Monitor speakers / Headphones

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GuitarGrater

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Hi all. I am just starting out with Guitars>Scarlett Solo>using Reaper on PC

At the moment I'm listening in with my normal wired headphones which are getting in the way, and of course are not designed for monitoring.

I'd like to set up some monitoring speakers but I have a few questions:

Does the Scarlett Solo (3rd Gen) have a power amp (so I could run passive speakers) or would I need active speakers? I probably have the space for 5" speakers, budget permitting.

At the moment this set-up is just to get everything comfortable to work with, not necessarily my "final" set-up, I will have to wait until better days (££$$) for that.
 
Hi. Welcome to HR!

No, the Scarlett does not have a power amp built in.
Most, or perhaps all, audio interfaces are like this. They output line level.

What you'd need, then, is a power amp and a set of passive speakers or a set of active speakers.
 
Thank you. I'm looking at the Presonus Eris 3.5s - my next question is they have 1/4" jack "balanced" inputs, and RCA "unbalanced" inputs. Is it ok to use TS guitar cables to connect Scarlett to the balanced inputs, or do I need TRS cables?
 
I believe the TS cables will work - but may not give you the best performance.

The Scarlett outputs TRS balanced cables - and the Presonus monitors accept TRS balanced cables. I highly recommended you get the TRS.
 
GuitarGrater said:
Ok great thank you. I do have spare audio Amps and speakers, but I'm guessing these are designed for finished music and not monitoring so won't sound as good? Could I get away with doing that (and setting all the eq to flat) or is that a bad idea?
Click to expand...
It depends what you have.
The goal with monitor speakers is that they should be neutral sounding. They should tell you the truth without accentuating this or diminishing that.
Of course there are varying degrees of this with some monitor speakers being very good and others being terrible.
Whether the amp and speakers you have would be any better than budget monitors? Hard to say.
Tell us makes and models. (y)

GuitarGrater said:
Thank you. I'm looking at the Presonus Eris 3.5s - my next question is they have 1/4" jack "balanced" inputs, and RCA "unbalanced" inputs. Is it ok to use TS guitar cables to connect Scarlett to the balanced inputs, or do I need TRS cables?
Click to expand...

Using balanced outputs, cables, and inputs, helps to cut down on interference picked up along the way.
If you run unbalanced it will work fine but it's entirely possible that you'd hear hums and buzzes at your speakers due to nearby fluorescent lighting, mains transformers, etc.

It might not be a problem, particularly for short runs, but if you have balanced outputs and balanced inputs you may as well get TRS cables.
 
Best of luck. (y)

There are some basics with monitoring that can help a lot, if you don't already know.
The main things are placing them such that they, and you, make an equilateral triangle,
and placing them so that they are at approximately the same height as your ears.

Of course try to avoid having any obstructions between you and the speakers, like the edge of a monitor screen or anything like that.

People will debate whether they should point at your ears, or just past your ears, or be flat to the wall,
but definitely raising or, at least, angling them up to ear level with no obstructions is good.
 
Steenamaroo said:
Best of luck. (y)

There are some basics with monitoring that can help a lot, if you don't already know.
The main things are placing them such that they, and you, make an equilateral triangle,
and placing them so that they are at approximately the same height as your ears.

Of course try to avoid having any obstructions between you and the speakers, like the edge of a monitor screen or anything like that.

People will debate whether they should point at your ears, or just past your ears, or be flat to the wall,
but definitely raising or, at least, angling them up to ear level with no obstructions is good.
Click to expand...
Thank you. I am at a point where the basics are good enough for me; I don't have a very sharp ear for quality but I'm sure I will pick it up with more practice. I will ensure that the set-up is pretty decent anyway, it helps that my desk speakers will probably be at ear height when I get them.

I don't know if I have just been lucky, or that me and my friends/family have very poor hearing. but 25 years ago I recorded all of my songs on a Zoom MRS8 CD, using cheap headphones for monitoring. I roughly took 5 minutes to get the track levels sounding ok, and dumped them over to the master track. Then burned it to CD. The result was very pleasing for what I wanted to achieve - only my poor singing let it down! And of course the stock drum beats, which now sound way better thanks to MT Power Drums 2
 
That's great. There's definitely something to be said for having realistic targets and keeping things simple.

I hope you find the same success with your new setup but if you don't it's a good thing you joined a home recording forum. ;)
 
Welcome Guitar Grater, The Eris 3.5s are perhaps the only PC media speakers that can just about be called "monitors"? They don't go loud, they don't go low but what they do deliver is a reasonably good representation of the music without any obvious hype.

My son has a pair and he mixes and edits the African/French jazz quartet* he plays bass for in France, they also he tells me give good repro of his classical guitar. One downside to the 3.5s is that the amplifiers don't seem all that reliable. He is on his second set in under two years. The problem starts when the amps take many minutes to turn on until one day, they don't!

Last word for now, one of my pet hates? "One lunged" interfaces. I predict you will feel the lack of a second mic input in short order. I have also just checked the price of a Gen 4 Solo? £139. That is a LOT for such a basic interface IMHO.

