Has anyone heard the M-Audio BX8s?

[tempo]

Has anyone heard the BX8s or used them for Hip-Hop? How do they sound against the Mackie HR824s?

[bennychico11]

yes, they are good for home studio use....but it's not really fair to try and compare them to the Mackie's.
The Mackie's will run you $1260 while the M-Audios are $500

[studiomaster]

Originally Posted by bennychico11

yes, they are good for home studio use....but it's not really fair to try and compare them to the Mackie's.
The Mackie's will run you $1260 while the M-Audios are $500

Why so concerned about the price rather than their quality? Higher price does not necessarily mean higher quality. I say go for the M-audio's.

[Massive Master]

I much preferred the BX8's to the Mackies myself...

[TheDewd]

The Mackies are undoubtely much flatter...look at the specs, very impressive in the case of the Mackies.

And the Mackies were made in the USA last time I checked...BX8s were made overseas at some chineese sweat shop labour.

[TheDewd]

Originally Posted by studiomaster

Why so concerned about the price rather than their quality? Higher price does not necessarily mean higher quality. I say go for the M-audio's.

More often than not, you get what you pay for.
We are not in a society where everything is equal yet.

[lpdeluxe]

I have a pair of BX8s and they work fine. Someday I'll upgrade, but until I do, they do the job.

[sixways]

I've got a pair of the BX8's and I really like them. I've never tried the Mackies, but I have really enjoyed the Bx8's. They are loud and clear and are tunable to your room somewhat if you know what you are doing.

I also got my on clearance right after they were discontinued for $299.

6

[bennychico11]

Originally Posted by studiomaster

Why so concerned about the price rather than their quality? Higher price does not necessarily mean higher quality. I say go for the M-audio's.

I was just mentioning the price, because usually it will come down to that.
But yes, i also agree with the Dewd that a lot of times the more expensive the thing is the better quality it is.
I use the M-Audios, but also like the Mackies a lot....but can't afford them right now.

[Reggie]

I used BX8's for a while, I have used the 6" mackies a little, and I currently use Dynaudio BM6A's. The BX8's were quite workable. Sounded nice and big (almost too big for my little space at the time). They have a little bit of hype going on in the upper mids or something. I tried using the HF rolloff and stuff, but it didn't really help the hype. They did get a little fatiguing after a while compared to BM6A's, but once you get used to using them, there is no reason you can't do decent recordings with them.

[Zed10R]

Originally Posted by TheDewd

More often than not, you get what you pay for.
We are not in a society where everything is equal yet.

So if MAudio doubled the price of their BX8's, you like them? If Gibson made a $2000 balsa wood guitar would you like it? That's flawed logic at best. Use your ears to determins what is good. Pricetags don't indicate anything of consequence....except who is a sucker for paying more $$ just for a brand name.

[TheDewd]

Originally Posted by Zed10R

So if MAudio doubled the price of their BX8's, you like them? If Gibson made a $2000 balsa wood guitar would you like it? That's flawed logic at best. Use your ears to determins what is good. Pricetags don't indicate anything of consequence....except who is a sucker for paying more $$ just for a brand name.

In fact, my primary tool for deciding if an audio product is good, is reading the specs. Then checking schematics and assessing the quality of the engineering that took part. Then inspect the parts used.

Then I finally give it a go to hear how it sounds, but ears are about the worst intruments for determining if something is flat and accurate. Don't even get me started on that..I'm boiling!

So NO, I wouldn't buy M-AUDIO at twice the price because it IS crappy, beginner's gear made in CHINA. I'm a gear snob and I admit it, but poor engineering, cutting corners and asian made products drive me CRAZY, as I STRIVE for quality in my everyday life.

[COOLCAT]

Specs are a good start. They usually come from an anechoic chamber with a RTA hooked up.

Companys with some integrity, imo, print real specs. JBL comes to mind as they have graphs that aren't all that pretty, but allows someone who actually looks at the stuff to make a more educated decision.

But then you get the speakers home...and your not in the anechoic chamber.

So then I was left with, finding something I liked to hear and checking mixes on other systems.
Then some minor room acoustics work. Some handheld DB meters and manually plotting started showing some data.

Still second guessing my ears? and threads from people using THEIR ears in THEIR rooms and posting whats FLAT or Non-Flat...

MShilarious luckily turned me onto some basic RTA, real time analyzer, stuff.
It was cheap, but imo, better than the handheld DB meters.

There I saw my monitors, in my room, basicaly making and printing my own spec sheets... and it's a fun thing to do if you like that stuff.

I called it fine-tweaking, adjusting things around.

and someone said I needed high-end RTA stuff to be real...but DEWD if you like specs, I highly recommend you do a RTA...you'll probably love it!

and it will be your spec sheet in your room on your monitors!

and then when you burn your CD mix...and pop it in the cardeck..its back to your ears...had to throw that in there somewhere.

think I'll go play with my subwoofer....peace

[TheDewd]

Originally Posted by COOLCAT

Specs are a good start. They usually come from an anechoic chamber with a RTA hooked up.

Companys with some integrity, imo, print real specs. JBL comes to mind as they have graphs that aren't all that pretty, but allows someone who actually looks at the stuff to make a more educated decision.

But then you get the speakers home...and your not in the anechoic chamber.

So then I was left with, finding something I liked to hear and checking mixes on other systems.
Then some minor room acoustics work. Some handheld DB meters and manually plotting started showing some data.

