Hi

I bought these monitors to replace a pair of Alesis M1 Active MkII's that had broken. I couldn't really afford these monitors and so had very high hopes that they would sound as good as I thought they would. These are quite heavy beasts and when removed from the box have a large, square'ish look to them. Nice though (shiny) and build quality is very good. These monitors have quite a large footprint and I would say that decent stands should be used as opposed to placing on a desk (I'm using my old Atacama SE24 hi-fi stands filled with sand on two breeze blocks - works for me). The room I'm using them in is quite large (18' X 13.5') and they are set up firing longways down the room about 4.5' apart, angled in slightly. Although I'd read good reviews of these before I'd bought them and had high expectations I still was completely knocked out by the sound. The difference between my old Alesis monitors and the SP6's was huge, most notably in the treble and bass. Hi-hat patterns were now nicely clear and distinct. Bass was something I was particularly concerned with as I have a wooden floor, no couch and no bass trapping and the bass with the M1's had been somewhat muddy. Surprisingly (especially given the deeper bass response) the bass tightened up no-end with the SP6's, basslines became far easier to follow and many albums now have a whole new dimension to them (Nine Inch Nails - The Fragile being the most spectacular). I listen to a wide variety of music (Reggae, heavy metal, blues, jazz, pop etc) and these monitors handle everything with aplomb. I also have no television and so I also use these monitors to watch dvd's on my computer and everything is so much clearer and more atmospheric with the tiniest nuance of sound being picked up. I love these monitors and, for me, they do everything well and I don't see myself getting new ones for many, many years. For more technical reviews/details check out the online review on Electronic Musician and there's a review of the SP6's big brother, the SP8, on the Sound on Sound website.

Take care

Brian Estel