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ksmalk08
New member
Well - I went ahead and order the Alesis active MKII's today - should get here by Friday - and ill report back - like I said - if they turn out sucking I send them back and get KRKs.
DrewPeterson7
Sage of the Order
I wasn't really saying that you can't get anything good for $300, I think you can. My point was that if the room is too small for an amp, any speakers are going to be a little compromised. Headphones are better in super small rooms.
Not really - since the left and right channels never really "meet" on a pair of phones, phasing issues get completely obscured when you mix on headphones. Also, the stereo spectrum gets a bit screwy. You can do quite a lot with a good set of phones, and for the price they're attractive, but there are a few things you absolutely cannot compensate for on a pair of headphones simply because you physically cannot hear it.
johnsuitcase
New member
I know what you're saying, but with many headphone amps, and some plug-ins, you can crossfeed signal with a frequency rolloff and .7 or so millisecond delay to simulate the experience of hearing in a room.
I've mixed like this, and if you are careful, you can get a very good mix without ever hearing it on your nearfields.
Grace makes an amp with the crossfeed feature.
DrewPeterson7
Sage of the Order
Yes, but we're still talking simulation - a constant .7 ms delay isn't the same constantly variable interaction you get in a room, and if you're working with perfectly in phase samples (say, you're one of those guys who copies/pastes rhythm guitars) it could theoretically cause its own phasing issues.
Long story short, by that point you're doing a LOT of work to sort-of replicate something that happens naturally in a room. It's not a bad idea to have a set of phones around while mixing, sure, but I wouldn't recommend it as a primary monitoring scheme.
Also, I just googled that Grace headphone amp. Did you really just advocate a $1600 amp as a low-cost alternative to a $300 pair of monitors?
johnsuitcase
New member
Ahh, well when you travel in the upper echelons of audio like I do, price is no concern...</joke>
I wouldn't advocate using headphones as being superior to nearfields, sorry if it came off that way.
My point was that if you're in a room that's so small that you can't it a rack with a power amp, any speaker is going to be badly compromised.
If I had the choice between mixing with $3000 nearfields in a 6x6 bathroom or using a pair of $100 headphones, I'd use the headphones.
If I'm limited to $300 speakers in a room the size of a closet, say, I still think headphones are going to be better.
If I have a room that's at least 15x12x8 or so, nearfields will be superior to any headphones.