updating monitors

[Nick The Man]

ive been using some wharfedale 8.2a's for about a ear in a half or so. and i think its time to upgrade.. theyre OK but i think i could get something with some more bass and loudness. Ive been looking at the EVENT TR8's what do you guys think about the events?

heads up for a sale on the wharfedales

[gbondo9]

I got the 20/20's. I like em!!

[Nick The Man]

did you get the passive ones? if yes what amp do you use?

[gbondo9]

Originally Posted by Nick The Man

did you get the passive ones? if yes what amp do you use?

Yeah - I got a Yamaha 2075 off ebay for about $100 (75watts per channel).

Works real nice - more than enough power for those puppies.

I've only had em a short while now and I think they're still settling in. I'll probably write a more prosaic piece on my impression a month from now.

[Nick The Man]

cool cool

anyone else have some comments on events? or any other monitors that would be a good choice?

[rgraves]

Originally Posted by Nick The Man

cool cool

anyone else have some comments on events? or any other monitors that would be a good choice?

Well, I probably shouldn't comment since I haven't used the TR8s, but I used to have TR5s and recently upgraded to ASP8s. I never liked the TR5s, I felt they were quite unaccurate, and really didn't know how things would translate using them, and that's after having them for like 5 years. I would A/B them with some klipsch speakers, and then burn mixes to the car, to the home stereo, to the ipod...and then go back make changes and repeat about 10 times.

Even though I became somewhat accustomed to them, when I upgraded to the ASP8s it was a world of difference. Now I can hear what's going on.

Now, the only reason I bring this up, is because I don't think that the fact they were only 5 inch drivers on the TR5s was the only problem. It was just difficult to get things figured out in the midrange, high range and low range. And it was hard to hear the details of minor changes, like doing EQ changes, or balancing bass and guitar JUST right.

Now, my room does definitely SUCK, so that certainly comes into play, but overall the ASP8s are just much more detailed, and making those more precise changes really comes through on them, were as they didnt on the TR series.

But, if that is your price range, I don't have a recommendation for what is better within that price point. What I would advise you is to try to get a much better monitor and bargain the price down. A lot.

That's what I did...

[Nick The Man]

oh yeah man ive been looking at those studio preciscions for a while now. they look so nice. ive seen them at guitar center too. how much did you end up getting them for ..and what vendor?

[zed32]

the ASP8s are beastly! i cranked those up at GC a few times, they will push you across the room haha. how much money do you have Nick? if i were you, wait til you have at least $1000 to spend so you can get a serious upgrade and not have to buy another set of monitors for life.

[mrface2112]

nick, i'm in the same camp as zed and rgraves. save up til you've got the cash for a GOOD set of monitors. i too run the ASP8's and IMO they smoke anything in the $200, $500 and $800 ranges.

monitors are a lot like preamps in that there's some good bang for the newbie buck in the $300 price range (the wharfs, the yam hs5's, etc). but the stuff in the $500-700 range isn't a whole lot better than the $300 range, and it's that way until you hit that $1000 plateau.

i would say that upgrading to TR8's at this time would be a minor improvement at best--considering the time you'll have to put in learning how they translate, and that's assuming the TR8's even work for you--you might hate mixing on em. and that's why monitors are such a personal decision. they have to work with the way you work.

i'm not one for making minor, incremental improvements--especially where $600 is concerned. like zed said, i'd rather save my pennies for a few extra months and get something i'm not going to "out grow" in another year and a half, which may very well be the case with the TR8's.

what's that saying? buy good, buy once...........buy cheap, buy twice. something like that.


cheers,
wade

[mrface2112]

Originally Posted by zed32

the ASP8s are beastly!

they are NOT small. i still sometimes feel dwarfed by them.

Originally Posted by zed32

i cranked those up at GC a few times, they will push you across the room haha.

they absolutely will. it took about a week before i got my gain staging completely sorted out and even still they're almost too much power for me. but i love the way they sound and my mixes actually translate with minimal effort now.

they're really mid-field monitors more so than near-field. they've got a HUGE sweet spot, which is really nice--i can have a couple folks in the room with me while i'm mixing and they hear things more or less as i do. not to mention, when i lean over to adjust something at the rack, i can adjust and not worry about getting a bad read on what my adjustments are sounding like b/c i'm still in the sweetspot.

anyway, love em.


cheers,
wade

[Nick The Man]

shit i wonder if there is any way i can get guitar center or some where or someone to go down less than a grand. im a 17 poor bastard. working at wegmans ill have to hold on to a couple of checks. car insurance and gas are really really gay

[rgraves]

Originally Posted by Nick The Man

shit i wonder if there is any way i can get guitar center or some where or someone to go down less than a grand. im a 17 poor bastard. working at wegmans ill have to hold on to a couple of checks. car insurance and gas are really really gay

You can absolutely get them for less than a grand. I won't tell you how, you need to use your imagination a little bit, but keep in mind everything you see in GC is priced about 2 to 2.5 times their cost. There's tons of room to bargain if you know how to do it.

And what previous people were saying was absolutely correct...don't go with like a $600 (price tag) pair of monitors, because the gain is very minimal. I'd rather get the TR8s for a couple hundred bucks than to spend $700 for some slight upgrade.

You could also check craigslist and such, sometimes people are trying to get rid of their Event monitors, and if they are close by you could go try before you buy and get a good deal that way too.

[timboZ]

Originally Posted by Nick The Man

using some wharfedale 8.2a's for about a ear in a half or so.

