September 5, 2008

Rating: 10/10

If you\'re looking for a pair of good near-field monitors then put these on your shortlist.
Fostex have been around for donkey\'s years and are renowned for their R&D and quality, so what makes these monitors special?
Well, it\'s apparent as soon as your monitors arrive. Mine came in a sturdy outer box, inside which was the Fostex box; which contained 2 further boxes containing the monitors. Each monitor was placed within a
polystyrene frame, having first been lovingly wrapped in tissue paper, polystyrene sheeting and placed in what felt like an anti-static bag !
And then of course there\'s the weight ! The total package came in at over 35 pounds (16 kg) - so being sensible I got the wife to move it !
Once out of their boxes the monitors simply shout quality. The build is exemplary and the shiny gloss front is inspirational, making other makes look boring! Inset perfectly into the front is a 20mm soft dome tweeter and a 130mm low frequency driver supported by 2 bass reflex ports which are clearly tuned as they can be seen to curve downwards inside the cab. These front facing ports are perfect for the smaller studio where monitors are likely to be placed nearer walls - (with such placement, rear-ported monitors would severely colour the sound and should be avoided.) The ports certainly work and provide a deep rich controlled bass which belies the compact size - clearly the cabinet density and solid construction assist in this respect. If anything the bass is excessive (for me !) but a judicious tweak at 80Hz via the console levelled things out.
The specification gives a low frequency response down to 50Hz (which is the accepted point at which the bass rolls off at -3dB), with a low frequency cut off of 40Hz. However, I obtained a useful sound down to 30Hz, which is exceptional for the size of cab and driver, and a testament to Fostex\'s investment in R&D.
The overall sound is clean and punchy and the top end is handled well, producing a smooth and detailed sound, good sound placement and a well defined and controlled \'sweet spot\' with no noticeable colouration. Acoustic material is handled particularly well and instruments are clearly defined , natural,with amazing clarity and superb dynamics.
Each driver is fed by it\'s own 35 Watt amplifier which is more than adequate for nearfield monitoring and is clearly top quality. The input gain control allows adjustment for optimum signal to noise ratio, but ideally this should be set at the mid-range point (or less) to allow headroom for the amplifier to handle the
dynamics of the music - which it does with ease.
The large heatsink on the back works well and soon warms up, requiring an unrestricted air flow. There is a clever single multi-connection input socket that caters for XLR and TRS plugs and is electronically balanced to
handle both balanced and unbalanced sources. There are no RCA (phono) sockets. As always, it pays to use top quality audio cables and plugs throughout the signal chain - anything less would be an insult to these monitors.
So, if size and budget are restricted, you\'d be hard pressed to get a better sounding pair of monitors. Of course all room acoustics are different, so you\'d need to live with these ( as with any new speakers) for a few days before deciding whether they are right for you and your tunes and your monitoring environment -
but I don\'t think you\'ll be disappointed. I certainly wont be sending mine back!

Mike
Manchester