Would S3As be overkill for me?

[el cochino]

I have a little project studio and I'm monitoring through 1031As (along with NS10s), that I don't really like anymore. I have a hard time getting my mixes to translate well outside of my studio and they're annoying to listen to for a longer time. I'm aware that a big part of my problem is caused due to my crappy room acoustics, but I ordered 10 Mini Traps, which should improve my situation. Anyway, thanks to you Slutz I'm still lusting for these Adams, but I'm not sure if my room is just to small for the S3As since most speakers of this size tend to need some room to breath.
My room is 16,7 ft x 8 ft with a rather high 11 ft ceiling and has a 5,5 ft x 8 ft x 6 ft closet in it as well. The speakers have to be placed right at the front wall, which I know is not preferable, but in my case sadly inevitable. I'm doing heavy rock/metal only, if this is of any relevance and I usually don't monitor very loud, although that might change with smoother sounding speakers.

Is it worth to order a pair to try out or should I rather go for another model, or even another brand for that matter?

Cheers,

Martin

[NathanEldred]

If you have your room setup with proper bass trapping, then I think the 3A's will be fine. You could get smaller 2A's, but hearing the lower octave is a big benefit for any information much under 80hz (which the 3A's will easily provide). I'd rather hear a larger full range monitor at a lower volume, than a smaller one at a higher volume.

[lucey]

nice diagram

the S3As are tight on the bottom even in a small room. might work great. and you can stand them on end to save footprint and help imaging. might want to get any monitor away from the corners a bit

as you say, you'll need lots of bass trapping anyway ... any monitors. go there 1st



get a pair to hear them. if you can afford 'em, go for it. it's really about budget. if you have $2000 or less, if you have $5000, if you have $10,000, if you have $300 ... all different possibilites

i'm not sure any monitor is "overkill" if it works well for you in a given room

[el cochino]

Originally posted by NathanEldred
If you have your room setup with proper bass trapping, then I think the 3A's will be fine. You could get smaller 2A's, but hearing the lower octave is a big benefit for any information much under 80hz (which the 3A's will easily provide). I'd rather hear a larger full range monitor at a lower volume, than a smaller one at a higher volume.

Nathan, what do you think about the 2,5A or the P22A? They seem to have a similar frequency range to the S3A - not quite as low, though.

[Killahurts]

Martin, since you have an 11' ceiling, I'd utilize a couple feet of it for some serious trapping, as well as all the corners in the room. Since it appears you have the drums in there as well, you'll want to suck bass out of that air hard.

I think I hear more with the S3A's at slightly lower volume than other monitors. But I can't resist turning them up sometimes...

I used the S3A's once in an untreated office here, only slightly bigger than your space, and was amazed at how they still "did what they did" i.e. they were still Adams.

I think you should try them out.

[el cochino]

Originally posted by lucey
nice diagram

the S3As are tight on the bottom even in a small room. might work great. and you can stand them on end to save footprint and help imaging. might want to get any monitor away from the corners a bit

as you say, you'll need lots of bass trapping anyway ... any monitors. go there 1st



get a pair to hear them. if you can afford 'em, go for it. it's really about budget. if you have $2000 or less, if you have $5000, if you have $10,000, if you have $300 ... all different possibilites

i'm not sure any monitor is "overkill" if it works well for you in a given room

Thanks lucey!

The main reason I'm interested in the Adams is because quite a few people here stated that the S3As aren't as dependent on the room as other speakers, which is a big issue in my rather unsuitable studio.

The diagram is a little misleading, because I wasn't planing to place the speakers horizontal, but I have a pair of custom made speaker stands with a wider platform so I can fit both, the Genelecs and the NS10s, side by side. You see, there isn't much clearance to move the monitors away from the corners. I could switch the speakers and place the main monitors on the inside where the Yamahas are, but this will probably narrow the stereo imaging a bit. I'll try it anyway.

Maybe, I'll like the S3As so much that I can ditch the NS10s, too!

[el cochino]

Originally posted by Killahurts
Martin, since you have an 11' ceiling, I'd utilize a couple feet of it for some serious trapping, as well as all the corners in the room. Since it appears you have the drums in there as well, you'll want to suck bass out of that air hard.

I think I hear more with the S3A's at slightly lower volume than other monitors. But I can't resist turning them up sometimes...

I used the S3A's once in an untreated office here, only slightly bigger than your space, and was amazed at how they still "did what they did" i.e. they were still Adams.

I think you should try them out.

Sounds like S3A is the way to go!

I'm planing to put the traps in the corners as well as hanging some over the mix position. The drum kit is just a Ddrum set so this won't be a problem - the only real thing I record are hihats and cymbals and those don't produce alot of bass, anyway.

Thanks for your input!

[matucha]

I have exactly the same foodprint, but lower ceiling in my current room... it is heavily stuffed with furniture, bed, bookcase/books, gear... no special bass trapping. There is some resonance on the low end, but I wouldn't like to have less bottom than they provide.

Go for them ;-)

[el cochino]

Originally posted by matucha
I have exactly the same foodprint, but lower ceiling in my current room... it is heavily stuffed with furniture, bed, bookcase/books, gear... no special bass trapping. There is some resonance on the low end, but I wouldn't like to have less bottom than they provide.

Go for them ;-)

Cool! And since were practically neighbours, do you know a place that offers a good deal on them? European Union preferred, of course.

Cheers!

[Fletcher]

I'm not Nathan but my room is about the same size [except I have 8 ft. ceilings], I use the 3a's.

The 2A's are very similar to the 3A's except for the bottom octave... the 2.5's don't seem to have as rich and present a midrange as th3 2A's and 3A's which means that my mixes seem to come out a bit lower mid heavy when I use 2.5A's... but as always [especially when it comes to monitors] YMMV.

