Easily the most surgical speakers I have ever heard. A good analogy would be that if the Meyer HD-1 were 16 bit these are 24. Flat within 2 dB from 40 Hz all the way up to 40 kHz with a low frequency response that almost approaches DC - these babies are accurate. The imaging is amazing, almost like wearing headphones - the ultimate speaker for any application where accuracy and lack of color is desirable. Unlike many popular mixing speakers, these do not have the hyped low end, but instead they offer a very clear and defined low end that does not lie. These speakers are engineering marvels to say the least. The folks at Earthworks hand match each pair of tweeters, which explains their superior imaging. Then each tweeter is hand aligned to the bass driver for a level of phase coherency that is impossible to match on an assembly line. The speaker enclosure has a very unusual design as well, helping them to not resonate at any particular frequency more than another, which is often very problematic in traditional rectangular speaker designs. Even the port is given a very good position not only for sonic accuracy, but to act as a handle because these are much heavier that they look. Am I impressed? I guess just a little. Check 'em out and I'm sure you will be too. (www.earthworks.com)
Monitoring | No. 123
Shape 65 Active Monitor
by Scott McChane
Buying speakers can be a daunting, deeply personal, and financially speculative venture. Many of us play the odds when choosing a playback system for our spaces. Perhaps we've demoed specific monitors...