Monitors vs Bookshelf speakers

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Mastermindzz

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Would I have a difficult time getting a perfect mix if I used a good pair of bookshelf speakers like JBL, Pioneer, or Polk Audio vs a pair of monitors?
 
its hard enough getting a "perfect mix" with studio monitors......If you are serious about your sound, you need monitors...if you are just doing the "home recording" thing as a hobby, you can get half decent results with bookshelf systems.....

I got my whole setup for $340....$155 for a Hafler TA1100 amp and $185 for a pair of Tannoy Proto-J's.....
 
Mastermindzz

From what I understand, and I'm no expert so somebody carrect me if I'm wrong, bookshelf/hi-fi/consumer speakers are actually designed to color the sound, flatter it and sweeten it up to make it sound "nice". Therefore they are going to "cover up" faults if you monitor with them. Reference monitors on the other hand pruduce a flat, true sound which shows up any "faults" in your recordings and mixes and allows you to fix them. Basically if your mix sounds good on ref monitors, it will sound great on most consumer systems.
Best case scenario is to have both set up in the studio so you can A/B the sound.
Hope this is clear.
Mark
 
Markd102 said:
From what I understand, and I'm no expert so somebody carrect me if I'm wrong, bookshelf/hi-fi/consumer speakers are actually designed to color the sound, flatter it and sweeten it up to make it sound "nice".

This is true in SOME cases.

Many consumer/hi-fi speakers shoot for the same properties which make a good recording monitor. For the most part however, consumer models by Pioneer, Polk , etc., aren't up to the task of monitoring, not because of a particular design philosophy difference, but simply because they are not very good by any standard.

I have recommended some hi-fi speaker models on this bbs because they have outstanding linearity and easily out perform some of the common nearfield monitors. You can buy them as kits and are very cheap for their class, but still on the expensive side relative to common monitors.

Believe it or not, professional monitors are slow to embrace the newest technology. The Alesis M1 design has just recently changed and now incorporates driver designs and materials which have been common in hi-fi for almost a decade. The basic layout, drivers, and crossover of say an Event 20/20 are modeled after the common hi-fi 'monitor' (bookshelf on a stand) speaker designs from the mid 1980's. Active hi-fi systems like the 20/20bas also came out around that time but were not well accepted. The only thing really new about most of the common monitors is that they can now build these designs much cheaper than they could 15 years ago.

If you're going to spend a few hundred dollars, buy the speakers sold as "professional monitors" you normally see recommended on this site. If you can spend a $1000 to $1500, then seriously consider some of the kits I have recommended. They are cutting edge, high linearity devices. Of course you'll also need a good amplifier, so this is not and inexpensive alternative to a normal pro monitor. What you will get is world class linearity on a par with far more expensive Genelec or Quested hi-end professional monitors.

barefoot

Ps - True high accuracy also happens to be very, very nice on the ears. :)
 
Cool Barefoot, thanks for the update. I spose it's difficult to generalize in a field like this.
There's actually a semi-pro studio near to a good mate of mine which uses a pair of high quality "audiophile" hifi speakers for monitoring and he produces some of the best mixes I've heard. I'll try to find out what they are and post it here for everyones information. I'm pretty sure they won't be cheap though. :D
 
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