#1680940 - 05/22/05 08:42 PM
Monitors
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younggunmn
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Registered: 05/22/05
Posts: 25
Loc: New York, NY
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Hi all,
I just joined the forum a few minutes ago, and from the quick look around I had, this place looks AWESOME. I don't have a whole lot of experience engineering, and even though I've read a lot of books and understand most the principles well (I did undergrad in physics so the signal processing makes a lot of sense to me), I've never had the chance to actually talk to people who know what they're doing, so I'm psyched!
Anyhow, I have a fairly modest studio setup in my house-- a PC with two MOTU 896s, and a half decent set of mics. My band is finally working on recording our first album, and I've actually been really happy with some of the recordings we've made (mostly drums so far). I have a really cheap set of analog monitors plugged in to the soundcard on my computer, and I'd like to get something better (hopefully with digital inputs). My budget is in the $100-$300 range. I was thinking of the Roland DM20,
http://www.zzounds.com/item--ROLDM20
but I'd love to hear any suggestions you have.
Relatedly, should I also get a sub-woofer? I've heard some people say yes, and other say no, because it gives you a false impression of how your mix will sound on systems without one. If it matters, the music I tend to work on is mostly rock/blues/metal.
Thanks in advance for your help!
-Matt
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#1680941 - 05/22/05 08:53 PM
Re: Monitors
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Sean Eldon
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Registered: 04/19/04
Posts: 462
Loc: Long Island
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I'm going to immediately kind of shoot you down on the whole "Digital Monitor" thing. Bad converters from A/D or D/A can really fooey up any mix. Having converters IN YOUR MONITORS is probably the worst possible place. Also, 10 watts per channel is the scariest thing I've ever heard.
Check out the KRK RP5s. Powered. Small. 75 watts biamped. Awesome ugly yellow speakers. REALLY accurate and good speakers for the price. You'll thank me later.
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#1680942 - 05/22/05 08:53 PM
Re: Monitors
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offramp
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Registered: 10/31/00
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Loc: Golden, CO.
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hey, welcome to the forums! It's nice to see someone join and introduce themselves in a proper manner  . We have so little of that, lately, it would seem.
I have an 896. And I can't help but wonder why you're not monitoring off of one of those instead of out of your soundcard? (Since you didn't say much about the soundcard--other than you had one--I am assuming you've got something basic/generic in there? Correct me if I'm wrong...). A modest pair of powered monitors might run you a little more than 3 bills, but it'd be worth it, especially if they're fed signal from the 896.
Personally, I wouldn't bother with the subwoofer just yet. Seems to me it's kind of a crapshoot...you don't know how someone else's sub is going to be tweaked, and everything could sound bad on some other system than yours. I'd say, make the best, most kickin' mix you can on a decent set of monitors, and let someone else worry about their sub. You've got bigger fish to fry at the moment.
(p.s., if you value the precious minutes of your life, stay out of the Political Forum. It's like crack. And bad crack, at that.  )
_________________________
I've upped my standards; now, up yours.
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#1680943 - 05/22/05 09:07 PM
Re: Monitors
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Philip O'Keefe
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Registered: 12/17/00
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Loc: Riverside,CA,UNITED STATES
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Hey Matt, welcome to the forums. 
Thanks for taking the time to introduce yourself. Make yourself at home, don't hesitate to ask questions and participate. We're a pretty easygoing bunch.. but make sure you read the "welcome to the PS forum" thread, and if you have any music you want to share with everyone, please use the "Is your recording / mix any good? Find out here" thread - both are right at the top of the forum.
As far as your monitors, I'm a big believer when it comes to NOT skimping on speakers... that's the one thing (your monitoring system - speakers, amps and room acoustics) that will have an effect on everything you do, every decision you make.
