Posted: 2/29/2016 1:15:02 PM EDT
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Don't really know where to start here. I have an ancient pair of Altec Lansing desktop speakers that I'm looking to replace with a pair of near-field studio reference monitors. I'm using a set of monitoring headphones plugged into my audio interface and they sound leagues better than my current speakers, and I'd like to extend that audio quality to a speaker setup for when I'm messing around with my DAW and related software. I probably won't really need anything larger than 5" or 6" drivers.
There are so many options available on the market, and I'm looking for recommendations and advice on what to avoid. Thanks. |
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I have a pair of self powered Adam Audio monitors that I really enjoy listening to. They have specially made tweeters that "throw" the highs at a ratio of about 4:1 so the sound is correct at longer distances (these are near fields)
Bottom line is they make you "print" the sound correctly. That is the speakers have a sound that forces you to "clean-up" your mixes and translates what you think the mix sounds like outside the room. This is very important. I had a bad experience with Mackie monitors that made everything sound great in the room - problem was you didn't know what to 'fix' and the mixes sounded terrible outside of the mixing room. |
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Quoted: I have a pair of self powered Adam Audio monitors that I really enjoy listening to. They have specially made tweeters that "throw" the highs at a ratio of about 4:1 so the sound is correct at longer distances (these are near fields) Bottom line is they make you "print" the sound correctly. That is the speakers have a sound that forces you to "clean-up" your mixes and translates what you think the mix sounds like outside the room. This is very important. I had a bad experience with Mackie monitors that made everything sound great in the room - problem was you didn't know what to 'fix' and the mixes sounded terrible outside of the mixing room. I have had this issue with the low end mixing from my Mackies but I have learned to compensate. They seem to be able to make lows sound great that turn out muddy and distorted on other speakers. |
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Quoted:
I have had this issue with the low end mixing from my Mackies but I have learned to compensate. They seem to be able to make lows sound great that turn out muddy and distorted on other speakers. Quoted:
Quoted:
I have a pair of self powered Adam Audio monitors that I really enjoy listening to. They have specially made tweeters that "throw" the highs at a ratio of about 4:1 so the sound is correct at longer distances (these are near fields) Bottom line is they make you "print" the sound correctly. That is the speakers have a sound that forces you to "clean-up" your mixes and translates what you think the mix sounds like outside the room. This is very important. I had a bad experience with Mackie monitors that made everything sound great in the room - problem was you didn't know what to 'fix' and the mixes sounded terrible outside of the mixing room. I have had this issue with the low end mixing from my Mackies but I have learned to compensate. They seem to be able to make lows sound great that turn out muddy and distorted on other speakers. Something to consider. Room treatment. Acoustic panels can help your room sound better. I'm not talking about the egg-crate foam or the stuff you can buy at Guitar Center. I'm talking about rigid fiberglass. Something equivalent to Owens Corning 703 or 705. I built a 7'x2' frame out of 1/2"x6" boards and then stuffed the inside with the rigid fiberglass and then cover the front (and back) with some sort of covering (I used an actual acoustically transparent cloth treated with fire retardant) so you don't breathe in the fiberglass. I made bass traps in the corners (just corner loaded them) and and treated my side walls and boy, it makes a huge difference. To the point that the speakers you have now will sound like a brand new pair. |
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Quoted:
Something to consider. Room treatment. Acoustic panels can help your room sound better. I'm not talking about the egg-crate foam or the stuff you can buy at Guitar Center. I'm talking about rigid fiberglass. Something equivalent to Owens Corning 703 or 705. I built a 7'x2' frame out of 1/2"x6" boards and then stuffed the inside with the rigid fiberglass and then cover the front (and back) with some sort of covering (I used an actual acoustically transparent cloth treated with fire retardant) so you don't breathe in the fiberglass. I made bass traps in the corners (just corner loaded them) and and treated my side walls and boy, it makes a huge difference. To the point that the speakers you have now will sound like a brand new pair. This is correct. Spend the money on room treatment first. It sucks, but room treatment will make all of the difference. I talked to the guys at GIK, and they told me what I needed, and where based on my room dims, and the output from room analysis software. I ordered online, and they install with picture hangers. I was running the JBL305 monitors with a sub when I installed the treatment, and my mixes instantly got so much better it was crazy. I since upgraded to Adam A7x which are fantastic, but the difference was negligible compared to what the room treatment did for me. |
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The recommendations to seriously apply "treatments" to your listening space, are on the mark.
