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Thanks for the in depth response. Can't argue with that. They certainly look smart. Disappearing speakers is a really nice sensation once you achieve it and yes, Genelec's are certainly ugly.
How is bass reproduction? Missing much low end?
JB-
The bass is there, not absent. But not enhanced or over-egged.
For the small room they're in it's definitely enough and earlier when Wolf Alice were being played through them I thought the bass rumbling and deep. I'm not sure they need a subwoofer at all, but if they were in a larger room I'd probably change my opinion there.
What I really liked when I heard them was something that I'd not heard before... speakers that fully balance the sound at low volume and at high volume and all the places inbetween. So yup, at low volume the bass, mid and highs are all there perfectly balanced, and they remain balanced even as they step up in volume. The bass isn't absent, and nor is anything else.
They're very very good and for what I wanted they're perfect.
Velocio
I reduced the choice to Genelec 8030, Neumann KH-80, ADAM A3X... but frankly didn't like the sound of the ADAM's, nor the looks of the Neumann or Genelec. Of all three I most preferred the Genelec in sound.
I was clear with the shops I visited that I was aiming for a broadcast studio setup and transparency, for the mid-range to come out clear, balanced, and for it to stay clear and clean at low volumes. I also gave the space problem: small room, desk situated, nearfield, compact. And that on top of all of that I wanted to have something that made music superlative given that I work at that desk 8-10 hours per day and listen to music between meetings when I'm working on stuff.
After being disappointed in the other £1k (pair of speaker) options I opened it up to considering other options if price wasn't a constraint... was there a pair of monitors that sounded as good as I wanted and also looked good and could perform well at lower volume in such a small space? Did these things even exist?
It turns out yes, but the price was higher than my original budget. The PSI Audio A14-M Studio were smaller than the ones I'd been looking at, sounded better than the Genelecs (which had been my gold standard until I'd heard the PSI Audio), and perform on another level at low volume in the mid-range.
What really surprises me is how transparent they are... I do not hear these speakers. My KEF, my Monitor Audio, and other speakers I've owned and loved over the years all have their own tone, warmth, clarity. You get used to those and love how they bring some character to the music. But the PSI Audio are a different beast, I thought the Genelecs were transparent and neutral as I could close my eyes and occasionally imagine I was in the room with the musicians. But the PSI Audio gives that feeling constantly... and that's what I wanted.
The looks really helped though, as they're either side of the display and things like the KH-80 were just too ugly to consider.