AFAIC, probably the least expensive monitors you'll find out there that are really worthy of serious consideration are going to likely be in the $500 - $700 price range... if you can manage to save up a bit more, your options are going to be a lot better in that price range, but if not, we'll try to work within your stated budget... but IMO, that's pretty low, and I wouldn't expect great performance from anything in that category... I'm not trying to be elitist (my primary monitors cost over $5,000 a pair), just realistic.
Again, welcome to the forums. 
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#1680944 - 05/22/05 09:18 PM
Re: Monitors
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philbo_Tangent
Platinum Member
Registered: 10/08/00
Posts: 1175
Loc: Iowa
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Welcome to the forum!
I surely haven't heard anything good about Roland and/or Edirol monitors. I agree with Phil O'Keefe, but if you are not up to those prices, you can still do OK with Event, Tannoy or Wharfdale monitors for 300 to 500 bucks.
Frankly, the acoustics of your room will vary the sound a lot more than the differences between these speakers. So, you should most definitely also read through Ethan Winers forum (and I strongly urge you to read his website on acoustics) before putting any money on the line. (You may wish to set aside some money for rigid fiberglass panels...)
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#1680945 - 05/22/05 11:39 PM
Re: Monitors
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younggunmn
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Registered: 05/22/05
Posts: 25
Loc: New York, NY
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WOW! Thanks so much for the responses and the warm welcome. Like I said, I'm pretty inexperienced, and I have to admit I nearly bought those Rolands last night -- glad I didnt 
Sean: Thanks for the KRK RP5 suggestion. Those certainly have the best reviews I've found anywhere, and they're in my price range (they look cool too!). Has anyone else used those before?
http://www.zzounds.com/productreview--KRKRP5
offramp: You guess right -- I have a SoundBlaster! Live soundcard, nothing special. I had tried monitoring off the 896 before, but I ran into some problems with digital clicking when I was playing back a lot of tracks at once. But based on what you and Sean said, I'm convinced not to get monitors with built-in D/A converters. I'll try messing around and see if I can get the 896 monitoring working better...and I'm convinced about the subwoofer too
Phil: thanks for the pointers - I just read through em. And thanks for setting up this forum; I said it looked cool before, but now I know for sure As for the budget considerations, I've learned just enough to know you often get what you pay for, and I'd rather get something truly good than spend a fair chunck of money and be disappointed anyways. What would you suggest in the 500-700 price range?
philbo: thanks for the suggestions, I'll check those brands out. And thanks for the pointer to the acoustics stuff -- that's a lot of stuff to read through and it looks pretty interesting. Unfortunately, my 'studio' (a.k.a. my 'really small room in my really small apartment') is pretty tiny, so I'm sort of stuck with what I have, but I should know more about that stuff no matter what I guess.
Thanks again to all of you for your help!
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#1680946 - 05/23/05 12:57 AM
Re: Monitors
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Sean Eldon
Senior Member
Registered: 04/19/04
Posts: 462
Loc: Long Island
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500-700 dollar price range...in my opinion these are some powered speakers to look at:
Blue Sky 2.1 Media Desk. You were curious about a sub. Try and listen to these if you can. Really great idea, especially "bang for the buck", if you don't really need to mix at high volumes. If your room is small, you probably won't need to crank them often anyway.
JBL LSR6325P are about 6 and change for the pair. These you can go ahead and crank. Tight response, nice and crisp, small and easy to move around, and easily adjustable with front volume control.
Tannoy Reveal Active pair goes for about the same price as the JBLs, probably a little more flat and accurate. Hard to find in chain stores, so listening to them will be no easy task.
KRK V6 Series II are 700 for the pair. High quality build for cabinet and speaker. Ported at the bottom to reduce unwanted distortion. Some people complain they're too mid-rangey, but I personally don't hear it and I work with them on a semi-regular basis as backups/second opinions to my Event ASP8s ($1300-1400 a pair. Sounds like 1800-2000 a pair).
Or you could go nuts and spend a G-note on the Dynaudio BM5As
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#1680947 - 05/23/05 08:39 AM
Re: Monitors
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offramp
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Registered: 10/31/00
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Loc: Golden, CO.