Still second guessing my ears? and threads from people using THEIR ears in THEIR rooms and posting whats FLAT or Non-Flat...

MShilarious luckily turned me onto some basic RTA, real time analyzer, stuff.
It was cheap, but imo, better than the handheld DB meters.

There I saw my monitors, in my room, basicaly making and printing my own spec sheets... and it's a fun thing to do if you like that stuff.

I called it fine-tweaking, adjusting things around.

and someone said I needed high-end RTA stuff to be real...but DEWD if you like specs, I highly recommend you do a RTA...you'll probably love it!

and it will be your spec sheet in your room on your monitors!

and then when you burn your CD mix...and pop it in the cardeck..its back to your ears...had to throw that in there somewhere.

think I'll go play with my subwoofer....peace

Well, this is one of the reasons I mix with high quality headphone systems. They take the room out of the equation and allow me to put my hard-earned money into something else than $100k room treatment.

Indeed, according to me, it serves no purpose to use monitors in an unperfect room, since the engineers designed those tools to be flat in ideal conditions as you said. Thus, you have to make your room as ideal as possible so you can enjoy the magics of USA made and born engineering.

I must add that the fact your are into room treatment honors you. People should definitely spend more time establishing a "as flat as possible" monitoring environment. Look, it's much better to use ASIAN monitors in a TREATED room than Mackies in an untreated room. In that sense, I full agree.

[Thunder33]

Originally Posted by TheDewd

Well, this is one of the reasons I mix with high quality headphone systems. They take the room out of the equation and allow me to put my hard-earned money into something else than $100k room treatment.

Indeed, according to me, it serves no purpose to use monitors in an unperfect room, since the engineers designed those tools to be flat in ideal conditions as you said. Thus, you have to make your room as ideal as possible so you can enjoy the magics of USA made and born engineering.

I must add that the fact your are into room treatment honors you. People should definitely spend more time establishing a "as flat as possible" monitoring environment. Look, it's much better to use ASIAN monitors in a TREATED room than Mackies in an untreated room. In that sense, I full agree.

I really wish you would post some headhone mixes.

[TheDewd]

Originally Posted by Thunder33

I really wish you would post some headhone mixes.

I'm a pro at creating a demand for a product

Seriously, I will post some tracks once I get time to properly compose/arrange/track some stuff, which will probably be next summer.
I won't post something I'm not at least 90% satisfied with.

All of the time, when I'm not satisfied the problem lies within the tracking phase as I happen to loose patience sometimes when tracking and throwing things around...really tracking is the key, I can't stress that enough. Whatever you mix on, if the tracking was perfect, the mix will come out right.

[Dogman]

Originally Posted by TheDewd

but ears are about the worst intruments for determining if something is flat and accurate. Don't even get me started on that..I'm boiling!

Hmmmm....and most people listen to music with their ears......go figure....

[TheDewd]

Originally Posted by Dogman

Hmmmm....and most people listen to music with their ears......go figure....

Listening to music as an enjoyment is different than listening to music for accuracy and flatness, something which the ear can't do well. When you buy monitors, you don't enjoy music, you want flatness and accuracy. And if you think flat monitors sound bad, you have to readjust your hearing to what IS in scientific proof, flat.

[Dogman]

Originally Posted by TheDewd

Listening to music as an enjoyment is different than listening to music for accuracy and flatness, something which the ear can't do well. When you buy monitors, you don't enjoy music, you want flatness and accuracy. And if you think flat monitors sound bad, you have to readjust your hearing to what IS in scientific proof, flat.

Ok, so what you are saying is, If I put my favorite cd on, and listen to my monitors, it should sound flat, and not as good as on my home stereo?

[TheDewd]

Originally Posted by Dogman

Ok, so what you are saying is, If I put my favorite cd on, and listen to my monitors, it should sound flat, and not as good as on my home stereo?

Yep! Assuming you have decent monitors and a decent room.
Low Grade Hi-Fi speakers are made to please.
Hi Grade Hi-Fi are even flatter than monitors.

Also, if someone is used to how "flat" sounds, he might actually like your studio monitors best.

[stevetat]

Originally Posted by TheDewd

Well, this is one of the reasons I mix with high quality headphone systems.....

People should definitely spend more time establishing a "as flat as possible" monitoring environment.

Just curious...in your quest for flatness, have you ever looked at the response curves of high quality headphones?

[TheDewd]

Originally Posted by stevetat

Just curious...in your quest for flatness, have you ever looked at the response curves of high quality headphones?

Yes, they are diffuse-field equalised to compensate for the proximity effect of the drivers to the ears. The result (when combined with the proximity effect) is a near perfect flat response.

[stevetat]

Originally Posted by TheDewd

Yes, they are diffuse-field equalised to compensate for the proximity effect of the drivers to the ears. The result (when combined with the proximity effect) is a near perfect flat response.

And you measure that how...?

[TheDewd]

Originally Posted by stevetat

And you measure that how...?

How do you measure ?
With instruments, artifical ears and test benches.
How do you think the engineers tweak the diffuse-field curve?
They test and try out what it takes so that the resulting measured curve from the artificial ear is as flat as possible.

[stevetat]

Originally Posted by TheDewd

How do you measure ?
With instruments, artifical ears and test benches.
How do you think the engineers decide the diffuse-field cirve?
They test and try out what it takes so that the resulting measured curve from the artificial ear is as flat as possible.

I know how I measure...I have a KEMAR head and SYSid acousitc analyzer.

The question was, how do YOU measure?