studio monitors for multi uses

[MikeBmusic]

Consider the JBL LSR305 AND building/buying bass traps to go behind them. I already had the bass traps, so it was an easy choice for me. You can often get the JBLs on sale for about $225/pair - they were $200 at a few places during the Black Friday rush.
They are my main listening speakers for my computer now, and do not find them fatiguing - and they are loud enough that I can stream from Spotify, Pandora and other sources and be able to listen in the connected rooms (living room, kitchen) if I want to.

[RRuskin]

Originally Posted by JohnW63

But which ones wouldn't be exactingly sterile like I now understand studio monitors would be ?

If by "sterile," you mean totally accurate, that's what the ideal studio monitor would be. In fact, none are and I believe that the ones that came closest were marketing failures because only engineers liked them.

[Herb Hunter]

Originally Posted by RRuskin

If by "sterile," you mean totally accurate, that's what the ideal studio monitor would be. In fact, none are and I believe that the ones that came closest were marketing failures because only engineers liked them.

Audiophiles, whose goal is high-fidelity reproduction also like them.

[Herb Hunter]

Originally Posted by JohnW63

But which ones wouldn't be exactingly sterile like I now understand studio monitors would be ?

It would be helpful if you could explain what you mean by sterile in terms of sound.

When I display a photograph on a video monitor, I want the monitor to exhibit the image exactly as the camera recorded it (or PhotoShop rendered it) without altering hues, shades of light and dark, without introducing any geometric distortion and without reducing resolution.

When I play recorded music, I want the speaker system to reproduce the audio signal exactly - without adding distortion, without emphasizing some frequencies and attenuating others, without softening transients and without ringing after a signal has stopped. Designers of better studio monitors and better home speaker systems strive for such reproduction.

[paulp1960]

Yes for me I don't get the notion that studio monitors can be bad for listening to music on. When I had my JBL LSR25P monitors and a sub-woofer it was the best hi-fi I had heard in my life!

I could hear the depth of stereo and all the different layers of music for the first time.

If you get decent studio monitors you won't be looking at hi-fi for a "fix".

[Psalad]

Originally Posted by JohnW63

Tannoy Reveal 402
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/pro-a...noy-reveal-402

On sale big time today only!

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/stupi...&CJPID=5696037

[Bobby1note]

Originally Posted by JohnW63

But which ones wouldn't be exactingly sterile like I now understand studio monitors would be ?

You don't want "sterile",,,, sorta.

What you want for main monitors is "flat", and flat doesn't mean "flat sounding". Basically speaking, a flat speaker offers no deviation from the input signal,,, it neither adds, nor takes away from that signal. This is the type of monitor you'd use for recording your tracks. Linear is probably a better term.

Why did I say 'sorta" above? Well, studios will sometimes use an additional small set of monitors for monitoring a compressed mix-down. The theory goes like this,,, "If the music sounds good on these,,,, it'll sound good on anything.

It may be worth your while to check out just how good some monitors can be, even if it's just to wrap your head around what a truly flat monitor should sound like. Look for a local dealer who carries Klein & Hummel monitors,,, the 0 300's specifically, sound incredible. The price will leave you gasping for breath,,, but it's worth the experience. Neumann may now own Klein & Hummel, so you might also check for Neumann KH series speakers,,, 0 300, or 0 310.

For small mix-down monitors, check out Avantone.

Here's a few (Canadian) links;

Neumann KH 0 310a;

http://www.economik.com/neumann/kh-310-a/

and here's the Avantone;

http://www.economik.com/avantone/mixcubes-active/

[JohnW63]

This is the type of monitor you'd use for recording your tracks. Linear is probably a better term.

That may be a better way of stating it. The reason I said sterile is because I have read that studio monitors CAN be fatiguing to listen to when you just want to enjoy the music. For entertainment, some "coloring" of the music may be a good thing.

My main listening to music and watching movies speakers are old Infinity Reference Standard 1.5 speakers. Here is the spec sheet:

http://www.infinity-classics.de/tech...ical_sheet.pdf

I suspect the response curve isn't dead flat, but they do sound really good to me.

[Bobby1note]

Originally Posted by JohnW63

That may be a better way of stating it. The reason I said sterile is because I have read that studio monitors CAN be fatiguing to listen to when you just want to enjoy the music. For entertainment, some "coloring" of the music may be a good thing.

My main listening to music and watching movies speakers are old Infinity Reference Standard 1.5 speakers. Here is the spec sheet:

http://www.infinity-classics.de/tech...ical_sheet.pdf

I suspect the response curve isn't dead flat, but they do sound really good to me.

I believe that characteristic which you describe, is "euphonic".