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younggunmn, that digital clicking is more than likely the sound of a buffer setting that's too low, and has nothing to do with it being the audio outputs.
Whip out the MOTU manual, and re-analyze your deeper-level settings.
You might also want to see if you've got enough RAM in your machine.
And if you're trying to use one hard drive for OS, applications, AND audio, then bad dog. Get a dedicated drive for audio capture.
_________________________
I've upped my standards; now, up yours.
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#1680949 - 05/23/05 09:05 AM
Re: Monitors
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Anderson Council Sound
Senior Member
Registered: 07/13/01
Posts: 177
Loc: Florida,UNITED STATES
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I have KRK V8's (series 2) and I love them!
They are a little bit harsh in the upper mids at times, but once you get used to it, it dosen't pose much of a problem. They never affect the mix in that range, they actually help you to smooth any harshness that may be in cymbols or ele gtrs. The Yamaha NS-10's have a similar response in that range too, and I've worked on those guys since day 1.
The bass response is really tight too, and my mixs translate really well. The low mids are accurate and un-hyped, which is an important feature that some monitors overlook.
I've not heard the V6's, but I highly recomend the KRK's. The V8's are only a bit more than the V6's ($900 for the pair) and they go lower (45 Hz, I think)so if you can get up the extra $$, I'd go for the big guys.
Besides, those yellow woofers just look sooo cool!!!
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#1680950 - 05/23/05 09:16 AM
Re: Monitors
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offramp
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Registered: 10/31/00
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Loc: Golden, CO.
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BAD DOG!
Partitioning is not the same, no sir. Doesn't matter if you've got one partition or twenty, it is still one disc and one arm and one reader head on that arm that has to do all the work, back and forth back and forth, ad nauseum. Drives can overheat from all that work, too, so there's that to contend with.
Don't be so cheap. Get yourself a good-sized hard drive, make it internal if you've got the space, and view it as your "tape machine".
And I don't really know much about how Windows systems handle RAM, but 640 just doesn't sound like enough in any system. Get more.
_________________________
I've upped my standards; now, up yours.
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#1680951 - 05/23/05 10:04 AM
Re: Monitors
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where02190
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Registered: 11/06/01
Posts: 5402
Loc: Weymouth, Ma. USA
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In the $100-300 range you probably won't see any improvement from your current situation, or very little. Step up to the $700-2000 range and you'll see draumatic implrovement. However unless you have acoustically treated your room so it's response is as flat as possible, it's all a waste. good monitors are only as good as the room they are in.
_________________________
Hope this is helpful. NP Recording Studios Analog approach to digital recording.
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#1680952 - 05/23/05 06:28 PM
Re: Monitors
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younggunmn
Member
Registered: 05/22/05
Posts: 25
Loc: New York, NY
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Thanks to everyone for the responses. I guess I've come to a few conclusions:
1) I'm a bad dog I need a new HD and more RAM.
2) I'll need to spend more than I thought on monitors.
3) I should treat my room, or I'll just be wasting that extra money.
Unfortunately, there's not a whole lot I can do to treat the room, just because of space constraints, but after reading through Ethan Winer's FAQ (not done yet), I think I actually may be somewhat lucky about the way it's shaped, and I already have a kind of accidental baffle behind where the monitors sit.
So now I have a new question: Should I treat my room, and then buy new monitors, or buy new monitors, and then treat the room to make the response as flat as possible for that set of monitors? I was thinking of generating sine waves starting from low frequency and working my way up, listening for dips and resonances, but that will obviously depend on the frequency response of the monitors, so maybe I should wait to treat the room?
Thanks in advance for your help.
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#1680953 - 05/23/05 06:39 PM
Re: Monitors
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Philip O'Keefe
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Registered: 12/17/00
Posts: 17674
Loc: Riverside,CA,UNITED STATES
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Do you own the house?
Can you get us some dimensions on the room?
