Recommend me speakers/monitors :)

Fikealox

Fikealox

New member
Hey guys,

Over the weekend I sold my last amp, and as I'm now playing solely through my computer, I figured it would be wise to invest in some better speakers. My main gripes with the speakers I have aren't tonal, exactly. I can EQ to get around their limitations when I'm just playing (although it will make recording hard), mainly it's just that they're noisy! If I turn them up to even a low playing volume, there's a barely audible low-frequency hum that (literally) makes me feel like I'm going insane.

Anyhoo, I'm looking at things like this: http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product/KRK-Rokit-Powered-5-Generation-2?sku=482825

I don't have a huge budget, and I don't need immense wattage, but I want to get the best I can. Any recommendations or warnings about models or brands, or features I should look for, would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks :)
 
Re: Recommend me speakers/monitors :)

KRK makes great speakers, I've actually got a pair on my desktop right now in fact

They sound a bit better than the Berhinger and MAudio stuff in the same price range, have more than enough low end (I actually play my bass through them using Ampeg SVT plugin) and are nicely priced. Anything cheaper is garbage and more akin to gaming surround sound speakers.


There is better stuff out there like Genenlics or Mackie's HR824's etc, but then your really moving up in price to over $1000 pair.

Plus most people don't really need 150watts per speaker in their bedroom or office lol


You'll be surprised at how loud and powerful even the smallest KRK's can get though, about as loud as my car stereo turned up all the way.



Best thing with a set of monitors if you havent had a pair before is listening to all our favorite cd's and hearing them with a detail and richness, not to mention stereo seperation you've never realized before.
 
Re: Recommend me speakers/monitors :)

Thanks heaps, Millsart :D I think I'll hunt around a bit to find the best price I can get (since I'm in Australia), then grab a set of KRKs. I can't really afford (or at least justify buying) anything much more expensive - definitely not a $1000 set, which would probably be wasted on my ears anyway :) I appreciate your help, mate.

edit: I'm actually having trouble finding the KRKs for a decent price in Australia - $728aud is the best I can find, which is stretchng my budget to the limit. I'd like to hear what you think of these: http://www.esi-audio.com/products/near05experience/ (I should be able to get them for $500ish)

Thanks again!
 
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Re: Recommend me speakers/monitors :)

I'm using a Samsom 3 piece system with a 10" subwoofer. Sounds excellent for my purposes.
 
Re: Recommend me speakers/monitors :)

Thanks, Lex :) Samson is another one of the brands I've been looking at - they get great reviews, too
 
Re: Recommend me speakers/monitors :)

Subwoofers can be nice for car stereos or home theaters, but Ive always found them a bit problematic to mix on, especially in untreated rooms. They certainly provide plenty of very low end responce, but often translate poorly either because your room acoustics, especially with the sub are really amping up the bass frequencies and your tracks sound thin on other systems, or you can have too much low end which your system might be able to handle but that cant come through on your end listeners system.

A good subwoofer is a nice thing, dont get me wrong, but without it having a good crossover and being correctly placed in a room, they just make things a bit more difficult.

Even the smaller monitor speakers can get down to around 50hertz or so and still have a very flat responce. It just leads to a bit of more uncolored representation of your sound and that therefore gives you a bit more of the what you hear is what you get recordings which will translate to your listeners system.

Basically when you've got a great full range system, you can make your music sound wonderful on it, but then when you hear it through an ipod headphone speaker or something sort of crappy like that, it sounds like muddy garbage.

A good monitor doesn't sound good on its own, it sounds invisible. Only when its a well recorded peice of music does it sound good. Bad mixes sound very bad. Great mixes sound amazing.
 
Re: Recommend me speakers/monitors :)

Thanks heaps, Mills. That's really informative :) I just ordered those ESI 5" monitors (I couldn't justify paying double for the KRKs). I'm just wondering what "crossover" is exactly. The ESIs have a crossover frequency of 3.2 kHz, but I'm not really sure what that means.
 