*Was a trio, they now have a classically trained flautist.

Dave.
 
GuitarGrater said:
Thank you. I'm looking at the Presonus Eris 3.5s - my next question is they have 1/4" jack "balanced" inputs, and RCA "unbalanced" inputs. Is it ok to use TS guitar cables to connect Scarlett to the balanced inputs, or do I need TRS cables?
Click to expand...
TS cables will be fine if you are running them less than 3 feet - balanced cables -TRS - are better and you eliminate most of the noise that could enter the system.
What makes you think your Headphones are bad for mixing? What kind are they?
 
Papanate said:
TS cables will be fine if you are running them less than 3 feet - balanced cables -TRS - are better and you eliminate most of the noise that could enter the system.
What makes you think your Headphones are bad for mixing? What kind are they?
Click to expand...
The whole "are headphones as good as speakers for mixing" debate notwithstanding* Peeps are not just sitting still "mixing". We move about, pickup a guitar, mug of tea/coffee/beer, tweak amp settings and having cans and cables is a bastard nuisance!

*IMHO they are not. Monitors produce a much closer approximation of the sound 'picture' (and the better the monitors, the closer that approximation is) Headphones cannot do this. OK, the very exotic expensive ones with clever software get closer but the sound is still "in your head". Cans are however very useful for checking very low frequencies which budget speakers in small rooms cannot do.

Dave.
 
When I looked for some cheapish small monitors, they told me to be wary of anything under 5".
I went for Tannoy 5", which cost a little more, and they were pretty good.
I used nothing but unbalanced cables from a scarlet to the monitors, and never had a problem.
 
Slouching Raymond said:
When I looked for some cheapish small monitors, they told me to be wary of anything under 5".
I went for Tannoy 5", which cost a little more, and they were pretty good.
I used nothing but unbalanced cables from a scarlet to the monitors, and never had a problem.
Click to expand...
I have the Tannoy 5As and am very happy with them Ray. Who TF are "they"? There are some BLOODY good sub 5" monitors from the likes of Neumann and iLoud!

I agree the OP would almost certainly get away with unbalanced cables but at this price...

No brainer!

Dave.
 
ecc83 said:
I have the Tannoy 5As and am very happy with them Ray. Who TF are "they"? There are some BLOODY good sub 5" monitors from the likes of Neumann and iLoud!

I agree the OP would almost certainly get away with unbalanced cables but at this price...

No brainer!

Dave.
Click to expand...
Thank you for fixing me P!
 
ecc83 said:
The whole "are headphones as good as speakers for mixing" debate notwithstanding* Peeps are not just sitting still "mixing". We move about, pickup a guitar, mug of tea/coffee/beer, tweak amp settings and having cans and cables is a bastard nuisance!

*IMHO they are not. Monitors produce a much closer approximation of the sound 'picture' (and the better the monitors, the closer that approximation is) Headphones cannot do this. OK, the very exotic expensive ones with clever software get closer but the sound is still "in your head". Cans are however very useful for checking very low frequencies which budget speakers in small rooms cannot do.

Dave.
Click to expand...
Thank you I started to type an entire post that said exactly the same thing but I didn't want to start a whole thing.
 
ecc83 said:
Who TF are "they"?
Click to expand...
They were the knowledgeable store staff.
I was checking out a selection in the all wired up monitor demo room.
It allowed A/B testing.
I did listen to smaller ones, and decided the advice was good.
 
Papanate said:
What makes you think your Headphones are bad for mixing? What kind are they?
Click to expand...
They are Soundcore (Anker) noise cancelling headphones. I use them wired. They are great headphones for listening to music but even on flat eq they are quite bass heavy.

But the main thing is, like someone else below said, they are a pain. I'm always playing the guitar, leaning forward to tweak stuff, putting the guitar down, and both the headphone cable and guitar cable get in the way. So I think speakers will be easier and more practical.
 
ecc83 said:
Welcome Guitar Grater, The Eris 3.5s are perhaps the only PC media speakers that can just about be called "monitors"? They don't go loud, they don't go low but what they do deliver is a reasonably good representation of the music without any obvious hype.

My son has a pair and he mixes and edits the African/French jazz quartet* he plays bass for in France, they also he tells me give good repro of his classical guitar. One downside to the 3.5s is that the amplifiers don't seem all that reliable. He is on his second set in under two years. The problem starts when the amps take many minutes to turn on until one day, they don't!

Last word for now, one of my pet hates? "One lunged" interfaces. I predict you will feel the lack of a second mic input in short order. I have also just checked the price of a Gen 4 Solo? £139. That is a LOT for such a basic interface IMHO.

*Was a trio, they now have a classically trained flautist.

Dave.
Click to expand...
Ok thanks for the heads up. I'll be ordering from Thomann so will look into a more expensive set of speakers maybe. They don't need to be loud, just reliable.

Yes I have a Scarlett solo gen 3, it was £75 new. I can't think of any situation where I'd want more than 2 in. I record on my own so can only play one thing at a time
 
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