IMO, the monitors / room treatment should probably be done simultaneously, but if it's a case of either / or, I'd probably hit the room first. Tuning the room to a specific set of monitors is pretty much a non-starter for a home setup... you're never going to get the frequency response dead on flat, but you can usually even it out quite a bit, with little more than a couple hundred bucks worth of semi-rigid compressed fiberglass board (or mineral wool), a little lumber and some fabric. You might be surprised how much improvement a few corner traps can make... and they don't all have to be in the wall junctions - you can put some in the wall / ceiling junction points and still hear a significant improvement. But again, give us an idea of your room dimensions and gear layout and we can start from there.
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#1680954 - 05/23/05 07:37 PM
Re: Monitors
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younggunmn
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Registered: 05/22/05
Posts: 25
Loc: New York, NY
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Hi Phil thanks for the advice.
IMO, the monitors / room treatment should probably be done simultaneously, but if it's a case of either / or, I'd probably hit the room first.
Unfortunately, I don't own the apartment, so I can't do anything too drastic. The room is actually the room I grew up in in New York City, and it's pretty small. It's kind of a strange layout -- hopefully this picture and description will make it clearer (all measurements in feet).
The overall room is 7x12x12 (ceiling is 12 high). About half the room is covered by a loft (my desk is underneath). The 'ceiling' under the loft is about 6.5 high, and is pretty irregularly shaped: there are support beams running one way, and thick doweles running through them the other. Under the stairs (facing in the same direction as the desk) are bookshelves, which are mostly full. Right behind the desk is a fairly thick plywood sheet from the model train I had as a kid. I also have a bunch of rackmount stuff piled on the desk, so it kind of blocks that anyways. The walls along the bench and stairs are brick; the other ones are drywall. Most of the floor is carpeted.
Hope that makes at least a little sense..like I said, pretty strange Thanks again for taking the time to look this over. I'm looking forward to hearing what you think!
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#1680955 - 05/23/05 10:14 PM
Re: Monitors
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Philip O'Keefe
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Registered: 12/17/00
Posts: 17674
Loc: Riverside,CA,UNITED STATES
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Great job on the description and graphics.
AQre you currently set up with a DAW at the desk position? Are you willing to consider reconfiguring the layout of various things if needed, or are you pretty much stuck with the current layout? For example, it might be good to reconfigure the desk so that your back, when seated at the desk, is facing towards the bench at the other side of the room. IOW, putting the desk under the loft, but up aganst the wall that is currently to the right of the desk (when you're seated at it) right now.
BTW, what gear are you currently using?
Sorry for all the questios and little in the way of answers - but IMO, we need as much info as we can get so that the advice we give will be as appropriate as possible!
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#1680956 - 05/23/05 10:46 PM
Re: Monitors
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offramp
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Registered: 10/31/00
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Loc: Golden, CO.
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"Accidental Baffle" WBAGNFARB
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#1680957 - 05/24/05 01:11 AM
Re: Monitors
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younggunmn
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Registered: 05/22/05
Posts: 25
Loc: New York, NY
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Sorry for all the questios and little in the way of answers - but IMO, we need as much info as we can get so that the advice we give will be as appropriate as possible!
As far as room layout, I can't change too much, just cause it would be hard to fit. I forgot to mention that the righthand wall in the picture is a sliding closet door, so it wouldn't really work to put the desk there. Also, I think the desk may be to long -- i.e. it'd block the door 
As for gear, I'm not really sure what's relevant, so I'll list everything more or less...Try not to laugh
- 1.6 MHz Pentium IV, 640 MB RAM (I'll be upgrading this and adding a HD)
- Vegas Video 2.0, Sound Forge 7.0, T-Racks Mastering software
- MOTU 896
- Behringer headphone amp (4 outs, Powerplay Pro HA4600)
- Behringer vocal compressor (Ultra-Voice Pro VX2000). I sometimes use this for other stuff too, with fairly decent results.
