What monitors do you use?

What monitors do you use?

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diggy_dude said:
Bypass the surround processor if possible and use it as a regular two-channel stereo setup. Surround sound encoding (at least the older schemes) works by mixing out-of-phase rear channel signals with the normal front channel signals and introduces hideous distortion.
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I think that's what the "matrix" button does. Not sure which is which, but I have it set on the one which sounds best, which I assume is the bypass.
 
KRK Rokit 5 G2's. Under $300 with my 10% Best Buy coupon. If there is a better value out there than the KRK's I'd be interested to hear it.
 
Arjosy said:
KRK Rokit 5 G2's. Under $300 with my 10% Best Buy coupon. If there is a better value out there than the KRK's I'd be interested to hear it.
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Any number of high quality used hifi speakers on Ebay. Honestly, I couldn't take a pair of speakers seriously that only cost $300 brand new.
 
moresound said:
Take a look at the Yamaha HS50s ..... great little monitor.
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Those are based on the NS10Ms, which were the studio monitor version of the original NS10 home stereo speakers. The story behind the NS10s is that engineers wanted a horrible-sounding pair of cheap speakers to hear what their work would sound like on the average Joe's home stereo. They became so popular in studios that Yamaha re-introduced them as near field monitors, the NS10M.

At any rate, traditional wisdom had it that Japanese speakers weren't as musical to Western ears as American and European speakers. There's probably not a whole lot of difference at this point, with everything being designed to some bean counter's bullshit "price point" and cheaply produced in China now, but old prejudices die hard.
 
KRK RP6 G2's here.

They seem to do the job and after learning how to mix with them they sound great on everything from small radios, to car stereos to PA systems so I'm happy with them.
 

I use Event 20/20's. I don't really like them that much. It was all I could afford at the time. I would like to sell them for a set of 10" Tannoys
 
I actually use a pair of M-Audio AV 40's, with a KRK Rokit 10s sub. While not the greatest monitors on the market, I've been able to create tremendous mixes with this monitor/sub set up. However, I'm considering upgrading to KRK Rokit Powered 5's.
 
I'm considering upgrading to KRK Rokit Powered 5's.
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If you didnt have the sub, I would tell you not to do it. I know people love them (I have a set) but I found that anything below 100hz is so underrepresented that its rediculous, as in I actually have to put headphones on just to hear what the low end sounds like, pathetic.

Just my opinion of course... but with the Rokit 10s added to the setup I sure it would be awesome! As a matter of fact, that might be a good way for me to resolve my issues with the rp5s.
 
Just got the new pair of Mackie MR5s... LOVIN' em.. very bass responsive for a 5" driver. I know my room lies a bit as well tho :P but I reference A TON. Great monitors for the price!
 
Todzilla said:
DynAudio BM15As.

Expensive, but detailed as hell and loud, if necessary.


I picked them because, more than any other speaker (except for Focal Twins with dual Focal Sub-woofers at $8K for the rig), they made my favorite commercially produced material sound incredibly good, while my self-produced material sounded horrible. I figured the larger the discrepancy, the more useful the monitors would be.
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Favorite post so far.

You make a really good point about the discrepancy between commercial mixes and your mixes on your system. This makes it much more straightforward (though not necessarily easier) task to get your mixes to the best quality possible.

In my opinion, not enough people put stock in learning their monitors by listening to commercial music and doing side-by-side comparisons. I make this statement based on listening to others' mix-offs. Just huge discrepancies in frequency response that cannot be attributed to any other factor besides not knowing their monitoring system (or having one so inaccurate than it is too difficult to compensate).

I built my monitors and had the benefit of listening to music and movies on them for a couple years before using them as monitors. When I moved them to a new location for studio work I had to re-learn them. I really wanted them to sound a certain way, but it just doesn't work like that. I had to work hard to force myself to listen through them.

Although I admit, one of the many things I need to work on is sub level. I had it set a little hot, which I found worked will when listening to commerical music. Side-by-side comparisons with my mixes revealed that I was being too cautious when mixing and my <100 Hz material was too low, causing some slightly weak mixes. Time for some re-adjustment and more listening.

Investing in a high-quality monitoring system (WHICH INCLUDES ROOM TREATMENT) is really overlooked. In my opinion too many people are jumping on the "if it sounds good on these crappy speakers then it will sound great everywhere" bandwagon. If your monitoring system (speakers and room) has a big peak/ring at 4kHz and a big null at 70Hz, you're going to end up with a very skewed mix once you've shaped your mix to sound good on it.

Accuracy is king.
 
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My main monitors are KRK RP8s. But I also switch occasionally during final mix with M-Audio StudioPro 3s to get a different perspective.

But I rely much more on the KRKs for sure.
 
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