Can theater speakers serve as studio monitors?

audiothings · 27th July 2010

Seeing that most large studio monitors cost thousands of dollars I am wondering if something like the JBL 4722 can serve as an alternate studio monitor. It seems to have a pretty flat frequency response, high SPL rating (130 dB) and is not too expensive... (Of course, most mixing will be done on nearfields.)

The Altec Voice of the Theater as I understand was from a family of Cinema speakers which have served hi-fi enthusiasts and mix engineers alike... Studio 1 at Masterdisk still uses them!

Any thoughts?

Ron Vogel · 27th July 2010

Yes, you could technically use anything as a studio monitor....however, you will spend a lot of time guessing until you know the speakers...and some will plain lie to you on different levels (imaging, eq, resolution).

Dedicated monitors are like tools...you pick the right tool and it will save your time and give you better finished work. You could saw a board in half with a butter knife for sure, but wouldn't you rather have a laser-guided miter saw? Betcha the cut would come out cleaner and more square!

12ax7 · 27th July 2010

.
No doubt such a plan might have some marketing value for you (as in: the "Toe-Rag factor").

But the REAL reason those old speaker systems were used for music studios in days of yore was because they were readily-available off-the-shelf units which (for their day) were relatively 'flat', could take a good bit of wattage, and put out a decent amount of volume (with good reliability and support).

They pretty much came out of the film industry, and sprung from designs used to fill a room full of people.

Furthermore, the early studios that were built to mix the sound for film were designed around those speaker systems. (And much of the design elements of the 'modern studio' came out of that world.)

In the early days of electrical recording and mixing, there was a LOT less difference between the studios built for film, radio, or music production than there is today.

The difference between them was mostly a matter of accommodating the machinery handling the medium (whether the output of the mixer fed a tape recorder, a lathe, a mag film recorder, or a transmitter). Therefore, a lot of the equipment was essentially the same (and often built in-house).

Today, speaker systems are optimized for mixing, mastering, film work, live sound re-enforcement, stage monitoring, casual listening, etc.

...But here's the thing:

Using large, longer-throw speakers like that for critical monitoring requires that the design of the room be integral with the design of the cabinets. (This is the primary reason for the eventual dominance of the "near-field monitor.")

Personally, if I were to go back to that sort of idea, I'd be a whole lot more likely to find an old pair of Westlake TM-1s, and design a new control room around THEM!
.

27th July 2010	#2
Ron Vogel cork sniffer Joined: Dec 2009 Location: Naperville, IL Posts: 1,413	Yes, you could technically use anything as a studio monitor....however, you will spend a lot of time guessing until you know the speakers...and some will plain lie to you on different levels (imaging, eq, resolution). Dedicated monitors are like tools...you pick the right tool and it will save your time and give you better finished work. You could saw a board in half with a butter knife for sure, but wouldn't you rather have a laser-guided miter saw? Betcha the cut would come out cleaner and more square! __________________ my music:http://soundcloud.com/ron-vogel

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27th July 2010	#3
12ax7 Lives for gear Joined: Jul 2009 Posts: 4,139	. No doubt such a plan might have some marketing value for you (as in: the "Toe-Rag factor"). But the REAL reason those old speaker systems were used for music studios in days of yore was because they were readily-available off-the-shelf units which (for their day) were relatively 'flat', could take a good bit of wattage, and put out a decent amount of volume (with good reliability and support). They pretty much came out of the film industry, and sprung from designs used to fill a room full of people. Furthermore, the early studios that were built to mix the sound for film were designed around those speaker systems. (And much of the design elements of the 'modern studio' came out of that world.) In the early days of electrical recording and mixing, there was a LOT less difference between the studios built for film, radio, or music production than there is today. The difference between them was mostly a matter of accommodating the machinery handling the medium (whether the output of the mixer fed a tape recorder, a lathe, a mag film recorder, or a transmitter). Therefore, a lot of the equipment was essentially the same (and often built in-house). Today, speaker systems are optimized for mixing, mastering, film work, live sound re-enforcement, stage monitoring, casual listening, etc. ...But here's the thing: Using large, longer-throw speakers like that for critical monitoring requires that the design of the room be integral with the design of the cabinets. (This is the primary reason for the eventual dominance of the "near-field monitor.") Personally, if I were to go back to that sort of idea, I'd be a whole lot more likely to find an old pair of Westlake TM-1s, and design a new control room around THEM! .