Use 2 ears and they might sound better...

[Nick The Man]

Originally Posted by rgraves

You can absolutely get them for less than a grand. I won't tell you how, you need to use your imagination a little bit, but keep in mind everything you see in GC is priced about 2 to 2.5 times their cost. There's tons of room to bargain if you know how to do it.

And what previous people were saying was absolutely correct...don't go with like a $600 (price tag) pair of monitors, because the gain is very minimal. I'd rather get the TR8s for a couple hundred bucks than to spend $700 for some slight upgrade.

You could also check craigslist and such, sometimes people are trying to get rid of their Event monitors, and if they are close by you could go try before you buy and get a good deal that way too.

wait a minute.. what did you do to get them for less than a grand??? huh? huh?

seriously though howd you get them for less than a grand and by less than a grand what does that mean? i was thinking of walking into GC and just say "listen lets skip all of the bargaining and lets just say i have $800 in my pocket and i want these monitors"

maybe i need to buy bargaining for dummies?

but ethier way maybe you could give me a crash course on bargaining. First lesson would be to learn how to spell "bargaining" because thats obviously not right.

[zed32]

Originally Posted by Nick The Man

wait a minute.. what did you do to get them for less than a grand??? huh? huh?

seriously though howd you get them for less than a grand and by less than a grand what does that mean? i was thinking of walking into GC and just say "listen lets skip all of the bargaining and lets just say i have $800 in my pocket and i want these monitors"

maybe i need to buy bargaining for dummies?

but ethier way maybe you could give me a crash course on bargaining. First lesson would be to learn how to spell "bargaining" because thats obviously not right.

however you do it, it will be worth it to make the big leap. those Wharfedale's are not bad monitors, and if you are getting them to translate fairly well, then you can manage to stick with em while you save up. if you go from budget to mid-level monitors, you're just gonna end up having to upgrade once again in the future. you gotta make the big jump and get some good monitors!

[Nick The Man]

amen i was at guitar center today and the whole time i just sat there and listened to the ASP8

i compared them with the mackie H824's and the KRK8 and i liked the events the most by far just more definiton in all aspects. the mackies i liked 2nd best and then the KRKs

they were real busy and i never talked to them about lowering the price but i dont have the cash yet anyways. i wonder if they will go for the 800.

how much do you think i could sell the wharfedales to them for?

[HangDawg]

Originally Posted by Nick The Man

amen i was at guitar center today and the whole time i just sat there and listened to the ASP8

i compared them with the mackie H824's and the KRK8 and i liked the events the most by far just more definiton in all aspects. the mackies i liked 2nd best and then the KRKs

they were real busy and i never talked to them about lowering the price but i dont have the cash yet anyways. i wonder if they will go for the 800.

how much do you think i could sell the wharfedales to them for?

If you want a more real world listen to them, you are welcome to come by my place. I'm in Williamsport PA. Just thought I'd offer. I will give a big 2 thumbs up to the ASP8's. They are great when doing shit like tracking heavy guitar in the control room. They really pound.

[Nick The Man]

Originally Posted by HangDawg

If you want a more real world listen to them, you are welcome to come by my place. I'm in Williamsport PA. Just thought I'd offer. I will give a big 2 thumbs up to the ASP8's. They are great when doing shit like tracking heavy guitar in the control room. They really pound.

hey man thanks for the offer but its a little too far for me... now if you were selling them for $500 it wouldnt be too far butttttt.. but yeah i really like what ive heard about them and from them so far.

Before i commit to buying these is there any other monitors i should keep in mind that are in a similar price range??

[COOLCAT]

Yea! not had 'em home but the ASP8's have a pleasing clarity to my ears too. They are Big Ol' Boys, which is something to consider.

Nick, jumping around from one set of $400 monitors to another didn't do shit for me really...thats my 2 cents on shopping monitors. (excluding getting some $1800 monitors used for $400...now thats what I'm talkin' bout. )
Maybe its one of those paths you have to go thru to realize it? It can be fun, but looking back...listen to higher end stuff and see which cheaper one matches best, maybe be one idea.

$1000..., post your Wharfedales. (which usually means $700-800 at GC). (or again an $1800 pair for $500 used!! )

Haggling on price, My exp. was just ask for a lower price. They might have Demo's even cheaper...and they can always match the Demo price on new one's too. So once you have the price given to you, your half way there. I don't really look at it as complicated, or haglging, I often go back several times and talk to all the sales guys, one of them will usually give you the "low" price...why? I have no idea...but they do. I think the Dyn's I played with were all of a sudden around $700 instead of $1000, for example.

off the subject,
I just re-read an article on the Mackies 824 when they were released, an old magazine. Cool monitor, NO PORT, Passive radiator, many cool things.
The list is long on Pro's using them. Beck of one.

Further off topic.,...
Unexpectedly, the room was a huge effect. It makes sense of course as the room in extreme examples can vary form a auditorium to a closet...so is it all the speakers fault? No.
Even in hobby HR land, throwing some Bass Traps and shelves, and arranging was extremely big (and cheap to do ). The improvements were huge per my ears and the RTA science.

I imagine if one grow's accustomed to hearing BW802's, or the like, in a seriously treated room the comparison level would grow. $50,000 speakers..but in a closet setup, whats the point?

But for now, here in Drywall Bedroom Studios, recording a band called ASS, and their new tune Fluffing Woofers...

mic's & pre's, room's & monitor's, sm57 & amp's....penus & vagina