Ref Monitors, what to listen for?

[MikeMitchell]

Its that time for new monitors, and yet another thread. I'm bringing a few CD's I know well and a\bing a few monitors in my price range, mackies, genelecs, dynaudios, events. This being my first monitor purchase, any shopping tips? Everything will be an improvement from my home aiwa stereo speakers, I can't hear jack on them. I'm listening for detail, even frequencies, no harsh spikes etc. Since I have no background with decent monitors just want to know what all I will be testing for. Not sure how to tell which pair will cause the least ear fatigue.

Also, I have no idea what size speakers I'm shooting for. My studio is about the size of a large bedroom that has bass traps and foam. Mixing at low volumes is good, I can do it longer, but its good to be loud somtimes. I'm also afraid of going to small and not getting enough out of them (8020a genelecs). Any suggestions?

Haven't considered going passive w\ an outside amp, suggestions there?

Any and all advice is welcomed and appreciated
Mike

[tINY]

If you don't know what the reference material is supposed to sound like, you have a problem. Take Peter Gabriel, Pink Floyd and some clean acoustic stuff.

Ear fatigue is caused mainly by sound power in the 1-3kHz band, right where your ear is most sensitive and where things are most critical. Accurate and non-fatiguing don't go together. Some are a little "hyped" in that range (and the crappy ones add distortion in the form of mid-woofer cone break-up in this range), but that can be a good or bad thing.

Don't worry about "not getting enough out of them" except in the low frequencies. Any of the decent monitors will play loud enough at 150Hz and up to do everything you need (except dammage your hearing or impress others with "how loud" they play).

If you can find them, the KRK ST-6 passives are a really cheap for the perfomance you get. Check them out if you can.



-tINY

[warhead]

Mike, in the Genelec line I'd go 8030 instead of 8020. Assuming you will hear these yourself you will know why, the 8020 really require a sub for full range monitoring. The 8030 are good down to 58hz which is quite enough to mix on (and better than any NS10 ever reached for) and the 8040 and 8050 will take you down even further. The 8000 series Genelec stuff is amazingly consistent from speaker to speaker, the only differences between the models being a gain in volume and low end response.

The KRK V6 would probably be a serious contender for you in your price range as well. The V6 in my opinion is even better than the V8, which the V8 gives you better bass extension and killer overall volume...but lacks somewhat in low-mid definition. The V6 are very balanced top to bottom and provide plenty of low end to mix with.

If you decide to cheap out, those KRK RP5 are worth a listen. At $300 a pair it's hard to go wrong with those.

A huge part of your test should be that the speakers sound pleasant to you! Not hyped and out of whack, but nice enough to sit in front of for 10 hours at a moderate volume and not get a freakin' ear-ache. And that part will be a personal choice for sure. The only way to know is to keep listening to them, and try and sense if they're aggravating you or not.

It's good that you're A/B'ing and not just relying on forum opinions.

You might also consider bringing in a mix you have done on your home stereo speakers that you KNOW has problems on most stereos you play it back on. You mixed the bass too hot, the snare is too pointy maybe and chewing your eardrums apart, the vocals aren't seated right...and see if the monitors you A/B either mask that problem or plainly show it to you.

HINT: You'd rather have the ones that show you the problem.

The real secret is that any decent full range speaker can be learned, and it takes time. The speaker and the room completely interact, if you learn them in your space you can turn out great mixes. It will take time to learn HOW they TRANSLATE outside to the real world.

When you're in the store, don't just crank the speakers and listen. Hearing them at lower volumes will allow you to hear the speaker itself more, and less of the speaker interacting with the room (which may be a crap room).

Good luck!

War

[audiogeeks@mac]

NO SPEAKER IS PERFECT! Take some raw tracks that you know really well! The idea is to find a speaker that dose enough things right for you ! and to know what it is doing wrong as well!
Listen through the moniters not to them!
also spend some time listening to them to see if fatigue our power compression are a problem!

[warhead]

Originally Posted by audiogeeks@mac

NO SPEAKER IS PERFECT!

There is so much truth in that it ain't even funny...a good friend of mine (local studio owner) when we're on the topic of monitors all he can do is hang is head and say "I hate speakers...".

Just finding the speaker that fits "best" is all you can hope for!

War

[Joost]

I tried Dynaudios, Mackies, Genelecs and KRKs. To me, for my music, the Genelecs were the absolute best. I got the 8040s. They were w orth the extra cash when compared to the 8030s

[Darius van H]

Try to listen for what's happening around the crossover frequencies (the frequencies where the tweeter takes over from the bass cone)......cheaper speakers will have high ammounts of phase distortion and enormous dips/bumps in the frequency response.....as you go up the price range this will improve 'till you reach headphone-like clarity with the car-priced audiophile monitors.