Studio Grade Speakers

[Stefano]

Hi,

 

I've been looking at some studio grade monitors (speakers), mainly from KRK, and I've started to wonder... With a decent DAC i'm sure that they will sound super clear. The speakers have an amplifier and EQ per driver. High end stuff. To make it clear, I'm not talking about audiophile gear.

 

Does anybody have any experience with a set of studio grade monitors?

Are the really expensive sub woofers that go with the monitors necessary? I listen to rock music, so bass isn't that important.

 

Cheers

 

Edit:

http://www.krksys.com/krk-studio-monitor-speakers/rokit/rokit-8.html

[ryan9298b2]

I'm sure sennheiser has something to offer!  Check out their site because they have some amazing products!

 

http://en-de.sennheiser.com/

[josh_05]

You will find monitors to generally be extremely neutral in sound as opposed to most hifi/home theatre speakers being coloured to a certain degree... Coloured sound is where certain frequencies either lows mids or highs are played back quieter or louder than the original recording where neutral is exactly what was recorded. Both have their advantages and disadvantages, I like to have a little more emphasis on the mids some like more bass etc. in saying this though even the best monitors will most likely be slightly coloured, just not as much as hifi/home theatre speakers. In my experience I find when speakers are very neutral they can sound a little boring, not all, especially the higher end you go. Read reviews, chat on forums to audiophiles, and if you can listen for yourself before you buy. Audio is a very personal thing and its totally worth finding the sound you like. Every product will sound different to others.

[Godfather1.5]

I have the Yamaha HS80M monitors with my Roland RD-700nx stage piano, they sound amazing! 

[FamedKarma]

Sennheiser are actually a bit shitty. Genelec and M-Audio make good stuff in my experience.

[t0wer]

sennheiser is great but I don't believe they make speakers...

 

I'd look into a pair from Makie.

[That Norwegian Guy]

I've been looking at some studio grade monitors (speakers)

 

Studio monitors are built to have a flat frequency response range. Which means they are supposed to be just as pronounced in all parts of the frequency range. Comparatively, in the consumer section of audio delivery, "gaming" and "DJ" headsets are often over the top on bass and cheap surround set-ups often have tweeters made out of crappy material (which means a tiny bit of distortion) and often also a non-harmonizing element size set-up. The size of the sub is often not a match for the speakers for example.

 

Studio monitors exist so people who are designing sound and producing music can create a mix that will be as balanced as possible, so that the crutch the consumers rely on, namely bad speakers, won't reproduce the music SO badly that a certain frequency is overpowered. For example, if you produce music on a shitty set-up with way too much bass, you will produce your music with too little bass, which means any speaker set-up with too little bass won't have any bass at all.

 

Usually, consumers like coloured sound. They gravitate towards sound they enjoy, and if clarity is what you want, then coloured sound (to your liking) that is audiophile grade will be just fine. There is nobody judging you for having a sound set-up to your liking. Many people who have home cinema setups couldn't IMAGINE having realistic bass, for example. To them, too loud bass is part of what they want.

 

So unless you're actually producing music or designing audio, I would recommend good consumer speakers instead.

 

However, studio grade equipment is often extremely fine quality comparatively, so you can't go too much wrong if you get some. You can always combine speakers + sub to find your mecca, you can manipulate the level of the sub higher or lower or simply use a hardware or software EQ. (Recommend the prior)

 

I guess I'm not encouraging or discouraging any course of action, I'm just making you aware of the pros and cons. Just make sure that you have a DAC that can drive said speakers.

 

And keep in mind that you will need a studio-grade sub or low-pass bass speaker to go with the set-up, or I guarantee you that you will not be fully satisfied with the sound. And that sub is often more expensive than the pair of speakers.

 

As for brands, any of these are great:

 

-KRK

-M-Audio

-Genelec

-Yamaha

 

These are average:

-Mackie (Mackie are known for their live PA speakers, not their studio equipment)

 

These are terrible:

-Samson (stay far away)

 

Those are the brands I have experience with.

[iisshaun]

I agree what has been said above. Genelec and Yamaha are awesome, Adam are also very good. The KRK's imo are a bit boomy... but that might be good because it sounds like you just want to have some fun speakers and not for any work. The Yamaha HS80M's are around the same quality at the KRK Rokit 8's, but they give you some control right on the back of them to turn up or down the low frequencies, so they can sound very flat, sound similar to the KRK's or have some less bass.

 

Like what has been above me as well, some consumer grade speakers might be better. I'd just stick clear of brands like Logitech etc. they get a lot of good attention from the gaming community, but most gamers don't have a clue what good audio is (Expensive gaming headsets for example sound awful).