Barefoot Sound's MM27 & MM35 Gen2 Studio Monitors

Thomas Barefoot has taken his world renown studio monitors and dramatically raised the bar with the Gen2 versions of the MicroMain27's and MicroMain35's. The Gen2s have new drivers, amplification and speaker emulation.

I had the pleasure of breaking in a pair of MM35's recently (Thanks Giandre) and was extremely pleased with the outcome of the projects which consisted of mixes of various genres including reggae/pop, hip-hop/R&B, and Electronica.

All the mixes translated well to other systems. The original MM27/35's are  outstanding speakers with an exceptionally detailed, full-bodied sound so I am very excited to hear the Gen2s.

Here's some info from Barefoot Sound's website:
"The MicroMain27 Gen2 is a 3.5-way active system with 5 drive units housed in sealed enclosures spanning 30Hz to 45kHz with vanishingly low distortion, breathtaking dynamic range and ultra-fast transient response. The ring radiator tweeter is incredibly detailed and produces very wide dispersion out to its highest frequencies. The new 5.25" midbass features a phalanx of advanced technology, yielding midrange detail that rivals any driver on the planet. Barefoot has teamed up with the brilliant Bruno Putzeys of Hypex to develop the powerful and completely transparent amplifier stage of the MM27 Gen2...."

MicroMain27 Gen2 features:

• 3.5-way active studio monitor with integral subwoofers
• Four-setting DSP voice emulation
• Analog and AES3 digital inputs
• Hypex amplification
• Tweeter - 1" ring radiator with Advanced neodymium motor
• Rear waveguide chamber. Amplifier: 250W Hypex
• Midbass 1 - 5.25" poly/paper cone with Advanced neodymium motor , +/- 5 mm linear excursion. Amplifier: 250W Hypex
• Midbass 2 - 5.25" poly/paper cone with Advanced neodymium motor, +/- 5 mm linear excursion. Amplifier: 250W Hypex
• Subwoofers - 2 x 10" aluminum cone with high linearity motor, +/- 13 mm linear excursion. Amplifier: 500W Hypex
• Crossover Frequencies: 100 / 600 / 3000 Hz
• Cabinet Dimensions: 20.5" x 9.5" x 15.5"
• Overall Dimensions: 20.5" x 10.4" x. 17.4"

Get the full specs on the MM27's here.

And here's some info on the MM35's:

Similar to the MM27 but with a smaller footprint and just as great sounding "the MicroMain35 Gen2 is a 3-way active system with 4 drive units housed in sealed enclosures spanning 35Hz to 45kHz....."

MicroMain35 Gen2 features:

• 3-way active studio monitor with integral subwoofers
• Four-setting DSP voice emulation
• Analog and AES3 digital inputs
• Hypex amplification
• Tweeter - 1" ring radiator with Advanced neodymium motor
• Rear waveguide chamber. Amplifier: 180W Hypex
• Midbass - 5.25" poly/paper cone with Advanced neodymium motor , +/- 5 mm linear excursion. Amplifier: 180W Hypex
• Subwoofers - 2 x 7" aluminum cone with high linearity motor, +/- 9.5 mm linear excursion. Amplifier: 250W Hypex
• Crossover Frequencies: 100 / 3000 Hz
• Cabinet Dimensions: 14.25" x 9.5" x 15.5"
• Overall Dimensions: 14.25" x 10.4" x. 17.4"

Get more details on the MM35s here. 

I like that Thomas has included speaker emulation with the Gen2s and even made a remote for easy switching.The original MM35s have a "voicing" switch on the rear of the speaker that goes from "flat" which has a very revealing midrange to "forgiving" which sounds more like conventional monitors. 

The remote pictured above seems very straightforward to operate:

 "With the turn of a knob one can switch from the MicroMain27's/35's brutally revealing "Flat" response to the warmer and sweeter "Hi-Fi" setting, generically emulating the sound of some high end consumer audio gear. More specifically the "Old School" setting closely emulates the sound of the NS10M nearfield, while the "Cube" setting emulates the mid-centric sound of classic mix cubes The idea is not to perfectly replicate every subtle quirk of these venerable old speakers. That would be impossible. But the MM27/35 Gen2 can capture the essence of how they behave and translate, modeling their frequency, phase and transient responses, dynamic compression and even specific distortion components. If you know how to work on these speakers you will feel very comfortable working on the new MM27/35's emulation settings."

Available at various dealers worldwide