- Audix PH-3 Monitors - these are ok, but no matter where I use them, my mixes always have way too much bass when I play them on other decent systems or in the car
- Digitech S100 multieffects rackmount with footswitch. The only thing I really use this for is to add some reverb or whatever to the headphone monitors during recording.
- Mic stands and cables
- Some no-name passive direct box
- mics: 1 SM57, 1 Nady TCM 1050 tube condenser, 2 Nady CM 90 condenser mics, a few half-decent sam ash dynamic, a lower-end Shure condenser mic, some Nady drum mics (DM 70/80)
- Johnson JM250 and J12 foot controller
- 2x12 speaker cab (homemade, but actually pretty decent, I think)
- Fender Champion 110 combo amp
- My guitar (a hohner LP copy)
- a cheap ESP/LTD B-50 electric bass
- 2 acoustic guitars (classical and steel)
- A super-cheap Rolls RM65 6x4 mixer (XLR + 1/4" inputs, phantom power). Rackmount. I bought this when I was a kid and really had no idea what I was doing....seemed like a good idea at the time, but I never really ended up using it for much.
I think that's basically it. When we record drums, I bring all my stuff over to my drummer's basement and record there (I play a DI scratch track along with him). Other than that, it's pretty much recording under blankets in my room, and trying not to piss the neighbors off too badly For mixing/mastering processing I pretty much entirely rely on the software listed.
Lemme know if there's anything else I should tell you about!
-Matt
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#1680958 - 05/24/05 04:44 PM
Re: Monitors
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Philip O'Keefe
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Registered: 12/17/00
Posts: 17674
Loc: Riverside,CA,UNITED STATES
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Wow, okay, we're dealing with a much less than optimum room condition here. Sorry about that, but that's how it is.
How to deal with it?
Well, if you can get some 2" compressed fiberglass (or mineral wool), cover it with fabric (burlap is cheap, comes in a variety of different colors and will work fine), and place it overhead (on the bottom of the loft), and maybe with a couple more placed where you can fit them... if you can offset them a couple of inches off the wall, the low frequency absorption will be improved. Doesn't look like you'll be able to get many of them placed diagonally across wall junctures, or wall / ceiling junctures, but if you can, that's always a good idea.
As far as monitors, in your situation, I'd say a Blue Sky Media Desk 2.1 system would be darned near ideal. It's not the loudest system out there, but that's not something you'll want in such a small room anyway... not to mention your neighbours would hate you for getting a really loud system anyhow. The Media Desk is designed specifically for "up close" desktop monitoring, and the sub makes the lows a lot easier to hear than those Audix speakers you're currently using. List price is $599 IIRC. I did a review of them right here on the forum, let me get the link for you:
Here you go.
They're a very good little monitoring system, and frankly, IMO, perfect for your current situation.
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#1680959 - 05/24/05 05:39 PM
Re: Monitors
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younggunmn
Member
Registered: 05/22/05
Posts: 25
Loc: New York, NY
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Awesome review Phil! I looked at a few others online and none of them gave nearly as much useful info. Thanks a lot for recommending those -- I don't think I'd ever have thought of them on my own.
The MediaDesk 2.1 really do seem like the perfect monitors for my setup, and I like the fact that I can upgrade to 5.1 if my situation changes. I think I can get a new set for about $450 on ebay.
And I just remembered I have some fiberglass at my grandmas' house (in upstate NY) from some work we did there a while back. I'll try to pick up some more and get some fabric to cover them. Like you said, my situation is far from ideal, but if I can make it better, my mixes should improve accordingly...I hope
Thanks so much for the help. I'll let you know how I make out
PS: If I am able to turn my desk against the right wall, would you suggest I go ahead and do that? I'm not sure it'd work, but I'm willing to try...I guess it would help reduce reflections and standing waves due to the wall right behind me?
