What are today's Auratones?

[houndog328]

What are you using for low-fi reference these days? Anyone checking mixes on iPods or earbuds? Computer speakers? Or good old-fashioned home stereo speakers?

[idylldon]

I use a set of modified Radio Shack Minimus 7 speakers with upgraded crossovers and damping added in the enclosures. So far, they're the best small speakers I've found for my ears. Mixes translate amazingly well when I get everything balanced right on the RS 7s.

Cheers,
--
Don

[LaChunkyStudio]

Computer speakers and standard car stereo speakers. Thats what we use at my studio (and in the yard outside my studio).

[joeq]

the white Apple earbuds

[Marineville]

I use JBL Control 1s and a mono Auratone.

[seanmccoy]

Still have my trusty Auratones! But I also frequently check on my Cambridge Soundworks computer speakers. I've done so much broadcast mixing over the years that I find my mixes sound better and better as the speakers get smaller and smaller!

[bdmctear]

This Sanyo boom box is fantastic. It has a record input, and is switchable among mono, stereo and super stereo. The mono is great for checking weird phasey stuff, but the super stereo (or whatever it's really called) is extra great for checking phase, because when it's wrong it's REALLY REALLY WRONG. I used to spend most of my mixing time on it.

Oh, there's two speakers. It's cropped for the old website. And the "One Term President" sticker had to come off when somebody hit the stop button. (To put it back in record, you have to open the cassette door and push that little button.... remember that little button????)

[Pasta4lnch]

on top of my horror tones i have some nice sound sticks on my bedroom comp, plus my crap stock car speakers. my home stereo is ok. the problem is I've gotten used to what all of them "do" to my mixes.

tell ya the truth - I live across the street from a Worst Buy and a Target. . . I'm thinking of just taking a cd over there . . .

[vernier]

If they catch on, maybe Avatone will be the next Auratone. Wouldn't call them low-fi though ...they have superior transient response and also no clumsy crossover in the critical vocal range (the most important area of the song, imo).

[Fleaman]

Originally Posted by houndog328

What are today's Auratones?

Avantones of course.

Yet it doesn't have to be your only lo-fi check. Cars, computer speakers, boomboxes are still a good idea to check mixes on.

But Avantones are a splendid replacement for Auratones.

[Nahuel]

It's also intersting to chek stuff on tv speakers.

[Franz]

I have the Avantones, but I don´t think they do the job. They roll off at
200 Hz, but play all the way up to 15 kHz. What other speaker sounds like
that? I would really love to have a relevant reference to modern TV:s and
radios, and that´s something I´m constantly looking for.

[Fleaman]

Originally Posted by Franz

I have the Avantones, but I don´t think they do the job. They roll off at
200 Hz, but play all the way up to 15 kHz. What other speaker sounds like
that? I would really love to have a relevant reference to modern TV:s and
radios, and that´s something I´m constantly looking for.

I think that modern tv's and radio's play up to 15khz....maybe not all, but they've improved a lot and in that sense, the avantones have matched this trend.

That being said, modern tv/radios vary greatly in sound quality, so you're not gonna have one pair of speakers that will translate/reference perfectly to all of them. Again, the avantones seems to be the best compromise IMO.

Funny enough, I broke in my Avantones in my home theater/stereo set up and they brought out very clear audio/dialog that even my HT speakers couldn't really do. They excelled using them as TV speakers! I was really surprised.

[SighBorg]

If I were to get one today it would be a Tivoli Model One.



Sounds like a perfect reference box IMO. You can actually feel if a track has impact in the mids/mid-lows on them.

Designed by Henry Kloss.

[Joel Hamilton]

There are still many people making rack mounted confidence monitors. They are really a great way to have some sort of crap response monitor check.
I mix for hours on an old sony boombox wired straight to my console....
I have done that for years and years.even when i still used my auratones.

[utters]

+1 for the avantones... best thing I ever bought for my mixes

[jude]

i still use one little old vintage horrortone

love it to bits

[vernier]

Single speaker is great cause there's no crossover to divide the sound into pieces.

[utters]

Originally Posted by vernier

Single speaker is great cause there's no crossover to divide the sound into pieces.

indeedy. When I switch over to my main monitors after listening on avantones it's like someone scooping out the entire middle of the frequency spectrum

Absolutely brilliant to listen to old 60s stuff like The Beatles, Bonzo Dog Band, Beach Boys etc too!

Yay for avantones!

[walth]

try the avant mix cubes. or radio shack speakers.

[SK1]

Fostex 6301B

It's great for mono combatability and it's a video production staple.

Great for checking relative volumes of tracks in a mix.

[alexkemp]

+1 for the Minimus 7's!!!

[Eide]

the built in speakers in my macbook pro

[recordhead]

+1 for Avantone mix cubes

[seanmccoy]

There's no logic in improving on bad unless the new bad translates better, so is there any good reason to switch from Auratones, if one has them, to Avantones?

[Fleaman]

Originally Posted by seanmccoy

There's no logic in improving on bad unless the new bad translates better, so is there any good reason to switch from Auratones, if one has them, to Avantones?

Well, if you consider horrortones in the day were mimicking terrible tv's of the day ('70, '80's, etc), and the newer tv's and all-in-one radios sound much better than then, one could conclude the the newer Avantones, which are smoother and a little more hi-fi (compared to the horrortones), would be a logical upgrade.

The Avantones have another advantage of having a very pure midrange since there is no crossover involved and the driver is better than the horrortones. So they can actually excel in the mid-range dept. over most or all 2 ways, 3 ways, etc.

[Franz]

Originally Posted by Kelly644

If I were to get one today it would be a Tivoli Model One.



Sounds like a perfect reference box IMO. You can actually feel if a track has impact in the mids/mid-lows on them.

Designed by Henry Kloss.

I have one of those too! Right between my Avantones!
But I have problems with the input signal. When i feed the output
from my Big Knob into it´s little "I-pod input" I get distortion, even on low levels.

[Franz]

Originally Posted by Fleaman

I think that modern tv's and radio's play up to 15khz....maybe not all, but they've improved a lot and in that sense, the avantones have matched this trend.

Yes, but they don´t roll of at 200 Hz! Infact, most home sound systems
today are boosted in the octave between 100-200 Hz, in order to match
the "big bass-trend". That´s why I believe that the Avantones rather are
a good reference point for what TV-speakers sounded like in 1975.

[Fleaman]

Originally Posted by Franz

Yes, but they don´t roll of at 200 Hz! Infact, most home sound systems
today are boosted in the octave between 100-200 Hz, in order to match
the "big bass-trend". That´s why I believe that the Avantones rather are
a good reference point for what TV-speakers sounded like in 1975.

But not stand-alone tv's, plasmas, LCD's, etc. While it is true that many of these new displays/tv's have 'bass enhancers', etc, those usually have to be turned on and 1/2 the people don't even know how to do it, the other 1/2 may not like the sound of it, etc. But some of these displays have tiny speakers. Not to mention clock radios are still popular.

And again, it varies sooo much today, I think it's hard to say any one speaker can cover it.

Avantones for the mid range, other monitors for more full range.....

[Franz]

Originally Posted by Fleaman

Avantones for the mid range, other monitors for more full range.....

I guess you´re right. But I still wish that there was something in between!
Even cheap near field monitors are boosted in the bass, wich make them
totally useless in my opinion. Have you noticed that every cheap monitor
on the market is launched with "great bass respons!!!" Why? People don´t
have great bass respons at home. I wish that at least ONE manufactor in
the world could build a monitor speaker that plays flat down to 100 Hz. Is
that too much to ask for?