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Originally Posted by Jimbo  So.....UBK, are your new monitors good for both 1 & 2 (above), or are they "3k-8k focused"? |
Mine are amazing for balances, moreso than Avantones imho, and where they really shine is sorting out presence freqs, which imo are the new midrange. If you get 3k-8k nailed, you get a mix that not only translates, it's always at exactly the right brightness which in 2010 is incredibly important but also incredibly difficult, some systems are super 5k pokey, some are super 7k brassy, and some are 10k spitty but almost every consumer system made today is bright.
So my answer to your question is 'both', in a new school way.
When I first got Avantones, I put the ns10's aside, and when I would throw a mix up on the cubes I was like "Oh, I can easily hear everything that's wrong." But the problem was that after I 'fixed' it on them, it didn't translate elsewhere. This is not the fault of the speaker, it's just that my brain can't decode them intuitively.
As soon as I fired up the ns10's again, everything fell back into place. I get those boxes, they just make sense to me without thinking about it.
But ns10's are a legacy product. Meanwhile, consumer systems have changed radically in the past 10 years and I don't see any purpose-built mix refs that address that. There are a hodgepodge of favorite boomboxes, favorite computer speakers etc., but these too tend to be legacy products.
So I started shopping for single drivers that a) made sense to my brain and b) translated on my car stereo, imac, dad's bose, ipod buds, studio mains, and home theater. In December I found this generic tweeter-sized fullrange that sounds 4x bigger than it is, it's 1.25" with a smooth top but the thing that amazed me is that in the right enclosure they actually extend down to like 400hz, so vocals and acoustics and other instruments sound light but they sound natural. Despite their cheapness and small size there are no nasty resonances, unlike the other 36 I listened to.
The kicker is they run off any old headphone amp; I've been mixing in the evening laying on my couch with a laptop on my stomach and these stupid little speakers by my side and as long as you check the bottom 2 octaves on your bigs the translation will be dead on. Everyone who's been to my house and heard them has asked what the hell they are and where they can get them, they're actually enjoyable to listen to and sound way better than 99% of other portable crapjobs out there. That they need no amplification is like the free prize in the box of Count Chocula.
The trick is the enclosure, I have no idea how to get something like this manufactured, I only know sheet metal and casting and that's too pricey and overbuilt. If they cost $300 they're just another neat product but if they cost $100 they're the best thing since sliced bread, so I'm workin' on that latter approach.
Gregory Scott - ubk