$3.5k range of studio monitors, thoughts?

I was comparing the LYD's to monitors costing 2 - 5 times as much, probably not that fair really. I just had a look and the Neumann's are expensive at the moment, I like them but I don't think they're worth $4.4K! (4.9K on Sweetwater), when I was looking they cost about $3700.. (That's obviously a loose translation currency wise).

The Core's are excellent but they're also very expensive, the pick of the group for me are the 7's and 59's but we're talking $4.2K and $6.3K. They 7's only have a bass response of 44Hz and after considering a couple of sub's you might as well just go for the Core 59.

That's about the time you realise that the LYD 48's are a massive bargain, the Footprint 01's are a bargain as well if you like them of course.

There's a -1.5dB dark (tilt) switch on the back for the LYD's and Core's which allows you to take off some of the top end. Yes, the Dyn's are bright if the music is bright. What goes in comes out..

ATC vs. the Core's is a tricky one, they both have a microscopic midrange, they both sound natural and free of distortion, the phantom centre is strong, seperation is uncanny and the bass that they throw out is incredibly clean. The voicing / crossover is slightly different but there's not really much in it performance wise. So, it came down to a lot of third party factors..

ATC support is far better and I'd trust them to still have parts etc. well over a decade down the line. That's not something to take lightly IMO especially if you snag a good B-stock or second hand deal (I was offered a pair of ex-demo SCM 45's for under $9K). However, ATC is far more fussy about the room they're in.. These aren't Genelec's that can work well in just about any room, the Core's hang somewhere inbetween and the DSP correction filters do actually make a lot of difference. That being said if your room isn't properly treated that DSP isn't going to magically fix everything.

I noticed that the ATC's work better as nearfields than the Dyn's, said 59's work fine about 5.5 foot away in my 20X15 room but I wouldn't want to get any closer than that.

On the other hand the Core 59's are really a competitor to the SCM 45's, the ATC 25's physically do not produce enough bass to be in the running (without some subs) and there is quite a price difference. However if you ever decide to resell the ATC's then there's no competition, hardly anyone seems to care about the Core series.

In the end I went for the Core's because at the time because I got a good deal (I paid about $5.5K including taxes), I needed other stuff and I refit or upgrade every decade or so anyway. If my Dyn's crap out in the next 8 years I'm going to buy some ATC SCM110A's, if not I'll just keep using them indefinitely..

I will just say, both the Core's and ATC's are incredible monitors but they are also overkill. There's several mixers / musicians on this site and the other one that create some very high production, extensively competitive (in terms of fidelity) music on the LYD 48's. They're not or ever will be a barrier to decent sound tracks, unfortunately when I went down the ATC / Core path it was extremely difficult to unhear the differences. Don't get me wrong, I get a lot more information, it's easier to spot problems and they are fun to listen to but I can't say for certain whether it's worth it or not.