• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Recomend a Pair of Studio Monitors

Googer

Lifer
I am considering the possible acquisition of a pair of speakers that can produce a flat frequency response. I am not looking for a pair that adds its own tonal coloring. Does anyone have any recommendations of new or vintage speakers?

Keep the price modest.
 
What do you consider a modest price? To me, a modest price is 2k$ for a pair of studio monitors, its this along the lines of your thinking as well?

www.sweetwater.com has some decent offerings from JBL, Mackie, Dynaudio, Adam.

Obviously there are other factors that are important other than FR. At high volumes, many 2-way speakers will suffer from horrific IM distortion. Also, you dont want speakers that have a lot of harmonic distortion. Further, different speakers have different off-axis response. Further, many 2-way speakers have large mid-woofers. The problem with these is that they will start to beam below the crossover into the tweeter which can be very distracting. For modest prices, there will be compromises, I am not sure which compromises you are willing to accept. (of course there are many other things to think about as well, bass extention, overall output etc)

Another huge factor to realize is the room. While near-field monitoring helps to elliminate some room effects, the room will still influence the response of the speakers. Also, boundaries that are near the speakers will also cause unwanted reflections that will interfere with the original wave. Most common is the speaker to desk to ear bounce which can cause problems in intelligibility of dialog.
 
Originally posted by: Tiamat
What do you consider a modest price? To me, a modest price is 2k$ for a pair of studio monitors, its this along the lines of your thinking as well?

www.sweetwater.com has some decent offerings from JBL, Mackie, Dynaudio, Adam.

Obviously there are other factors that are important other than FR. At high volumes, many 2-way speakers will suffer from horrific IM distortion. Also, you dont want speakers that have a lot of harmonic distortion. Further, different speakers have different off-axis response. Further, many 2-way speakers have large mid-woofers. The problem with these is that they will start to beam below the crossover into the tweeter which can be very distracting. For modest prices, there will be compromises, I am not sure which compromises you are willing to accept. (of course there are many other things to think about as well, bass extention, overall output etc)

Another huge factor to realize is the room. While near-field monitoring helps to elliminate some room effects, the room will still influence the response of the speakers. Also, boundaries that are near the speakers will also cause unwanted reflections that will interfere with the original wave. Most common is the speaker to desk to ear bounce which can cause problems in intelligibility of dialog.

Bingo. Any flat frequency response will be thoroughly fucked up provided he is sitting more that just a meter or so away.
 
I have a set of Mackie HR824s. Nice, clean sound. Great monitor. They lack some deep low-end, but it has not been an issue for me. Once I've mixed and pseudo-mastered a track, there hasn't been any issues with too much bass in the final mix. Mackie does make a subwoofer for the system, but I don't really feel the need to buy it for this hobby.
 
when i was a radio DJ, we had "tannoy" speakers.. OH MAN.. those were so sweet. Flat as you can get, and the imaging and clarity is amazing. i heard stuff with it that i could otherwise never hear....
They looked like the reveal line, but they were older ones.. just remember you need to drive it with a CLEAN power...
 
do you want them to be powered or un-powered?
in our studio we have custom built truncated tetrahedron cabinets with stereo low freq. drivers, and kite shaped boxes on each of the woofers on a pair of mtms with ribbon tweeters and vibration isolation in between. of course they weigh about 300 lbs each made out of ultra high density fiberboard and cost more than my car. the "standard" speaker for mixing in a studio is the Yamaha ns-10. it is the middle of the road as far as sound goes, that is the best way to describe it. if you just want a pair of "studio monitors" check out all the little powered jobs like the krk rocket and similar, there are many different ones.
 
Originally posted by: TheGoodGuy
when i was a radio DJ, we had "tannoy" speakers.. OH MAN.. those were so sweet. Flat as you can get, and the imaging and clarity is amazing. i heard stuff with it that i could otherwise never hear....
They looked like the reveal line, but they were older ones.. just remember you need to drive it with a CLEAN power...

Tannoy's are amazing speakers, but it's not often you'll find a store that has them for you to listen to. In line with Tannoy, you have Harbeth and Dynaudio, both of which have been the official studio monitor of the BBC (Harbeth being the current one).
 
Originally posted by: TheGoodGuy
when i was a radio DJ, we had "tannoy" speakers.. OH MAN.. those were so sweet. Flat as you can get, and the imaging and clarity is amazing. i heard stuff with it that i could otherwise never hear....
They looked like the reveal line, but they were older ones.. just remember you need to drive it with a CLEAN power...

I am assuming they must be considered vintage by now, do you know the model number and where on ebay I may find them?
 
Originally posted by: herm0016
do you want them to be powered or un-powered?
in our studio we have custom built truncated tetrahedron cabinets with stereo low freq. drivers, and kite shaped boxes on each of the woofers on a pair of mtms with ribbon tweeters and vibration isolation in between. of course they weigh about 300 lbs each made out of ultra high density fiberboard and cost more than my car. the "standard" speaker for mixing in a studio is the Yamaha ns-10. it is the middle of the road as far as sound goes, that is the best way to describe it. if you just want a pair of "studio monitors" check out all the little powered jobs like the krk rocket and similar, there are many different ones.

Unpowered and connected to a receiver. But if you know of some decently priced powered speakers, let me know and I'd like to still take a look.
 
Originally posted by: Googer
Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
Originally posted by: Googer
Wow, those are a little high priced. I had in mind something like M-Audio or Axiom.

Axiom makes studio monitors?

Well, Axiom has a flat monitor like response above 100hz and anything below that you use a subwoofer anyways.

http://www.audioholics.com/rev...dio-epic-80-600/page-3

A flat frequency response does not classify a speaker as a monitor.
 
I asked the radio station manager, they were the Tannoy Precision ones.. not reveal.. reveal are powered, precision series is non powered.

Ours were about 8 years old, but hella good.. i swear by them.
 
From among speakers I've actually heard, the Paradigm Studios are phenomenal. I actually go out of my way to avoid listening to them, so I can continue to enjoy my Paradigm Monitors.
 
Back
Top