songsj said:
I tend to agree with both sides on this one, The highest quality, flattest monitors are what we should all shoot for. That being said I also think it is as if not more important that the person mixing is experienced and very familiar with the monitors and room he has them in. If you know how everything needs to sound on your monitors to sound good when played on everything else you are off to a good start no matter what you're using for monitors. .
This is really the entire thread in a nutshell.
Why do some very well known engineers mix on NS-10's, car speakers (Jensen circa mid 70's is a favorite) mounted in boxes etc?
Because they can and because they know how the speaker colors the sound and they adjust accordingly.
However, for most of us, a full range monitor is really what we should aim for.
Why?
Because there it minimizes the guess factor.
IOW you don't have to "guess" if there is a nice 70hz thump on the kick, you can hear it.
You won't hear the fundemental on an Auratone.
My advice is save your money, buy the monitor with the widest, flat frequency response you can find, treat your room and eliminate most of the guess work.
As for overseas components it varies.
China is a disaster for quality control.
Simply put, their products as a whole suck.
IBM and others have constructed factories over there that are pretty much communes where the workers live and work and are paid very little for their effort.
My dad is a wholesaler in new auto parts and the parts coming from China are in many cases so bad that he refuses to sell them.
Brake rotors that are not flat are a common complaint.
China however IS trying and they are getting better. They WILL be a MAJOR player in just about every worldwide market within 20 years and you can take that to the bank.
Japan and Korea are a totally different story and cannot be compared to China.
As far as European gear is concerned, they tend to be very conservative on the other side of the pond.
Unlike here in the USA, you will find people with very small, albeit high quality systems (Creek, BW etc) that won't win any power wars, but sound very nuetral just the same.
It;s almost like the west coast vs east coast speaker wars that dominated the 1970's.
It's just a completely different philosophy compared to say the feature ladened typical Japanese component.
All that being said, get a pair of Event ASP8s and you will be happy.
Full range, smooth and well worth the money.