I remember the original Infinity Reference loudspeakers from back in the day (early 70's). Those were behemoths, and struck me more as an exercise in theoretical design. Although I attended many demonstrations of those, I was never really impressed with the sound. On "paper' however, they looked as if they'd be impossible to beat.

The best I've heard back in the day (80's) was from an Australian company named Duntech,,, specifically, the Duntech Sovereign, and the Duntech Crown Prince.

I've got a bunch of different speakers/monitors, but more and more, especially when we're entertaining guests, we're listening to my P/A. My studio monitors are Adam A7's and Spendor SA-3's, the latter being a large active studio monitor(mid-field), designed and hand-built in the UK by Spencer Hughes, former design engineer with the BBC. If I were starting over however, I'd probably go with one of the Klein & Hummel offerings (0 300,,, 0 310,,, 0 410 etc.

[Joseph Hanna]

Gosh. This is a ginormous wives-tale fueled topic that has grown to biblical proportions over the years. Flat response speakers immediately become wildly "not flat" once placed in a typical mixing environment. A room is 100 times more likely to produce inaccurate frequency deliveries than a monitor no matter how close or not that monitor is said to be flat. This applies to near-fields as well as mid-fields.

If you're really in need of a flat response mixing environment get a good dual 31 band eq and have Dolby come out and tune your room. At that point the anomalies of your own personal mixing space will be pretty close to flat. That of course no where near as romantic as running out and buying a shiny new pair of Adam monitors but eons more effective.

Plopping an enormously costly monitor system, which claims to be flat, in a goony bad room and expecting to get the benefits of flat response is simply internet wives tale fodder.

[Bobby1note]

Originally Posted by Joseph Hanna

Gosh. This is a ginormous wives-tale fueled topic that has grown to biblical proportions over the years. Flat response speakers immediately become wildly "not flat" once placed in a typical mixing environment. A room is 100 times more likely to produce inaccurate frequency deliveries than a monitor no matter how close or not that monitor is said to be flat. This applies to near-fields as well as mid-fields.

If you're really in need of a flat response mixing environment get a good dual 31 band eq and have Dolby come out and tune your room. At that point the anomalies of your own personal mixing space will be pretty close to flat. That of course no where near as romantic as running out and buying a shiny new pair of Adam monitors but eons more effective.

Plopping an enormously costly monitor system, which claims to be flat, in a goony bad room and expecting to get the benefits of flat response is simply internet wives tale fodder.

I'd agree with that for the most part(except the "wildly" part), but that effect should be less prominent in a near-field application.

[Joseph Hanna]

Originally Posted by Bobby1note

I'd agree with that for the most part(except the "wildly" part), but that effect should be less prominent in a near-field application.

We had three rooms designed in our new facility December a year ago. We had GIK spec the room out with room treatment brought forward our custom doors, incidentals and had the floors spec'd out with a combo of carpet and wood. As a final step we brought Dolby out to measure the rooms. Dolby does it's measuring from a near field perspective and we of course use Mackie near fields. The room, despite all the pre-planning was wildly out of tune. The eq curve to get it back in shape was dramatic. If I get time I'll pull the safety screen off the eq today and take a picture of the correction curve.

In the end if you haven't had someone analyze your room how can you assign a value as to how wildly a room is or is not out of tune? I suspect you might be surprised at the very least and more likely shocked at how bad most rooms are.

[Joseph Hanna]

https://goo.gl/photos/Dv9e8mnFSfBNAtUa8

Here is a shot of the Dolby results in my bay in what we thought was a pretty tight room. Notice the anomalies between left and right. What it also doesn't show in the picture is an almost 4dB discrepancy in output (again sitting in the listening position and near field) between left and right.

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by Joseph Hanna

https://goo.gl/photos/Dv9e8mnFSfBNAtUa8

Here is a shot of the Dolby results in my bay in what we thought was a pretty tight room. Notice the anomalies between left and right. What is also doesn't show in the picture is an almost 4dB discrepancy in output (again sitting in the listening position and near field) between left and right outputs.

Interesting, so just to see if I am understanding correctly the settings on the EQ represent the correction back to flat, respectively for the left and right. And anomalies away from flat, were measured at the left and right speaker position or at your left and right ear listening position ?

[Joseph Hanna]

Originally Posted by KevWind

Interesting, so just to see if I am understanding correctly the settings on the EQ represent the correction back to flat, respectively for the left and right. And anomalies away from flat, were measured at the left and right speaker position or at your left and right ear listening position ?

.......Yep!

Sorry I was less than responsive here. Yep you are correct AND the measuring (although done in multiple positions) is design to reflect the ear level of the listener.