Mastering Speakers / Monitors

malcolm123

New member
Hello,
I need to know the names of some of the companys that design speakers which cater or are stricky for mastering not mixing. Im looking for possibly for some entry level speakers or maybe some that may not be strickly designed for mastering but will serve the purpose well enough in a good treated room.

any links or name drops are welcomed.

possibly some hi-fis that are pretty decent for this purpose?

budget around 1-3K


Thanks

Malcolm
 
Here is some text from a similar question a few weeks back.


Monitors typically found in Mastering rooms:

Dunlavy SC-VI ($24000) or SC IV/A ($8000)

Pro-Ac Response 2.5 ($4500)

Tannoy dual 15 Studio monitors ($8000)

B & W Nautilus 801 ($11,000) Brad Blackwoods

Dynaudio BM15A $2500 (nearfields)

Quested VH3208 $5000-$6000 newer models are more expensive.

PMC 1B-1 $5000-$6000

Focal/JMLabs $5000-$6000

Revel Speakers $1500 used and hard to find

Martin-Logan $5000-$6000

Alot of the ones your not used to seeing are audiophile speakers that are capable and often times share the same ideas and level of quality, but the price is still high.

Mackies are nearfields and probably are not going to give you what you truely desire. Its takes alot more learning and experiementing to mastering anything on nearfields, lots of
people do it, but its not ideal. If you plan on mastering in a control room, the Dynaudio and Mackie 824's are as cheap as it gets. A mastering specific monitor is usually 8 to 14 feet
away from your listening position in the newer designed rooms. I think the Blue Sky would be your best bet at the moment as an alternative to the Mackies.




Looks Like the Dynaudio's are under the $3000 mark :)
SoMm
 
Thanks SoMm

I did a search but couldnt find anything by topic that was specific enough. The prices are steep as I predicted. I already own a pair of Mackies, but as expected I didnt think they were suffice enough to master with. Although I know it's possible, I just didnt want nearfields for this project. Right now Im reading through some of the threads over in display design and looking at old Ethan threads as well as Brad B, Jay , Gold and those guys. My main concern right now is the room reconsruction, treatments, and speakers.

I will look up some of the names you posted.

Thanks

Malcolm
 
Ok

What about the 805, 803s, B&Ws?

Anyone ever used these or heard them for mastering?

the 802s and 801s are probably way out of budget.


Right now Im concentrating on the B&Ws line.

Whats a entry level B&W thats could serve this purpose with pretty decent results?

Thanks

Malcolm
 
B&W Nautilus 804 could be very workable.... if you can find an older pair of discontinued 804s - they run around 3K and sound quite good...
 
I think you would want the B&W 802's. I know Brad puts out some killer disks using the 802's. He is passionate about his craft and I personaly like his work. The 802's are what I am buying when I get my mastering suite.

Kirk
 
Blue Bear Sound said:
B&W Nautilus 804 could be very workable.... if you can find an older pair of discontinued 804s - they run around 3K and sound quite good...


Blue,
I saw in a older thread where you mentioned Barefoot.

I went to the site ,but not much there. They were cool loking speakers though.
 
Its very difficult to recommend anything - as you would really need to decide on mastering monitors with full consideration to the room. Its the combination of room and monitors that ensures a room works (or not).

If your room is a dedicated mastering room, with the monitors not hampered by the footprints of large consoles and screens, and well away from the sweetspot - then you'll need to start looking for specialist mastering / audiofpile speakers.
If, however, you use a dual purpose room for mixing and mastering, you would be better off with a combination of well calibrated main and midfield monitors, or even mid and nearfield monitors.
For a dual purpose room I would recommend you should stay with known accurate midfield monitors like Danaudio, Quested, and not to forget Westlake.
Personally I would not consider "old" speakers, even good ones you might be able to get cheap, as they inevitably need re-coning and all that crap.
 
Son of Mixerman said:
... Its takes alot more learning and experiementing to mastering anything on nearfields, lots of people do it, but its not ideal... A mastering specific monitor is usually 8 to 14 feet away from your listening position in the newer designed rooms.

Why is mastering done farther back?
Wayne
 
Sjoko,

I'm trying to arrange a booth at NAMM in January (Anaheim). Though, it's looking doubtful that I will be able to raise the $$$ in time. But this is one possibility for you to hear them.