Applying proper absoprtion to tame low end woolies is the best thing you can do. I still use JBL 4206's with a QSC plx amp for monitors. YMMV as always.. I have been eyeballin new monitors too, so this thread is of interest to me 
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Quoted:
This is correct. Spend the money on room treatment first. It sucks, but room treatment will make all of the difference. I talked to the guys at GIK, and they told me what I needed, and where based on my room dims, and the output from room analysis software. I ordered online, and they install with picture hangers. I was running the JBL305 monitors with a sub when I installed the treatment, and my mixes instantly got so much better it was crazy. I since upgraded to Adam A7x which are fantastic, but the difference was negligible compared to what the room treatment did for me. Quoted:
Quoted:
Something to consider. Room treatment. Acoustic panels can help your room sound better. I'm not talking about the egg-crate foam or the stuff you can buy at Guitar Center. I'm talking about rigid fiberglass. Something equivalent to Owens Corning 703 or 705. I built a 7'x2' frame out of 1/2"x6" boards and then stuffed the inside with the rigid fiberglass and then cover the front (and back) with some sort of covering (I used an actual acoustically transparent cloth treated with fire retardant) so you don't breathe in the fiberglass. I made bass traps in the corners (just corner loaded them) and and treated my side walls and boy, it makes a huge difference. To the point that the speakers you have now will sound like a brand new pair. This is correct. Spend the money on room treatment first. It sucks, but room treatment will make all of the difference. I talked to the guys at GIK, and they told me what I needed, and where based on my room dims, and the output from room analysis software. I ordered online, and they install with picture hangers. I was running the JBL305 monitors with a sub when I installed the treatment, and my mixes instantly got so much better it was crazy. I since upgraded to Adam A7x which are fantastic, but the difference was negligible compared to what the room treatment did for me. That's good to know. I was actually considering the JBL305 monitors, but it does make sense to create a more acoustically sound environment first. |
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Quoted:
That's good to know. I was actually considering the JBL305 monitors, but it does make sense to create a more acoustically sound environment first. Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Something to consider. Room treatment. Acoustic panels can help your room sound better. I'm not talking about the egg-crate foam or the stuff you can buy at Guitar Center. I'm talking about rigid fiberglass. Something equivalent to Owens Corning 703 or 705. I built a 7'x2' frame out of 1/2"x6" boards and then stuffed the inside with the rigid fiberglass and then cover the front (and back) with some sort of covering (I used an actual acoustically transparent cloth treated with fire retardant) so you don't breathe in the fiberglass. I made bass traps in the corners (just corner loaded them) and and treated my side walls and boy, it makes a huge difference. To the point that the speakers you have now will sound like a brand new pair. This is correct. Spend the money on room treatment first. It sucks, but room treatment will make all of the difference. I talked to the guys at GIK, and they told me what I needed, and where based on my room dims, and the output from room analysis software. I ordered online, and they install with picture hangers. I was running the JBL305 monitors with a sub when I installed the treatment, and my mixes instantly got so much better it was crazy. I since upgraded to Adam A7x which are fantastic, but the difference was negligible compared to what the room treatment did for me. That's good to know. I was actually considering the JBL305 monitors, but it does make sense to create a more acoustically sound environment first. In my opinion, the JBL305 sounds fine. If my choices were untreated room and Adam A7x monitors, or treated room and JBL305 monitors, it'd be no contest. Treated room wins. I wish I did it years ago. |