Hi everyone,

I'm thinking to buy either P22A or BM15A. My budget is $2000-$3000. I've been checking those 2 speakers around. Can you please give me some advices/considerations for them ? Right now, i'm more into P22A (smoother high freq).

Oh, just a quick thing ... P22A and BM15A are unpowered monitors, aren't they ?

Currently I'm using Benchmark DAC1 and Sennheiser HD600. Really want to move to real speakers

I'll be really appreciate your comments/feedbacks. Thanks before.

Hadi

A - means active, ie powered

Take them both to your place and mix on them for a week... You'll find your favorite.

If you can't (that's so common), just take what suits you best. But remember, room has big influence to what you hear in the end and some speakers complement it more and some less. At least you should be able to return the speakers.

how can you be more into one, or have an opinion on how the high freqs compare, if you've never heard either speaker?

since you asked, my advice is that you listen to these speakers and decide for yourself, and don't take *anything* you read here as fact, no matter who says it and how many people agree. what else could i possibly tell you that would matter?


gregoire
del ubik

I HEARD them before, that's why I know P22A is smoother in higher freq, and a lil bit into it. But I also like the sound of Dynaudio (BM15 -either A or P).

Wait Wait ... active (has an "active crossover) doesn't always mean powered right ? Are you saying that they're powered too ?

Yea, don't worry about the room, at least I'm taking a master degree in acoustics now. I just want feedbacks from people who had compared those 2 speakers or use them. Thanks.

Hadi

Really? And you're still wondering if they're powered or not. Hmm....not trying to be an ass, but I just find it odd.

Speakers must be fully active, or fully passive. There is no such thing (as far as I'm aware... waiting to be proved wrong!) as a passive speaker with an active crossover... the (active) crossover has to go before the power amp (i.e. act on a line level signal).

yphs_mst - you have narrowed your choise down to two speakers (good). All you have to do is choose one. Listen to both, and see which you prefer, based on your experence. Based on MY experence, either will give you a good quality monitoring system.

i listened to them in my friend's friend's studio, which I don't hang out a lot, but did some sessions there. That's why I only heard them couple times (3-4 times) and wondering some questions and ... feedback from those who uses them. ANyway thanx ...

my bad, sorry. i (wrongly) figured that if you didn't know whether they were powered or not, you hadn't auditioned them.

so you've heard them... time to take the plunge, it's the only way you'll ever know!


gregoire
del ubik

Ya Just get your local dealer to loan them too you for a bit....and then pick.. there both great speakers....some people love A.D.A.M's other people find them tiring... I've read all sorts of opinions..... so it's really hard to say either or....you have to find a fit for your setup... I was fatasizing getting p11a's for a while not having heard them just from what I read...then I heard them and I didn't wan't them anymore... found I liked the S series much better.....

I own the Dynaudio BM15's not powered. I have been using them for about 8 years. My favorite monitors to date. My engineer bud owns the powered digital ones, the model slips my mind. He seems to be very happy with them. Although, I have noticed, the highs on both models at very loud volumes can be less pleasing.

www.bluethumbproductions.com

I might be in the minority here, but I only call it active if the amplification is inside the box. Since many PA line arrays are fed by external active crossovers and external amps, I call those speakers passive. Now when a speaker is designed to accept signals from only one type of external amp and/crossover that comes with the package, I'll fudge and call it an "active speaker system." And there are rare birds with external passive line-level crossovers feeding amps outside the speakers. I call these passive-aggressive, if they sound bad... Regards, Sam

I'll second those definitions.

I have a set of passive BM15's with Hafler Transnova power and it took the veil and guesswork out of mixing for me. I love the Adam S3A's for tracking because they're a bit smoother and less fatiguing to listen to at elevated volumes but I get along with the Dyn's just as well.

FWIW, the passive Dynaudios are really underrated. Their amps aren't that great and seem to add to the harsh fizzlely top end. The only downside to going passive is that the speakers are highly inefficient and need some serious juice from a good amp to push them.

I am 110% behind you on this one, an active speaker is a speaker with the amp inside! I dunno if you were agreing or disagreing with my post, but we are on the same page. There is only (as far as I am aware) two ways a speaker can be wired:

a) Amp -> Passive crossover -> Speakers
b) Crossover (usualy active) -> Amp(s) -> Speaker

Normaly, an active speaker would be wired internaly as B. There are many advantages to crossing over at line level before the power amp (i.e. you don't have to filter large voltages / currents passively).

What i was trying to get across in my first post, is that I have never heard of this:

c) Amp -> Active Crossover -> Speakers

These folks call them "activated" I believe --



http://www.pmcloudspeaker.com/tb2sa.html



Steve

Oh, I see. Ditto.

I usually go by the following crude distinction:

Passive = No built-in Amplifier
Active = built-in multiple Amplifiers driving each individual driver of a monitor
Powered = built-in single Amplifier bolted on to the back of a monitor (PMC call this 'Activated')

Some less scrupulous cheaper-end manufacturers and dealers are less than clear when describing "Active" monitors - often they are not active at all and are just powered.

James, that sounds like a very useful naming system. In fact, I just looked up PMC's specs on the TB2A, and was surprised that the Flying Mole amp lashed to the back was single-channel. Supposedly the result is great, but at 2x the cost of the passives, I expected an active system. I would expect an active setup to be no more costly to make, given the savings from losing the big passive x-over components and using a common amp power supply for both LF and HF channels. OTOH, the flying Mole is supposed to be outstanding. I would like to know whether the PMCs could be retrofitted for "activation," since I'm looking hard at the passive version now. Thanks for the input, Sam

Sam, I'm bi-amping some of mine now. Really brings out the best in these speakers IMO. Given the choice I'll almost always go for bi-amp.

Steve

jay, what model of the haflers are you running?

Hi Steve, it's good they have two sets of inputs. What amps are you using? I have a meek but robust old Meitner 2ch amp which should do for now. I liked your pics of the Gordon and A-Design pres, BTW. Nice gear you've assembled. Hey, Russ Long uses the older PMC TB2Ss, at least in his instructional DVD. In forty years I'll have a full studio... Regards, Sam

I agree, dual inputs are always a nice advantage IMO. I'm not bi-amping the studio pair, they're running off a '60s model 25 wpc McIntosh tube amp! That MC225 is simply the finest sounding amplifier I have ever heard. The other pair is running with Carver M-1.5t (350 wpc rms, 650 peak) on the woofers and Denon receiver (80 wpc) on the tweeters. This may seem like a mismatch, but I've run this combo for years on other speakers as well, and really like the blend. Keeps the tweeties from pokin my ears out when I'm really driving the bass. The M1.5t headroom is outstanding, and the overload meters have always been a reliable indicator of "when to stop turning it up".

Anyway, your amp should be fine on the TB2. They responded well to several different amps I tried, and you can hear the difference. Speaker cables will also come into play here -- the PMC easily reveal differences there as well.

I'm kind of building an "art collection" as well as functional gear, is how I look at it Sam And yes, I've noticed Russ and I seem to hear alike... Gordon and PMC are two we have in common at least. I don't think I'll try to compete with his whole setup though!

Steve