How about some examples
So all this info is fine and dandy, but what about some real life examples. We obviously all have budgets and restrictions, so the best of the best is usually outside of our reach. Considering this, how do we go about picking monitors to invest into?
Low Budget ($100-$500)
Before I say anything else, yes $500 for a pair of speakers is low-budget. That’s just how it is. In this bracket you just want to aim for the cleanest monitors you can get. The trickiest part is finding speakers that provide a clean low-end to a certain degree and are otherwise relatively neutral. They most likely won’t sound super wide, provide a ton of depth or push a lot of air, but they should get the job done.
- KRK Rokit 5 (6 & 8)
- JBL LSR2325P (JBL LSR2328P)
- Yamaha HS5
- PreSonus Eris E8
I personally only have experience with the KRK’s, but I can’t imagine there being a huge difference between these speakers. They are most certainly hyped (mid and highs primarily), and don’t provide a very clean low-end. That’s the toll you pay for venturing into this price bracket I’m afraid. You can most certainly do the work on these, it will just be harder. Since the quality, stereo imaging and frequency reproduction isn’t the best you’ll have a harder time hearing exactly what you need to hear. Though I have seen engineers/producers work on these for so long that they simply shaped their ears to make it work for them, so it is doable! These speakers come closer to consumer level reference, which makes them great for a second set if you’d like to put your track through the paces. (The increase in woofer size will most likely only extend the low-end, don’t expect a huge quality increase)
Mid-Level Budget ($500 - $3000)
This is where I imagine most serious producers/engineers are. Willing to save a bunch, and want to make the best possible investment considering our budget. This bracket is a lot more fun and can be tailored a bit.
- Focal CMS40 (50 & 65)
- KRK VXT8
- Dynaudio BM 6A mkII
- Sonodyne SM200AK
- Focal Solo6 Be
- Event Opal
- Genelec 8050A/
Any of these speakers will most likely provide a relatively clean reproduction of the frequency spectrum. Obviously each speaker has it’s own characteristics, and will have a different low-end cut-off point. This is where personal preference comes into play. Ideally you sit down and give what you want a listen, then simply pick the one you think sounds best. Some will be clearer, heavier, more detailed, provide a cleaner bass, have better spacing, etc. But in most cases these differences will come down to preference, as they should all at least provide you with a good usable reference. In simple terms, any type of music should sound good and translate on them! (This being the big difference with the low-budget category). Once you’re in this price bracket you should expect this level of quality or you’re dealing with crappy speakers.
When investing into speakers like these go with your gut feeling and keep in mind what you’ll be using them for. If you only plan to do one thing and it requires a clean detailed low-end, focus on that. If you are doing a myriad of things, spanning from classical music all the way to dubstep, you’re better off with the cleanest overall speaker you can find. If your work involves spacing such as foley, sound effects or general movie mixing then you’ll want whatever has the best sounding stereo (surround) spacing and maybe think of adding a subwoofer.
These are just examples, but good things to keep in mind when picking something.
High-End Budget ($3000 and up)
At this point you’ve probably gotten a bit of a rig together, and should have some info in terms of what you need. Most stores and manufacturers will be more than happy to give you a demo session of their products in this bracket. Which I highly suggest you do!
Hopefully you’ve gotten multiple speaker sets by now, or are looking into expanding for the first time. Instead of laying out all the amazing speakers you can buy with this amount of money, I’d rather explain how to go about expansion.
In most cases you want to have 3 sets:
- Nearfield
- Midfield
- Farfield
It’s pretty self-explanatory. Near field monitors are generally the kind you find in the low & mid level bracket. They are designed to be placed relatively close to the listener, usually at the end of your desk (or mixing desk).
Farfield monitors are usually the giant three way (or more) speaker systems that are installed directly into your wall at a relative distance. This is done because they will be able to produce the most energy (low-end) and need the space to let the low frequency sound waves properly develop. These speakers are super expensive, and really showcase what high-end audio can sound like.
Midfield monitors are the link between your nearfield and farfields. They aren’t quite as amazing as the farfields, but are still better than the nearfields, providing a good middle ground. Middle-budget speakers can fill this role, as well as some more expensive speakers. In either case you want to be able to provide a clean low-end as far as you can go. These are usually the speakers you end up working on the most as they make mixing easier than trying to fit things into your nearfields or pulling things out of your farfields. You’ll then generally switch between the sets as you mix to keep your mix translating correctly. Farfield being more similar to cinema quality, nearfields closer to consumer.
You can then always continue expanding towards a 5.1 system, but that’s even more things to consider, and I haven’t seen anyone asking about that on these forums.
The small details
These are just small to keep in mind that could potentially help.
Once you invest into speakers, please have them run in a bit! Just like cartridge needles, the cones need some time to loosen up a bit so they can function optimally. It’s generally not that long, 10-20 hours maybe. Most manufacturers will even give recommendations in the speaker manual.
Stick to it! You will need to spend a significant amount of time working with your monitors before you really get to know them. So do yourself a favor and use them a lot! As you learn to work with them you’ll understand how things sound on them. Then it’s just a matter of keeping the characteristics of the speaker in mind when mixing. As you do this your mixes will translate more to other speaker systems. Luckily this experience is transferable to a certain degree. If after months or years of working on monitors you are sitting in front of completely different ones, you’ll quickly hear their character since you can directly compare to what you yourself are so used to hearing.
Use proper speaker placement. I can’t stress this enough, especially if you’re dealing with smaller speakers. It’s simple though, make a triangle where your own head and the two speakers are the points. Then you’ll be in the best position for proper stereo imaging and won’t experience unnecessary frequency phasing. It also helps to bring the tweeters up to your ear level, as they are much more directional than the woofers. You can easily kill two birds with one stone here, as most tweeters aren’t at ear level and need to be raised. You can buy small platforms specifically designed for speakers and set those on your desk or behind your desk on larger stands. Some, but not all, stands will even have isolation material added, which you should add anyway if they don’t have it. This will help isolate the speakers from your desk or floor and provide a clearer signal as less vibrations are being lost to surrounding material. You’d be surprised at how much proper placement and some isolation does, you might be able to hold back on that expensive room treatment now!
Provide good clean power. Believe it or not, but the power being supplied to audio equipment can make an impact on how it operates and sounds. This is why a lot of manufacturers place such importance on sticking a extremely clean and stable power supply in their products. In most cases you won’t have to worry about this, just don’t go running your speakers off a power strip that has been known to make lights slowly dim in and out.
Conclusion
Do your research, consider your options and budget, go test the speakers (if you can), stick to your purchase and happy mixing!
) (Guess I’m a snob, I like to keep my 40-80hz range)