Monitors or P.A. System?

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manonthemoon

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I'm setting up a home studio for goofing around with a guitar, electronic drum set, and keyboard. I want to play more than record, but either way I want little to no noise. Should I be buying monitors or a P.A. system? Thanks for any advice.
 
Good monitors would be more accurate in their sound. Although if you just want it for goofing around, there's no harm in just getting a setup that sounds nice and warm.
 
manonthemoon said:
I'm setting up a home studio for goofing around with a guitar, electronic drum set, and keyboard. I want to play more than record, but either way I want little to no noise. Should I be buying monitors or a P.A. system? Thanks for any advice.
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You should do what we do and set up both !
the PA for play and the monitors for critical listening.
 
I'd get the P.A..
Monitors are great but if you're only goofing around, a bit expensive.
Also, I don't like to mix my live gear with the studio stuff.
 
My "studio" gets used more for practice/jamming than it does for recording so a small PA is always set up. For recording I just leave the PA off and use a headphone amp. For mixing I use monitors. Assignable outs on my mixer makes this pretty easy and allows me to get the most use out of the space I have. You just have to keep in mind that jamming, recording, and editing/mixing are three different things, and the way you need to hear them is different. For now, as you seem more interested in playing/jamming, get the PA and start saving for monitors.
 
For those who think I'd get benefit out of monitors, why would I NOT use monitors all the time if the quality is so good? Aside from the increased cost, of course. Would the monitors not deliver as much punch and bass?
 
I could be wrong on this.

Monitors give you a more accurate sound. Whereas the likes of PA and hi-fi speakers are designed to make things sound better. We have a stereo in the kitchen, the bass/treble is uncomfortably loud and theres such a scoop out of the mids that i can barely hear the vocals in comparison to everything else.

To the untrained (my dads) ears, its one of the best stereo systems he's ever heard.

If you're just looking for something that sounds really good, try some really good hi-fi/PA speakers. If you want accurate, monitors are the way.
 
What he said plus, don't plan on taking your monitors to any gigs or even moving them around the house.
You will wreck them.:(
 
manonthemoon said:
For those who think I'd get benefit out of monitors, why would I NOT use monitors all the time if the quality is so good? Aside from the increased cost, of course. Would the monitors not deliver as much punch and bass?
Click to expand...

Monitors are designed to have your head right smack in the middle of the stereo pair. That is where you will notice more detail, nuance, and spacial imaging in the music. Also you get the impression of more punch and base because you are only 3 feet away. In the center is where the speakers couple to reinforce all of that. There is only one sweet spot at dead center and only one person can experience that at a time.

PA speakers are designed to "throw" the sound longer distances and to control the dispersal or spread of the higher frequencies as much as possible. This is to benefit lots of listeners simultaneously.
 
The difference between studio monitors and PA speakers (aside from the obvious accuracy differences) is that PA speakers are ruggedized while studio monitors are most assuredly not. PA speakers are also MUCH more forgiving in terms of stereo field than studio monitors are.

The thing is, by the time you get a couple of PA speakers, amps and cables (or powered PA speakers and cables), you'll have spent as much as you would on a decent pair of studio monitors...probably about $1,000 or so. I suppose you could go a little cheaper than that...I haven't looked the the truly bottom-of-the-barrel vendors like Phonic.

Frank
 
There is a reason for the price being so low on there stuff! Granted you can get a great $84. mic with the MXLV67g but that phonic stuff I agree, one item they do have that half way good is there PAAZ personal audio assistant basically a mobile smaart live unit.
 
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