KVR Audio

trimph1 · Post by **trimph1** » Tue Feb 07, 2012 9:35 pm

My so-called 'collection' of speakers include a pair of Klipsch II speakers, a pair of EPI Monitor 100's, and then the KRK5's....we simply do not have surround sound system here. So, for me, I have to go to someplace else to do the listening if I wanted surround sound speakers...that usually means me taking my pieces to a retail outlet whose owners have allowed me to check them out there.

My Audi has a Bose system in it....

camsr · Post by **camsr** » Wed Feb 08, 2012 4:23 am

trimph1 wrote:My so-called 'collection' of speakers include a pair of Klipsch II speakers, a pair of EPI Monitor 100's, and then the KRK5's....we simply do not have surround sound system here. So, for me, I have to go to someplace else to do the listening if I wanted surround sound speakers...that usually means me taking my pieces to a retail outlet whose owners have allowed me to check them out there.

My Audi has a Bose system in it....

Go with a white van special. You can get a surround for like 500 dollars!!! Not to mention it's going to be the best purchase you ever made. These speakers last a lifetime, and are rated well above their specs. They just have a way, of bringing out the tone of every recording you will listen to. Don't forget to ask for speaker wire, as they will usually throw some in as part of the deal.

I feel as a music producer, everyone needs a system that screams, Quality. That's why I am highly supportive of Kirsch Speaker Systems. Go for the gold!

camsr · Post by **camsr** » Wed Feb 08, 2012 4:34 am

The Chase wrote:Sounds like a pretty frustrated amateur who couldn't adapt from hifi speakers?

My VXT8s sound "crappy" in specifically useful ways - they have no punch (so I know when my drums do), teamed with super accurate low end making dance kicks seem more like sub bass notes than thumps, and have scratchy high-mids that makes mixes that have become mid-rangy from overcompression sound particularly terrible (which sadly is most rock/pop music now), also accenting when high frequency transient things (such as the attacks of hihats and other cymbals) have been squashed into an unnatural sound...I can't really imagine a company selling them and advertising them as anything else but a studio monitor, except for a speaker for masochists. But, they're my choice because the difference between a good mix and a shitty one is night and day (compared to a speaker like my Spendors that make just about anything sound good). When a mix is coming together, it all falls into place like when you've done all the nitty-gritty of a puzzle and are just easily flinging the final pieces in, or an old school camera lens that breaks the image up into a kajillion pieces until you adjust it for the perfect picture.

You got KRKs too? I found if you cut the mids the tone cleans up. They just came out with a 3 way also. But my next monitor purchase is going to be a 3-way. It's the best config, bar none.

zerocrossing · Post by **zerocrossing** » Wed Feb 08, 2012 5:36 am

Don't forget about this conspiracy:

http://www.eatmedaily.com/2008/10/sarah ... episode-1/

jancivil · Post by **jancivil** » Wed Feb 08, 2012 5:40 am

hibidy wrote: If I was serious (which I'm not any longer) I'd have a good set

Yo.

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kritikon · Post by **kritikon** » Wed Feb 08, 2012 12:07 pm

It's mostly about money. Call them "studio monitors" and you can add maybe 25% on to the price, probably more. Same with some HiFi - get a name and suddenly they cost more. Put metal fins and futuristic shapes on your speakers and you can add 50%. Stamp Bose on them and you can double the price. Pay peanuts and you get crap speakers whatever they call them.

I've had very good and very flawed studio monitors and I've had superb HiFi speakers and some terrible ones. It's not about studio or HiFi, it's about ears.

I read the original article, and although he makes the odd good point, it glares out to me that he actually doesn't seem to know that much about music production. Says he's a pro and has "clients" - Not sure I'd consider him pro. Fair go, I suppose everyone has to learn somewhere, but he doesn't inspire me with confidence as an "engineer". He patently doesn't know what nearfields are about.

