Mega Post Mode ON!
(Just 'cause I see this question asked sooo much.)
Monitors, why?
I fear there is much confusion surrounding the basic principles of owning and using monitor speakers. If we just go ahead and compare them to headphones we'll see some pretty basic differences, but that doesn't substantiate much. Just to start, the basic characteristics to keep in mind would be:
- Stereo Spacing
- Air
- Frequency Response
- Depth
- Build Quality
The first thing you'll notice is that good quality monitor speakers provide a realistic (and useful) stereo image. The quality of the stereo image varies from speaker to speaker set, but it's a vast difference from headphones. It's useful because when mixing it becomes easier to place things in the image based on what you're hearing. I like to compare it to having a larger canvas to paint on, it's easier to place things. A lot of people also seem to forget to concept of air. If you know anything about sound then you know how air comes into play. Since you're sitting away from monitor speakers you're allowing sound waves to form, mixing in with the room you're listening in. This is actually a good thing, as you don't want things to sound completely dead.
Obviously frequency response is important, but this is more common sense-ish, a good monitor is more likely to produce more accurate sound waves than a small headphone driver. Beyond this point the determining factor among monitors is build quality, not size! Sure, a large woofer can probably reach lower frequencies, but it's the entire build that will determine how well, if at all, it manages to do that.
Adding into the concept of air and stereo spacing, monitors provide depth, true 3D imaging. If stereo imaging is your x-axis, then depth is your y-axis.
These are the basic principles, and things you want to look out for when using monitors. The reason why most professionals don't rely on headphones is because the gap between them and monitors in these respects is too big.
Powered VS Passive
I'm sure someone with a electrical degree could write a whole book on this, so I'll stick to the real life application.
Honestly, it's often a case of quality vs price. If anything there are a lot more powered monitors available for studio work, and for good reason. You don't have to deal with matching things up with a good amp, and you're guaranteed to get the maximum quality out of the build. Considering all of this, they are also much more economic and make working in different locations easy. Because of this, most studios usually only deal with good powered monitors. The only time I really see engineers/producers bickering about amps these days is when they get themselves some original Yamaha NS-10's (which is a different can of worms altogether). If anything, the fact that Yamaha made some NS-10 remakes that are now only powered should highlight the shift from passive to powered in the studio landscape (PA is COMPLETELY different).
But what about that low-end?!
A lot of people seem to bass addicted these days. The joke being that any speaker that can hit between 50-200hz can properly push out the bass we hear. Once you start going below 20hz, or even 40hz, then we're starting to deal with sub. In all honesty, the main presence of sub, is well, presence. It's just very slow moving sound waves that pack a lot of energy which 'cause things to move and rumble, sure we can hear them to a certain degree, but it's much more about the energy we feel.
Considering this I think people should focus their attention on adding a sub-woofer to their setup if they really want to feel sub. Even professional speaker companies make sub's to be added to sets because most L+R sets aren't designed to push out below 40hz. The other point being that there is little point in sub being stereo. The sound waves are so big and refract around everything, so there's hardly any difference, a mono sub on the floor is all you need.
In the end what you want are monitor speakers that provide a good low-end (50-200hz). The quality of this range varies from speaker to speaker, company to company. It's best to check the manual of speakers as they tend to showcase how linear the speaker is in producing the frequency range. Most speakers begin to drop off around the sub level. I've seen 8" woofers produce muddy low-end imaging, and seen 5" woofers produce beautiful linear low-end all the way to 50hz. So take all of that bass hype with a grain of salt, and please go out and test the speakers!
Continued
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