[OT] which powered speakers?
Hi all,
I am looking for some good yet small powered studio speakers that are
good for monitoring / mixing / mastering but will also be fun with
max, lloopp and live. Anyone have a good idea which ones might do well
in such a situation? Any last years deals would also be great.
Cheers
(())_n
Quote: kinomatic wrote on Sun, 13 April 2008 23:19
----------------------------------------------------
> Hi all,
>
> I am looking for some good yet small powered studio speakers that are
> good for monitoring / mixing / mastering but will also be fun with
> max, lloopp and live. Anyone have a good idea which ones might do well
> in such a situation? Any last years deals would also be great.
>
> Cheers
>
> (())_n
>
----------------------------------------------------
Hello,
I don't know what your budget is but I am very, very, very happy with my PMC DB1sa's. They are very analytical, which some people don't like, strangely enough. Dynaudio BM5a's are also very nice if you want to spend a bit less, and can live with (or prefer) a slightly more hyped low end.
You can find a serious review of the PMC's here:
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/may05/articles/pmcmonitors.htm
I would go this way:
1: set a budget.
2: make a shortlist based on reviews, other peoples advice etc.
3. audition the speakers. take your time and bring at least 10 different well mixed and mastered tunes/tracks/pieces that you know well. listen to them all. a/b. check back. sleep about it.
4. decide and buy
5. enjoy!
Regards,
kjg
ps: don't forget that acoustics play a huge role. if your rooms acoustics are bad, any speaker will sound horrible.
Quote: kjg wrote on Sun, 13 April 2008 17:45
----------------------------------------------------
> ps: don't forget that acoustics play a huge role. if your rooms acoustics are bad, any speaker will sound horrible.
>
----------------------------------------------------
Good point. I haven't bothered dealing with the acoustics at my apartment becaues of the very poor quality hand-me-down consumer level quad setup I use (I still can sneak into the Brandeis studio for final mixing). Since I haven't bothered I haven't tried this software out either, but a friend recently turned me onto the work of Joel Foner:
troodontechnologies.com
This software I guess does analysis of your room to help you make improvements. I don't mean to be advertising commercial software (especially software I have never used), but the options of a short term license sounds like a big money saver vs. hiring a professional analyst to help you out.... thought there may be some on this forum who may not know about this and may want to check it out.
My experience:
Fly away from Genelec when they are too small.
Focal as a near/mid field are Super, seriously supreme!!!
Compared (in my really modest opinion) to KRK, Dynaudio, Genelec, and
ADAM (!!!) with the same mixing desk, and same NIN album, I would
choose Focal, and they cost 20, to 30 % less than their rivals.
If you want to go with made in China and cheap,
Not bad at all are the Esi Near 05
On Apr 13, 2008, at 11:45 PM, Klaas-Jan Govaart wrote:
>
> Quote: kinomatic wrote on Sun, 13 April 2008 23:19
> ----------------------------------------------------
>> Hi all,
>>
>> I am looking for some good yet small powered studio speakers that are
>> good for monitoring / mixing / mastering but will also be fun with
>> max, lloopp and live. Anyone have a good idea which ones might do
>> well
>> in such a situation? Any last years deals would also be great.
>>
>> Cheers
>>
>> (())_n
>>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> Hello,
> I don't know what your budget is but I am very, very, very happy
> with my PMC DB1sa's. They are very analytical, which some people
> don't like, strangely enough. Dynaudio BM5a's are also very nice if
> you want to spend a bit less, and can live with (or prefer)
> slightly more hyped low end.
>
> You can find a serious review of the PMC's here:
> http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/may05/articles/pmcmonitors.htm
>
> I would go this way:
> 1: set a budget.
> 2: make a shortlist based on reviews, other peoples advice etc.
> 3. audition the speakers. take your time and bring at least 10
> different well mixed and mastered tunes/tracks/pieces that you know
> well. listen to them all. a/b. check back. sleep about it.
> 4. decide and buy
> 5. enjoy!
>
> Regards,
> kjg
>
> ps: don't forget that acoustics play a huge role. if your rooms
> acoustics are bad, any speaker will sound horrible.
>
Jacopo Carreras
music weaver
www.myspace.com/jacopocarreras
www.lan-muzic.com
I like my Blue Sky set. Media Desk, I think it's called. Really great
bang for the buck. See Google, don't have the link at hand.
Op 13-apr-2008, om 23:19 heeft (())_n het volgende geschreven:
> Hi all,
>
> I am looking for some good yet small powered studio speakers that
> are good for monitoring / mixing / mastering but will also be fun
> with max, lloopp and live. Anyone have a good idea which ones might
> do well in such a situation? Any last years deals would also be great.
>
> Cheers
>
> (())_n
I'm going to second the PMC vote - nicest speakers I've ever heard.
(Of course it's all totally personal :-) ). I first heard them at a
trade show, and they literally stopped me dead as I walked past the
stand (to be fair, these were the 6 foot high version rather than the
1 foot high version)
For portability and cheapness, I just bought a pair of Edirol MA-7A
s, which are good for slinging in a (biggish) bag, and sound fairly
decent.
David
On 14 Apr 2008, at 09:27, Zip Boterbloem wrote:
> I like my Blue Sky set. Media Desk, I think it's called. Really
> great bang for the buck. See Google, don't have the link at hand.
>
> Op 13-apr-2008, om 23:19 heeft (())_n het volgende geschreven:
>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> I am looking for some good yet small powered studio speakers that
>> are good for monitoring / mixing / mastering but will also be fun
>> with max, lloopp and live. Anyone have a good idea which ones might
>> do well in such a situation? Any last years deals would also be
>> great.
