Monitor Advice

[ORATOR3]

I'm looking to see if any one out there can point me in the right direction for a good all around studio monitor. I've had BX5a's forever and a day. I need something that I can actually hear the lower frequencies. Logic tells me to just get something bigger. But I would like to here what you guys have to say. I was looking at the KRK rockit-8's.

[kut_class]

when i do upgrade, i've wanted mackie hr824's for years ....

 

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/1997_articles/nov97/mackiehr824.html

 

the 624's seem pretty good value

 

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/may02/articles/mackiehr624.asp

[assemblyworker]

Doesn't matter what monitors you have if the room has a load of untreated standing waves, flutter echo etc etc.

 

 

I was working in a room with some £2k Dynaudio's for the last few years, the low end was always guess work. Tests showed that at various frequencies there was as much as 20dB difference between peaks and troughs in the low end, that was a room that was partially treated (gay Auralex shit).

 

Moved to a new room, spent time treating it with large amounts of RW3 rockwool and now I'm hearing much better with a cheaper, small pair of Genelec's (1029a).

 

The spec's on those M-Audio's say they go down to 56Hz, although they don't provide any additional information. The KRK's will go down to about 48Hz, roughly about 3 semitones on a keyboard so not a huge amount of difference.

 

 

I would suggest, before you buy new shit, run some tests, even just a sine wave ascending/descending with give you some indication as to how the room is responding. If you want to go deeper there an app called Room EQ Wizard that you can download for free and that will plot a frequency response graph.

 

 

I mixed on some shitty Behringer's the other day, I actually quite enjoyed it.

 

 

The room is the biggest obstacle in any listening environment. No doubt some people will disagree but I can only tell you what I know based on experience.

[sqratchsac]

Mat knows his shit , trust

[supacuts]

I've got Mackie HR624s (1st gen) and my producer has 824's - they're very good but very loud. For accuracy and normal volume environments, the aforementioned entry-level Genelecs are the best money can buy. This is a very common opinion and one I have been hearing for years now.

 

The only reason to go for Mackies is if you plan to give up music and use them to start a phat home cinema system. It's worth noting that whilst they're THX-approved, which makes them able to be used for reference monitors, they were not built with producers in mind. They "can" help produce very bass-heavy mixes unless you get the settings on the back right - you'll know what I mean when you look at the back of one.

 

As assemblyworker touched on, get your favourite CD, where you know the tunes very well, then take it to go audition a few models. Basically, it's not like auditioning HiFi speakers - you don't want your monitors to sound good - you need them to point out any mistakes in the tunes.

 

Buying monitors is the most difficult part of kit acquisition and I wish you all the luck!

[ORATOR3]

Doesn't matter what monitors you have if the room has a load of untreated standing waves, flutter echo etc etc.

 

 

I was working in a room with some £2k Dynaudio's for the last few years, the low end was always guess work. Tests showed that at various frequencies there was as much as 20dB difference between peaks and troughs in the low end, that was a room that was partially treated (gay Auralex shit).

 

Moved to a new room, spent time treating it with large amounts of RW3 rockwool and now I'm hearing much better with a cheaper, small pair of Genelec's (1029a).

 

The spec's on those M-Audio's say they go down to 56Hz, although they don't provide any additional information. The KRK's will go down to about 48Hz, roughly about 3 semitones on a keyboard so not a huge amount of difference.

 

 

I would suggest, before you buy new shit, run some tests, even just a sine wave ascending/descending with give you some indication as to how the room is responding. If you want to go deeper there an app called Room EQ Wizard that you can download for free and that will plot a frequency response graph.

 

 

I mixed on some shitty Behringer's the other day, I actually quite enjoyed it.

 

 

The room is the biggest obstacle in any listening environment. No doubt some people will disagree but I can only tell you what I know based on experience.

Definitely some really sound advice. And I agree fully! Unfortunately I dont think there is much I can do with my room till I move. My mixing station has 4 windows 1 foot to the left. Still wanna make a monitor upgrade but if I snap some photos of my room maybe you can give me some advice on placement and budget minded dampening advice to improve my sound?

[ORATOR3]

As assemblyworker touched on, get your favourite CD, where you know the tunes very well, then take it to go audition a few models. Basically, it's not like auditioning HiFi speakers - you don't want your monitors to sound good - you need them to point out any mistakes in the tunes.

 

Buying monitors is the most difficult part of kit acquisition and I wish you all the luck

I will more than likely take this approach. Go to the store and test some out. It's a good idea. I really want assemblyworker to critique my room first so I can make some adjustments as and have something to go off of. Up until now I've been pretty much just "winging it" in terms of sound reinforcement. Looking to build my skills now.