Help with Monitor Management and D/A Options

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I want to add a second set of monitors to my control room. Currently I have soffit mounted Tannoy System 600a speakers, with a PS 100B Subwoofer. I’m happy with the speakers, but find them a little too flattering to be my only monitors. So, I want to buy a second pair of speakers for near-fields so I can go back and fourth between the two (I’m considering KRK V4II’s, V6II’s, the Adam A7’s or the Dynaudio BM5A’s).

Now I need monitor management. Looking at the Presonus Central Station… the price is right, and if I read the manual right, it will let me keep my sub on (as the C monitor) for both my A (Tannoy) and B (new) monitors. Talkback feature will be nice as well.

I’m currently using a 002 Rack as my interface. So, my first question: how much better is the D/A in the Central Station than the 002? If I’m buying a Central Station for monitor management, should I still consider a Benchmark DAC1 or the Lavry Black for D/A, or maybe even the Rosetta 200? And at that point, I’ve dropped somewhere between $1500 and $2300 on the monitor setup, so should I pass go, and go directly to the Crane Song Avocet ($2380)? (Which intuitively seems like overkill for what I’m doing).

For A/D I have the Focusrite ISA428 w/ the digital option… which is great, but I want access to some high quality D/A so I can run mixes through a nice outboard compressor as I mix (Focusrite Red3, Drawmer 1968, or DBX 160SL… still deciding) to avoid things coming back from mastering with too much change.

So, while mixing I’d probably run out of the DAC1 into the compressor, and then back in through a pair of line in’s on the 428. But, then of course I’d have no great D/A for monitoring… so could I run out of the compressor directly into the Central Station analog in’s, and use the metering on the Central Station to watch levels? Then I would still be listening to the high quality D/A, and when I am totally finished the mix, I could pull the analog signal from the Central Station, and put it into a couple of line in’s on the 428 to print my mix back to ProTools.

Is this a good idea? Or am I failing to see a problem here? Will I run into any digital sync problems tracking with the ADAT(428), and monitoring out of the optical to a DAC1? (I don’t have a clock.)

Sorry, I’ve sort of rolled a few questions into one post here…

1) Given that I already have the Tannoys and can pair whatever monitors I add with the sub, what would be a good second reference monitor?

2) Which combination of D/A / Monitor Mgmt makes the most sense from a good value / functionality point of view? (i.e. letting me do what I’m hoping above… using D/A that’s better than the stock 002 converters to run my mix through an outboard compressor).

Any help would be appreciated…

[Stitch333]

The coleman audio MS6R. The coleman switchers are passive and much cleaner than any of the prosumer (ie: mackie big knob, presonous central station) gear. Instead of two sets of similar monitors, howsaboot a pair of auratones or bryston/NS10s as a different set of sonic reference...