Studio Monitors

dbrook2010

New member
How does the Adam A5x compare to the KRK Rokit 5 G3?

Are the Adam A7x too large for a smallish home studio room?

L x W x H
3m 70cm (370cm)
3m 45cm (345cm)
2m 30cm (230cm)

Would I not get enough bass ear information on the Adam A5x?

How do the Adam A5x compare to the Presonus Eris E5?

And how do these compare to the Eve Audios?

Any help appreciated.
 
Finding someone with enough experience with all those options to provide a quick answer is unlikely. Your best bet is to determine which fall in your budget then check out reviews, then once you have it narrowed down to maybe one or two models you'll be more likely to get a response. If you have a local music store that sells studio equipment then a visit there might be helpful.

I have no experience with the models listed.

As for monitor size, I don't see why your recording space needs to dictate the size of the monitor used. If you can physically fit the monitor then you're good. Smaller 5" monitors don't tend to produce enough bass for my (mostly) hard rock needs, and even with 8" monitors I've added a small sub to ensure I get those lowest frequencies. Depending on the type of music you're doing, you may need to consider doing the same. Even 7" might not be large enough.
 
Whenever someone asks about which monitors are best, there is a mass of answers saying either monitor and recommending every other brand on the planet, because it comes down to personal preference.

I have heard Adam monitors at trade shows and I was always impressed, however I have not tried them in my studio, or tried the KRK's so you need to go out there have a listen and see which one you like.

And yes, how well is the room treated>

Alan.
 
There IS some correlation between room size and monitor size, or more correctly, distance FROM monitor and its size. It is largely to do with stereo image.
The sound from a large monitor (intended for distant harkening) will not be "integrated" fully if listened to close up and thus the stereo image* will suffer. The closer you can get a speaker to behave like a point source at ALL frequencies, generally the better the imaging. Very small speakers can approach this ideal but wee speakers cannot output high SPLs so they have to be closer. (there are of course part solutions to this problem, Tiny satellites and subs but such a system demands very careful design and installation) .

Then, Room Treatment was mentioned (I think?) . In theory "near field" monitors get the sound to lugs before the room spoils it too much but in practice the theory breaks down for LF and you need at least bass trapping. Some treatment can also improve stereo imaging.

*Or, in these days of buds do peeps not bother about "proper" stereo so long as it Pings and Pongs?

Dave.
 
You can choose which aspects of monitoring you want - it's not a given that everyone wants dome tweeters for anything, for example. Bass distortion is very real in small drivers.

Midrange and imaging is at the top for me. Bass levels and distortion sleuthing is on headphones. So, I worked on the bass problem first and got some fones that are flat in the bass and mid bass and can double for pleasure listening. 5-inch 2-way, rear ported for imaging with some graphic EQ compensation. 8-inch 3-way in acoustic suspension for low distortion and non-pumpy bass. And I proof on 12-inch 3-way with the 5-inch mids slightly forward.
 
I've just picked up some M Audio AV42 monitors - £99 for the pair.

Best monitors I've had - saying that though, I've never had a set before so I have nothing to compare them to ;)

I wanted some KRK ones, as they're the ones that you always seem to see in pictures of home studios, but when teh shop chap told me that the price was for 'each' I ran away.

I'm not fussed though, it's not the be-all and end-all of home recording IMO - I've got more serious issues to address first such as playing the guitar and my vocals, also trying to get my head around Logic Pro X and master/mix with that will have more of a influence of my final recordings than what monitors I'm using.
 
I've just picked up some M Audio AV42 monitors - £99 for the pair.

Best monitors I've had - saying that though, I've never had a set before so I have nothing to compare them to ;)

I wanted some KRK ones, as they're the ones that you always seem to see in pictures of home studios, but when teh shop chap told me that the price was for 'each' I ran away.

I'm not fussed though, it's not the be-all and end-all of home recording IMO - I've got more serious issues to address first such as playing the guitar and my vocals, also trying to get my head around Logic Pro X and master/mix with that will have more of a influence of my final recordings than what monitors I'm using.


I think you have things in order. Good going
 
As was mentioned, everyone's ears are different. Everyone's style is different. Recommending a specific set of monitors is like recommending a specific car. Some (JBL LSR series, Adam, Yamaha) will fit a lot of the time, but nothing is set in stone.
So, I'll throw out my normal here. Go to the local music shop with a cd and an SPL meter. Put a 200 Hz, a 2k and a 10k test tone on the CD. Add to that a sweep from 200 down to 20 (the top end is usually not an issue). Compare multiple units. When you find the few that you think will work for you, run some reference tracks that you know REALLY well and maybe a mix or two that you have done...You should get something that fits what YOU are doing.
 
