Barefoot Sound designed the MicroMain26, building upon the renowned MicroMain27 platform. With the addition of Barefoot’s incredibly transparent and detailed 2.5” aluminum cone midrange, the MicroMain26 raises performance to new heights. Delivering everything the MicroMain27 is famous for and more, the MicroMain26 is a testament to Barefoot’s commitment to excellence.
The MicroMain26 is a 4-way active system with 6 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 2.5” aluminum cone midrange is housed in a cutting edge 3D printed waveguide enclosure. The 5.25″ woofers feature a phalanx of advanced technology, yielding upper bass and lower midrange detail that rivals any driver on the planet. Barefoot Sound developed a powerful and completely transparent amplifier stage for the MicroMain26. The system is melded together with a groundbreaking DSP (Digital Signal Processor) crossover that Barefoot has dedicated thousands of hours to developing. With beautifully designed high end converters and cutting edge proprietary filtering techniques the MicroMain26 sound stage is seamlessly coherent and deeply revealing.
DESIGN
With major artists and studios relying on the MicroMain26 for accurate translation between listening environments, the MicroMain26 pushes the design limits of what is possible in a compact studio monitor.
ADDITIONAL MIDRANGE DRIVER
Constructed upon the MicroMain27 platform, the MicroMain26 elevates the standards by incorporating an exceptionally transparent 2.5-inch aluminum-cone midrange driver that is housed in a cutting edge 3D printed waveguide sealed enclosure. It not only encompasses all the renowned features of the MicroMain27 but also goes beyond.
CABINET DESIGN
The front baffle is machined aluminum and inset into a Medium-Density Fiberboard (MDF) cabinet with generously radiused corners to minimize diffraction. The cabinet is sealed, extremely well-braced, and damped, enclosing a volume of 32 liters. It features the well-known Barefoot Black polyester coating with its signature textured finish.
PEDESTAL LEGS
Each MicroMain26 comes with two pedestal legs. These pedestals provide clearance for the down-firing subwoofer while the speaker stands in its normal horizontal orientation. To stand the cabinet vertically, use the pedestal legs.
DUAL-FORCE™ TECHNOLOGY
Cabinet vibrations are a significant source of distortion and coloration in most loudspeakers. The primary mechanism is simple action and reaction. As the driver motor forces the cone to move back and forth in order to generate sound the cone exerts an equal and opposite force on the motor. This force is transmitted through the driver frame to the cabinet. The effect is especially prevalent in the low frequencies where the cone motion is greatest. While Barefoot cabinets are massive and well braced, we also tackle the problem at its source by eliminating vibrations before they even begin. This is achieved through our innovative force cancellation design (Dual-Force™ Technology). The low frequency drivers are mounted on opposing sides of the cabinet and their motors are locked together. As the cones are driven in and out in opposite directions the forces exerted on the motors cancel one another. The vibrations never make it to the cabinet because they are not allowed to develop in the first place. This layout has the further benefit of forming a massive internal metal cabinet bracing. And because the wavelengths generated by the subwoofers are much larger than the speaker cabinet dimensions, the subs radiate as if they were a single point source located on axis with the tweeter.
MEME™ TECHNOLOGY
Like all Barefoot Sound monitors, the MicroMain26 includes the versatile MEME™ Technology Voice Emulation feature. Despite the advantages of high-resolution monitors, Barefoot Sound realizes that many engineers still use their NS10M’s and Mix Cubes as secondary references. These speakers have long traditions, and people find them familiar and useful for focusing on certain aspects of their mix. However, crowding one’s console with those extra boxes degrades the sound field of the primary reference monitors. Additionally, they are no longer manufactured, require amplifiers, cable runs, and consume more studio space.
The solution is to make the MicroMain26 sound and translate like those speakers. With the turn of a knob, one can switch from the MicroMain26′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, as that would be impossible. Instead, the MicroMain26 captures the essence of how they behave and translate, modeling their frequency, phase, and transient responses, dynamic compression, and even specific distortion components.
