info on Blue Sky MediaDesk 2.1 monitors

[Shane Sanders]

I recently bought a Blue Sky MediaDesk 2.1 system. It has been great. Got them new for $499.00. They are powered monitors with a sub, and after using them for a while now, I can recommend them.

The reviewer in SoundonSound actually kept his review set, if that tells you anything. There are other good reviews, too. The main thing is that they are for a smallish room.

When I listened to "Walking on the Moon" by The Police on them, I heard a neat filtery wobble on the tail end of the first guitar chord that I had never heard before. It's very subtle, but the details of it were right in my face.

The Company: http://www.abluesky.com/asp/catalogue/p ... &prodcode= 00012

The reviews:
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jan05/a ... luesky.htm
http://mixguides.com/studiomonitors/Rev ... k-monitori ng/
http://www.proaudioreview.com/june05/blue_sky.shtml


Another cool thing about them is that they have a 5.1 upgrade package. The sub has a switch that makes it flip from a 2.1 to a 5.1 signal. So you can add those later if you wish.

[PaulG]

Shane,

I was looking into these, too.

As a reference, what monitors did you come from?

Thanks,

- Paul

[Cosmic Bandito]

I have these too and like them a lot. The sattelites are really detailed and non-fatigueing - you will hear things you have never heard before. You get all the low end frequencies as well from the sub. I was never able to hear any sub bass before with my M-audio BX-5's. So it was a whole different experience for me. I just wish the sub was a more detailed. It can be a little muddy in the lower mids in my room - could be rooms fault tho.

[PaulG]

Hey,

I've got BX-5a's that surprisingly do the job. I wouldn't go further than that, though.

You don't think that you're getting anything misrepresented in your mixes frequency-wise due to having the lows in a separate speaker?

[Shane Sanders]

Shane,

I was looking into these, too.

As a reference, what monitors did you come from?

Thanks,

- Paul

I had the original Alesis Monitor Ones. Not the fancier models that came later. They were probably average to low-average, but I knew them well enough from having them for more than a decade. They had a tendency to give illusory bass information (lacking in bass generally). I was often struggling to get rid of honkishness due to me overcompensating in the bass freqs.

Up until I bought these new ones, I was also mixing on regular hi-fi DVD/DVR speakers (2.1 configuration) in my living room quite often. Surprisingly, they were fairly good at getting a decent balance in the relative spread of freqs, but crap at details. I intend to continue to check mixes on them, though, because it has all these presets for various EQ curves. So you can quickly get an idea what you mix sounds like when people have those "jazz", "rock", "pop", buttons selected on various boomboxes and home stereos.

[Shane Sanders]

Hey,

I've got BX-5a's that surprisingly do the job. I wouldn't go further than that, though.

You don't think that you're getting anything misrepresented in your mixes frequency-wise due to having the lows in a separate speaker?

Have a look at the SoundonSound review. He goes into that a bit. But the overall verdict is that they're quite good, especially compared to some bass reflex type designs.

I could instantly feel kicks in a way that my Monitor Ones just simply couldn't reproduce.

I intend to be more shy with the bass freqs in upcoming material. I tend to ruin mixes by overdoing it in the lows no matter what I'm mixing on. Currently doing research on best shelving practices, etc.

[PaulG]

I meant do you think that having the speakers in seperate locations rather than 3-ways in the same box is somehow limiting or misrepresentative?

I am not saying it would be, just wondering out loud, sort of...

So you'd say you've gotten your money's worth then?

Thanks, Shane, and Cosmic, too!

[Shane Sanders]

I meant do you think that having the speakers in seperate locations rather than 3-ways in the same box is somehow limiting or misrepresentative?

I am not saying it would be, just wondering out loud, sort of...

So you'd say you've gotten your money's worth then?

Thanks, Shane, and Cosmic, too!

Well, those particular bass frequencies are mostly nondirectional, so you can even move a sub to a non-centered place in the room and not really hear the difference. I have mine under my desk and centered because that's really the only logical place for them. The sub has a special gain knob for itself, so you can tune it volume-wise a bit based on what your room is doing to those frequencies. So in that regard, a 2.1 system is probably superior to a pair of moderately cool monitors in a relatively untuned room. TBH, I am really out of my depth on this subject when it starts to get hardcore. I just know these things have made songs that I know really well (from other artists) sound more exciting yet just as well mixed as I always thought they were, if that makes any sense. They definitely support more detail than my M1s did. I relied quite a lot on the reviews before purchasing, and then once I had them home, I was able to throw on some pro CDs and figure out for myself the consistency aspects of them.

Yeah, definitely a good bargain, imo. I bought some simple pole-based stands for the sattelites, so I'm able to set their height exactly where my ears usually are instead of just whereever the desk would have allowed. That seems to help a lot.

I actually cleaned up a bit this weekend, so I'm not ashamed to show what the setup looks like: