Studio Monitors
Studio Monitors Posted on: 25.12.2010 by Stephaine Fream I'm looking for a good, but affordable pair of studio monitors. I know about what to look for in specs and what not but I was wondering if anyone has a pair they prefer to use? Which ones should I stay away from? Any input would be great. Thanks! | |
| Celestine Porebski 22.01.2011 |
Originally Posted by Tekki
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| Celestine Porebski 22.01.2011 |
Originally Posted by Tekki
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| Celestine Porebski 22.01.2011 |
Originally Posted by Tekki
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| Celestine Porebski 22.01.2011 |
Originally Posted by Tekki
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| Celestine Porebski 22.01.2011 |
Originally Posted by Tekki
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| Janyce Jardon 30.01.2011 |
Originally Posted by knaumov
As for the bass ports on the back, yeah, they dont sound great rammed up next to a wall. if u can avoid it, id put them at least a meter from the wall for an all round better sound, but i guess it would kinda compensate for the sub in a way because of the short reflex room for the bass in a way? it would kinda act like a mini bass cabinet. Right now my 80's are rammed up against a wall in my room until i find an apartment, becuse i have no where else to put them, and there too bass heavy, so ive had to compensate by upping the mids and hi's on the switches on the back. also ive found putting a towel, or even better if you can get some... some foam is great for putting under each monitor. Stops any unwanted reverb and dampens the sound a bit. In saying all that, none of it is HUGELY noticable, especially in a home situation. But, if you can afford the room, id defitately place the monitors away from the wall, and apart from each other... the ideal is about 1.5-1-6 meters, with about 2-2.5 meters apart on an angle toward the user, but it would be a luxury to have a deticated room to be able to do that, so, the closer u can get the better, but i wouldnt sacrifice deskspace or comfort for only slightly better sound. as for corners, ideally u want to avoid any corners, and have them as centred to the wall as possible, BUT then again, dont saccrifice comfort or desk space over slightly better sound. but if u can do it, set it up in the middle of the room. All that said, if you dont have the space or whatever, its not going to sound crap set up at any point in the room, but there are ways of optimizing the sound wherever you put them. |
| Celestine Porebski 22.01.2011 |
Originally Posted by Tekki
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| Kandra Fagler 22.01.2011 |
Originally Posted by Filterkat
finishing off my diploma this year and next year i should finish the degree (in recording arts) the school is pretty cool, i love everything they teach us, they get really technical too, a lot of physics of the concept of sound being studied (and some communications class, applied music, video editing post production etc) basically they cover a lot of interesting stuff, its very weird to say that for the first time in my life i actually enjoy going to school lol yeah and many audio engineers seem to agree that for home usage the yamaha hs50/hs80 would be the way to go for its value and accuracy, they arent that expensive too |
| Celestine Porebski 22.01.2011 |
Originally Posted by Tekki
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| Janyce Jardon 21.01.2011 |
Originally Posted by DJZILCH
what SAE u going to? which country and all that? Yeah i got a pair of HS-80s after i heard 3/4 of the lecturers rambling on about them... lol |
| Janyce Jardon 21.01.2011 |
Originally Posted by Coldfuzion
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| Carlee Pickard 21.01.2011 |
Originally Posted by supracg
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| Francina Decosse 02.03.2011 | Filterkat, I did a test with a bunch of 5" monitors today and I really like the HS50M. The clarity and the detail is great and I find them relatively accurate. Also checked the 80s, although I won't be getting them, and find the mids on the 80 a bit poorer than on the 50s. Bass on the 50 is weak, as you pointed out but that's OK for me. I also like the tiny size of 50s. .... aaaand fuck the placement - I'll deal with I have Tekki may be right that they may not be perfect for dance music, but the overal sound picture of the HS50M wins me. Definitely won't be good for club like experience LOL I also gave an ear to a 2x500EUR 5" Dynaudio and they were better, which was nice to confirm LOL . Cheers! |
| Alyse Plantenga 01.02.2011 | What about the Samson Rubicon R5a / R6a / R8a ? Anybody had experience with these? Ive read before somewhere that these are decent for their price? Couldn't find any frequency graphs though. |
| Janyce Jardon 30.01.2011 |
Originally Posted by knaumov
As for the bass ports on the back, yeah, they dont sound great rammed up next to a wall. if u can avoid it, id put them at least a meter from the wall for an all round better sound, but i guess it would kinda compensate for the sub in a way because of the short reflex room for the bass in a way? it would kinda act like a mini bass cabinet. Right now my 80's are rammed up against a wall in my room until i find an apartment, becuse i have no where else to put them, and there too bass heavy, so ive had to compensate by upping the mids and hi's on the switches on the back. also ive found putting a towel, or even better if you can get some... some foam is great for putting under each monitor. Stops any unwanted reverb and dampens the sound a bit. In saying all that, none of it is HUGELY noticable, especially in a home situation. But, if you can afford the room, id defitately place the monitors away from the wall, and apart from each other... the ideal is about 1.5-1-6 meters, with about 2-2.5 meters apart on an angle toward the user, but it would be a luxury to have a deticated room to be able to do that, so, the closer u can get the better, but i wouldnt sacrifice deskspace or comfort for only slightly better sound. as for corners, ideally u want to avoid any corners, and have them as centred to the wall as possible, BUT then again, dont saccrifice comfort or desk space over slightly better sound. but if u can do it, set it up in the middle of the room. All that said, if you dont have the space or whatever, its not going to sound crap set up at any point in the room, but there are ways of optimizing the sound wherever you put them. |
| Francina Decosse 30.01.2011 | Interesting that you tend to emphasize on the HS80m rather then the HS50M. I'm told that for smaller rooms, the 5" should be better, since the 8" needs more physical space between them and between the listener and them. This sounds logical to me, but still may not be too important in practice. Also, what about the bass-reflex whole being on the back of the speaker, rather then on the front? My knowledge is that if it's on the back, there should be more space from the wall to the speakers. That also seems to be logical, but does in count in reality? Next is placement - what about putting (one of) them in the corner of the room next to a wall and on a desk? I'm considering a set of 5" monitors to put them on a desk, about 1 meter (3ft) apart. The desk is placed in front of a wall and in the corner of the room. Do you believe I should bother with the consideration of the rear mounted bass reflex or the location? As for 8" - I'd love to have, since they are more powerful and would work great for small home parties. Still, the primary objective is at home on my desk, so I'd like to fullfil this primary purpose even if they won't good for mini-PA purpose (secondary). I'll be glad to hear your thoughts |
| Stephaine Hains 22.01.2011 | When I heard the yamaha's at guitar the high end response was very obvious, it was like a hiss was very noticeable on the tracks the guy was playing, but they were all kanye west tracks so maybe kanye brings the hiss in on purpose or something (I forgot to bring a usb plug with some house songs I know well). I'm sure they're very accurate in this region, but I was afraid the hiss might force me to dull down some of the higher frequencies and my songs would lose that crispiness. With the krk's the hiss was much less defined, so maybe they were less accurate in that region idk. So maybe it was just the kanye tracks, Im going to go listen to them and the krk's again with some house tracks that I know of well. Does anyone have/can find the frequency response curve of the krk's, I couldn't find it online? |
| Celestine Porebski 22.01.2011 |
Originally Posted by Tekki
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| Kandra Fagler 22.01.2011 |
Originally Posted by Filterkat
finishing off my diploma this year and next year i should finish the degree (in recording arts) the school is pretty cool, i love everything they teach us, they get really technical too, a lot of physics of the concept of sound being studied (and some communications class, applied music, video editing post production etc) basically they cover a lot of interesting stuff, its very weird to say that for the first time in my life i actually enjoy going to school lol yeah and many audio engineers seem to agree that for home usage the yamaha hs50/hs80 would be the way to go for its value and accuracy, they arent that expensive too |
| Random X 22.01.2011 | I have had a few projects with real deep bass in 'em. The Yamaha's weren't able to play them without distorting, Fostex would resonate and shake internally(audily) and KRK would almost explode. The HR624s were the only ones to play them through without any problem and still remain objective throughout the rest of the range. So yeah, I believe they are that good. As far as Genelec goes, their great, but two disadvantages.
But hey, that's just me. |
| Celestine Porebski 22.01.2011 |
Originally Posted by Tekki
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| Random X 22.01.2011 | Aahhhh... SAE, almost went there too, after my buddy(James Dan) attended in Amsterdam. But I didn't. (TBH for dance music Mackie HR series > Yamaha HS) |
| Janyce Jardon 21.01.2011 |
Originally Posted by DJZILCH
what SAE u going to? which country and all that? Yeah i got a pair of HS-80s after i heard 3/4 of the lecturers rambling on about them... lol |
| Kandra Fagler 21.01.2011 | either the yamaha HS50 or HS80 depending on your budget - these are good value, very accurate monitors, my lecturers at SAE even recommend them for their accuracy (i study audio engineering there) |
| Janyce Jardon 21.01.2011 |
Originally Posted by Coldfuzion
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| Janyce Jardon 21.01.2011 | KRK's are a solid choice anyway dude... those along with a pair of k240's should be all you need... personally if i didnt have the cash to buy the HS80s i woulda done the same and gone with KRK's i dont believe you will be dissapointed with that setup. good choice... KRK's have a great quality/price ratio, and sound pretty damn good. Besides, whatever small details you may miss with the KRK's youll be sure to pick up with the K240s, But in general, KRK's are pretty flat, the dynamics arent as high as more expensive monitors, but id say you have the most dynamic pair of monitoring cans on the market to compensate for that... well maybe not the most dynamic... but, the best pair in a reasonable pricerange... sure theres better headphones than that aswel... but your gonna end up payin big bucks for em |
| Carlee Pickard 21.01.2011 |
Originally Posted by supracg
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| Stephaine Hains 20.01.2011 | Thanks bro, I believe Im going to go with the KRK Rokit 8's as well, went to guitar center and the HS-80's are nice but pretty expensive (but they definitely let you know of any high frequency problems etc.), and the mackie's seemed a little bass heavy. I believe the KRK's along with the k240 studio's should give me a pretty damn good idea of what my tracks are sounding like exactly. What you believe? |
| Janyce Jardon 20.01.2011 | P.S. with regards to clubs... not really... Every club is going to have a different setup, different acoustics, and an all round different sound. so no. Generally a good rule of thumb though is, if it sounds good on your monitors, in your cans, in your car, and on a normal stereo, chances are its going to sound good in a club aswel. I remember a club back on the goldcoast where i used to live, back in australia... i used to call it "the pressure chamber"... But really it was called Platinum. It was hands down the best club on the coast, with the only descent sounding system. Probably had something to do with the fact they partnered with ministry of sound... When you walked into the club, Everything sounded really balanced, but the bass was on a whole other level... you could feel it, and it got into your chest and shit and it was just... Dope... I ended up playing there about 5 or 6 times, and it was even crazier from the DJ booth, which was right in the middle of the club. It felt like bass was hitting you from all angles... it was the best feeling EVAR. All the other clubs just couldnt compare... But basically what im tryna say is different clubs will have a very different sound depending on a lot of factors, with acoustics and speaker placement being the main contributing factors. Then it also depends on what kind of system the club has. Ive been to clubs that are really mid heavy, some bass heavy, some well balanced, and some just downright hurt my ears. So in short... no, you shouldnt take into account the frequencies on your songs when believeing about them regarding a club... after all... thats what those EQ knob thingies are for on those mixer doodads they have in there are for. ... if u feel theres not enough bass or mids... JACK THAT SHIT UP!!! f*ckin twist those knobs like ur giving a kid the nipple cripple of his life... |
| Janyce Jardon 20.01.2011 | pretty minimal from what i can remember, well it depends on what you call long or not... ive had mine for 6 years and there still going strong... i remember though they took about a 2 months before they sounded "full", they tend to sound a bit "thin" and tinny a little bit at the start, Just listen to music in them every day like you would normally, at the normal level you feel comfortable listening to. No need for any special exercises or anything good choice on cans btw |
| Stephaine Hains 21.01.2011 | Hmm makes sense, I believe I'll go with a set of cans for now I'm believeing the AKG k240 studio's, they sound like a great set based on reviews with great low end response. Right now I've been using my ultrasone dj-1 pro's and they definitely seem weak/inaccurate a little bit on the low end. My only question is do the k240 studios need a lot of break in time, and what are the steps to breaking them in if they do? Also, it seems like club speakers probably have more response in certain frequency areas, and less in other areas. Do producers usually take this into account. ie. if club speakers tend to have more low end response than a flat monitor, would the producer leave the bass at a lower decibel knowing on club speakers it will sound louder etc? |
