Dance music monitors, which are the most accurate ???

[Sxod]

Originally Posted by Deepspell

Sebastien Leger would disagree

Sébastien Léger : In The Studio With Future Music Magazine issue 236 - YouTube

those monitors are about 100 bux tops lol

Whats the mixer on the right hand side? Has VU meters...
looks nice??

[CoolColJ]

LOL I have Event Opals here, plus some old KRK Kroks, both are pretty fast and snappy, but the Opals go much lower, and higher - very good stereo imaging and depth as well.
And Opals are made here in Sydney, Australia

No stereo bass here, but the PMC TB2+ I had before had stereo bass....
Also had Twins, but they are not too accurate down low, kicks sound a bit funny on them as well

I also have Focal SM9 coming, will be interesting to see how they compare... but there is no space for both Opal and SM9, at least for the long term, well not by compromising acoustics for one of them..
But seeing as the SM9 is custom designed everywhere, custom discrete amps, and has 2 sealed volumes - it should be tight and fast, along with good room interaction with no ports.

Originally Posted by warhead

The Focal SM9 are insanely matched to your description, if budget allows I can say with confidence they deliver.

I can't sit here and say I can compare to everything in the world, but we hear tons of stuff and the combination of sealed cabinet (with the midrange side separate from the bass side internally closed off) the transient response is extremely revealing and the passive radiator gives a deep, but seemingly controlled bass response. The ability to switch to a 2 way mode is nice as well...

War

The Opals do kicks and bottom end that sound close to what I hear from my Beyerdynamic DT880 headphones. They have the same tight and dry headphone sound.
They will definitely get down to 40 hertz before dipping.

Also the cables you drive them from the DAC will influence the sound a lot!
I have tried 3 different cables - premium silver TRS, cheap silver TRS to XLR and gold TRS to TRS. And they all sound different!
The first set, the most bright and detailed, but also less bottom end, the next set was way too bassey, muddy and slow. The cheap gold TRS cable sounded very sweet, like it went through a tube preamp.....! TRS Patch Cable Stereo / Balanced Lead 6.5mm 1/4" 80cm | Swamp

Cables do act like filters, so it's not a surprise why they all sound different. So get a good set of AES/EBU 110ohm cables, Mogami/Gotham/Belden etc, and use that for your monitors, much less capacitance than regular line/mic cables. Redco can custom make these for ya. Blue Jean Cable can also make you some Belden 1800F cables.

Also Opals will show up your DAC colouration like nothing, due to lower mid range distortion levels. My Saffire Pro24 DSP made them sound quite metallic in the top end, with a very obvious sheen and colour, plus fuzziness. When I got the Lynx Hilo, the sound completely changed! Became much smoother, and more bottom end, and more neutral in tonal colour.



So monitor sound = Monitors themselves + room + placement within room + cables + DAC + (amp if passive)
And the better the monitors, the more obvious each aspect makes, and around you go, it's a vicious circle

[Rsantana]

I think your gonna love them good luck!

[Fred_Abstract]

Originally Posted by CoolColJ

Also the cables you drive them from the DAC will influence the sound a lot!
I have tried 3 different cables - premium silver TRS, cheap silver TRS to XLR and gold TRS to TRS. And they all sound different!
The first set, the most bright and detailed, but also less bottom end, the next set was way too bassey, muddy and slow. The cheap gold TRS cable sounded very sweet, like it went through a tube preamp.....! TRS Patch Cable Stereo / Balanced Lead 6.5mm 1/4" 80cm | Swamp

do you use very long cable? for trs/xlr it s first time i hear this, only blind test can tell you these things.. or it can be placebo.
trs/xlr don't change the sound on short distance or there is something wrong, or the cable is really shit quality

[CoolColJ]

Originally Posted by Fred_Abstract

do you use very long cable? for trs/xlr it s first time i hear this, only blind test can tell you these things.. or it can be placebo.