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#1680960 - 05/24/05 05:46 PM
Re: Monitors
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BlueSky
Senior Member
Registered: 12/15/01
Posts: 318
Loc: La Quinta, CA, UNITED STATES
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Hello Younggunmn:
Please feel free to contact me directly if you have any comments or questions regarding our products. pascal@abluesky.com
Cheers!
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#1680961 - 05/24/05 05:50 PM
Re: Monitors
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younggunmn
Member
Registered: 05/22/05
Posts: 25
Loc: New York, NY
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whoa, thanks BlueSky -- talk about support! 
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#1680962 - 05/25/05 09:48 AM
Re: Monitors
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flyscots
MP Hall of Fame Member
Registered: 12/27/01
Posts: 2258
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Welcome to the forums!
While everyone here has made great suggestions and helped you a great deal (and will continue to do so!) I thought I'd add a suggestion just to give you another option.
M-Audio BX8s. I have them and am very happy with them. They are not the best you'll find, but they do fit in your price range. I have suffered no ear fatigue at all from long periods of use and so far everything I have done on them has translated well onto all other systems.
Having said that, I listen to a lot of CDs through them to learn their sound. I think that is an essential to do with any new monitors.
All the best!
John Scott
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#1680963 - 05/25/05 12:40 PM
Re: Monitors
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younggunmn
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Registered: 05/22/05
Posts: 25
Loc: New York, NY
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Thanks John! -- I'll check those out too
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#1680964 - 05/25/05 04:06 PM
Re: Monitors
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Philip O'Keefe
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Registered: 12/17/00
Posts: 17674
Loc: Riverside,CA,UNITED STATES
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Having said that, I listen to a lot of CDs through them to learn their sound. I think that is an essential to do with any new monitors.
No matter what you end up getting for monitors, this advice applies IMO - and is very important. IOW, spend some time listening to CD's that you're very familiar with to "learn" what good music should sound like in your room, on your speakers. And don't hesitate to compare your "in process" work with commercial CD's of similar style / genre as you're working. Those two tips are, IMO, very important and can help you a great deal insofar as getting your mixes to 'translate" well to other playback systems in other rooms.
Good advice John. 
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#1680965 - 05/26/05 09:03 PM
Re: Monitors
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Dak Lander
MP Hall of Fame Member
Registered: 01/10/02
Posts: 7728
Loc: Temecula, LoCal, USA
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I was thinking of the Roland DM20
I can say this. There are many much more expensive monitors that are worse.
The ten watts is enough for near field monitoring in a home studio environment. I gotta get a SPL meter but at my listening distance I can't get the volume above the half way point without the volume being too loud. I normally listen at about the 25% level.
As with any monitor, and the space it's in, you will have to learn how what you hear from them translates to what you will hear on a hi-fi, boom box, car stereo & etc.
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#1680966 - 06/04/05 07:06 PM
Re: Monitors
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younggunmn
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Registered: 05/22/05
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Loc: New York, NY
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I picked up a MediaDesk 2.1 new on ebay for $450 including shipping...I'm a little worried the guy realized what a good deal he gave me and is trying to stiff me now, but I think I'll work it out eventually
Anyway, the real reason I'm posting is to tell offramp THANK YOU!!! for telling me to go back and check out the buffer setting on my 896 again. I had tried every possible buffer setting in Vegas Video with no luck before, because I always thought it was some sort of problem within the program. But when I went and messed with the settings on the driver utility, I was finally able to fix the crackling by lowering the samples per buffer from 512 to 384. Anyways, I feel a little stupid for not figuring this out myself (I think maybe I did mess with the setting once before, but I raised the samples per buffer instead of lowering it). But stupid or not, I've never heard audio come through anything so clearly. It's so much less fatiguing to listen to stuff now -- I never appreciated how much EM pickup the card in my computer had. Thanks again
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#1680967 - 06/05/05 02:37 AM
Re: Monitors
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facingwest
Member
Registered: 06/04/05
Posts: 6
Loc: Key West
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Wow!! This is an awsome forum! I'm also new here and had some questions on monitors and studio gear. I've been a musician for 19 years and have minimal pro studio experience. A friend and I built a home studio from the ground up and worked on a few projects over the past 5 or 6 years. Recently, I moved and found myself wanting to get back into recording, so I recently purchased a Ensoniq Paris Pro with 3.0 software and pretty much have to start over purchasing gear. This time I'd really like to do it right and make the right purchases up front, rather than learning the hard way.
