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were far more recessed, but in spite of the forwardness of the SM100Ak, its sweet spot was fairly wide (as wide as that of the A-20). I couldn’t get as wide a stereo image out of the Sonodynes as on my test speakers; orchestral recordings sounded very pinpoint, vs. the stereo image extending past the edges of the speakers. These are smaller speakers, and physics makes it impossible for them to have the bass extension of a large speaker, but the bass that was there was tight and snappy, not bloated or out of control. I could hear the snap on Art Blakey’s kick drum and although I couldn’t always hear the fundamental on Jaco Pastorius’ bass, I could easily hear the note being played rather than have it blur as on many smaller speakers. Mixing I mixed a couple of recordings on the SM100Ak just to see how they worked for me in comparison to what I normally use. The first good news is that I could hear reasonably subtle equalization changes, and I could feel an instrument snap into place when the level was right in the mix. These are characteristics that are missing from a lot of inexpensive monitors. Most of the monitors in this price range have sufficiently poor midrange accuracy that you can make dramatic eq changes without hearing what is going on. These monitors allow you to hear that in a reasonably detailed way that makes mixing easier. I did tend to pull back on the upper midrange equalization on vocals and I did tend to mix in more reverb or ambient sound than I would normally do, but that’s just a function of the forward sound of these speakers and is something you can easily get used to and work with. I am used to having more low end in monitors since my test systems are larger than the Sonodynes, but as I said, the low end that was there was tight and focused. One thing that I did find to be a problem: On these speakers it is much harder for me to judge buzzy distortion and clipping. Recordings that were severely abused in mastering and came across as sounding awful on the Magnepans and A20s were actually quite listenable on the Sonodynes. Experimentally I played back an LP that had been mutilated by the RCA Dynagroove system and it was quite inoffensive. I could see this being a concern while mixing with these speakers, but (as with the low end) a good pair of headphones, which you should also be using anyway, will help cover these bases.

The SM50Ak Sonodyne also sells a smaller version of the same basic design, called the SM50Ak. It offers 45W top and bottom, and a 5.25" woofer with the same tweeter. It costs considerably less than the SM100Ak, and the overall sound character is the same although the low end is more restricted due to the smaller woofer. To be honest, I think that if you’re using headphones for judging your low end anyway, you might just be better off saving the money and buying the SM50Ak, but you should try both of them and decide what works in your room. In a smaller room, or in one that isn’t heavily treated, your low-end results are going to

be very different than mine. And don’t forget to move the speakers forward and back to find the place where the low-frequency boundary boost from the wall behind them is best. Summary Simply put, you can mix on these speakers and actually hear what you are doing, which is way better than most “monitors” in this price range! They didn’t make me swoon, but on the other hand most of the monitors in this price range make me grit my teeth and these certainly didn’t do that. Both Sonodyne monitors came out quite well in my comparisons with my two systems, both of which cost several times what they do. I consider them well worth a listen if your room demands a speaker in this size range, but you refuse to compromise on a “budget” sound.

Prices: SM100Ak, $695 each; SM50Ak, $495 each More from: Sonodyne, www.sonodyne.com; dist. in USA by TransAudio Group, www.transaudiogroup.com.
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Recording - April 2012

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