Monitors . . . .

[Khatru2U]

I have a lovely Little Phatty, a stunning Voyager and some hyper-cool Foogers. My current active monitors are totally inadequate for these beauties but I just can't spend thousands on the best. Any recomendations from Moogland on what I should consider in terms of "bang for the buck." I've read a hundred reviews and am no closer to a descision.

[ricknboogie]

Have you considered one of Roland's KC series keyboard amps?

[Brian G]

What are you currently using ? Do you plan to use the monitors to also record and mix or are you just playing through them ?

If for playing, recording and mixing, monitor wise check out the new Event 20/20bas, a pair go for about $900. I have not tried them but many people like the KRK Rokit 8. For years I used the original 20/20bas which worked fine for all the above goals. I upgraded when the ASP 8 came out since at the time they did a better job than the original 20/20bas. The new ones while based on the original have better spec many of which are based on the Opals. From the start I have been a big fan of Event Monitors, when buying the first pair to my ears they Events stood out. When I decided to upgrade to the AP 8, they once again stood out.

If just for playing check out the Roland or other like keyboard amps. I think with something like the QSC K10 or K12 “PA Speaker” you will achieve results closer to studio monitors. The K10 is around $750 and the K12 around $850. You have limited inputs so a external mixer will be required. Mackie and JBL also have a few choices in powered PA speakers.

You can also go with separate, amp/mixer/speaker combinations


have fun and good luck

[unfiltered37]

Near field monitors are great for mixing, but for just playing, and to maximize the sound of your instruments, I'd go for a good bass amp especially if you are playing out. For modern synths, I'd go the vintage tube route. The problem with monitors is that if they are too good, you won't get a realistically good mix that will translate well to regular speakers like in your car or stereo. Lots of engineers swear by yamaha ns10's for that reason, which aren't the best sounding but are accurate.

Monitors are great though for recording since you are hearing what the instruments sound like through the speakers you are using to mix. But the bass response isn't nearly as good as a bass amp, unless you get a woofer, which will screw up your mixes bass balance if your room is not treated acoustically. So ideally, decent monitors like Adam a7x's, and a good bass amp, like an old tube ampeg. One or the other, monitors are all purpose.

[thealien666]

If it's for the purpose of monitoring recorded material using those instruments, three words: quality headphones first.

Unless your recording room is fully soundproof, without any reverberations, and your monitor speakers have a perfectly flat response, you'll always get sound coloration and phasing artifacts. A good pair of flat response headphones will always show you what is exactly recorded. Then, you can always use less-than-ideal speakers to test how it will sound on average playback equipment used by most people in their living room or car.

My two cents on it. TIFWIW

[c7sus]

Scour Craigslist for old Carver amps and Klipsch speakers. My main setup is a pair of mid-90's KG 2.2's through a Carver 60w/side amp. For the sub I bought a KRK S10 on sale at BanjoMart for $300. The sub turned up to 9 o'clock rattles everything in the house!

Not really a monitor but I think for a nice amp a Hammond PR-40 tone cabinet would deliver the goods, but it will need mods to accept line signals not from a Hammond organ. 50watts glass bi-amped and some have a very cool necklace reverb unit too. Couple hundred bucks on Craigslist.

[Brian G]

Everyone is going to have their favorite choice for monitors and amps.
For me for a performance amp I would not use a bass amp. IMO I do not think you will have as good as a high end. If all you are doing is bass sounds, by all means go for it.

You do not want your studio too dead, but you do need proper treatment. The idea of the higher end monitors is that you can hear the detail across all freq. to help make the best mix faster. Yes, you should check the mix on other systems to see how it sound, many will have other “cheap” monitors in the studio to listen on. But northing beats going to try it on systems outside the studio,. Your ears will learn how your monitors sound and you’ll know how much to add or cut.
Even in a treated room if the sub’s level is too high you will not have an accurate idea of what is in the mix. Many of the higher end near fields go down to at least 35hz. Are they going to move the walls, no not really but with many you can clearly hear what is going on in those frequencies.

The NS10 are not the best sounding true, but they are also not accurate . There are many that love them and love to mix on them, which is fine everyone has what works best for them.
.

