Powered monitors...upside down!?

[Kevin Kitchel]

I have some speaker stands that are just a little taller than I would like them to be. Accordingly:

Do I have to keep the tweeter at ear level? I have HR-824s, and the sweet spot is pretty big, should I turn them on end, or does that not matter. I actually kind of like the off axis sound, its not so bright. What technical implications are there for having these speakers on end? Will the amps overheat? Will there be some sort of anomaly that I can't forsee? All of my knowledge tells me that it might mess with the phase coherency, but not by much. What is wrong with me, and why am I not an ass engineer yet?

[@?,*???&?]

The Yamaha NS-10 when placed on their sides unearthed the anomaly of 'comb filtering' in front of a console as an engineer moved side to side in front of them. Depending on the room acoustics this was sometimes an annoyance to be dealt with in the mix position. What physically happens is that the overlapping signals from both tweeter and woofer create nodes or null points. The effect is that the volume of the speaker seems to fluctuate louded-quieter-louder-quieter-louder as you move through their field side to side. This is the reason nearly all monitors now have woofer on the bottom and tweeter on top. As for your speakers, you have nothing to worry about standing them up- they are designed to work most efficiently that way!

[Kevin Kitchel]

I mean like, the tweeter on the bottom, the woofer on the top.

[Kevin Kitchel]

Bump? Bump in the freqency response of my room?

[fear of texas]

i still cant figure out the deal with studio monitors. i just dont 'get it'. it sounds like shit. every time i've ever done a mix through fancy monitors, it sounds like dook. nothing is ever right in the real world. each mix we finish, we listen to in home stereos, car stereos, boom boxes, computer speakers, and my shitty bathroom radio/cd player. the only mixes that ever sound right are the ones we monitored through a $5 boom box at the stu dio we mixed at. after all, isnt the goal to make whatever comes out of the listeners speaker sound good? am i missing something? if you have to adapt to what you hear coming out of the fancy monitors, couldnt you just as easily adapt the way you mix through regular speakers on your home stereo system? not that i'll ever change my mind, but is anyone else out there like me on this one?

[wardshorsehead]

I think the ultimate goal of studio monitors and the process of acoustically treating the space you mix in is to essentially reduce the need to compensate for the flattering (or not so flattering) characteristics hi-fi systems introduce to the sound. Hi-Fi speakers are designed to provide a musically pleasing (enhanced) representation of audio. Monitors on the other hand strive to be flat, or close to flat, to hear what is really on tape/disc. Having said that, most of us mix in acoustically compromised spaces, and even the best reference monitors are not fully flat. They sound like "dook" because we are all used to the full, warm sounds of hi-fi systems. I think you can learn to mix on just about anything that provides a reasonably constant characteristic. I think that monitors that represent consistently, (even if that representation isn't fully accurate) with decent separation and minimal ear fatigue are more useful than ones that are super flat, but really forward and inconsistent. I get really tired, really fast on the cheaper end of the Genelec line, but can do pretty well on 20/20s (arguably much inferior) or Yamahas. You have to learn what means what on any monitoring source. Yamaha Ns-10s are notoriously unflat, yet virtually omnipresent in most studios as one monitor choice as many mix engineers know the quirks of them and have become accustomed to working with them...they were one of the first really affordable nearfields, and just about everyone has them, had them, or has had to mix on them before. I don't think it would be fair to dismiss the virtues of great monitors, but I'd rather have to mix on a pair of ok monitors that I know inside and out than a new pair of great monitors that I don't know jack about. I always test mixes on whatever I can, but I've gotten alot closer to the finish line faster with monitors I've had a for a bunch of years...not because they are great (they're quirky as hell) but I know the quirks and work with them all the time. If your boom box approach works for you, and you hear everyhting you need to hear, and get good mixes, who can argue?

[helstab]

I use a pair of JBL STUDIO? SERIES ? S38II speakers as monitors. I know your not supposed to use home speakers, but I had these before I started, and I don't have any money to buy a new set. Are these speakers really that bad? am I really hurting myself useing them?

You can check the specs here.

http://www.jbl.com/home/products/produc ... escription

thanks.