Monitor Speakers recomendations anyone

[IIRs]

... they are more for center channel usage in 5.1 mixing aren't they?

I'm quite convinced that your mistake is a common one, and that it helped get me a really good deal on my pair of 626's!

Turnkey have been selling them for £899 a pair for some time (the RRP is more like £700 each IIRC) so I snapped up a pair about 9 months ago.. its the only HR series model they're doing that kind of discount on, and the only reason I can think of is that most people buy 824's & 624's in pairs, but just one 626 for the centre, so they've not sold the same numbers..

I might be wrong but I don't care: Beno's absolutely right, they sound fantastic!!

Also, don't confuse Active with Powered. Powered means the company threw an amp on the back of a speaker. This is not active. Active means the amps and speakers were designed together, frequency responses tuned and accounted for electronically to give a superior package. For example, all Mackie HR series are individually tuned at the factory at the end of the production line for an extremely flat response (I forget the spec off the top of my head) and the frequency response from the factory is signed and sent with the speaker.

Yeah, but you forgot to mention the ACTIVE cross-over, and the damping factors of the drivers / amps which can be properly matched..

I'm not saying a passive system can't sound great, just that an good active design takes a lot of the hit & miss and trial and error aspect out of setting up a good sounding system..

[valley]

... they are more for center channel usage in 5.1 mixing aren't they?

I'm quite convinced that your mistake is a common one, and that it helped get me a really good deal on my pair of 626's!

a good myth will grow legs and walk the earth five times over.

I'm glad this thread came up though, 'cos that put me right on two different misconceptions at once.

[Barbarossa]

What amp would you recommend to go with those speakers?

More or less any modern amp.
If you plan to go surround, i'd take a decent medium receiver instead of an amp.
If surround will be definately no topic, i.e. the Alesis amps are cheap and good.

But there are three other positive aspects for a receiver:
- active bass management
- digital connection
- in case of surround, you can also check the (down)mixes for compatibility with stereo-enhancers like PLII or CSII (good stereo-mixes, are always good PLII/CSII mixes, too)

@Beno:
active speakers for the amateur are ofcourse a hype because the higher investment stands in no relation to the benefits.
Investing the same amount of money in the next better passive speaker-class brings WAY more, not to speak about an investment in acoustics or a better mic/preamp.
Besides all theoretical discussions about active-LS or maybe even about cables, what really counts are the results.
And with the passive Alesis someone has (besides an amp and a sub) all he needs on the monitor side, to produce professional mixes.
Nothing else is the job for a monitor.

[Beno]

@Beno:
active speakers for the amateur are ofcourse a hype because the higher investment stands in no relation to the benefits.
Investing the same amount of money in the next better passive speaker-class brings WAY more, not to speak about an investment in acoustics or a better mic/preamp.
Besides all theoretical discussions about active-LS or maybe even about cables, what really counts are the results.
And with the passive Alesis someone has (besides an amp and a sub) all he needs on the monitor side, to produce professional mixes.
Nothing else is the job for a monitor.

To be clear I wasn't addressing anyone in the threads particular needs. I was making a general comment. But if a hobbyist has neither speakers nor an amp, an active setup like the Tapco, M-Audio, etc can be the best and cheapest way to go.

Ben

[IIRs]

@Beno:
active speakers for the amateur are ofcourse a hype because the higher investment stands in no relation to the benefits.

I disagree. When making price comparisons, remember to include the price of the power amp you intend to drive the passives with, and bear in mind the comparison is still not fair unless you price up two power amps (for bi-amping) and the requisite cables..

..and if you're considering spending significantly less on your power amp than on your passive monitors, you are a fool! (IMO of course)

A clean accurate power amp with plenty of headroom is absolutely critical for good monitoring.

[Muff Wiggler]

I spent 6 months demoing many different monitors and came to a few concolusions

active monitors were a must for me (see previous discussion in this thread re. active vs. powered)

same with bi-amped. each driver needs it's own amp

fused as well so I don't have to worry about blown

after a lot of research, the price/quality ratio maxed out with the Tannoy Reveal Active speakers. So I bought them about a year ago and have been in sonic heaven ever since

if there's one thing to invest in quality componenets, it's your monitors. weak monitors will affect the quality of everything else in your kit. good monitors will enhance it. build your entire studio around your monitors

[Beardedone]

I just bought a pair of Event Studio Precision 8 monitors. I am extremely happy with them. They are powerful but suble and evne at low volumes musical and detailed. I spent hours checking favorite CDs and checking my tracks and projects. They have elevatd my listening enjoyment and making music to a new level. Money very well spent.

[nuisance sonore]

I curently mix on a pair of modified Allison passive coupled to a Technics decoder/amplifier and the resulting mixe always endup too bassy when listened on other system, so I'm looking at active packages to give me alternate options (maybe add a sub later on).

The room I'm mixing in is fairly small, 10'x14' (2.54x3.55 meters), I'm wondering if it would be better to use 6" or 8" driver for such a small room? Is it possible to get proper bass imaging in such a small space?

[birrbits]

I just just picked up KRK Rockit RP5's after reading an sos review from a few months back (can't find the review online). I am very happy with these (extremely) inexpensive active bi-amped speakers. They have brought a whole new dimension to my mixing and are the 1st speakers I have owned that sound like I'm monitoring through my beyerdynamic headphones. If you need to extend the bass, go for the RP8's or add a Rockit sub.
Definately worth a listen!

[cptgone]

Check out the FM blind test of about 12 monitors (last months of 2004).

The Yamaha MSP3 came out on top in the cheaper dept.