[Khatru2U]

Thank you for the feedback and I apologize for my somewhat vague request for info. I do have a Roland KC-150 (I like it for the room that it occupies) and Project Studio 5 powered monitors. . . (not the best) I am looking for monitors that I can use for creating mixes.

[unfiltered37]

Bass amps in general do not have limited high end unless they are crappy. And when using synths, high end is never a problem, I usually roll off the high end on my bass amp. The problem is almost always with the lows and low mids, which a bass amp does better. I have yet to hear a guitar amp that sounds better than a bass amp for synths, unless you are going for a distorted lead.

[Mudfuzz]

Bass amps in general do not have limited high end unless they are crappy. And when using synths, high end is never a problem, I usually roll off the high end on my bass amp. The problem is almost always with the lows and low mids, which a bass amp does better. I have yet to hear a guitar amp that sounds better than a bass amp for synths, unless you are going for a distorted lead.

I agree!

[Brian G]

Khatru2u, You’re welcome, don’t worry about it.


If you have a store near you go listen to different monitors. They are not going to sound the same as they will in your studio, but you can get an idea of how they perform overall. Take several tracks you’re familiar with., What price range do you want to stay in ? Try the Event 20/20bas, the KRK’s, and others. The 20/20bas have plenty of power and are rated down to 35hz. As I said , I have owned Event Monitors since the mid 90’s and have always been pleased with them.

I’ve always used keyboard amps for my synths in performance or run through a PA system and have been happy. A bass amp that has enough high end sounds like a good alternative. I have never run through a guitar amp, or even thought of it  . There could be times when there is a desired result that the guitar amp would provide,. Cook thing is there are many ways and many choices for everyone out there.,

[sunny pedaal]

i bought a secondhand pair of dynaudio bm15p ( about 700/pair )+ a samson amp , and also use some peavy eurosys 12' speakers with tweaters and an old separate povweramp ( whatever, i found a lem type) for the dirty work . ( about 500-600 on the most for the stereo set , when the resonance blows out my tweaters, with the peavy it'll cost me about 30 , with the dynaudio the price is much higher, but they are far superior for recording purposes )

[Alien8]

The most important thing about monitors is to know them inside and out. Know that when your bass is forward in the mix, it will translate into a boomy HiFi sound. Know that if you can't hear the mids well on your monitors, you won't hear them on the HiFi. If you can train your ear (we all can) to hear how the music translates, then the only thing left for choosing monitors is buying something flat accross the EQ spectrum that you enjoy using. I use Yamaha HS50's and they work great! My friend who is a sound engineer has a collection of phenomenal monitors that are worth tons of cash, that sound awesome, and my mixes translate beautifully to his. I'm not an engineer nor am I saying I'm anything more than a hobbyist, but what I hear at home I hear there too. It made sense for me to spend $400 on monitors, but they are worth nothing without my ears. A bad mix on $400 is a bad mix on $5000 ( maybe really bad, but this is where one balances cost with practicality).

Yes a well treated room really helps too!

[Brian G]

It takes time to learn what your monitors do to mix, some you have to "adjust for" than others. In time though you will know them inside out. Can you get great mixes on "lower cost" monitors ?, sure. Can you make crummy mixes on higher priced monitors, yup . As Alien 8 said, you need to train your ears.

Listen, read, ask questions of owners of different monitors in or just out of your price range. As with anything on the net you'll get a wide range of opinions on each monitor. Don't settle for something just because it is the price you want to pay, it could be they are the ones for youm but it could also be worth the wait to save a little more and go a little higher in the monitor chain. When you first get them regardless of the brand they may need to break in a bit. If you don't know look into proper placement of the monitors and your listening distance. As many of us have said look into the treatment of your room. There is a series of videos on YouTube that maybe helpful called "Studio Rescue", not the be all end all a studio set up videos but there could be some useful information in there for you if you have not set anything up yet or maybe need to tweak some things.

[grapeflavor]

I use Yamaha HS50's and they work great!

+1 for the HS50M's. They work great for me. Between them and my Sennheiser headphones, my mixes translate very well to other systems.

I chose monitors over an amp because I needed to be able to mix songs and also hear my other instruments when I'm writing. I may be in the minority here; but whenever I am playing live, I run my LP through a DI box and let the PA system do the heavy lifting .