About 16+ feet, 5 m
Definitely not placebo. I've done the swap at least 10 times, and the differences are very obvious. As obvious as playing an analog synth and VA in person

The bass boom from the cheap TRS to XLR was bordering on ridiculous. I suspect from the fact the cable/solder/connector combo filtered out a lot of top end, which when amplified by the Opal's amps made it that much more different.
For instance a resonant filtered sawtooth sounds nothing like a raw saw

Also the Alesis RA300 I use with the KRK Krok, has dual TRS and XLR input that work at the same time and it allowed me to easily switch between and compare different cables and DACs

[cdog]

Cant believe nobody has mentioned Genelec 8050s

One of the most detailed speakers you can buy and flat down to around 30hz

You can buy them anywhere, a bit pricey but really I think they are amazing

[CoolColJ]

Originally Posted by cdog

Cant believe nobody has mentioned Genelec 8050s

One of the most detailed speakers you can buy and flat down to around 30hz

You can buy them anywhere, a bit pricey but really I think they are amazing

When I bought my Opals, they were set up right next to the 8050, and I thought they sounded rather boxy - either due to cabinet resonance or low end harmonic distortion clouding up the mid range.
They are also rear ported - as a general rule I avoid rear ported speakers because the room interaction is a lot more unpredictable

Also the Opals are not mid forward, so if your used to mid forward speakers they might sound a bit soft in the mids to you.
Although you can tweak the upper and lower shelf EQ to give a more mid forward tone - ie I made them sound like the Focal Twins voicing by turning upper and lower shelf down to push the mids up
They have a nice smoothness to the tone

[offki]

Originally Posted by cdog

Cant believe nobody has mentioned Genelec 8050s

One of the most detailed speakers you can buy and flat down to around 30hz

You can buy them anywhere, a bit pricey but really I think they are amazing

Probably because they are about £2,500 a pair.

A77x Would be about £1,000 less on the pair for a 3 way system.

Frequency response: 38 Hz - 50 kHz

[Deepspell]

Originally Posted by Sxod

Those bluesky's are non-ported? I thought they sounded great, although they 'look' rather fugly....

Correct non ported. Yup they are hideous but they sound great lol. I've had them for years and only had to replace one of the drivers recently. Their customer service is fantastic as well. They are a great a/b for me with the adams.

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[Deepspell]

Originally Posted by Sxod

Whats the mixer on the right hand side? Has VU meters...
looks nice??

Think that's the TL audio mixer

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[Eric J]

Originally Posted by Sxod

Whats the mixer on the right hand side? Has VU meters...

TL Audio Fat Track. Out of production.

Originally Posted by Sxod

looks nice??

Looks better than it sounds. Not horrible, but not $2,000 worth of nice.

[Serra]

Adams are great!

Kill Bill / The Champ [Gung Ho! Recordings Ltd] :: Beatport
featured in indie/dance beatport page

[Teknobeam]

Originally Posted by NEXUS-6

I got a pair of QSC HPR 152f's tucked away in my kicthen was going to sell
them but after Reptil's comment I may set em up to check mixes on

I dont know they are rather big the Neighbours may hate me...

Reptil is on the right track. If your destination is live oriented....then at least reference it to some pro audio playback devices. The new QSC powered stuff is actually being installed in many of these tyoes of venues, The JBL PRX stuff..high SPL.. great fidelity. I have a pair of EAW JF80's that are the ultimate reference real world speaker.

[dramoes]

Originally Posted by Serra

Adams are great!

Kill Bill / The Champ [Gung Ho! Recordings Ltd] :: Beatport
featured in indie/dance beatport page

erm wait what ?

[sergioelectro]

The problem might come from my room which is partially treated with GIK.

I may gonna try the ARC 2 .

Heard some very nice feedbacks on other threads

[CoolColJ]

Move your speakers around an inch at a time. Can make a big difference if there are nulls

[sergioelectro]

I had the opportunity theis week end to test the focal solo be6 , and Adam a7x.
Different beast but find those two very accurate.

[CoolColJ]

I used to have the Focal Solo - not enough bass
The tweeter is a bit on the splashy side as well

[Eric J]

Originally Posted by CoolColJ

I used to have the Focal Solo - not enough bass

Focal Twins have the same problem...

[sergioelectro]

What would you think of a pair of Adam A7X + its sub
We'll get an accurate set , accurate fro dance music , no ?

[sergioelectro]

Anyone else comment ?

[Eric J]

Honestly, man, you just need to do as much research on your own and make every effort to try and hear your target speakers at the store if at all possible. If not, find a dealer with a good return policy and keep buying and returning until you find ones you like.

