KVR Audio

jens · Post by **jens** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 1:08 pm

advaya wrote:Ack... those do look awful! (top pic)...

yup!

diffamation sonore · Post by **diffamation sonore** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 1:21 pm

B&W don't seem to be shielded though, a problem in my smallish studio. As for looks, it is a matter of taste.

nuffink · Post by **nuffink** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 1:24 pm

diffamation sonore wrote:B&W don't seem to be shielded though, a problem in my smallish studio. As for looks, it is a matter of taste.

http://www.bwspeakers.com/index.cfm/fus ... D0B74745A0

e-modic · Post by **e-modic** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 1:29 pm

your ears getting tired very fast and they were actually made or Rock Music. I cannot recommend them for electronic music. The kicks never sound as they really are, we are glad to throw them away finally and buy some Reveals from Tannoy.

ObsoleteAcc99 · Post by **ObsoleteAcc99** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 1:46 pm

[DELETED]

Hunter · Post by **Hunter** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 2:00 pm

nuffink wrote:
jens wrote:
nuffink wrote:.

Judged on this basis Alesis don't cut it.
yes, they do - they don't sound nice - they're rather honest...
They have a very ragged frequency respose, an undamped cabinet which at spot frequencies is resonating up to 6db more than the drivers.
The bass drivers themselves have a grossly high CES an a pitiful B/L factor, telling me they use cheap and nasty magnets. A cursory glance at said magnets confirms as much.
The evidence of ringing on their mlssa waterfall plot shows quite clearly the effect of underdamped drivers and cabinet.
The 3rd harmonic distortion rises alarmingly as they are pushed close to their meagre xmax.
In short, they’re about as honest as a bent politician.

I could be wrong, you're welcome to believe the fanboys who've been sold these pups.

Not being rude here dude, just clarifiying things as I too have been considering htese monitors:

You say you have some M1MkIIs on loan - what do you normally use that you are comparing them to as crappy sounding? Just if you are comparing them to high end hifi units then they will obviously sound 'worse'. Also are your ears, you know, relatively good? As in do you write music lots and know what your ears are telling you etc etc, (basically I'm trying to establish if you know what your talking about without being rude...!)

You also recommend buying hifi speakers instead - surely this kind of defeats the puirpose of monitoring on speakers designed to be monitors, rather than just using speakers that are designed to flatter the music and make it sound 'nice'. Also you then bring an amp into the equaiton that will bring further possibility of sound colouration, compatibility with the speakers etc.

Basically I'm in the same situation as Chase, I currently jsut use my home low end hifi system for music, a pair of Mission 7 series speakers whcih are really nice and received rave reviews in What HIFI etc etc, but simply aren't monitors, and struggle with the bass I need to be able to hear properly writing dnb, as they only have little 5 inch or less woofers. I use a nice NAD amp thats quite old but is designed to give max audio quality over features as per their design philosophy blah blah.

So if I was to go and buy some BW303 speakers then I would not be in a much differnt boat, the larger drivers on the 303s over my Missions perhaps giving a better bass presence.

Basically, I can't use my current setup to write msuic the way I want to, and am considering some low end monitors, Alesis, Behringer 2031s etc etc etc... but you seem to be saying I'm better off with a hifi setup instead?

now I'm really confused, please discuss further

nuffink · Post by **nuffink** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 2:04 pm

Just my opinion, Hunter. I don't claim anything else.

deleted · Post by **deleted** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 2:27 pm

DELETED

Hunter · Post by **Hunter** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 4:04 pm

nuffink wrote:Just my opinion, Hunter. I don't claim anything else.

Yeah cool, but I was actually looking for more answers, not just being a prick!

I'm just keen to hear things from people like yourself who've used monitors like the M1s and have also used other monitors, so that I can establish 'in comparison to brand x, the Alesis are mushy in the mids etc.' , whatever Brand x is etc. Especially so for other monitors in the same price range. I don't really have access to anywhere I can a/b monitors as I've boycotted my local sound control.

Its just that having read your comments on the alesis' and your suggestion of hifi speakers I'm now questioning the point in shelling out £200 on monitors that might be worse than my current NAD/Mission rig, though I do need something with more bass depth. The other problem is there is simply no way I will be able to buy summat like mackies for a loooong time on my salary.

</end insane ramblings>

ResonantOrder · Post by **ResonantOrder** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 4:08 pm

The M1s are not perfect, but they are cheap and will get people off the ground when it comes to monitors.

The most important thing a person can do is use monitors regularly and figure out the weaknesses and strengths to be compensated for. Even Genelecs and Mackies have their faults. Your ears can be made to compensate if you know what you are hearing on a regular basis, and you check it against other household systems.

As far as sounding bad, have you ever tried a pair of NS-10s? Do you have any idea of how many millions of records have been sold that were tracked on those awful tinny monitors?

Hunter · Post by **Hunter** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 4:22 pm

Oh god its all too complicated, I'm going to bounce everything down to mp3 and use my mobile speaker

nuffink · Post by **nuffink** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 4:28 pm

Hunter wrote:Yeah cool, but I was actually looking for more answers, not just being a prick!

Ok. After one of Jens posts, I found
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/Jun02/a ... nitors.asp
and this
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/Jul02/a ... itors2.asp
at the SOS site.

Note that this is a two part article with proper measurements. Not a press release.

This waterfall plot...

...is almost unbelievable on any speaker at any price let alone an entry level domestic monitor.

Except that I've measured B&W speakers before so I know just how believable it really is.

ResonantOrder · Post by **ResonantOrder** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 4:29 pm

Hunter wrote:Oh god its all too complicated, I'm going to bounce everything down to mp3 and use my mobile speaker

Buy a pair of M1s used off of ebay if you want to try them out. The prices remain steady as long as you remember to sell them on a weekend night.

atomota · Post by **atomota** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 5:12 pm

I have M1 active mk2s. I don't think I'll buy anything from Alesis ever again. They didn't come with a manual. One of the tweeters stopped working after a few years, (un?)fortunately it started working again when I unscrewed it and screwed it back in. The cabinets rattle and buzz at some frequencies. I covered the stupid blue LEDs with electric tape because they were ugly and distracting. A solid case of you get what you pay for, but I figured that when I bought them and that's all I wanted to spend.

I did mix some stuff on them for release (guitar, fiddle, standup bass, all electric) and the mastering engineer said it turned out fine. I've got one port on each monitor stuffed up because commercial CDs sound better that way.

jens · Post by **jens** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 5:15 pm

mine came with a nice manual... - also they work just as expected!

Alesis M1 monitors