monitors

[vvv]

inspired by viewtopic.php?f=14&t=44605&start=5265

what monitors are all y'all usin'?

not possessin', usin'

[winky dinglehoffer]

Fluid Audio FX80. I bought them after reading Mike Kosacek's review in the mag, and because I really wanted coaxial monitors. (stimulus money undoubtedly influenced my decision as well.) They work well for me--they've got a little bit of the low level hiss that is apparently common with Class D amps, but that's my only complaint.

[trodden]

I'm still on the classic KRK 7000's from the 90's. I've been using these since 2001. I replaced the main drivers back in 2005 when you could still get the original Focal made drivers. Paired up with a Yamaha sub that was made to go with NS-10's. Those and a old boombox that has a line input. Then I take mixes to the station and listen on Neumann KH-310's and a pair of ATC's.

I've been interested in a pair of Kali Audio IN or LP series. They're affordable. I'll keep daydreaming about a pair of Barefoot Sounds.
Also intrigued by the CLA's mentioned in the other thread.

[vvv]

I should say my main mixes are done on Tannoy PBM 6.5 II and some old Auralex I bought used. I guess the Tannoys are old, also - I got 'em new around '89, I think.

I record overdubs loud and sometimes also mix thru some crossoverless Monoprice 5" two ways that I put better woofers into.

I also check mixes on some Edifier powered 3" two ways in my office, and on my living room Klipsch Synergies with a pair of Yamaha subwoofers

[digitaldrummer]

I start with my pair of Dynaudio BM6a mkii's that I got 10+ years ago. Then second opinion is the Fluid FX80's. They give me a little bit more extension on the low end. I'm not hearing any hiss out of my pair (but occasionally one of the LEDs doesn't come on). Maybe I'm not cranking them up loud enough, or maybe I did that too much and I've just lost that frequency... Then if I'm doing mixing and mastering, I will use the Steven Slate VSX headphone system too. I've found even more low and sub-low frequencies that were causing problems in the mix that were not always apparent with the monitors. So I use those for some clean up and then usually the monitor mixes sound better and translate a little bit better too.

[drumsound]

There's a professor here in town who makes speakers as a hobby. 2 years ago I asked him about making smaller 3-way near fields. The result was a design with a sealed woofer and dipole ribbon mid-range and tweeter. A Dayton Audio DSP/crossover feeds the tri-amped system,

The drivers were chosen specifically. The 8" woofer plays fairly high and the 8" ribbon mid-range plays fairly low, so the crossover point is near seamless.

On the initial install he brought a measurement mic and fine-tuned the DSP, though he had it pretty close just by playing music. We did a couple of tweaks to the DSP after about a week of having them. There's a little hiss from the DSP box, so one of these days I might upgrade that.

They are pretty incredible.

[MoreSpaceEcho]

Same B+W 805s I've had since 2006. They're like members of the family now. Pair of HSU subs and Hypex amps.

I saw a 'review' of the 805s on some site where they're all about the test results and measurements, and the people were HORRIFIED that the 805s don't measure perfectly flat. The best comment was "making mixing or mastering decisions on those would be fatal."

How many decisions you think I've made on the 805s in the last 18 years? It's probably in the millions.

[T-rex]

I saw a 'review' of the 805s on some site where they're all about the test results and measurements, and the people were HORRIFIED that the 805s don't measure perfectly flat. The best comment was "making mixing or mastering decisions on those would be fatal.

Dude, if you want to be horrified / amused the reviews in that one forum, ARS or something? As far as I can tell, it Is nothing but that. Just eviscerating all kinds of speakers and gear based solely on measuring it. I didn’t even see where they actually listen to some of the items. Hilarious.

[T-rex]

So, this thread is awesome cause I have literally changed my entire monitoring chain in the last two years and couldn’t be happier. Sorry for the long post:

For the last 10 or so years I used the original Adam A7s along with a sub from time to time and a pair of little Sony computer speakers. I was never happy with the low end. I felt I was guessing and I could never get a sub to crossover where it was seamless regardless of room treatment or placement. So last year I went on the search for some full range speakers that I could afford and found Tekton. Small company in Utah that make speakers really outside the box. The owner is a drummer and speaker designer and was unsatisfied with the impact and transient response he was hearing. Long story short he uses eminence bass drivers for low end due to how fast they are and one soft done tweeter for highs. But for the midrange he uses six soft dome tweeters in an array working together down to like 250 hz or something? It sounds insane on paper but it works. They have crazy fast transient response and work even at low volumes. They are not harsh at all. The Pendragons I bought have the full array and go from 20k to being down only 3dbs at 20hz. So I use these to check and dial in my low end get the mix started. They are hifi, not studio monitors per se, but they sound really natural and not hyped at all.
https://tektondesign.com/

Over the last year the difference between the Pendragons and the Adam’s was vast, so I began looking around for some different near fields when I came across a good deal on some Amphion One15s. I had been intrigued since the Tape Op review but hadn’t really researched them. So between tape op and reading through some of the ridiculous thread at gear space I just took a chance. Man, they are amazing. I don’t even know how to explain it, when I first hooked them up I compared them to the Adam’s and it was night and day. The Amphions have a really natural unhyped high end and loads of low end information. The Adam’s which I have used and loved forever sounded harsh and thin and scooped in the mids. The first mix I started in them I thought I was sucking at. Like they were really making me work hard to get good sounds and I thought it was because I’m new to the speakers. But when I got to a point to check the mix on a few different speakers (and the ultimate car test), it sounded amazing. And even though they are a bit brutal to get those sounds working at first, they are still pleasant to listen to. They aren’t harsh and I find I’m mixing at a way lower volume. Maybe after I’ve been on them a few months I won’t be such a fanboy but right now in the honeymoon phase I am loving them.

