Near Field monitors . . Which ones?

  • Thread starter Thread starter MaxMix
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MaxMix

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I am considering going to the expence of getting some
nearfield monitors . .

What do you recommend? . . And nothing toooo expensive . .

Thanks.
 
What kind do you want? (Powered, active or passive??)

Bruce
 
in reading your "hi-fi" post, I get the impression that you are looking for monitors that sound accurate, and not necessarily sound pleasing to the ear.

If this assumption is correct, I would seriously consider the NS-10s.. Unfortunately they are no longer in production, but you can get them used for pretty cheap..

Cy
 
Thanks guys . .

Jus done a print of your comments . . Great! . .

Active would be useful . . keeps the level of hardware down . .

I am looking for something pretty accurate Cyrokk and glad
you read the "hi-fi" posting (lol!) Bit of a bag of worms there . .

Space is always a problem . Something shielded would also
be useful so as not to cause probs with the screens . .

I'll take a sniif about and make a few phone calls . .

Any further comments appreciated . .

Bye for now.
 
Find some NS10's. you'll probably end up getting them sometime or another anyway!
 
Actives arent going to be cheap but the lowest prices on a set of passives is arround 140-190.00 with the hafler being the cheapest to yorkvills being the 190.00 set. why Im saying this is that you can get a refeence amp with most of these and still spend less than a set of actives.
 
sjoko2 , those JBL's have a 5'' woofer for a price of $500 for a pair... Event ps8's are $600 a pair with an 8'' woofer, and probably more bass response... Does the woofer size and bass response matter? I would quess it does. What am I missing, I want to learn every thing I can about monitors.


F.J.A.
 
Im kind of curios to as why a monitor that isnt even a full range system without a sub is highly reccomended here. wont you over emphisize the bass as a result on your mixes to make up for the loss of bottom end. I passed over the haflers for the same reason and the proto-js.
 
Very good question darrin, and not to easy to explain, apart from when you actualy demonstrate it to people, so they can hear it for themselves.

I'll try and explain it, but it is a combination of many different factors.

Acoustic environment. Low frequency waves under 70 / 80 hertz become audible with clear definition only in a good acoustic environment. For a smaller space, this does mean adequate bass trapping (in contradiction to popular belief, bass does not disappear through trapping, it becomes clear). In a small room without accurate treatment ultra low frequency would be either un-noticed or a hindrance, as it is omni directional.

Most (I mean the very large majority) small monitors have a speaker / amplifier combination much to small to project low frequencies accurately. Allowing an amplifier to project such low frequencies through a small speaker in a small cabinet anyway is achieved only at the cost of the overall accuracy and effectiveness of the monitor.

There are not many instruments which make a defined noise under a 70 hertz threshold. When you are mixing, you find you can more or less leave this region alone. Bass excists there, kick drum sometimes, and some other reverberations of a limited amount of instruments (note: I am NOT saying its not important!).
When you get in jobs for mastering, some have been referenced on main studio systems with a frequency response ranging from 16 to 26.000, and some on NS10's without a low end present. Does that mean one will be better than another? No!

What does count however is the spectrum above 80 especially between 80 and something near 2000. This is an area which needs to be "worked" a lot, as just about every instrument on the planet produces a lot of stuff in this range.
NS10's - however limited and crappy sounding they are / were, amplified this region to the extend that, unless you had things exactly where they should be, it sounded in-your-face horrible, which was / is their only strength, and a big one at that!

My control room is completely calibrated and treated to house a main monitoring system which is just over 2000 watts. Everything under 80Hz is filtered out by means of 2 80Hz Bessel high pass filters, and routed to a sub. This is NOT because the main monitors cannot carry low frequencies, they definately can. Its just that the speakers in the sub are much larger, the amp is a different amp designed to transmit frequencies up to 80 Hz only, and it does it so much better! So overall my sound is more accurate.

All this was taken into consideration when the 25's were designed, and they opted for a monitor which would accurately represent those frequencies which are most important, and the 25's just sound damn good!.

Whatever I say - the proof is in the pudding. All you have to do is put them next to a set of Events or other speakers, and you'll hear the difference (and the volume!!), also in the low end, which you will find to be much more defined.

Finally, they are my nearfields of choice, the first set of monitors I have found to be better reference monitors than NS10's. I'm also going to buy a set for "at home", which should also tell you something about them.

Hope that helps.
 
So you are saying that frequencies under 80Hz is either usless or destructive?
 
Did you READ what I typed before you posted that? Or did you just pull it out of a hat?
 
I only posted that because I was looking at high end monitors like Mackie HR-824's and Yamaha MSP-10's and they all have freq. responses under 80Hz. The Yamaha is as low as 40Hz. There is no need to get snappy Sjoko2...

:D
 
LOL

It seems I failed to get the point accross :confused:

I didn't say anything like that Frank. If you read what I said....
I'll expend on it a bit.
First:
Frequencies below 80 excist, and they are important, but;
When was the last time you recorded something and said to yourself: MMMMM now lemme do some EQ / Processing, or put a nice little effect on this track over here with all the below 80 stuff....... You don't. Its there, or its not there.
Second:
Frequencies below 80Hz are omni-directional. For example, at gigs in places like Madison Square Garden I used to put subs under the stage. It doesn't matter where (as long as they are in phase), put them all in a corner, aimed at a side, point them at the audience, whatever, it will go straight around everything and everyone. You cannot direct it, as its simply movement of air.
To move air accurately, you need a pump or a membrane, preferably one designed for the job.
Put this in speaker terms - a small speaker is not an effective air pump. If you use it like that, it will have to fully focus on doing that job, so it won't do anything else particularly well.

Just in case you still wonder, go and look up the technical specs and in particular the graphs, of the microphones you use. Look at their curves in the low spectrum - and report back (on the double)

:rolleyes:
 
I'm a snappy kindaguy (new song)

The Mackies are pretty cool in the low regions, if you keep them at a reasonably low volume. I like the Mackies and have worked on them, when they were new to a studio in LA I was using. (including having the power supply of one of the first ones blow up, spitting out a nice blue flame and almost setting the studio on fire). The reason I wouldn't consider them for my own place is that the tonal character varies to much depending on your volume setting. You have to start your mixes at a volume, and keep it like that or you'll be hearing different things all the time.

I have not used the new Yams. They are on my list to test.

But then again ...... for a little bit more you can get an LSR28P, which, together with the new Quested midfields, is in a league of its own, If you'd put them next to a Mackie you'd start laughing.
 
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