Advantages between 6" and 8" monitors?

[Rocket Boy]

I'm considering between the new BM6a MKII and BM12a's for a purchase within the next month. Since I know these haven't gotten out much I think my question is more(in a general way- i know it depends on the material and the engineer), what advantages do you find between mixing on 6" monitors and 8" monitors? I will not be able to listen to either before buying, but have liked the BM5's pretty well and if it's anything above that I'll be very happy.

 

[CoolCat]

8" and 6", of course, the basic 101 obvious is you gain some bass and probably lose some mid's, thats the general rule of physical properties of speakers.

Blue Skys and 3-way,are interesting. nice sound imo.
and you can gain the bass without losing the mids....but the setup is different with a sub, and 3-way always a trade off.

wow, upgrading form the BM5's....PM if your selling the BM5's, I don't mind used if in good shape. I'd go $450-500 pair used.

 

[Rocket Boy]

It's someone else where I've gotten a chance to use and hear the BM5's. These will be my first set up nicer monitors. I'll probably go with the 6's because I have a small room.

 

[CoolCat]

I just read an article / review by someone who said the DYN's were so-so. Seemed to be a really nice article.
Then he mentioned he's loves his Logitech PC speakers with a SUB best?

So I wondered, is that like eating McDonald burgers your entire life then posting an opinion on DYNO burgers?
hmm?

anyway, per this article you may want to save your money and just buy some Logitech PC monitors with the sub! I think their only about $79.00 at WalMart.



http://audioreviewer.wordpress.com/2006/12/06/dynaudio-bm5a-review/

 

[tmix]

I read the guys article too.
Things that come to mind are:
1) he is used to listening with a sub with extended bass.

This gets addictive, he DOES late state the bass is tight and defined and the depth and clarity for mixing is there as opposed to speakers that are made to "sound good"

2) a totally untreated room.
Any bass that IS there could be a victim of poor room environment. It is really easy to inject an abundance of extra bass into a room with a sub to over cmpensate the rooms reflections, but you end up with a muddier sound in the room.

I guess it boils down to what you want to spend your money on. Accurate speakers and some room treatments, or a lot less money for some speakers that sound pretty good that HOPEFULLY you can make some good mixes on.

People have obviously done both.
I can't afford the Dynaudios right now, but would go that route if I could.
My opinion obviously

Tom

 

[xstatic]

Unless your room is 10' x 10' or smaller, I would say that the 8" probably are not too big. I had the BM6's for a couple of years though and loved them. I switched to BM15's because they fit my room better and like them even more. My current control room is 14'x 20' though.

 

[dementedchord]

all other things being equall you should NOT experience a diff in the mids... you might find a bit more bottom in the 8" by virtue of simply moving more air and what i would expect as a lowering of the resonance point of the larger driver...

 

[The Green Hornet]

IMO the 8" monitors, depending on quality level, will give you more of a complete circle of sound on vocals, which is an important factor if you are recording vocals.

However, there are probably some 6" monitors that do very well too; again, we have to consider the $$ factor. Not to say that more $$ always means more quality, but often that is the case, as well as the pre-amps, the outboard/inboard FX stuff, and the engineer who puts "this" on the left and "that" on the right, and the vocal RIGHT UP THE MIDDLE.

There are really so many possibilities and your choice of monitors also gives you many probabilities.

We have come a long way from two tin cans and a piece of string; however, that was fun when I was a kid.

Green Hornet

 

[kabuko]

I just read an article / review by someone who said the DYN's were so-so. Seemed to be a really nice article.
Then he mentioned he's loves his Logitech PC speakers with a SUB best?

So I wondered, is that like eating McDonald burgers your entire life then posting an opinion on DYNO burgers?
hmm?

anyway, per this article you may want to save your money and just buy some Logitech PC monitors with the sub! I think their only about $79.00 at WalMart.



http://audioreviewer.wordpress.com/2006/12/06/dynaudio-bm5a-review/

That's my review. I in no way intended to say that my little Logitech speakers sound better than the Dynaudios. If you read the review a little closer, you'll see that I only mention my Logitechs to make note that the extension on the Dynaudios is limited to around 50Hz. As tmix pointed out, I do mention that the quality of the bass on the Dynaudios is excellent--it just doesn't extend as far or put out as much volume as a sub (which is to be expected), and yes, the bass on the Logitechs is far, far muddier.

 

[CoolCat]

kabuko..i was half joking.,..my bad. The comparison to the Logitechs PC speakers? it was surprising, and I admit made me skeptical..but I admit I never heard the Logi's so I should shurtuoop about it. PC speakers have been improving.

Those who actually read the article/review know it was a positive DYN review.

I actually agree 100% with your conclusion about the DYN's.
There's no subwoofing going on, but the BM5A's have a real pleasant bass reproduction to my ears too.

Don't most studios have a sub to at least switch on & off?

I assume the subs are on most home systems these days imo, and PC's too....

 

[kabuko]

Yeah, many studios would have a separate sub with an on/off, although lots go without. Depending on what kind of music you mix, a sub may be completely unnecessary. You might have gathered already though that I got my BM5a's for my own personal projects (i.e. working with home recordings ). I'm not a pro audio engineer, I just do it for fun as well as being an amateur musician/tinkerer/gadget junkie. The Logitechs are not bad speakers--for the price--but they're for casual listening, not for mixing. Nowadays I listen on the Dynaudios anyway, but PC speakers have come a long way in recent years. The intent wasn't to compare the two sets of speakers (there's no comparison), but just to point out that it doesn't reach the depth of a subwoofer. Anyway, enough of my offtopic defensiveness.