Monitor Dilemma/What to Buy Now?

shadowamd said. " then it's time to pony up ."

Yes it is ! It stings now, but hopefully I'l be glad I did. I've only pushed this way for a few things, and thankfully, they proved to be the right move in the long run.

Equator is selling the small stuff direct, I think they have a pretty good return policy . My experience with the 5's was impressive for the price, the Presonus were impressive period.

Ive been watching this thread for a few days & wasn't sure if I'd participate but I got a PM from MJB over on the purple site. I figured I'd respond over here


Hi JFOC, I heard the Avantone Abbey's today for the first time, came home, and while researching, I noticed an old post of yours saying you had them.

I was going to buy the new Focal Alpha 80's today at $1,100, but the heard the Avantones, and it stopped me from getting the Focals while I consider how to cobble together the $900 price difference.

Would you be kind enough to send me a brief note on how you feel about them, now that you've had them for a while? I sold my Adam A7X's recently because they were just too grainy.


Heres the post he's refrencing


Hopefully TRS can post more about it as he's a professional.

BACKGROUND:I make music & equipment as a hobby. Despite having gone to "that" music school in florida I went on to a job of quality assurance at an audio equipment company, not in music production. I have only had these speakers for a month but I had them playing for around 4 hours everyday. For 90% of the time I've been playing Pandora to learn how they sound along with recording some vocals/eguitar & playing some keyboard

SETUP: Out of the computer to 1st gen RME multiface to Radial workhorse to Abbeys

Speakers are on stands in a large (20x30x25)A frame room with no treatment(working on it) at least 6ft from any walls.

SOUND: The manual recommends a break in period of 24-72 hours at medium level. On first power up they did sound a bit congested in the mid range, but that has gone away.

I find them very good about bringing out details in music that I thought I knew. Things like the vocals for Interpol always have a grainy bite, or how the whistling on "Home" by ed sharp & the magnetic zeros sounds like it was hitting tape pretty hard.
The amp can get painfully loud, I have it turned to 2 on the back panel & on bass heavy songs I can feel the kick & bass on my chest down to my feet.

When Pandora plays a commercial I have to drop the level quick because it sounds BAD. Almost all sound like they were recorded in a box & are painfully mid heavy.

SUMMARY:I like these speakers alot. They look awesome (I have black gloss) & sound even better. I have found them to be very revealing & transparent. I haven't used them for 8+ hours at a time but in my four hour sessions they've been non fatiguing, even tho I listen to these a LOT louder than I do with headphones or my car.


Ill add some cons that I have observed - the amps are not dead quiet. I can clearly hear some white noise when the amps are on & not being fed signal. Not an issue in use, just something to be aware of.

I have noticed that some songs sound a bit odd on them, like a few tracks off of Zero 7's "Simple Things" album have a very odd boxy sounding synth pads that are not noticeable on my Focal headphones or my speakers at work. This only happens for a small minority of songs.

I picked mine up during Front End Audio's black friday 20% off sale so they cost $1700.

They are great at telegraphing when a vocal is doubled or if the track was hitting tape. They are most definitely not bass shy. If you have any more questions shoot n ill try n answer.

Interestingly, I and some others have the opposite opinion of the Scepters. Them seem balanced and don't have a lot of bass. Goes to show. Also, War thought equators sounded so horrible that he refused to deal them.

I know there is much better out there, of course.

They're not bass shy but neither are they bass heavy. I was surprised, actually. I expected them to be. The Mackie's and Yamaha's (I know they don't compare) had a lot more bass than these. The KRK's I have heard (not in my room) had more bass as well. I don't trust any of those as balanced and mentioned them just for a reference to the content of bass energy - From my humble perspective.

? revoicing constitutes poor R&D or a design problem, i wouldn't touchem with a stolen hand if i were you. JMO

Thanks Tony, I just sent a note to Avantone's distributer asking for info.

It hasn't been all roses for me. When I first got them, like I mentioned, I had expected more bass but since I already had a sub on the switch witch, I turned it on and there it was. Mind you, I run my tops full range and cross the sub at 55 or so which on paper sounds stupid but it works in my room. I can't stand overlap with subs, especially with bass guitar. My sub is barely on. I actually called Sweetwater and Presonus because I thought my pair were defective.

Then, the mid range was so full that I immediately felt it was wrong. Next I began to hear what I perceived to be a very slight honk. As you might imagine, I was ready to send them back but I got busy with Christmas and kept popping up and playing reference tracks when I had time.

One day, while listening again, I played my old boxes again and had a cow. My old boxes sounded scooped with a brittle edge in the upper mids that I had never heard before and these were supposedly Adam killers. Next, I did some research and read/listened to comments from notable users and found that we shared some initial thoughts, specifically, about the fullness. This all got me interested and I played more reference tracks through them. In the end, I think they loosened up, kinda like you mentioned, and that honk is gone.

I feel that everything I had in the past was either scooped or mid forward and that some boxes had detail and others, though mid forward and bright, lacked detail.

With the presonus, I feel I have balance, detail and a huge sweet spot. While I don't see them as having a low mid bump, it is present to the degree that they will reveal any old habits of buildup in that area, for sure. I find that these with the Avantones are a great set for the money. I know others here are at a different level and have much better monitors but, for under $2k, I don't see anything on the market that I'd rather have.

I'm just a user - no one important.

Side note: I previously would not have given Presonus a dime with all the reports of issues with their early interfaces. When the live boards came out, I finally grabbed one and then another. From there, I took a chance with Studio One and am ready to pull the trigger on their live coaxial mains and subs, when the budget allows. I may be alone but I do feel they have entered a new season in their business.

Just saw it yesterday on the Avantone website, the mod is mids down a dB, top up a dB. They said you might like them the way they were, but they're offering to update them. I assume that's for the 'full range' mode, not the 'Auratone' mode. 

That would be cool, but I think it has to be done by them, I don't think it's something they can put a switch in for.

Wow, great to see you here Seth, and welcome, I think you'll find the crowd here well informed and well intentioned. We met briefly two years back at AES in Manhattan. I was hanging with Bryce from Warm Audio and Oliver Archut.

Thanks for the heads up on that. I plan to get the Avantone Abbey's in a few days, so it's good to know everything's under control.