Monitors are probably the most personal part of a producers setup, and the best way to find ones that work for you are going to be listening for yourself.

I speak from experience. I have had 5 sets of monitors over the course of my 20 year producing "career" and the ones I have now are cheap and generally despised on this forum, yet I got to know them so well in such a short amount of time, that I like them better than my (now sold) high end $3000 speakers, so it's a very, very personal experience.

[digital 1010]

I recently sold all my gear leaving myself with just a mac pro. Sold some quested s7s and an apogee ensemble.

Short story long ended up buying some sennheiser hd 650s and the focusrite vrm box as needed to do some music stuff.

The last few things I have done the bottom end has been so so much tighter and working on it is easier. I really think you need a really properly treated room to really nail the bottom end otherwise it's guess work. Some people get used to a crap room or are really good at guessing and can nail it I realise now how bad my room really was.

I use the vrm box in British studio monitor mode (quested) and feel quite at home. Took awhile to get used to it but now I think for bottom end it's more accurate than my questeds, apogee and half decent treated room.

So much so I've really got the bug for making music again and am firing tracks out.

Def worth a look if you can trial one or at £70 worth a punt if you have some spare pennies as an alternative view of your mixes.

Ben

[CoolColJ]

LOL I have the VRM in my Saffire Pro 24 DSP
Don't use it much but it's certainly fun once in a while

Not too flexible. I prefer using some of the other crossfeed system plugins for that

[Rsantana]

have it also no use for it anymore only on the road with my laptop...

[sergioelectro]

Hey Ben ,

Thank you for this sweet advice you are giving.

I feel you are right.

I do not have the hd650 but the hd 600, and I will definitly those days invest in the vrm box.

Are you now happy with the mixes you made this way and the way they translate ?

Best regards

Sergio

[digital 1010]

it's amazing how people differ in opinions. it's why 80% of posts on here are so funny as one persons love is another's hate.

I don't use any of the other settings apart from the quested one. Some of them sound horrid. But I've got so used to the quested setting and my sennheisers I actually prefer it now to my apogee real quested setup. Whether that's because I'm forced to use it as that's all I have except for a line out from my macpro to a teach hifi or because my room was so bad I don't know.

Like I say try and demo it. You may hate it you may love it. You need to stick to 1 setting and get used to it I think as well and some of settings just sound plain weird.

It's why I suggested it to the OP he only wanted something to help bottom end and it's just there I think vrm vs shatty room and average monitoring can be a great add on

Ben

[digital 1010]

Originally Posted by sergioelectro

Hey Ben ,

Thank you for this sweet advice you are giving.

I feel you are right.

I do not have the hd650 but the hd 600, and I will definitly those days invest in the vrm box.

Are you now happy with the mixes you made this way and the way they translate ?

Best regards

Sergio

I've sent the last few things to a mate I trust and releases a lot of stuff and he says he can hear a definite improvement in the bottom end of my mixes and overall says the mixes sound just as good as when I had monitors and the apogee. Give me 20 mins I'll fire up something I'm working on which has a serious low end layered kick on it. Actually not to hijack your thread but would be interesting to see what people thought of a track DIY mixed and mastered on headphones and a vrm box- still sort of relevant to what you are asking too

Ben

[digital 1010]

Here you go this is as raw as it gets.

Ive not finished this at all as needs loads more sounds and this is just a snippet of the entire track i only started today.

I have not listened to this on anything apart from the VRM enabled mode british studio and a pair of sennheisers hd650.

All the sounds are individual hits. Every element of the beat is its own sample, the kick is 2 layers of 808 sample and all the other perch and hats etc are individual then run through a drumbuss with ubk1 on it.

Ive then self mastered for the purpose of this test as well.

So be interested what people think of the mix even in this early raw form and might help the OP to have an insight into whether VRM is useful or not. I myself and curious too as might be crap hahaha

Feel free to be as critical as you like, myself listening now quickly after a break away feel there might be the tinyest touch of slight boom in the deep long 808 kick that could be pulled back a touch.

[bensus]

Originally Posted by audioconsult

event opals are china trash..they make stereo out of mono signals.. not usable as studio monitor

***TOTALLY INCORRECT AND MISLEADING INFORMATION***

The Event Opals are designed by both the US and Australia based R&D team, and manufactured in Sydney, Australia.