Best of luck with the search.

[halljams]

Originally posted by Fletcher
I'm not Nathan but my room is about the same size [except I have 8 ft. ceilings], I use the 3a's.

The 2A's are very similar to the 3A's except for the bottom octave... the 2.5's don't seem to have as rich and present a midrange as th3 2A's and 3A's which means that my mixes seem to come out a bit lower mid heavy when I use 2.5A's... but as always [especially when it comes to monitors] YMMV.

Best of luck with the search.

I wonder if you could take the time to clarify what is different about the bottom end. It seems some folks think there is nothing coming out of a S2-A under 100hz at all.
Is it that the s3's have the extra 100 watts? is it the extra speaker? Is it the extra 2 grand?
Can the S2 reproduce a bass guitar or kik drum . Does it do it better than many other monitors still???????

What exactly is the S2 missing that the 3 has?
Thanks Fletcher and Nathan.

[Cornvalley]

Don't freak about it man! Though I use and abosolutly love the 2As for all the acoustic stuff I'm into if I need a reference to that under 80HZ range I flip on my Tannoy sub (not very loudly either) that is LP at 80 but not in line with the Adams (they are still full range). Seems to work great for me but I'm not an expert by any stretch.

[Jay Kahrs]

When I tried the S3A's they sounded like big nearfields or maybe small mid-fields to me. They didn't move as much air as I was expecting them to but they felt about right for a box their size. YMMV and all that, mine did. I ended up with Dynaudio BM15's.

[Fletcher]

Originally posted by halljams
I wonder if you could take the time to clarify what is different about the bottom end. It seems some folks think there is nothing coming out of a S2-A under 100hz at all.

There is plenty coming out of an S-2A under 100Hz... it's under like 50-60Hz where you start to hear the difference... seriously, it's like an extra octave has been added to the low end response with the S-3A's in comparison to the S2-A's.

You can certainly make an excellent mix on S-2A's... but I find myself guessing a bit about the the bottom interaction of the kik and the bass where with my S-3A's there is no such guess work involved.

I hope this is of some assistance.

[Steve Smith]

not to offend the gods of sluttiness, but...


If you are looking for diffrent monitors because your mixes dont translate, and you have just ordered some pretty substanial acoustic treatment, are you at least going to give it a mix or two with your current monitors before you toss em? Dont get me wrong, If you want diff monitors and can get em, knockk yerself out, but you may want to make sure that you need to change them before you slap down 3K +...... ( remember, that couldl be more outboard.... ee)


Good Luck!

[matucha]

Monitors do make a difference... even if your place is very ~ ~ ~. Acoustics is a must though.

[el cochino]

Originally posted by Steve Smith
not to offend the gods of sluttiness, but...


If you are looking for diffrent monitors because your mixes dont translate, and you have just ordered some pretty substanial acoustic treatment, are you at least going to give it a mix or two with your current monitors before you toss em? Dont get me wrong, If you want diff monitors and can get em, knockk yerself out, but you may want to make sure that you need to change them before you slap down 3K +...... ( remember, that couldl be more outboard.... ee)


Good Luck!

This was actually my plan - I want to bring the Adams in my studio after installing the Mini Traps and do a mix on the Genelecs and the same one on the S3As afterwards. If I don't hear an improvement, I will keep the Genelecs. But if the Adam mix turns out better than the one I mixed on the monitors I'm using for several years now, than I'll keep them and sell the 1031s.

[lucey]

Originally posted by el cochino
This was actually my plan - I want to bring the Adams in my studio after installing the Mini Traps and do a mix on the Genelecs and the same one on the S3As afterwards. If I don't hear an improvement, I will keep the Genelecs. But if the Adam mix turns out better than the one I mixed on the monitors I'm using for several years now, than I'll keep them and sell the 1031s.

well if you have 1031's ... unless you have the most unique hearing on the planet that can hear midrange where there is only a scoop and ignore sheen, any ADAM will win.

[Steve Smith]

Whatever Lucey. As long as they guy tries in his room and makes a decison, use whatever you like.

[el cochino]

Originally posted by lucey
well if you have 1031's ... unless you have the most unique hearing on the planet that can hear midrange where there is only a scoop and ignore sheen, any ADAM will win.

[halljams]

Originally posted by Fletcher
There is plenty coming out of an S-2A under 100Hz... it's under like 50-60Hz where you start to hear the difference... seriously, it's like an extra octave has been added to the low end response with the S-3A's in comparison to the S2-A's.

You can certainly make an excellent mix on S-2A's... but I find myself guessing a bit about the the bottom interaction of the kik and the bass where with my S-3A's there is no such guess work involved.

I hope this is of some assistance.

And would you say you get better representation down there with S3-a's than you would using say a sub-p and SA-2's?
Works out to about the same price doesn't it?

[chap]

I don't think you can go wrong with the 3As.

Every now and then we all get those impossible, 2 day mixes. The 3a's won't cause ear fatigue and they won't flatter your mix. They will let you mix a 3 minute pop song for 2 days without rethinking current gun control laws.

They can be loud or soft and still give true imaging. I wouldn't worry about the low end unless you're doing lot's of dog and pony shows.
happy hunting,
chap

[matucha]

S2A+SubP vs S3A? I'm sure I'd get S3A. I don't like sub for mixing, the bass is too undirect for me. If you worry S3A doesn't play enough bass, please don't it is very sufficient. Though everything around 32-35Hz played loudly makes the PORTS to do THE NOISE. That's my only complain. Pure sine or some extremely low tuned orchestra pecussion doesn't work there...