[linux-audio-user] good studio monitors

[R Parker]

I've got a pair of Alesis M1 Active and a pair of
Mackie HR824.

I love the Alesis because they are cheap and tougher
than nails. Mine have been abused to no end for about
four or five years. I can mix on these things until my
eyes fall out.

I do not like the HR824 monitors. Despite Mackie's
claims that these things have built in protection for
every concievable problem they don't-that's my
experience. I have never abused these monitors and
they are not used very often. One day I'm doing very
moderate level listening and one of them blows. These
are expensive monitors, I think they sound dynamite
but I don't trust them. It pisses me off because I'm
afraid to use them.

When I purchased the HR824 I compared them to about
eight other leading studio monitor manufacturers
products--I'm not talking about the super high end
stuff. The comparisons were all done in the same room.
I used a half dozen CDs with million dollar
productions. Hands down, they sound better than all
the others. I was really impressed by how bad some
monitors sounded. There's a couple monitor
manufacturers getting very good reviews but their
product is garbage. A little research revealed that
these manufacturers are not audio experts, they are
video experts designing audio monitors.

Phreak the chains, ride the trains, why not you, why
not me, choosing monitors is a crazy lottery, you
spin, you win, you loose, you choose; blah:blah,
blah:blah, blah, blop!

ron

--- Chris Pickett <chris.pickett at mail.mcgill.ca>
wrote:
> Florin Andrei wrote:
> > I'm quite familiar with a wide range of high-end
> studio headphones, but
> > i'm much less familiar with studio monitors.
> > 
> > So, what do you guys own or use? What do you
> recommend?
> > 
> > I own a pair of near-field Alesis M1 Active MkII.
> It seems like they're
> > "value" monitors, which means they're
> mediocre-sounding (in the studio
> > monitors league) but they didn't punch a hole in
> my wallet.
> > 
> > http://alesis.com/products/m1active/
> > 
> > They're bi-amplified and, yes, that you can tell:
> the transition between
> > the bass cone and the treble bullet is smooth and
> there are no
> > out-of-phase artifacts. There's no smearing like
> with passive filters on
> > the output high-current lines.
> > 
> > They're a bit bass-heavy and i actually think
> they're intentionally made
> > like that. Alesis has a weird recommendation in
> the manual, saying that
> > you should plug one of the holes with a cloth if
> bass is too fat, or
> > even both holes if bass is waaay too big. I kinda
> feel that they
> > intended them to typically have one hole plugged
> at all times. That's
> > something for a bass-control knob to adjust, i
> know, but for the price
> > ($400) i guess i have no right to complain.
> > It's actually very weird how such a small bass
> cone can deliver so well
> > at such low frequencies. Even if i turn up the
> volume, they're still
> > crisp and controlled. I never turned it up into
> the distortion zone, my
> > neighbours are not exactly fans of electronic
> music. :-)
> > 
> > Treble is good, but definitely not as transparent
> as, say, high-end
> > Beyerdynamic or Sennheiser phones. They're a bit
> harsh and lack sparkle
> > (although certain narrow bands in the mid-high i'm
> pretty sure are
> > actually over-emphasized), but not too much.
> > I didn't see a frequency response graph yet, but
> i'm pretty sure there's
> > a "noodle" with all kinds of curls in the treble
> zone. Nothing
> > impossible to live with, it's just that it feels
> like it's there.
> > 
> > Midrange is ok, but not remarquable in any way.
> It's not too quiet or
> > anything, it's just that it's kinda tasteless.
> > 
> > I keep them in my bedroom (no laughs please) and
> actually they're close
> > to a corner (ok, now you're allowed to laugh).
> > No, the fat bass is not because of that, they're
> fat anyway (but the
> > corner may make the situation worse - i'll have to
> fix that one day).
> 
> I sadly keep mine on a bookshelf, two feet apart,
> and have a wad of 
> paper towel in each of the four holes to reduce the
> bass.  I think 
> they're an extremely good deal and I've heard many
> people say they are 
> the closest thing to Mackies in that price range.
> 
> As for loudness, the same observation.  I think
> there's a frequency 
> graph that comes with them and they look pretty
> flat.  If anything, the 
> sound on mine is just restrained, if that's the
> right word.
> 
> Cheers,
> Chris
> 



	
		
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