>>
Try to get your hands on the good old Philips Motional Feedback (MFB)
series.
J.
Quote: JAHroen wrote on Tue, 15 April 2008 22:49
----------------------------------------------------
> Try to get your hands on the good old Philips Motional Feedback (MFB)
> series.
o yes, I second that. very nice speakers indeed.
Quote: Roald Baudoux wrote on Wed, 16 April 2008 09:12
----------------------------------------------------
> Hello,
>
> If you can afford them, PMC sound indeed very good but they are also
> very expensive. Maybe those sold under the Digidesign brand are cheaper?
PMC did indeed design the new Digidesign brand speakers, but they are based on PMC's larger (mid-sized) models and feature digital inputs, built-in DSP and such. They are currently going for $3500.
The PMC DB1sa's I was talking about are their smallest near-fields and are in the sub-1500 euro price range. It is a passive speaker design with a Flying Mole class-D amplifier pack mounted on the back.
I've been in mastering situations where they used the larger (large!) 3-way PMC's and it is quite a remarkable experience... Second mortgage/sell your girlfriend territory though.
I must second "the stay away from small genelecs" advice (or any genelec, if you don't like the sound of metal dome tweeters, but that is something else), they are not worth the money if you ask me.
I personally also don't like the KRK v6/v8 models for their slightly coloured low-mids, but besides that they are very decent and maybe something you should audition.
And don't forget Dynaudio..
How's the shortlist coming along?
Regards,
kjg
I cant believe nobody mentioned the mackie hr824s
the MK2s just came out and this means that the still amazing mk1s are on crazy sale, you can get a pair for about 500 bux on ebay, and even some dealers are selling them for 6-700 a pair. That is a steal in my opinion. These speakers have some sort of proprietary bass resonator system, which creates incredible deep tones from an 8 inch woofer, the silk dome tweeter is clear and deep, the mids are lush and the lows are intense and pleasant, you can taper them and get a normal relatively flat sound, and you don't really need a sub with these. I have several friends who bought them after I got mine (about 8 or 9 people when they came by and heard mine immediately bought them and sold their old monitors)
trust me, I cant reccomend anything more. I worked at guitar center for a few months a couple years back and during my time there I set up a huge wall of monitors so I could A/B test everything we had there, I tried the genelecs (3k a speaker) and the KRKS, and loads of others and the mackies outshined them all by far, and on a variety of music styles.
Quote: Axiom-Crux wrote on Thu, 17 April 2008 18:53
----------------------------------------------------
> I cant believe nobody mentioned the mackie hr824s
>
Why other didn't mentioned them, I don't know. But the reason I didn't mention them is that I don't like them. At all.
In my very personal experience (I've mixed on them extensively in a nicely treated room) they somehow makes things sound better then they are, and don't translate to well to other systems. Not transparent.
For 700 dollars a pair it might still be a good deal depending on what you are looking for. A bit too hifi-ish and somewhat plasticky if you ask me, though, but could be good to just have a loud and deep sound to build tracks in Live and do preproduction stuff like that.
Regards,
kjg
On Mon, Apr 14, 2008 at 7:38 AM, Jacopo Carreras
wrote:
> My experience:Fly away from Genelec when they are too small.
> Focal as a near/mid field are Super, seriously supreme!!!
> Compared (in my really modest opinion) to KRK, Dynaudio, Genelec, and ADAM
> (!!!) with the same mixing desk, and same NIN album, I would choose Focal,
> and they cost 20, to 30 % less than their rivals.
>
>
+1 for Focal. I'm VERY happy with them. Love them lots more than nearfield
KRK (v6/v8), ADAM (p11a) or Genelecs I've worked with.
My 2c,
Thijs
as I said, I chose them because they sound good, it may in fact be that they are not as flat and "transparent" as most monitors, and even though they sound large and crisp, my mixes have typically translated very well. if your looking to do big studio pop production that needs to sound perfect on every system, then maybe these aren't the one to use, but if your looking to have fun and hear your music sound good, and jam, then Id say these are a great choice.
Quote: kjg wrote on Thu, 17 April 2008 11:38
----------------------------------------------------
> Quote: Axiom-Crux wrote on Thu, 17 April 2008 18:53
> ----------------------------------------------------
> > I cant believe nobody mentioned the mackie hr824s
> >
>
> Why other didn't mentioned them, I don't know. But the reason I didn't mention them is that I don't like them. At all.
> In my very personal experience (I've mixed on them extensively in a nicely treated room) they somehow makes things sound better then they are, and don't translate to well to other systems. Not transparent.
>
> For 700 dollars a pair it might still be a good deal depending on what you are looking for. A bit too hifi-ish and somewhat plasticky if you ask me, though, but could be good to just have a loud and deep sound to build tracks in Live and do preproduction stuff like that.
>
> Regards,
> kjg
>
----------------------------------------------------
On Apr 17, 2008, at 11:17 AM, Klaas-Jan Govaart wrote:
>
> How's the shortlist coming along?
Ha. So far I've learned that tannoy means public address system and
the event tr series have a nice flat sound good for identifying freqs
in the mix.
cheers
(())_n
Quote: kinomatic wrote on Fri, 18 April 2008 01:20
----------------------------------------------------
>
> On Apr 17, 2008, at 11:17 AM, Klaas-Jan Govaart wrote:
> >
> > How's the shortlist coming along?
>
> Ha. So far I've learned that tannoy means public address system and
> the event tr series have a nice flat sound good for identifying freqs
> in the mix.
>
> cheers
>
> (())_n
>
----------------------------------------------------
well, good luck with it!
regards,
kjg