Monitors gradually becoming less linear?

[Re-tox_stl]

Hey guys. So yesterday I was daydreaming about studio stuff (like always ) and I started wondering, what exactly makes studio monitors flat vs other consumer speakers? And with that being said, is it possible for them to become less flat with wear and tear? I sure hope not, but that's why I'm asking .

Thanks, drew

 

[Bobbsy]

Well, what makes them "flat" is that they're designed to let you hear what you've actually recorded, not an artificially enhanced "make everything sound good" version. Think of the "loudness" button on hifi amps...it adds EQ to pump up the bass and add some zing to the treble. To a lesser extent, that's what hifi speakers do.

As for wear and tear, my present studio monitors are more than 30 years old and, to my ears, still as good as ever. It depends on the initial quality--but speakers should last a long time if not abused.

Bob

 

[Lt. Bob]

in the price ranges most of us buy monitors at ..... NOTHING makes them flat versus other speakers. The name 'studio monitor' is a marketing term and nothing else.
Quite a few audiophile type stereo speakers are as flat or flatter than many of our monitors. I'd just as soon have a nice pair of Paradigms as any of the low to mid priced monitors sold for home recording.

First off .... 'flat' is a relative term.
basically, speakers such as we have now can not be made truly flat. There are always peaks and valleys in their response curves.
You don't start seeing pretty truly flat speakers until you get up in the stratosphere price-wise. And even those aren't ruler-flat.

The key is knowing your monitors well and knowing how mixes made on them translate to other speakers.

As for them changing over time ...... they surely do change as the surrounds get broken in and move easier. In general those changes tend to be seen as postive changes though.

Well, what makes them "flat" is that they're designed to let you hear what you've actually recorded, not an artificially enhanced "make everything sound good" version. Think of the "loudness" button on hifi amps...it adds EQ to pump up the bass and add some zing to the treble. To a lesser extent, that's what hifi speakers do.

not GOOD hi-fi speakers. Yes ...... the junk like you'd get at Best Buy or some Bose Acoustimass crap does that.
But any serious stereo stuff is designed to be flat as possible.

As for monitors being flat ...... they're simply not, at least not the home studio types. ..... if they were .... all monitors would sound fairly similar. The fact is they don't ........ monitors sound wildly different from each other and that's pretty easy to check. Go to your local store and listen to a few different ones ..... they vary a LOT so they're not flat.
It's just a marketing term. They build a decent sounding speaker ..... slap the name 'monitor' on it and stock it in music stores.

 

[Massive Master]

Thank you Lt. Bob for saving me all that time ranting on (because I would've probably gone even further).

Some of the worst, least consistent, least accurate speakers I've ever heard said "STUDIO MONITOR" on them somewhere. And on the flip side, some of the greatest, most accurate, most consistent speakers I've ever heard were speakers I've never even heard of before hearing them.

 

[Bobbsy]

If you buy a $100 "studio monitor" you get a hundred dollars worth. And, yes, proper "good" hifi speakers can have a decent neutral sound (though many of the "best" are still engineered for the sort of "warmth" audiophools demand, rather than accuracy).

However, if you have proper, professional studio monitors, they are designed to give an accurate sound. The difference is pretty obvious if you ever get to hear the real thing compared to the cheap amateur tat. They also last a long time making them a good investment.

Bob

 

[theD1CKENS]

so, let me get this straight....higher end stereo speakers are no better than the $400 monitors I had my eye on, so long as I'm familiar with how my speakers color my mixes?

if this is true, I'm in the market for a $400 mic

 

[c7sus]

Your room isn't "flat" either, unless you treat it to smooth out the various room modes.

 

[60's guy]

Your room isn't "flat" either, unless you treat it to smooth out the various room modes.

Exactly! Bass Traps and mid absorbers. Not that I know all that much about that stuff because I hear tell that all of my mixes are garbage.

 

[Lt. Bob]

so, let me get this straight....higher end stereo speakers are no better than the $400 monitors I had my eye on, so long as I'm familiar with how my speakers color my mixes?

no ...... what I said is that higher end stereo speakers are probably better than a set of 400 dollar monitors.
People can believe what they want but anything moderately priced isn't "engineered to be flat" anymore than any other speakers are.
As a practicing audiophool I can tell you that we want as accurate as possible, popular misconceptions to the contrary.

There are no magic design parameters that guaruntee a flat speaker because if there were .... all the manufacturers would use it and all the speakers would sound the same. But all you have to do is look at a response curve on them and they're clearly all very different.
They get designed like all other speakers do .... by starting with a design and then tweaking it by ear.
And at this moment in time the only really flat speakers out there are of significant cost. Really like 1500 a pair and up. Personally, I'd rather use a good pair of stereo speakers ..... something by Focal or Totem of Paradigm.
But there's some awesome pro-audio monitors out there too.

Personally I can't afford that stuff but I have heard it and wish I could. Pretty amazing stuff.

But at the price levels we tend to pay, it's a mistake to think that just because something has the words 'studio monitor' in the name, it was engineered in some special way to be flat. They're stamped out by some factory in Malaysia or somewhere and all vary from flat by a good margin.
That's why some people here prefer certain monitors while others prefer something else and don't like the first ones ....... because they're all so different and thus, not flat.