New to studio monitors

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Chill

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Hey gang, I've been thinking about picking up a pair of studio monitors to improve my mixes on the computer, in particular their portability...just missed the $99 emu's on MF and GC. I've been eyeing the KRK RP6 and RP8 among others. Some questions:

-how much difference does the 5" vs 6" vs 8" driver make in the low end?
-how much difference does the woofer driver material make, and why do you like certain materials better than others?
-given the room dimensions of approximately 6-8' deep and 10-12' wide, do I want to have more or less low end? (or should I board up that room and never monitor there due to it's shallowness)
-what tweeter dimensions/ materials are better, and why do you like certain materials better than others?

And, what are your picks for monitor pairs $300 and under
-$500 and under?
 
Chill said:
Hey gang, I've been thinking about picking up a pair of studio monitors to improve my mixes on the computer, in particular their portability...just missed the $99 emu's on MF and GC. I've been eyeing the KRK RP6 and RP8 among others. Some questions:

-how much difference does the 5" vs 6" vs 8" driver make in the low end?
-how much difference does the woofer driver material make, and why do you like certain materials better than others?
-given the room dimensions of approximately 6-8' deep and 10-12' wide, do I want to have more or less low end? (or should I board up that room and never monitor there due to it's shallowness)
-what tweeter dimensions/ materials are better, and why do you like certain materials better than others?

And, what are your picks for monitor pairs $300 and under
-$500 and under?
Click to expand...

answer 1: the rule used to be bigger meant lower for the lowend, but now with the new motor/suspension systems smaller drivers can get pretty low, that being said I wouldn't get anything smaller than a 6-7" if not using a sub.

answer 2: can be scratched off because it to complicated to get into, and in the end you have no control over what's used, there are again basics with certain materials ie: stiffer cones will have a resonance peak that need to be taken care of but will keep it's shape better, softer the opposite and the whole range in-between. same goes with the weight of whats used, which has to be taken care of in other ways

answer 3: someone else will do a better job at answering this, but I think if you can "treat" the room it will be fine

answer 4: see answer 2

as for what my pick is I really have no clue, but from one of those mag shootouts I think they likes the Samson Rubicon
 
I can't agree with ds21 enough on number 3. In fact, if I was looking to spend $500 on monitors for an untreated room, I'd buy $300 monitors and $200 worth of 703 and make some bass traps.

I wish I'd known about bass traps 5 years ago... could have saved me so much time and money, not to mentioned frustration.
 
Alesis M1 Active Card Schematics

Hi,

Does anyone know where can I download the old Alesis M1 Active card schematics? at least for power supply?

thanks..
 
pschmailinglist said:
Hi,

Does anyone know where can I download the old Alesis M1 Active card schematics? at least for power supply?

thanks..
Click to expand...

this is the only link I remember not sure if this was for the m1's, might be able to get a hold of some of the people mentioned.

http://www.apexjr.com/alesis.htm
 
Thanks for the tips, I will definitely look into room treatment.

One other question: my current speakers are Altec Lansing ACS33's, which are two satellite speakers 250Hz-18KHz, and a sub 70Hz-250Hz, no frequency graphs provided. Say I find a pair of 70-18K monitors, how are they likely to sound different?
 
Chill said:
Thanks for the tips, I will definitely look into room treatment.

One other question: my current speakers are Altec Lansing ACS33's, which are two satellite speakers 250Hz-18KHz, and a sub 70Hz-250Hz, no frequency graphs provided. Say I find a pair of 70-18K monitors, how are they likely to sound different?
Click to expand...


You can't give a blanket statement for all monitors with 70-18k range.
How much 70? how much 4? are they ported to the rear or front?
it's just impossible to say.

From looking at your current set-up though, any pair of monitors that are decent ar more than likely going to give you more better mids and hi's. I would chuck the sub woofer you have and get something with say a 50hz minimum bottom. You should end up with a lot more punch and more defined bass.

I personally don't know where you would find monitors that only go down to 70hz if you spend anywhere near $500 unless you get somthing designed to only be used with a sub and your sub will not cut it.

Hope that helps some. I would personally get the best monitors I could afford and plan to treat your room asap if you have cash flow. It's cheaper than buying another set of monitors later after you treat your room. If this is the last money you will have to spare for a long time then you might want to buy the best used monitors you can get and treat right now.


F.S.
 
Any thoughts about a power amp and passive speaker setup? Something like a Samson Servo 120 or 200 and a pair of passive Alesis Monitor 1's. Seems like it would be a good idea for switching between pairs of speakers with a consumer audio speaker set there in the room.
 
I personally wouldn't go passive on the monitors and I would steer clear of alesis. That's just been my experiance.

I think you where on the right track with the RP8's ;)

You want a nice quiet amp if you go passive. You might check out the hafler line of lower output amps. I can not say how the samson are. Hopefully someone here has one. You may want to try doing a search of the board on those.

Good Luck.

F.S.
 
The RP-series are fairly light for how powerful they are, and produce a good sound. Just my experience thus far :)
 
Nate74 said:
I can't agree with ds21 enough on number 3. In fact, if I was looking to spend $500 on monitors for an untreated room, I'd buy $300 monitors and $200 worth of 703 and make some bass traps.

I wish I'd known about bass traps 5 years ago... could have saved me so much time and money, not to mentioned frustration.
Click to expand...

Nate 74:
I´m interested to know about the frustration... ´cause I´m planning to treat my room (a new room now) and don´t want to make another mistake as I already did years ago, trying to treat a 10 X 10 X 8 room with bad results (well, some guys said a square room "cannot be treated"...)

Thanks

Ciro
 
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