[Recycled_Brains]

HEDD Type 07 MK2

[cornsound]

For the last 5-6 years I've been using both Adam A7's (kevlar woofers) and Equator D5's / D8's. which really hit above their weight. Then the D8's started getting noisy for some reason, it wasn't a power/RF thing and instead of cracking them open I got rid of them. Because I'm lazy I guess. I was feeling underwhelmed by them by that point anyway. I still use the Adam A7's in a 5.1 array for those kind of duties. When replacing the Equators, I looked at EVERYTHING in a similar budget/price/performance range and it was all just different flavors of the same thing. My career kind of started in the mid-90's so I've used/heard pretty much anything commonplace or widely used for the last few decades.

For some reason I decided to quit fucking around with lower end monitors that I'd always been using (for eons), and laid down legit cash on some PSI Audio A17's. I was about to get some Barefoots, but they were physically too big for my purposes. The PSI's are boring looking but insanely fucking good sounding nearfields. I know when people post this kind of shit it's really all subjective horseshit until a person sits in front of a pair, but these seriously made me tilt my head like my dog and say 'how did these people manage to make this monitor sound that good." Even though they're small and unassuming, the low freq. response is impressive, dare say better than the D8's or for that matter any nearfield with a 5-8" woofer. They were revealing way more subtleties and details in mixes that I never really perceived or heard before. I know I sound like a fucking commercial but these literally blew my mind.

[MoreSpaceEcho]

that one forum, ARS or something? As far as I can tell, it Is nothing but that

Yeah, I think it's Audio Science Review. The comments in the thread were all so smug and arrogant I was tempted to sign up just to go off on them like I used to with Jeff "$35" Robinson here way back in the day. Fortunately I'm a little wiser than I used to be.

crazy fast transient response

The Hypex amps do this too. I noticed it right away. They replaced a Rotel RB1080 and that thing was no slouch, I had no complaints. But the Hypex are something else, they are just blindingly fast and accurate.

[trodden]

So, this thread is awesome cause I have literally changed my entire monitoring chain in the last two years and couldn’t be happier. Sorry for the long post:

For the last 10 or so years I used the original Adam A7s along with a sub from time to time and a pair of little Sony computer speakers. I was never happy with the low end. I felt I was guessing and I could never get a sub to crossover where it was seamless regardless of room treatment or placement. So last year I went on the search for some full range speakers that I could afford and found Tekton. Small company in Utah that make speakers really outside the box. The owner is a drummer and speaker designer and was unsatisfied with the impact and transient response he was hearing. Long story short he uses eminence bass drivers for low end due to how fast they are and one soft done tweeter for highs. But for the midrange he uses six soft dome tweeters in an array working together down to like 250 hz or something? It sounds insane on paper but it works. They have crazy fast transient response and work even at low volumes. They are not harsh at all. The Pendragons I bought have the full array and go from 20k to being down only 3dbs at 20hz. So I use these to check and dial in my low end get the mix started. They are hifi, not studio monitors per se, but they sound really natural and not hyped at all.
https://tektondesign.com/

Holy Fuck, those are cool looking!! I have to ask, what color did you go with? What amp are you using with them?

What amp are you using for the Amphions as well?

[Scodiddly]

Because I'm a cheapskate amateur in the recording field (my paychecks come from a live sound company), I have a pair of the JBL LSR-305 (first generation). They're really pretty good, measuring fairly flat and seeming pretty predictable. Before them I had a pair of Event thingies which are now down in the electronics / hobby room, and those had a bit of a scooped midrange.

Recently found a pair of original Auratone 5C in my Dad's house, and bought cheap little digital amp to run them. Not much besides midrange, but it's a really good midrange.

[T-rex]

Holy Fuck, those are cool looking!! I have to ask, what color did you go with? What amp are you using with them?

What amp are you using for the Amphions as well?

White suits my room and even though I thought about doing something really crazy, I like the white contrast with the black speakers.

So here is my current set up:


Both sets are running off Crown XLS 1002 amps. They are great class D amps, clean with a ton of headroom and even cranked I’ve never heard the fans kick on.

I have a Soundcraftsmen Pro Four amp that a friend gave me. It had been in storage for years and sounded amazing for about five minutes till the filter caps failed. So I’m gonna rebuild that at some point in the next month or so and hopefully replace one of the crowns. It’s a nice old school Class A I think. I need to do some research, but it’s like 400 watts a channel and goes easily down to 2 ohms.