heard some monitors, now want your input

  • Thread starter Thread starter guhlenn
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guhlenn

guhlenn

Oh REALLY????
Listened to mackies (6 and 824) M-audios (5 and 8) blue sky system one (with something resembling a sub) and some PMC's.

Now the most striking thing to me was that the mackies absolutly SUCKED. No stereo separation, the sound was boxy and thin, even a bit "scratchy"and everyone was talking about hyped up bass... Well where then? i heard practically none. The BX 8 and 5 where nice but had no bass (i mean no...) . The PMC (passive sucked all the way..)
The room was, ofcourse, untreated (store) but reasonaly placed. Now the only thing that it did it for me where the blue skies, nice stereo field, open and articulate sound and nice bass, not too much nor too little.

But now I'm wondering; everybody is talking about the sound not being sweet on monitors... Was i just listening too some "build to please" monitors and where the mackies simply more acurate or are they just not that good really?

I listened too (among others ) the classic phil collins serious hits live. The mackies weren't good. At all. Really. What happened?

Guhlenn
 
FWIW, I don't know if it's true, but I heard that some stores intentionally mess with the setting on the Mackies to make them sound bad so that they can sell something with a better margin. Doesn't make much sense. Perhaps this happened to you.
 
well, he was really raving abouthte blue skies. buit i thought this was because they were very obviously better. (about the same price.)
 
I'm glad I'm not the only one that can't stand the Mackies... But yeah, the Blue Skies are definitely in a different class. On the BX's, I've yet to see them in a store actually set properly. Not once. Partially M-Audio's fault, as the A.S. switch works in reverse of what one would expect and the manual is a little confusing on that to say the least... That could explain the anemia in the lows on those.

The PMC's on the other hand... I'd expect them to sound pretty schveet just about anywhere. That being said, I'm not familiar with the smaller models, and I'm assuming that we're talking smaller monitors here. On that note, PMC's need serious, clean, wonderful power. They're almost always coupled with Bryston amplifiers (and for good reason). I think there's a business relationship there also. I could be wrong... Anyway, if they were connected to a less than "worthy" amplifier, I could see them not wanting to perform up to specs.
 
The Blue Sky concept is something that should have happened a long, long time ago...Make a speaker system that makes proper use of it's drivers, and is phase coherent. Don't ask a speaker driver to produce frequencies it's not good at. When you're working with a 2-way speaker, do you really think an 8 inch driver is going to produce midrange frequencies as well as a 5 or 6 inch? Or, can you ask a 5 or 6 inch driver to produce bass frequencies (at any reasonable volume)? Answer is "No" on both accounts. The only way to get accurate response at suitable volumes is to use drivers that work best in their given frequency range, and build crossovers that will minimise phase issues (between drivers). *aside* There is a certain (well respected) speaker designer on this board that thinks no midrange driver should be bigger than 5 inches, and there are definitely some good reasons for that. *end aside*

I'd take a well designed small (5-6 inch) 2-way speaker with a properly integrated sub over ANY 2-way that uses 8 inch (or larger) drivers! You could create this kind of system yourself (with existing products), but Blue Sky is making it easy by doing all the legwork for you. It's no doubt you found the Blue Sky's to be better! :)
 
oh god, i thought i was going mad. I heard the mackies in a totally different recording environment, and when i commented on them being very weird in the bass section, the guy looked at me with his evil eye and told me to go stand in the corner :p (where there was more bass...). But still, a 3 db raise in the 50hz section was only moderately heard.

Glad you backed up my story, since I really was beginning to think monitors are supposed to sound bad. LOL.

btw, the PMC's were very small and powered by a JVC (even I know that is not a good thing...). I can imagine that the m-audio with sub would sound really decent. But i just can't understand all the fuzz around the mackies, even the mids and highs soudned harsh and flat. And i heard alot of good things about them...

Will check out some audiophile speakers and then post my decision.

Thanks alot!
 
I agree!

When I demoed the Mackies HR828 I thought they sounded as you described...A buddy of mine has them and I was asking him about the bass response....He said that he has to put put his fingers on the woofer to feel the bass....this is how he judges....I couldn't believe it. But if it works for him? Then do it! Right....That is why I went with the KRK V8 series 2.
 
The guy actually told you to stand near the corner?

Oh, that's desperate...
 
Massive Master said:
The guy actually told you to stand near the corner?
Click to expand...

Hmmm, sounds like he needs to hook up with Ethan and get some acoustic treatment!
 
<<The guy actually told you to stand near the corner?

Oh, that's desperate...>>


not only is it desperate, but it's pathetic. i sure wouldn't be getting any work done at that guy's place......

we all know our homer environs aren't great, but geez, you don't ever tell a client to go stand in the corner to hear more bass. if one of my clients isn't happy with the bass output from my tinyass SP5B's (maudios) during a mix session, then i'll crank it a little extra just for him while he's sitting there, and then pull it back before i actually burn anything off/finalize his mix.....unless he's the type who begs for me to punish his car speakers...... :b

of course, i don't exactly make it a habit to have folks there when i mix b/c not a one of them understands that 5in cones don't thump like 18in subs.....and the more time and effort i have to expend explaining, the less gets put into the job.


wade
 
oh, on another note.......the fact that monitors sound so different is why a lot of mixing engineers have a couple sets sitting there. you get a mix sounding good on one, reference it on the other, and generally speaking, when you get that mix sounding reasonably balanced between them, chances are that your job is done (or close to it).

i was reading a tapeop recently where someone kept an old crappy sony boombox around for judging bass. the rationale? it's easy to make bass sound good on huge speakers......but on little crappy paper ones it's a whole 'nother ballgame.


cheers,
wade
 
He did have the room treated. And i AM familiar with acoustic rules (I was a physics teacher for a while for crying out loud :eek: )

SO i just did what he asked and told him "yes , I hear more bass".
 
Hey, guhlenn.

Physics teacher? Very cool! :cool:

What audiophile speakers are you looking at? I used the Jamos from the living room for mixing.
 
Actually, no it wasn't very cool, i quit. I'm a biomedical researcher really, but economy has driven me into the arms of slavery ... :D
Now unemployed... got some money left from that episode though. And enough time to hang around here... :p

I currently use philips speakers, pretty good (better then ya think). but old. And the tweeters are shot. Can replace them , but will take awhile...


I will get either wharfedales or Quad's not sure... need to AB em. What kind of amp do you use? I have absolutely no clue what to get. Nice people here told me to klook at bryston, but they are rare over here... do you know audiolabor? they are out of business now, but supposed to eb "class A audiophile" ... what ever that means...


G
 
I've got a Carver M400a from around 1980. 200 very clean watts per channel. I see them on ebay pretty regularly.
 
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