I've just picked up some M Audio AV42 monitors - £99 for the pair.

Best monitors I've had - saying that though, I've never had a set before so I have nothing to compare them to ;)

I wanted some KRK ones, as they're the ones that you always seem to see in pictures of home studios, but when teh shop chap told me that the price was for 'each' I ran away.

I'm not fussed though, it's not the be-all and end-all of home recording IMO - I've got more serious issues to address first such as playing the guitar and my vocals, also trying to get my head around Logic Pro X and master/mix with that will have more of a influence of my final recordings than what monitors I'm using.

They are a start! Don't know what kind of music you will be mixing, but note that the low end spec on those M AUdio speakers is 75Hz, so basically any tone lower than the low E on a guitar will not be reproduced correctly (instead, you will just hear the upper harmonics of it), so if you have bass guitar or kick drum in your mixes, you'll need to check your mixes on other speakers/systems/headphones.
 
Well, one doesn't have to hear it - suggesting the low, low bass can be in the ballpark. If it's a MIC in front of a good speaker, it's probably there. One can compare with a sample on the freq. analyzer, etc..

I would just caution to not put too much bass into them, as that distortion affects everything else on the cone driver. I've got three sets of Minimus 7 and that 4-inch woofer is a good introduction to bass distortion
 
The key with the monitors you bought, as with any monitors, is to learn them.

Yeah, maybe they're not capable of reproducing the bass below a certain freq, but so what.

You want a set of monitors that will reproduce ALL frequencies that the human ear can pick up? Be prepared to shell out big dollars.

There's a reason big league mastering guys have monitoring systems costing 10s of thousands of dollars. So they can hear it all.

That probably being unrealistic, one has to work with the tools at hand, and needs to learn how to use them to the fullest.

So back to learning your system. Listen to commercial music you like till you know your monitors like the back of your hand.

As to the bass? Well, if you can get the bass that you're mixing to sound like the bass in your favorite reference tune, you're probably ok.

It will, or at least should, translate well to a different, better system.

The point is, don't sweat the fact you don't have top notch gear, just learn how to use it.
:thumbs up:
 
There's a lot that happens below 75hz, so guessing IMO isn't a great strategy. Low end issues are one of the more common problems I've heard in the MP3 mixing clinic.

No matter what, a second reference system is needed which, to some degree, defeats the purpose of the monitors. Like others have said, expect to be playing the mix on other playback setups (something that can produce the lower frequencies). I did this for a while then caved and got better monitors and sub. It's okay for learning, but you'll mostly just learn that there's some things you can't easily substitute or work around in music production.
 
Guessing is what monitors do. One will supposedly get a better " is that your final answer" by spending more rubles . It is truly outstanding what one can get for a modest investment, but these boxes remain the weak link
 
True enough, and if this were a ProfessionalAudioTechnician forum, I'd agree with not wanting guess work...but we're home recordists. We WANT the best, but we do what we can with what we can afford. Agree that monitors are the weak link and if at all possible, you should stretch your budget as far as you can on them and seek as many avenues as possible. I overreached my budget by about 15% when I bought my M-Audio M3-8s, but I have absolutely no regrets. Head and shoulders above the Rokit 5's I was using....figuratively, sonicly, and literally.
 
By guessing I mean ... literally guessing. If you can't hear the frequencies you literally don't know what's going on in those ranges. I think it's a failing of the setup (for most people you need to hear those lower frequencies), not merely an inconvenience or learning opportunity. As I said, the only thing I learned from having 5" monitors is that they were grossly insufficient for my needs. I'd argue that there's very few people who produce music that doesn't have several instruments needing to be balanced in those lower frequencies.

Adding a sub (several relatively easy ways to do this) would at least mitigate the issue. Larger monitors and a sub for only the very lowest ( < 50hz) frequencies would be ideal.
 
Last edited:
Here's a old sweep on the Minimus 7. Nothing scientific on this one and a sweep is just one easy test. The bump is placement and Loudness Compensation at around 80 SPL. There is much more to fidelity than flat response, but levels are a prime thing in mixing. These are 4-inch woofer and 1-inch soft dome in acoustic suspension loading
 

Attachments

  • M81_graph.jpg
    M81_graph.jpg
    98.2 KB · Views: 2
At 120dB SPL, the human ear is still off 10dB at 50Hz compared to 1000Hz. Just what is it we think we are hearing at 80 and 90dB levels from our darling boxes : )

If you are mixing for me, who listens at +100dB SPL levels, I wouldn't want that bass hyped because of some laziness at the mixing console.
 
Back
Top