And I have to add that I'm more a proponent of buying good HiFi speakers rather than some studio monitors. There is no fairy dust in monitors, the aim of making good HiFi speakers and good monitors is exactly the same. But I still can't agree with his rant - good studio monitors are good monitors, plain and simple. I do believe the web mythologises studio monitors - I constantly read noobs here waxing on about how studio monitors are flat but all HiFi speakers are weighted - just sheer rubbish. But that doesn't mean that there's any conspiracy to inflate studio monitors.

aciddose · Post by **aciddose** » Wed Feb 08, 2012 3:47 pm

i think you just need to know the real value of certain items before you buy them.

i'm sure a lot of people here might go looking for monitors with it stuck in their head that they ought to have either "scientific" monitors which emphasize accuracy to some scientific standard (which, isn't scientific itself most of the time as there are so many standards and their definitions and selection are subjective.) or "professional" as in what you might find a collection of in a very large movie studio for their widely respected "vintage" sound used to produce platinum albums X, Y and Z.

realistically you want to go looking in the 200 - 600 dollar range and test these monitors yourself to find some that avoid any of the common issues. that's assuming you even need real studio monitors.

personally i'd aim at the 50 - 200 range because honestly all i need are some monitors that produce audio without having any horrible (more than 3db) peaks or valleys between 50hz and 18khz.

then, we have people that will go out and start looking at the 2000 - 5000 range...

at some point the real value of the item vs. it's sale price starts to become re-enforced by a sprinkling of magic pixie dust. at that point you want to start to really question exactly what is going on there.

http://entertainment.slashdot.org/story ... 09599-hdmi

use common sense.

Arglebargle · Post by **Arglebargle** » Wed Feb 08, 2012 4:44 pm

trimph1 wrote:Ok...so why do we use studio monitors anyways?

Because we want good mixes, right? Of course we do, silly!!! But now here is the thing. We find ourselves wondering what the best studio monitors should be. Well, the author of this article appears to suggest that we call these things.."not for real world monitors" ....

Have a read...and tell me what you think...

http://forum.recordingreview.com/blogs/ ... iracy.html

Something to mull over the next time you find yourself needing monitors...

This article brought up some thing I've thought for years, but have basically been too embarrassed to bring up cuz I thought I was a n00b.

osiris · Post by **osiris** » Wed Feb 08, 2012 4:57 pm

I got a pair of Behringer's on sale from guitar center for $100.00 and they are great.
Now, let's discuss the whole active versus passive speaker thing...

jancivil · Post by **jancivil** » Wed Feb 08, 2012 6:12 pm

If you don't have a tuned room, you may as well use headphones. It's achieved a level of myth following the marketing, 'studio monitors'. Do you have a real studio? I don't. That's a myth, you need speakers to judge things.

Beyond that, what makes it 'a studio monitor'? what makes it 'nearfield'? there are speakers that will fit the actual specs that aren't necessarily marketed as such, and they might just be better speakers.

kritikon · Post by **kritikon** » Thu Feb 09, 2012 12:32 pm

i think you just need to know the real value of certain items before you buy them.

Exactly.

What level of quality you're happy with v. what price you're prepared to pay. Studio and HiFi isn't really relevant in that equation.

realistically you want to go looking in the 200 - 600 dollar range and test these monitors yourself to find some that avoid any of the common issues. that's assuming you even need real studio monitors.

That's about what I'll pay usually, although I'll pay more if I'm flush. And I'd personally recommend that in that range people look at both studio and HiFi, because there are plenty in exactly that range that are equally good.

As Aciddose wrote - you can quite happily get by with a smaller budget. With speakers it really is diminishing returns. And i still don't get why so many distinguish between bookshelf speakers and nearfields - to me, pretty well the only definition of nearfields is a lack of large woofers with no intention to produce subbass. In the studio world they're designed for close monitoring at low volumes. Which you can do equally well with bookshelf speakers. Even in studio marketing there is myth - you can get really quite powerful nearfields. Now that is plain silly and it shows that marketing is everything, because if you're serious about buying nearfields, then you don't need power.

captain caveman · Post by **captain caveman** » Thu Feb 09, 2012 11:20 pm

astroidmist wrote:... stereo boombox with an AUX input. Even when I used monitors in a room with good acoustics, I tended to get better mixes when I mixed through this same boombox model.

Interestingly, Michael Brauer does most of his mixing through a Sony boombox.

tapper mike · Post by **tapper mike** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 2:45 am

It doesn't cost that much to sound proof a room unless it's an abandoned supermarket next to an airport.

The Studio Monitor Conspiracy.