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what size monitor

N

nixoblivion

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 20, 2008
25
0
Hey.
i was in the shop today, trying to get a pair of monitors for me.
my room is around 10x4m im sitting on the 10m side.
i guess when ill be mixing ill pull out the table a bit (50cm or so) sothat the monitors arent against the wall. this would mean monitors 50cm from the wall and 3.50m to the other wall. i would only be sitting around 2m from both walls.

now the guy in the shop told me that thats really tight and that i should get real small monitors. he was showing me the genelecs with 4" and said those are just the right size, anything bigger will be problematic!
i wanted to initially get 8" monitors, but he said with those to work well i would have to make them real loud sothat i can hear the bass well and all.

do you guys agree with that? i was thinking the bigger the monitor, the better i will hear the bass, but i guess that isnt completly true.
 
this is kind of one those, "if you have to ask..." :D

get the small ones. monitors the size of Audio Engines A5 will provide more than enough kick to piss off whoever lives with you. the bass is pretty good too.
 
I agree, i wouldn't be going for the 8" get yourself a nice pair of 6" near fields

Are they willing to let you demo a few in your own space?
Because they may sound **** hot in the store but dont translate well in your room.

IMO i wouldn't get anything under 6", check out: Adams A7, JBL LSR4326P, Blue Sky.
 
nixoblivion said:
i wanted to initially get 8" monitors, but he said with those to work well i would have to make them real loud sothat i can hear the bass well and all.

do you guys agree with that?
Click to expand...

in general, no, though maybe he was talking about the gennies specifically. i wouldn't take much stock in what he said, what you really need to do is get the candidate monitors in your room and do some work through them.

i can heartily recommend the adam a7's. also, where you're putting them and sitting seems pretty reasonable. if you've got the space, you may want to back the monitors away from the wall even more.

have you treated your room? i highly recommend some bass traps in the corners, at a minimum. even the best monitors can't overcome a bad room.

and if you want to get super-technical, put your sitting position 38% of the room length from either the front or back wall.
 
While you're at it, check out the new KRK Rokit series, they punch well above their weight. The RP6 (6" driver) is a very good monitor indeed - in fact I'm thinking of getting a pair...
 
The original M-Audio BX5's work really well in the type of environment you're describing. I had those in my dorm and tiny, tiny apartment for mixing. I have more room now and have upgraded to Dynaudio BM5A's...which are a bit too big for your space.

Be wary though, try to find the ORIGINAL BX5's...NOT the BX5a. They don't sound as good and don't have the options for pads, crossover frequency, etc.
 
I'd recommend the KRKs over the M-Audio kit to be honest. M-Audio's stuff is very good, but I've never been so impressed with their speaker offerings.

The KRKs are a very very good indeed, and also won't break the bank.
 
ok thx guys. i dunno why everyones saying the room is so small, it isnt. its 40m2 which is like 120f2! is the reason because i only have 4m width in the room?

anways i was thinking about getting the tascam vl-a5. ive heard great reviews on these. does someone have experience on them? unfortunatly in the stores here i cant test hear many monitors only the genelec's and the fostex were of any interest...
 
I haven't heard the Tascam monitor you talk of, but I've heard a few other Tascam speakers and if they're anything to go by, the KRK Rokit RP5 is a much better speaker. £55 more for quite a bit leap up in performance...
 
hey, thx for the info.
which tascams have you heard? dont wanna be picky or anything but speakers do vary quite a lot... ill be thinking about the krk's but theres something about them that i dont really like. its probably the look, they seem to look real amature or something, but i guess thats me.
whats so good about these krks? why are you promoting them? :)
one thing for sure, the tascams go down 10hz more which is quite impressive! i know thats not all though!
 
Ignore the whole 'Hz' thing! There are different ways of measuring it.

You can measure it 'inaccurately' and get a measurement of 40 Hz - 20 kHz, or measure it 'accurately' and get a measurement of 80 Hz - 20 kHz.

I honestly can't remember which Tascams I've heard. If they were at all memorable, then I'd remember the model. I've heard three pairs, one which looked similar to the VL-A5, but had a flat baffle. The other two were taller, less 'squat' and also had flat baffles. They were 'so-so' at best though.

