech side of things. Totally impressed with all of the above monitors i will say (and sorry guys) but the Focals nicked it for me ever so slightly. End of the day, i'd not kick any of them out of control room
Thought I’d jump in on this thread with some real world tests
Garry from SCV (Focal UK Distributor) was very kind to bring the Focal SM9's to my studio: London Road Studios. I am also technical director for one of SCV's UK retailers, Studioxchange Ltd www.studioxchange.co.uk **Just thought I’d clear that one up so people don't kill me on here** We retail 20 other monitor brands and i have been testing a lot of them myself personally (please see you tube clips below) I will try to be totally unbiased here as i think that's the fair thing to do. Just for the record i own a pair of Focal Twin 6BEs and also a pair of Adam A8X's / Unity Audio - The Rocks and Yamaha NS10s. My little set up below.
Allen & Heath GSR24M new addition (well new ishhhh)
The monitors I’ve tested recently (a few days apart and for at least an hour a pair) are:
Trident HG3's Focal SM9's Unity Audio - Boulders
They are all roughly in the same price range. You tube links here: [/COLOR][/FONT][/COLOR]
Please forgive the low quality sound, these videos are more to demonstrate that we have actually listened to all of these monitors extensively. I also tested with a high quality Benchmark 2 channel dac convertor and a RME UFX + Focusrite Liquid Saffire
Conclusions:
The Focal SM9's blew me away. quite honestly the best pair of monitors I’ve heard! the clarity and stereo imaging is amazing (i can hear things in song's I’ve never heard before) The response to transients is very good. I can imagine putting mixes together that translate very well to other systems quickly on these. The SM9's are very unforgiving on poorly mixed material and also very unhyped. I was kinda expecting them to be bass heavy but not at all. They are a big step up in terms of soundquality from the Focal Twins (they are twice the price however) and I love my Twins!!! The icing on the cake is the ability, at the flick of a switch, to move to nearfield only mode (the main driver off) the monitor then effectively becomes a sort of Solo 6Be with a slightly different frequency response "nicer NS10's, that don't rip your ears apart would be a good, real world, term for it" In nearfield mode the speaker rolls off sharply below 90Hz (so makes for perfect referencing on how mixes will sound on a domestic hi-fi / car stereo etc.
The Unity Boulders were also very good. Better bass end to my ears than the SM9's (that can be a good thing or a bad thing) and a slightly smoother top end. In a nutshell you'd be able to mix on these monitors for hours. It's very hard to say one is better than the other and I’d put it down to personal preference really. The only reason I’d go with the SM9's over the Boulders is purely because of the nearfields switch mode (for referencing what your mix will sound like on a car stereo or domestic hi-fi / Imac etc. The sonics are very good indeed.
The Trident HG3's are more industrial and i love that you can adjust the mid and high end angle (to narrow or widen the stereo image and sweetspot) again at the £4500+ price point you shouldn't really get a poor monitor really. I will say that personally i found the HG3's to suffer from a lot of port chuffing noise at above average listening levels. these monitors can't be driven loud, the bass end breaks up very quickly. The mids are revealing and again i think it would be easy to pull together a good mix on these monitors. I didn't like the hi end on these monitors much though, the soft dome tweeter was harsh on the ears over long periods without a fair bit of adjustment to the high tone knob trimmer. Having said that the stereo image on these speakers was very good.
Any further questions, ping them my way.
Yes of course we like selling things for Studioxchange, but i'm also a studioowner so i won't be pushing sales onto people. I'm more into the tech side of things. Totally impressed with all of the above monitors i will say (and sorry guys) but the Focals nicked it for me ever so slightly. End of the day, i'd not kick any of them out of them out of control room
Cheers
Thanks for your input on these monitors. SM9's look like real winners. I have the Focal Twins too, and I am also very happy with them as well. Yes you can buy more expensive monitors that will let you hear things you won't on less costly monitors. But you know what, thousands of well mixed records were done on monitors not as revealing as them with excellent results. My clients are happy with the mixes we produce, as have mastering engineers who have given their finishing touches on the Cd's. Not to mention, I have been very happy with the mixes I did on my last CD, "2nd Time Around". But hey if you have the money, this is how you make a living and you want all the extra detail, I would encourage you to check out all these monitors.
Nice A & H board....surprised there has not been much talk about it yet.
Most of the clients are known only to our dealers (we are the UK distributor) but I'm informed that, at least, one is a mastering suite.
I do about 50% of my work Mastering (which seems to be increasing) the other is mixing and recording. So I'm looking to improve my service with better speakers.
I had these for 3 hours in my room on the recent "tour".
I don't think you can review speakers in just 3 hours so I guess this is more of a "preview".
I'm looking to retire my current speakers and i'm looking at these as a possible.
I have very specific demands.
1/ must be 3 way
2/ must work at low volumes
3/ must be able to work in a small but good sound ing room i.e. nearfield.
4/ I want 30 hz or near as dammit (the room can do it)
SM9, 8260as and ATCs 25pros are obvious choices I have yet to audition those others
SM9's impressions "preview"
Build quality is exemplary.....stunning!
Works really well at all volumes
Works as a nearfield
Very very smooth tweeter
Mid range clarity is excellent
Bass was very good but I felt with more set up time we could have got that better (we just had them on some foam far from ideal but time was short 3 hours)
I don't like speakers that flatter a mix. These did not. That's a really big plus for me. People suggested these would be more hifi I didn't feel that, I felt they were honest and clear, what I want.
Good imaging/sweet spot.
Superclean amps when driven loud I didn't feel a compressed sound.
When I eq'd a vocal that needed some serious work (wrong mic was used) they told me what I needed to know and I got the result in the mix I wanted.
The 2 way switch is a neat idea and worked quite well, but it's a bonus as opposed to the main reason to buy these which would be the 3 way sound.
Conclusion ? In three hours I don't believe you have enough time but my first impressions were excellent.
Speakers are very personal, but I am very much looking forward to trying these for more than 3 hours, when they are released, I strongly suspect they will prove my first impressions are right!
Nicolas from Focal was also a fantastic guy and very helpful, which is important to know about the people when you are about to spend this kind of money.
A final note and a bit superficial ...They are the most beautiful speakers (visually) I have seen, much much better in the flesh than in the photos. Oh and they weigh a tonne!!
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