What would be the best near field monitor for the buck that has a flat response? I'm looking to spend under $1500 for a set. I just want to make sure I get the right set at a good price.
As far as a room goes, I'm living in a condo where you can't have very loud volumes and the dimensions of the room are 10L X 12W X 8H. The walls are concrete and the room has some furniture in it to absorb a little of the sound.
The Paris system has a lot of inboard effects, but the compression in it is horrible. I'll be using Waves plugins for further options.
The pieces of gear that most concern me are as follows:
1" diaphram vocal mic. (VERY IMPORTANT)
Vocal Mic preamp.
Studio monitors. (VERY IMPORTANT)
Instrument mic aside from an SM57.
Recommended outboard effects.
Headphones. (VERY IMPORTANT)
Out of these, I'd like to find the most recommended brands.
To give you an idea of what the other studio looked like, I've included some pictures. Check it out.
http://www.johnsolinski.com/studio
Any input would be truly appreciated. Thanks.
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#1680968 - 06/05/05 05:58 AM
Re: Monitors
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sign
MP Hall of Fame Member
Registered: 04/27/01
Posts: 2216
Loc: NETHERLANDS
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After having tried quite a number of monitors (my gear pimp is a very nice guy) like Genelec, KRK, PMC etc, I stumbled by accident over a couple of speakers that impressed me very much.
It was at the place of a famous Dutch pianist, where I saw these IMF ALS40II speakers that sounded absolutely awesome.
Now I own nine pair of IMF monitors and my favorite for mixing acoustic music like jazz is the Compact Monitor 2 which is the most detailed monitor I've heard so far.
I still have a pair of NS10's on the bridge, together with a sub, but I almost never use them since the CM 2 sounds so much better.
I've bought the CM2's for €75, yes seventy five euro.
IMF speakers are Transmission Line speakers from the 70's/80's, I guess they are rare in the USA.
It's not a matter of budget for me, I can easely buy a pair of ADAM's, but I just love that pair of CM2's.
http://www.imf-electronics.com/CM2/index.html
Note: the images on this link are the wrong images, the b/w images on top are the right ones, the other (colored)images are the Compact 2, the smallest IMF's which can sound a bit harsh, but with an amp like the Luxman A series they can sound very good.
For example: HERE is an adver on a Dutch marketplace of a pair of IMF Super Compact monitors with the latest IMF woofers (the former used Kef woofers) that sound awesome. As you can see the current bid is €100 for these stunning speakers.
These speakers will sound better and more accurate/detailed than most monitors in the $500-1500 range. Only €100 ($122)
_________________________
The alchemy of the masters moving molecules of air, we capture by moving particles of iron, so that the poetry of the ancients will echo into the future.
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#1680969 - 06/25/05 09:02 PM
Re: Monitors
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younggunmn
Member
Registered: 05/22/05
Posts: 25
Loc: New York, NY
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Just wanted to say thanks again to everyone for their monitor suggestions. I finally got my MediaDesk 2.1, and I freaking love it I think that was the perfect suggestion Phil. After listening to those Audix monitors for so long, it's like somebody finally turned my ears on -- I can actually hear the low end. I'm still working on setting them up (I'm going to put the satellites on some old tabletop mic stands I've got so they're at ear height -- I just need this damn adapter to come in the mail so I can screw them onto the posts). But even without any calibration or placement they're a ton better than what I've been using. Thanks for talking me into spending the extra cash
Now I just have to save up some more money so I can treat the room
-Matt
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