Monitors? No Monitors? The Speakers That CAME with Your Computer?!!!

[Twinhit]

My "monitors" are my 12 year old Altec Lansing ADA-305 'puter speakers.
I've been playing it all the way up for a good number of years now and I think it's time
for something louder.

Would Cerwin Vega PA stuff do?

 

[RRuskin]

It's a lame question but I'll answer anyway. Real Monitors: Mains: JBL 4315's fed by an Accuphase P-300 power amp. Reality check 2ndarys: Auratone Sound cubes fed by a Crown D-60.

 

[Steenamaroo]

My "monitors" are my 12 year old Altec Lansing ADA-305 'puter speakers.
I've been playing it all the way up for a good number of years now and I think it's time
for something louder.

Would Cerwin Vega PA stuff do?

If you are using them as monitors for mixing etc then you almost certainly don't need something louder.

Something with wider frequency response, something with greater detail, something with flatter frequency response, maybe, but volume shouldn't be a motivator when choosing nearfields.

 

[Villain S Deeds]

I use the speakers that came with a stereo system I got for Xmas about 15 years ago, though they're now hooked up to an amplifier I bought at a thrift store about 6 years ago. Rock music sounds good coming out of these speakers, and I'm obviously used to the way they sound. I'm only producing my own songs as a hobby, but I do want to save up some serious money to upgrade my gear. I need a lot more than monitors though, like good mics instead of the junk I bought at Radio Shack years ago. I need to treat my room too, but that needs to wait til next year when wifey and I intend to actually own a home. A new computer is kind of the top priority though. In the meantime I intend to keep on plugging away with what I have; it may be cheap and lo-fi, but I sometimes manage to produce something that I'm not too unhappy with.

 

[macman70]

I have some cheap Samson 3a Media one monitors I use. I am pleased with results from them

 

[Monkey Allen]

Mackie MR5
M-Audio BX5

They're great

 

[Beat Poet]

I mainly mix through a pair of flat-response monitors and then test it out through in-built laptop speakers, external laptop speakers, headphones, earphones, my stereo, car stereos and a boombox. Better than all that though is time, taking time away from the mix and coming back to it with fresh ears.

 

[RushPfeiffer]

I use headphones

 

[RecordingMaster]

I use M-Audio BX5a Deluxe Powered Studio Reference Monitors with foam monitor isolation pads atop home made, high mass speaker stands. Will post a pic one day. The stands are made out of abs pipe (filled with sand for mass), mdf board, and closed cell thin sheet foam. One is on a floor stand and the other i made to go atop my mix desk (its an off center mix desk so it needed to be this way). Both are custom measured so the tweeters are perfectly at MY ear level.

Sorry, I guess this poll is about speakers,not the damn stands!

Oh and for a difference source/perspective, I listen through AKG headphones and finally on a variety of auxilary stereo equipment including: standard computer speakers, home stereo with sub woofer, car stereo, iPod with headphones, 1970's Morantz Stereo Amp through 1970's "Realistic" brand bookshelf speakers, and a crappy little boom box. If the mix translates to all those sources, I've done my job well!

 

[markhunter]

I tend to mix on PC speakers, headphones, and some more decent (but not studio) speakers, auditioning afterwards in the car, the iPod, via my DAB radio, whatever.... even get the family to (reluctantly ) take a copy to listen...

I must admit though, whatever Alfa Romeo put in their cars, it's fecking good and what I hear matches feedback from all of the aforementioned auditions..... thinking of moving my DAW into the car LOL

 

[Knivez]

honestly, i have a pair of krks, some yamahas and cheap computer speakers. i honestly prefer to mix with cheap ass computer speakers and my reasons are this - after eq ing my tracks of course, i throw on a cheapie cheapie pair of speakers for in my opinion, if you can make a mix sound badass on dirt cheap speakers which are most laptop speakers then you can make it sound just as good on sweet puff daddy speakers. it does not work the other way around, well for the most part it dont. yes its harder to lever bass and the lower end but imo its also easier the more you do it as you know your speakers limitations. most people in general dont have the most badass system in the world to play your recording anyways, and radio stations have their own compression they add to your songs. most people will hear your song first on a laptop, radio, ipod or maybe through your friends ipod nowadays. (i did say most) so id rather mix my stuff to what the majority of people are listening through in my honest opinion. and that is either ipod headphones or laptop speakers or the occasional desktop speakers.

yes, some people boom songs out in their sick car system but thats like 1 out of idk.....30?

make fun of me now

 

[Butt Nekkid]

make fun of me now

I wont. I do my equing on headphones and levels with crappy logitech computer speakers. I kind of know what they are doing so I´m happy with them. Although, i do have my eyes set on a pair of kh120 neumanns

 

[Pahtcub]

I use adam A7X mains and a-b with a cheap 2.1 logitech set (which has awsome bass actually) and make sure they sound good on behritones, if that all sounds good it usually translates well.

 

[Doctor Varney]

Well, I don't believe in using anything that came with the computer. I don't know how on earth you could mix with such a limited field. Caught between spending on 'studio monitors' and not wanting to use rubbish, an excellent compromise is to use a good solid state amp with carefully chosen passive speakers. My vintage NAD 3020 fits the bill perfectly. It's detailed enough to reveal what's happening in the mid-range because that's where these little amps really score. The bass is tight and unmuddled and the treble sparkles nicely with decent speakers. I chose some old JPW bi-wirable speakers which mate well with it. I manage to get a very transparent mix without fear there'll be too much bass, which is always the track killer, once you've burned.

So my advice is, don't be too stuck on 'studio monitors'. They're basically speakers with a built in amp, which doesn't actually mean a lot to me in practice. With a seperate amp and passive speakers, you at least have the option to hook up a couple of pairs via a speaker switch, so you can try out different listening positions. Actually, I'm about to split the signal across to a second amp & speakers, via my outboard mixer, to make use of the strengths of both rigs.