Re: Recommend me speakers/monitors :)

Fikealox said:
Thanks heaps, Mills. That's really informative :) I just ordered those ESI 5" monitors (I couldn't justify paying double for the KRKs). I'm just wondering what "crossover" is exactly. The ESIs have a crossover frequency of 3.2 kHz, but I'm not really sure what that means.
Click to expand...


Its basically a dividison point where frequencies above go to the high frequency speaker aka tweater and below it go to the bass speaker or woofer.

Theres not any one point thats better than the other, just depends on the speakers and how they are designed etc


Lots of systems have subs you can buy, but typically the cheaper subs dont have their own crossover network, which means that the monitor speaker and the sub are both producing some of the same range and that leads to inaccurate bass responce. Again, remember that a monitor isnt designed to have huge bass, but rather just accurate bass. Lots of home stereo speakers etc have porting etc to increase the bass effect because people like that sound, but its not what we are after.


Belive it or not though, a set of monitors makes most music sound better, even though its not doing anything to sweeten it, because its letting you hear the real mix, which in most cases the recording engineers spent a ton of time and effort into making sound as good as they could.


One favorite artist of mine, Tori Amos (dont laugh) sounds amazing through my monitors because I can hear so much detail in some of her songs, like the hammer and dampeners on her piano etc. Normal stereo sounds fine but that stuff is buried in the mix. WIth the monitors you close your eyes and listen and you'd swear the piano was in the room with you. Of course Tori does have excellent production though so its not like every cd you listen to will get that effect


Enjoy the new monitors

Cheers
 
Re: Recommend me speakers/monitors :)

Thanks again, man. I really appreciate the time you've taken to help me out :D
 
Re: Recommend me speakers/monitors :)

Hey Millsart,

Thats some good advice, thanks. I have to agree with everything you said.

Question for ya tho, I'm currently using a 3 peice Samson system with a 10" sub. I use it mostly for music and I like the extra emphasis the sub provides for bass. I mix occasionally, but use 'em mostly for music listening. My sub actually has a font panel mute button that mutes the sound coming from the sub. I mute the sub whenever I want to go into "mix" mode, thinking I'll get the flat, most accurate response without the exaggerated bass you speak of.

If I mute the sub, and sound is only coming from the front pair of monitors, am I still getting that flat frequency response I should be getting from my monitors? I'm not rolling off any bass from the monitors to the sub - I have the sub set to produce bass at the monitor's lowest bass frequency that the monitors are able to produce.

I hope that question made sense. I guess what I'm asking is if by doing this I'm getting the best of both worlds without any loss in tone and accuracy.
 
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Re: Recommend me speakers/monitors :)

Hard to say as every system is going to be different in its design and such, but I would guess that since they designed it as a 3 peice system thats how it would work, and that when your putting it on mute its just cutting output to the sub, but still shelving the frequency at whatever crossover point it has.

Downside is that when a system is designed from the ground up to have the sub, the other two speakers probably have a very limited bass responce thats going to be very bass lite in the mix so you might be better off using the sub. Try to keep it from walls etc though as they can really increase the apparent bass effect.


Really the best solution is to just hear your mix on a variety of systems such as headphones, record it and put in it your car and see how it sounds, take it to a friends place and see what they think etc. Doing that and you'll learn a bit how your system translates to other systems.


I really wouldnt sweat it that much though if your happy with the sound and use it mainly for listening its fine. Not like you've got paying clients asking you to mix down their albums or anything lol.

Subs aren't "bad" again, dont get me wrong.

Its just that if someone is buying a new system and want something accruate and that translates well and makes it easy for them to learn to mix on, a pair of bi-amped monitors like KRK's, Mackie 624's, M1's, Tannoy's etc work really well. Basically any nearfields are going to be easier because they are designed to basically be listend to at a minimal distance and thusly take alot of the room out of the mix. Start putting subs in there and suddenly your room is going to be playing a big part of th equation and such and thusly accuracy goes out the window.

Not that I don't love subs, I've got a 400watt one for my home theater! lol
 
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