Yes it's true, the latest KRKs don't look as nice as their predecessors, but the appearance is actually all down to sound. The exact shape of the baffle (front of the speaker) is all to do with the way the sound leaves it. More curves/rolled-edges = less refraction = less distortion. In fact, I was put off by the look of the latest KRKs when I first saw them, but after listening to them, I've realised the looks really don't matter to me at all when the improvement is as big as it is. They really do sound absolutely excellent...
 
sounds quite good. but can you tell me what you mean with the monitors sound excellent? i mean they arent just supposed to have a great sound, right?
so whats good about them? what are their specialities??

as i said, i tried the genelecs (4") and they sounded pretty good, but i didnt want that sound for mixing, too bassy, not very defined in the highs... it seemed the bass was boosted and the treble was cut a little. but what do i know :p
 
nixoblivion said:
i tried the genelecs (4") and they sounded pretty good, but i didnt want that sound for mixing, too bassy, not very defined in the highs...
Click to expand...

how were you able to separate what impact the source material, the room, the power amp/cables and the speakers themselves had on the bass and highs?

and how does that translate into your mixes being necessarily 'too basy, not very defined in the highs'?
 
Killyp said:
While you're at it, check out the new KRK Rokit series, they punch well above their weight. The RP6 (6" driver) is a very good monitor indeed - in fact I'm thinking of getting a pair...
Click to expand...

I have a pair of Rokit 5's myself.. good monitors!

cschreppel said:
The original M-Audio BX5's work really well in the type of environment you're describing. I had those in my dorm and tiny, tiny apartment for mixing. I have more room now and have upgraded to Dynaudio BM5A's...which are a bit too big for your space.

Be wary though, try to find the ORIGINAL BX5's...NOT the BX5a. They don't sound as good and don't have the options for pads, crossover frequency, etc.
Click to expand...

The BX5a's are a little too bright... I had a pair for about a year before moving to the KRKs.

nixoblivion said:
sounds quite good. but can you tell me what you mean with the monitors sound excellent? i mean they arent just supposed to have a great sound, right?
so whats good about them? what are their specialities??

as i said, i tried the genelecs (4") and they sounded pretty good, but i didnt want that sound for mixing, too bassy, not very defined in the highs... it seemed the bass was boosted and the treble was cut a little. but what do i know :p
Click to expand...

A few questions.... Is your room acoustically treated? Do you have another set of monitors for reference? Normally if the mix is too bassy, (especially through two different pairs of monitors) there is too much low end. The Genelics I tried were very good.. the mix translated well from the KRKs to the Gennies... *though I may possibly consider the Reveal line by Tannoy.*
 
Chairman Plow said:
The BX5a's are a little too bright... I had a pair for about a year before moving to the KRKs.
Click to expand...

That's exactly why I liked the BX5's over the KRKs. Granted, I didn't use the BX5A model, but the regular BX5's that were discontinued about 3 years ago in favor of the newer models, which were just updated a few months back.

I found the Rokit series to be a bit honky and woofy in the low end. Not as clean and tight as the BX5's. I was testing out new monitors when my BX5s finally bit the dust (I pushed those things HARD sometimes), the Rokit5's were the first set I tried and I immediately took them back to the store. Tried some Genelecs, but again, wasn't a huge fan.

Settled on the Dynaudios after awhile -- just had the best feel for me.
 
Dynaudio make some fantastic monitors, they just don't enter into the budget market as well as other brands (the BM 5A is around £700 a pair I think).

The latest KRKs have improved on the low end noticeably. The mids are much the same as they have always been - fantastic. Highs are an improvement too though surprisingly (given how good they were in the G1 series of Rokits).
 
Yeah, the Dynaudios are a bit more pricey than the KRK and M-Audio models we've been discussing. I really can't compare them because of that. When I was looking at new monitors, I just decided to shell out the extra bucks for better monitors.

Anyway, good to hear about the new KRK's...I'll have to check them out next time I'm at the showroom at my local shop.
 
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