Using 'studio' monitor speakers

Jelvis Silver Member Username: James_the_god Doncaster, South Yorkshire England Post Number: 127 Registered: Jan-05	Posted on Sunday, May 29, 2005 - 21:00 GMT If speakers are studio quality then why aren't they the favoured speakers we all want? Looking at more 'professional' sites which sell m-audio studiophile etc for less than the cost of stereo speakers, the quality of them is bound to be better right? I've noticed the power output of the speakers is quite a bit lower, around 20watts, but if sound engineers use these type of speakers to produce the music we listen to, then why dont more people in these forums talk about them. I can see power as a main issue, but Im just baffled to why the supposedly 'perfect' studio quality sound doesn't appeal to more of us, especially when a lot of the speakers are the in the same price range as budget bookshelf speakers. Anyone have an insite on this, or ever thought the same?
Jan Vigne Gold Member Username: Jan_b_vigne Dallas, TX Post Number: 3850 Registered: May-04	Posted on Monday, May 30, 2005 - 05:03 GMT Not all monitor speakers are created equal. There are speakers that cross over into both the professional and consumer markets, but for the most part, the two worlds have very different ideas about what constitutes good sound and good equipment. First, realize most studio monitors are designed for near field listening. Typically the speaker will be placed on top of the mixing console and the listener is no more than 4-5' away. Many consumer speakers won't sound good at this distance since the X-over design needs a bit more room between the speaker and listener to meld the drivers together. Secondly, consider not all engineers are looking for a flat response speaker. (Not all consumers are either, but that's beside the point right now.) A very popular speaker for studio use over the last two decades has been the Yamaha NS-10M. This is a near field design with atrocious response. Yamaha did market this speaker commercially for quite a while. But the sound was not that good in a larger room and far field position. And the speaker was constantly being destroyed by those people who expected a studio monitor to take enormous amounts of abuse. Speakers such as Quad, KEF, B&W, JBL, Wilson and Theil are used quite frequently in studio monitor systems. Many of the high end speakers in the consumer market have drivers that are assembled by the same companies that manufacture the monitor drivers with alterations for the market. SEAS, Scanspeak, Dynaudio, Focal, Audax, etc. make essentially the same drivers for both markets. The consumer speakers are usually dresed up a bit in better looking cabinets than the studio units and the drivers and X-overs are deigned to work in certain applications. Of course the most famous of the dual market speakers are the BBC designs that are sold by companies such as Rogers, Spendor and Harbeth. The best known from this lot is the ubiquitous LS3/5a which existed in both markets for over 30 years. The 3/5a used off the shelf drivers from KEF though the matching from speaker to speaker was held at no more than 1dB side to side and across the frequency range. So there are quite a few speakers which cover both markets with, at least, similar models. Apparently you just haven't been looking in the right places. http://www.ls35a.com/
Jelvis Silver Member Username: James_the_god Doncaster, South Yorkshire England Post Number: 128 Registered: Jan-05	Posted on Monday, May 30, 2005 - 20:19 GMT Well I came across a site with studio monitors from looking at a suitable soundcard for my computer. The thing is, you said studio speakers are for use if you sit very close to them. I will be VERY close to my speakers most of the time, if sat at my computer. Unfortunately my bedroom is small and I've gone off the idea of bracketing a speaker to a hollow wall. Instead I will actually have a 'bookshelf' speaker on my bookshelf to the left of my desk (about 4-5ft away from me) and to my right the speaker will be just 2-3ft away). Obviously I wont be playing music too loud with them this close to me. If im relaxing at the other side of my room then obviously I can turn them up louder and not deaphen myself. I somehow think that consumer speakers will be better. Included is a VERY VERY CRUDE diagram of my room and where I am planning to place my speakers. Seeing Vigne as you know everything about speakers, I was wondering if you could advise me more on my speakers placement choice. You might notice that there isn't much choice to where I can place my speakers. Yes, you may remember me as the one obsessed with the diamond 9.1s, but that was a long time ago and nows the time to actually look into it more. Still havn't heard them, but I've heard people say they're good with detail, overall frequency response, especially the midrange. Diamonds, Nadc320bee and a soundcard because my system is computer based. Can you make any suggestions or give me any further help?
Jan Vigne Gold Member Username: Jan_b_vigne Dallas, TX Post Number: 3870 Registered: May-04	Posted on Tuesday, May 31, 2005 - 16:07 GMT There's not much I can really tell from the diagram. If you are as limited as you say to placement, there just doesn't seem to be any other possiblity than your proposed locations. If you are going to use the speakers only for listening to music and not for use with the computer I might suggest you consider placement on a wall. Using brackets to mount the speakers on the wall might allow more flexibility in placement. Depending on the height of the various pieces in the room, I would suggest placement on the wall above the bed and the open space to the side toward the door. Or above the bed and the desk. Or the desk and the bookshelf. Do any of those locations work for you?
Jelvis Silver Member Username: James_the_god Doncaster, South Yorkshire England Post Number: 131 Registered: Jan-05	Posted on Tuesday, May 31, 2005 - 20:43 GMT Not near my bed or the door, but yes above my desk and above my bookshelf would work. The space above my bookshelf would just about work with a bit of room to spair if I was to bracket that. I will be using my speakers mainly for music, although a couple of hours gaming here and there might come in. Music, likely 90% of the time. Again, wall mouting speakers to hollow walls is something Im not experienced with.
Jan Vigne Gold Member Username: Jan_b_vigne Dallas, TX Post Number: 3876 Registered: May-04	Posted on Wednesday, June 01, 2005 - 00:29 GMT Just go to the hardware store with the amount of weight you want to support available and the folks there will assist you.
Dale M. Wiley Silver Member Username: Dmwiley Post Number: 715 Registered: Feb-05	Posted on Thursday, June 02, 2005 - 17:32 GMT Jan, thank you very much for the detailed info. Now that's a good post.
joseph coulson Silver Member Username: Joe_c Oakwood, Ga Post Number: 343 Registered: Mar-05	Posted on Thursday, June 02, 2005 - 22:53 GMT amen

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