After this I plan to hit the road in the summer and demo them to retailers here in the Bay area as well as in southern Cal. (if you have any suggestions my ears are open:)). After that, I'll definitely have a booth at AES next fall.

Thomas
 
Why don't you try and team up with someone else and share a booth? You could ask Fletcher for instance.

The only problem with the NAMM and the AES is that they are a great place to see things, and the worse place to hear anything.
 
mixsit said:
Why is mastering done farther back?
Wayne



I don't know all the exact reason but I suspect it has to do with optimization of the wave expression in a room. Manufacturers design speakers to perform under a set of parameters, Thomas Barefoot or Brad Blackwood could probably give better answers based upon physics and experience. I do know people are all different, and move things around until the speaker sound the best to them in a given environment. I for one would n't want to sit 5 feet away from a 8ft tall speaker :)

SoMm
 
Sjoko,

Yeah, I know those conventions aren't the best place to demo things, but they are sort of the established way... if you know what I mean?

Yeah, teaming up sounds like a good idea. In fact, calling Fletcher is on my list of things to do this week. If our conversation goes well, maybe I'll try to investigate that possibility too. However, it's not just a matter of all the costs associated with the show. I also need to get money together for the product itself. At this point I'm building everything on order. MiniMains are an excellent value for their performance level, but they aren't cheap...even for the designer.:)

SoM, mixsit,

All else being equal, a greater listening distance is preferable for two main reasons: 1. As the listening distance gets large compared to the space between the speaker drivers, the radiation pattern of the monitor gets smoother and has fewer spatial variations. 2. The "sweet spot" of most speakers lays within a solid angle (cone) centered on the forward axis. As you move farther away from the speaker that angle sweeps out a larger window perpendicular to the axis - i.e. the sweet spot gets bigger.

These advantages are true for any type of monitoring. Mastering suites tend to have less gear and, therefore, fewer restrictions on the listening position compared to control rooms.

Thomas

http://barefootsound.com
 
OK,

I had to bring this post back up mainly because I am back at this point where I need to get some monitors for strickly mastering. I never pursued this purchase before becuase I did not trust a room functioning as a mixing / mastering room. Mixing comes first and the things I have to put in place for mixing I felt would affect mastering too much. Now I have a new facility and I have a room I will dedicate for mastering. I have done a little treatment myself but mostly to tame the low end. I will have a professional do the rest although he will proabably kill what I have done already.

Anyways when I posted this it was a while ago and I am hoping that technology has kicked in and mastering monitors are a little more accessible without killing my pockets. Also note that my budget is not 1-3K anymore for I have put those funds into other areas of a new facility.

My Goal:

1. I am not calling myself a Professional Mastering Eng.
2. To tarket local music makers who are serious about their craft who require their tracks to be as close to professional as possible for public media,, without killing their pockets. I will not attempt to tackle commercial at this time. I will leave that to the pros for now.
3. To get the best fitted monitor for my room to be used strickly for mastering with a budget of < 1K. If possible

Right now I do some processing for local people but it is nothing close to what I would call professional. Professional meaning that I would not bring a client into my facility and call it a mastering house, for it is just not that. I get get decent results now , but mainly because I now know the room pretty good as well as the speaker I use in it.

I make up for what I lack in gear , acoustics , experience mostly because my ears work with what I have. I want to get closer to actually hearing what I need to hear instead of just know how to use workarounds. IE, I just know if I get a certain amount of low end at a certain Freq through my current setup hwtaI need to do. Guess work is what you can call it. I want to actually at least be closer to hearing it now.

So,, back to my original question posted 2 years ago,, whats out there now that can take me out of the audiophile stage? I am still looking at the B&Ws though.

Thanks
Malcolm
 
malcolm123 said:
Hello,
I need to know the names of some of the companys that design speakers which cater or are stricky for mastering not mixing. Im looking for possibly for some entry level speakers or maybe some that may not be strickly designed for mastering but will serve the purpose well enough in a good treated room.

any links or name drops are welcomed.

possibly some hi-fis that are pretty decent for this purpose?

budget around 1-3K Malcolm





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