Monitor speakers?

[norburybrook]

you could always use a good set of headphones instead.

a $500 set of phones will sound as good as a $10,000 set of monitors in a $10,000 treated room well not quite but you get my drift

I use Sennheiser HD650's with a Musical fidelity headphone amp, the sound is very close to my $10,000 quested monitors in the treated room.


Just a thought.


M

Odd I seem to have heard a ton that mixing/mastering with headphones is a cardinal sin?

You do this as a career, is that just a myth then?

Something about true quality sound reproduction can't happen in a small headphone like a set of monitors can?

but I'm willing to learn from the professionals.

~Phil

pHIL,

the OP said he was just practicing with his guitar/monitors hence my suggestion. You are correct headphones are not ideal for mixing/mastering. Spatial awareness is the tricky thing, reverbs etc are hard to judge on phones , frequency wise they are usually better than a bad pair of monitors in an untreated room though

there are some software developments though like waves NX that cleverly makes headphone mixing more like mixing in a room. I have this and it really works well I have a good room/monitors so it's not used much but it certainly is interesting.

https://www.waves.com/mixing-rush-dream ... ard-chycki

A professional mix engineer would however be able to do a pretty good mix on phones if they had to.


M

[pompeiisneaks]

Very cool, thanks for the info/insight.

I love this forum, still learn all the time.

~Phil

[jarrodthebobo]

i'm probably not doing the "correct" thing here, but I've been using a few relatively non-colored hifi receivers with some flat speakers to mix different things/ playback guitar. The flatter your whole system, the better.

My main setup has been an older 70s realistic unit that is relatively color-less, and at 25-ish watts is loud enough for my use. I've been bouncing around speaker wise, and have never used 'real' monitors, but my favorite to mix with have been my two Epi/Epicure bookshelfs. I have an EPI M100 that has an incredibly basic crossover (1 cap) and their newer Model 5 bookshelfs, which are much smaller and have a much different tweeter design, but again utilizes the one cap crossover. Both of these speakers are VERY neutral; and I believe I've read in the past that the EPI 100s were designed to be as flat as possible for the time. If you look at frequency graphs, its certainly pretty close/'good-enough' for most people.

Don't engage the loudness control, keep tones at noon, and just play with volume. If you aren't doing anything 'professional', I can't imagine you'd really need anything much more 'accurate'.

Give it a try; you can pick up a ton of nice vintage new england speakers for cheap on craiglist if you look around enough. My Epi 100s cost me 40 bucks. The model 5s costed 10 bucks from Savers. My receiver was 20 bucks at a yardsale.

[Mark]

I agree the set up doesn't have to be expensive to be good.

My main issue is size. I have a reasonable stereo, but it is big and loud. Which is to say it needs a certain power level to sound good.

[stelligan]

Mark

If you are looking for small - these: https://www.presonus.com/products/Eris-E35
are shockingly good sounding. I have a pair on the upstairs landing that can fill the house with sound. They're affordable and TINY.

[davesi]

Don't own, but have heard good first hand reviews. Budget Adams Audio nearfields with ribbon tweeter (if that's your thing). Been intending to audition a pair, about $500 delivered in states.

https://www.adam-audio.com/en/t-series/t7v/

Dave

[norburybrook]

A monitor speaker and a HiFi speaker are designed for 2 different purposes really, that's not saying there isn't some crossover(sic)

A true 'monitor speaker should be as flat as possible and it's job is to be revealing , like a perfect mirror. It also has to deal with SPL's and hard transients that wouldn't be good for a hifi speaker.

In contrast a hifi speaker is designed to sound 'nice' with recorded audio, so it would be like a mirror that was flattering to the viewer rather than showing the 'truth' if you get my gist. Also the levels it has to deal with are within a small range, you don't suddenly have 130Db of Marshall plexi coming back at you by mistake or someone pulling a cable out causing a loud noise, or a kick drum routed wrongly suddenly coming through

Companies like PMC and Dynaudio do speakers that are basically the same and the only difference is the finish, so the Hifi people get lovely veneers and the studio ones are sprayed black.

I really like PMC's, they are a transmission line design and are amazing speakers both for hifi and in the studio.

https://pmc-speakers.com/

I have no affiliation with PMC by the way.


M

[dartanion]

Those PMC monitors are really sweet! Especially if you have a big, FAT, wallet full of disposable cash. For most of us, they're out of reach.

[norburybrook]

Those PMC monitors are really sweet! Especially if you have a big, FAT, wallet full of disposable cash. For most of us, they're out of reach.

Indeed which takes me back to my original reply about headphones. My Sennheiser HD650's sound remarkably similar to my Mastering engineers big PMC's




M

[dartanion]

Those PMC monitors are really sweet! Especially if you have a big, FAT, wallet full of disposable cash. For most of us, they're out of reach.

Indeed which takes me back to my original reply about headphones. My Sennheiser HD650's sound remarkably similar to my Mastering engineers big PMC's




M

I hear you on using good headphones. I think there is value in having both. A good set of cans and monitors. If it sounds good on both, you have a winner. I also usually listen to recordings/mixes on cans and monitors, then on my big HiFi system as well as in the car. Helps make for good overall mixes, nothing tailored to specific systems.