I have them. I think they are simply great - highly recommended - a really GOOD purchase

Glad to hear that. I ordered mine last week

My first set of monitors

[valley]

The room I'm mixing in is fairly small, 10'x14' (2.54x3.55 meters), I'm wondering if it would be better to use 6" or 8" driver for such a small room? Is it possible to get proper bass imaging in such a small space?

Personally, I'd say go with the sixes for a room that size.

[nuisance sonore]

The room I'm mixing in is fairly small, 10'x14' (2.54x3.55 meters), I'm wondering if it would be better to use 6" or 8" driver for such a small room? Is it possible to get proper bass imaging in such a small space?

Personally, I'd say go with the sixes for a room that size.

With or without a sub? Would a sub help you think or just create more accoustic problems?

Thanks Valley.

[Lunch Money]

Barbarossa--

Without already owning an amp, there's very little way that a passive system could be more cost-effective. Also, an amp has its own colour, and for the price of a mid-range amp, aren't we pretty much guaranteed that it's not going to be exceptionally flat?

I'm definitely still open to learning more about it, as I haven't bought monitors yet; however, I'm starting to lean toward active (or even 'powered', though I understand that it's not ideal).

Greg

[valley]

With or without a sub? Would a sub help you think or just create more accoustic problems?

Let's put it this way:

[disclaimer]I'm not an accoustics expert, but then I guess neither are you, and since we are having this conversation, I suspect also like me, you couldn't afford to hire one...[/disclaimer]

My room is particularly unpleasant in that it has basically more corners than any box (yeah, "box", almost uniform dimensions apart from the sloping ceiling) has any right to. Corners are in general a pretty bad thing as you probably know, but fortunately for me, there are other features of the construction that are favourable to audio as well. So let's consider my space to be just a little worse than average.

In an effort to clean it up, I have added accoustic tile (auralex foam) to the wall in front of my mixing console, and a corresponding run along the wall directly behind me. I also have a damn great big sofa there to mop up some reflected waves. There are a few tiles either side of me to improve stereo imaging.

After that I placed in the room 2 18"x24"x8" broadband absorbers (poxy great big boxes of *packed* R25 FWIW) at a 45% angle across the corners adjacent to my speakers to soak up as much corner bass as possible.

I have two more absorbers to fit, but even with them sitting loose in the room, I can hear that :

a) the bass response between the two speakers is uneven - one sounds tighter than the other.

b) I have at least three, probably five or more, problem frequencies for standing waves.

I couldn't really hear any of this before I started treating the room, but that's cos the repsonse was so damn uneven it all pretty much got lost in one big f**ked up mess.

One interesting thing I did learn though is that often an apparent lack of bass response in speakers can be exactly the opposite - too much bass creates problems that make it hard for you ear to hear and recognise frequencies, which seems to just create a general undefined muddiness with no obvious subtance.

So I can't tell you how to fix it, but I can tell you that spending huge amounts of money on speakers isn't that wise unless you want to spend far greater sums of money making the room fit the investment. For me, I;d rather spend my money on a really good set of sixes that suit my room, than a a half decent set of eights that highlight every weakness in accoustics my room has to offer.

[nuisance sonore]

[disclaimer]I'm not an accoustics expert, but then I guess neither are you, and since we are having this conversation, I suspect also like me, you couldn't afford to hire one...[/disclaimer]

All the above is true and pertinent.

My room is particularly unpleasant in that it has basically more corners than any box (yeah, "box", almost uniform dimensions apart from the sloping ceiling) has any right to. Corners are in general a pretty bad thing as you probably know, but fortunately for me, there are other features of the construction that are favourable to audio as well. So let's consider my space to be just a little worse than average.

Well, mine is a perfect rectangular box; so narrow that it creates reflective problems while not long enough to permit bass wave to expand.

In an effort to clean it up, I have added accoustic tile (auralex foam) to the wall in front of my mixing console, and a corresponding run along the wall directly behind me. I also have a damn great big sofa there to mop up some reflected waves. There are a few tiles either side of me to improve stereo imaging.

After that I placed in the room 2 18"x24"x8" broadband absorbers (poxy great big boxes of *packed* R25 FWIW) at a 45% angle across the corners adjacent to my speakers to soak up as much corner bass as possible.

I have two more absorbers to fit, but even with them sitting loose in the room, I can hear that :

a) the bass response between the two speakers is uneven - one sounds tighter than the other.

b) I have at least three, probably five or more, problem frequencies for standing waves.

I couldn't really hear any of this before I started treating the room, but that's cos the repsonse was so damn uneven it all pretty much got lost in one big f**ked up mess.

Evey article I've read bring me to the conclusion that, in order to have good accoustic, I have to move I can't do that since I own this house

One interesting thing I did learn though is that often an apparent lack of bass response in speakers can be exactly the opposite - too much bass creates problems that make it hard for you ear to hear and recognise frequencies, which seems to just create a general undefined muddiness with no obvious subtance.

That's what I suspect, hence my question about the sub. I'm not done trying to understand the effect of having too short a space for the frequencies you're trying to hear, but I'm suspecting that the bassy mix I put out is more a reflection of my listening environement rather than speakers choice. It could evn be my compensation for the High frequency bouncing on the perfectly parralel and too close side wall. Very difficult to diagnose for one without formal training in the matter. One article I've read suggested installing rounded surface in the corners, I might just try that.

So I can't tell you how to fix it, but I can tell you that spending huge amounts of money on speakers isn't that wise unless you want to spend far greater sums of money making the room fit the investment. For me, I;d rather spend my money on a really good set of sixes that suit my room, than a a half decent set of eights that highlight every weakness in accoustics my room has to offer.

Makes a whole lot of sense, and probably better to get them from a place with a liberal return policy, as it's impossible to know ahead of time how a particular set of speakers will sound in a particular space.