| Janyce Jardon 17.01.2011 | you could probably get away with the berhingers, but you will have to compensate in your head for certain frequency areas which can get a little frustrating. I remember having to do this at one point when i had no room for my yamahas and had to set up a pair of tiny shitty old monitors i had, and i allways ended up overcompensating for the bass... lol. Another work around would be to have really good, flat set of cans for production, i highly reccomend any of the AKG, slightly higher end stuff, K171 (i believe) K240s, and all the "studio" pairs they make. If you have a good set of cans, hopefully you can pick up on certain things you wouldnt with your monitors if they lack a little in certain areas. The reason for this, is because the frequency response isnt quite as flat on the berhingers, you wont accurately hear certain frequency ranges as well as other monitors, so youll have to keep in mind that "around these frequencies, my monitors are a little low, so they should sound a bit higher normally" or "this area is a little boosted on my monitors, so it should sound a bit lower normally". it can do your head in though :P Personally, id save a little more and go for the mackies or yamahas, because i can guarantee you wont be disapointed. That said, you wont be disapointed by the berhingers either, but only because they will be your only point of reference. If you had a pair of yamahas or mackies, and then went to the berhingers, you would notice the difference straight away. If you get a chance to listen to them side by side, do it and see what you believe, and weigh up if the extra clarity/depth is worth the extra cash. Try go to a guitar centre or shop that sells all these monitors (if you have the chance), and test them all out individually and side by side if possible, i also highly reccomend bringing one of your favourite all time tracks that you know back to front and listened to a million times, because then, you should know exactly what the track should sound like, and its much easier to pick out the key differences between monitors, then going of a track that they play there for you at the shop. Then its up to you to weigh up the differences between quality/cost. |
| Stephaine Hains 16.01.2011 | So for home studio monitors I'm looking at the mackie MR5's, the behringer B1030A's and the yamaha HS80's even though they are a little more expensive.. based on the graphs it seems like the yamaha's give the most accurate response at the different frequencies. But if I can save and just mimick that club sound without necessarily having to compensate, could the B1030A's be enough? |
| Random X 06.01.2011 | And reply is in your mailbox. |
| Random X 06.01.2011 | Reading and trying to give answers on my part so far. ;D Thanks man! |
| Janyce Jardon 06.01.2011 | p.s. tekki, check ur e-mail |
| Random X 06.01.2011 | True that man! Still need to get me some more space, so I will be able to purchase and place active near fields as well. For now I have to make do with a small surround set and a Peavey PA set. LoLz. Usually when I get round to finding suitable nearfields, I tend to get back to Mackies, Fostex and Yamaha. |
| Janyce Jardon 06.01.2011 | ive considered buying a pair of the berhingers, just as a cheaper "second reference" because, as awesome as my yamaha monitors are, they hardly reflect the "real world" standards of everyday people. most people have a fairly average audio system. so i figured, if my tracks sound good on... 1. my yamahas 2. possibly a set of berhingers 3. in the car 4. on a shitty 10 year old sony CD player if the track sounds good on all of those, i know ive mixed and mastered the track well. it definately allways helps to have a second, third and fourth point of reference. the more points of reference you have, the better id say. |
| Random X 06.01.2011 | Yeah, by judging from the graphs you're more than right! Though the specs in this pdf are great, when considering the new B1030A: http://www.behringerdownload.de/_Bro...WeBrochure.pdf Than again, I'm a big fan of the Mackies. |
| Janyce Jardon 06.01.2011 | dont get me wrong, theyre great speakers... but not really accurate as monitors. they sound great, but theyre far from flat. it would still be possible to make great sounding tracks on them, you may just have to compensate in certain areas of your mix to get it right. theyre exelent for listening and "monitoring" your home DJ sets. but as for "accurate production monitors" ... no. theyre frequency response curve is just too coloured and FAR from anything flat. like you said, they allmost mimmic the club sound, but a club doesnt, and shouldnt sound anything like a recording studio. if you compare the curves... Berhinger Truth B2030A monitors Yamaha HS-80M although neither are "truly" flat the HS80m's are probably some of the closest your going to get. sure they both fluctuate. but the 80's have very minimal fluctuation whereas the berhingers have big chunks of fluctuation particularly in the low and mid. maybe thats why they sound so simmilar to the "club sound"??? anyway... the truths... theyre good speakers, but not very accurate for detailed production monitoring |
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