| Home recording and general music post from the archived Yabb Recording Website Message Board. Some of the info here may be outdated but many of the audio recording and home studio tips are still good. Note: The only tags I made and attempt to convert are italics, bold, center and underline. So if you see some gibberish surrounded by brackets, just ignore it.
Recording Website Archived Yabb board Post
Febuary 2001 Yabb Message Board Archive
Subject: Studio monitors+hifi amp?please help me,im lost...
by heatrof | 06/12/01 at 13:26:08
Hi
Im planning to buy a decent monitor system for my small home studio. I would like to be able to use the speaker system both for monitoring my own music production and listening to records. As you problably understand, i want a neutral and clear sound when monitoring, but i also want to be able to make the sound somewhat "fatter" (less reference monitor-sounding) when listening to records. Will a pair of passive neutral sounding monitors combined with a good, neutral sounding amplifier with few (one for treble and one for bass) high quality tone controls help me achieve this or am i totally wrong here?
I have roughly about 600 US$ (6000 Swedish crowns) to spend (im aware that i will not get any super gear for that kind of money). Any tips on suitable combinations of amps and passive monitors/speakers would be greatly appreciated. Are there any certain low quality brands and/or models that i should beware of? Do you recommed buying second hand speakers and amps?
thanks in advance
/heatrof
Subject: Re: Studio monitors+hifi amp?please help me,im los
by DanS | 06/12/01 at 18:35:19
I wouldn't worry about the differences between the 2 "monitoring" systems. I have an Alesis power amp, and a pair of Tannoy PBM6.5II's in my studio, and the whole rig sounds better than my stereo. If anything, you'll get a great idea of what the producer/mix engineer wanted you to hear on your studio monitoring system in the first place, encouraging you to develop a better ear for mixing on your studio monitors. As far as second hand gear, you'd really need to know what kind of environment the gear had been in before making your decision. ;)
Subject: Re: Studio monitors+hifi amp?please help me,im los
by Angus_Podgorny | 06/12/01 at 20:10:04
Look into Behringer B2031 Active Monitors. They've gotten great reviews, and go for about $600 US. Plus, they look really cool. And everyone likes to look at thier equipment and go "Hey, that's some good-looking equipment there!" At least... I Do.
Subject: Re: Studio monitors+hifi amp?please help me,im los
by Harry | 06/13/01 at 10:21:28
Last year I was in a similar situation, I wanted to buy Studio Monitors to connect to my hifi amp to do a mixing job, but was reluctant to part with my Tannoy hifi speakers. I auditioned and bought a pair of Dynaudio BM5 passive studio monitors at £349. And I am very pleased to find that I much prefer them even for hifi when compared to my Tannoy speakers. "Neutral" may sound a rather negative description of speakers, even implying dull, but the Dynaudios sound fantastic.
The only shortcoming is on projection. Near-field there is no comparison, but if I turn the music loud and wander about the house, then the Dynaudios lose a lot more than the Tannoys did.
Another nice attribute of the Dynaudios is that they have magnetic shielding so are suited to computer-based studios.
Subject: Re: Studio monitors+hifi amp?please help me,im los
by Jose | 06/15/01 at 11:30:46
I've used the Alesis monitors and the highs and mids are pretty good, but the bass is big, but thats O.K with me because I'm a D.J, so I also use them when I do that type of mixing, but when I'm mixing my own tracks, the bass is hard hard to pinpoint. But thats why I have two pairs of Headphones, Sony's which is bass heavy but crisp for those mids you want to shine,and my faithful AKG 240m, perfect for bass, super flat. You could probably pick up the Alesis and AKG for about 500.
Subject: Re: Studio monitors+hifi amp?please help me,im los
by heatrof | 06/15/01 at 14:05:42
thanks for your replies! i'll do some more research. dont be surprised if i return with yet another message containing stupid questions ;-)
Subject: Re: Studio monitors+hifi amp?please help me,im los
by heatrof | 06/16/01 at 13:17:04
does anyone of you use the NAD C320 amplifier for monitoring purposes? i checked it out and it seems quite nice...