Live Test High End studio monitor speakers - Round 2 :-).

We are going to test some very nice studio speakers. With ATC, Dutch & Dutch and Grimm Audio. So... very, very nice stuff! And Tim Knol - a famous Dutch musician - is going to play some nice tunes. Be there!

This test will be done in the Artone Studio's in Haarlem. Just like the previous test. We did some tuning on the sampling set-up to make the recording better. So you should be able to hear the differences a bit better.

Recording gear:

DPA 4015 microphones
Grace M108 pre-amp
DAD a/d-converter
Grimm TPR cabling

Index:

0:00 - 4:27 - Intro
4:28 - 11:05 - Tim Knol
11:06 - 17:02 - Introduction test
17:03 - 19:40 - Recording of Tim Knol
19:41 - 26.27 - Grimm LS1a
26.28 - 48:31 - Short talk about the Grimm LS1a
54:08 - 59:13 - Swapping for the ATC SCM40a
59:14 - 1:18:30 - ATC SCM40a
1:18:31 - 1:27:39 - Short talk about the ATC40a
1:27:40 - 1:33:23 - Tim Knol
1:33:24 - 1:56:57 - Dutch & Dutch 8C
1:56:58 - 2:07:07 - Short talk about the 8C and concluding
2:07:08 - 2:09:25 - Tim Knol

[rockostiffredi]

Grimm LS1a 39:20 ATC SCM40A 1:09:05 D&D 8C 1:47:57

[gerard]

You guys keep on upping the game, both speakers and performers ;)!. I would have liked some more recorded tracks for comparison, especially some that are a little sharp around the edges, female vocals. etc. The 8C this time outperformed the Grimm LS1a. I think this is largely because of the lack of the subwoofers on the Grimm, which Tim Knol noticed spot on. This gives the impression of more detail, because the lows are not present enough. All his comments were spot on by the way, you can tell he has golden ears and has a musical background. His contribution is real added value. The ATC's were clearly over bloating in the bass in Round 1, but these 40s seem to be better suit the room and distance, although still a little slower and less controlled in the bass than the other two speakers. I think the 8C's are the better all rounder for mixing/mastering purposes, but also for home if you have a divers/more modern music taste and interior or have less room to set up them correctly. The ATC's are by far the most romantic sounding. In the end I don't want the most accurate representation, but the most musical sounding one. Tim is not analysing the sound, he is just listening to it. The ATC was the only when triggering my emotions on this stream. A recording should be clean, but the speaker should have the signature you like the most. When a band is playing live in a room the instruments are also not all phase corrected and the room interactions is what makes it sound more lifelike to most humans, as is the level of noise Tim suggests. Nothing wrong with a speaker that represents the music nicer than the actual real life performance.

[rayvanoer]

Zit naar deze test te kijken....maar wat een relaxte gast is Tim.
Weer een top test mannen.
THNX

[PKAWA]

I've been listening to the ATC vs the 8c's a long time now and at first I was blown away by the ATC's. The longer I listen to them though the more I feel that the 8c's are actually the better speaker. They somehow give a cleaner transition between different sounds and cleaner bass. I'd say the ATC are more musical because the sound is fuller, but ultimately unrealistically warm and a little to emphasized in the mids. I'm also wondering if the walls against which the 8c's are placed are not in fact basetraps? They seem unfit for the intended purpose of the 8c's, because hard walls are prefered according to the seller. I would like to thank you for this great review of these speakers, and have decided to go with the 8c's. (I've heard them irl as well.)

The Grimms could not compete in my opinion because they are too detailed in the highs. I feel the same about the Kii's against the 8c's and the Kii's and Grimms have been designed by the same person so that makes sense to me.

Switching back to the original performance to me it's confirmed that the 8c's come closest to the actual live performance.

[ReggaeSpijkenisse]

Heerlijk die analyses van Tim. Lekker down to earth. Jaap deed nog een poging om hem de kant van de zo clean en realistisch mogelijk weergave op te krijgen maar helaas.

[mevdinc]

Another great stream, and great music and performance by Tim Knol.
As an ATC active user since 1998 I agree with all the positive comments about the ATC. I think the ATC 50A would have been a better choice for the comparison since it uses higher spec ATC professional drivers, which would provide a little more detail in the highs and also a bit more bass. I did hear the D&D 8Cs and they sound very good too.
Well done!

[morespinach]

ATC 40 Active and 8C are now in my shortlist. But also Genelec 8351B… and maybe Dynaudio Focus XD 50.

[chrisvanhoof]

very nice review, and got to know interesting musician @ Tim Knol. Too bad that the Kii Tree is not compared to it. definitely belongs in this list.

[JingoLoBa]

So my PMC MB2SE should be pretty good too.

[PlatinumMastering]

Grimm is worse than ATC 25A scm.. i would say grimm sounds like $1000 speaker

[billarmstrong]

Rendered speechless by ATC! Love it.
It's all about that magical midrange driver; it just puts the performance there in the room with you. And the cherry on the cake is they don't try to rip off the customer when it comes to pricing either.

[paulalexwilson]

Tim Knol's contributions on this are outstanding on many levels.

[kenhiett]

Came here for the 8c's, but left happy to be introduced to Tim knol. His style and guitaring is magical. Adjacent to a Tom Petty vibe I really like. Thanks to everyone involved.

[Romulus]

This was a lovely voyage of musical discovery of three different speakers. I am so glad that ATC SCM40A's were included as these are the sort of speakers I aim for, or dream

[gwsound]

So great these test video's. The D&D have some kind of 200-500 Hz piek. Sound strange. Noticed it in the previous video as well.

[AK-sjle]

Fantastic effort by Alpha Audio once again. I greatly enjoyed the first test and this second iteration shows how committed (and humble) the team is to continually elevate the testing and recording process. Speakers are sometimes very expensive and inconvenient to demo, but Alpha Audio brilliantly found a way to bring that to the comfort of our homes and devices. Wonderful! I've never heard of you guys a month ago, but I'm happily subscribed now. =)

Small note - I notice that the D&D's bass always comes out much stronger than its competitors; possibly a little too heavy handed at times. Could this be because they have been EQ-ed to neutral where you guys are seated, and the microphones are recording much closer to the speakers?

[truman]

Love the conversational nature of these videos. Cheers for not talking over or interrupting each other.

[IrenESorius]

👍‍‍⭐👍‍‍⭐👍‍‍⭐👍. I love your music Tim Knol, , 💖

[JingoLoBa]

Very successful interactive session presenters musician speakers
And wonderful to be in English thank you!

[bikeboy]

Love the music, enjoyed the discussion.