I have always been biased towards Floorstander speakers. Speakers. To the original question, yes, there is a basic difference. The straightforward answer for anyone stuck between deciding between a pair of headphone or studio monitors for your studio setup is do you even want to choose one when you need both for a better end product. There's an often quoted misconception that studio monitors are better than high-end speakers or vice versa. If you were using them as TV speakers … Image 1 of 4. Not playback on Maggies. It's the best sound i've ever heard. they require an external (power) amplifier with speaker outputs. Notice a difference? The 4312 Studio Monitors differ from the 4311's in that the tweeters and midrange drivers are swapped from side to side for better stereo imaging. Home speakers expect a longer listening distance, a more reflective environment and adequate clear space (~24" minimum) to all walls (there is some more info in that link). I know that's a brand that is fairly popular in studios (especially with classical and mastering guys, although I believe Steve Albini used a pair of B&Ws for mixing), but you won't find them for sale through most pro audio dealers. crossover becomes a costly solution for achieving waveform fidelity. vs mainstream 'studio monitors'? From what we see for eg, we never find a Genelec in a listening room, or an audiophile speaker in a studio. I recapped mine, and refoamed them. The ones intended for studios are matte black while the audiophile … I can't speak for every speaker/monitor out there but there are plenty of studio monitors I would use for just listening and plenty of Audiophile speakers I would use to mix with. If there is such a thing as a Magnepan evangelist, I'm guilty. Studio monitors, with very few exceptions, are “active” or “powered” speakers, which means the power amplifier is built into the speaker … 2-way are usually cheaper, having just a bass (woofer) and treble (tweeter) speaker or driver built in. Mine belonged to my father. Its mentioned time & again that Genelec have a true tonal character which is faithful to the source/recording whereas an audiophile speaker is 'intentionally' tuned to sound mellow/heavy/bright as per the listener's taste. - Duration: 21:59. For ATC and PMC manufacturers there is not big difference.... Any idea how do the Genelec 1030A perform in a listening room? The monitor speaker is a piece of professional audio equipment. There are no audiophile nearfield monitors...that is what comes to mind in studio situations. Stereophile did a "retro-review" of them a few years back and the reviewer was of the opinion that they do hold their own against modern speakers. A friend has 20.1s driven by monster sized McIntosh solid state amps. ...In your experience, are there any speakers used as studio monitors that acquitted themselves nicely? Home stereo or hi-fi speakers are almost always “passive” speakers; i.e. Some of the speakers that find their way in to both home systems and studios have different aesthetics for the different markets. I worked on the 1030A for a few years. Longevity/Relevance is a topic about how meaningful a speaker is in the marketplace and how long it has been a relevant speaker for those seeking top-level audiophile speaker performance.Some speakers … Apologies for any downtime or slow forum loading now or within the next week or so. The B&W rig will probably be significantly cheaper, as well. Single capacitor crossover is not preferred for its weak ability to filter out unwanted LF from the tweeter, though the manufacturer may build their driver accordingly. For what it's worth, I'm looking to get some new speakers soon, and I'm more interested in "hi-fi" speakers than I am in any of the studio monitors in my price range. Specifically, I'm looking at (probably used) B&Ws. However, unlike the HiFi speaker, the monitor is equivalent to full fidelity. dont get me wrong though if you spend $600+ on studio monitors your gonna have a bangin system. acoustic response due to the inherent 12 dB/oct. It depends. But a studio monitor is more likely to sound consistent across more genres of music than any of these audiophile speakers … the thing is though consumer speakers tend to have "more satisfying" frequency ranges hyped up or even create a more saturated audio responses compared to studio … Powered speakers may be useful for a living room, den or outside … This is not my forte - glad to be corrected - but I believe it goes something like this - in a speaker with a passive crossover, if clipping happens at the lower frequencies, it may produce surges in HF energy which can damage the HF driver. I sit pretty close to them (mid field, I'm about 1,8 m away from them), and there is no pop, crackle, thump or noise that I don't hear on them, actually... My friend is a mastering engineer at Abbey Road, they use B&W 800 in their room. Please read the following detailed description of the speakers … Studio monitors vs. audiophile speakers Subscribe to Ask Paul Ask a Question. As often done, a single capacitor and resistor in the connection to the tweeter will not necessarily create a phase-linear 6 dB/octave crossover, but more something like a 18 dB/oct. Normal speakers add color to the sound they deliver but studio monitors are designed to deliver sound without coloring the frequencies. I have 1030,31,32,37,38, 8020,40. There are also some differences in their power handling and durability, but all good speakers tend to be able to take a bit of abuse. They just strike me as not being particularly neutral, although it's true that they are surprisingly detailed. I've been considering updating my speakers to the Monitor Audio … Available in 40, 50 and 65 flavours, the … So, from my understanding then..there is no major difference between audiophile speakers and studio monitors. Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by Chuck, Jul 28, 2007. The proper crossover of signals from one driver to the next is a subject of debate amongst audiophiles with some preferring a1st order Butterworth filter function . Would it be practical to use 20.1's as mastering speakers? Even when designing a good studio monitor manufacturer should factor in driver response. 3-way speakers add a mid-range driver to … While powered speakers are designed to project sounds throughout a room, studio monitors have been crafted with short distances in mind. They also are more likely to be a bit more accurate. It is one of the most dynamic systems I have heard. Typically there are more issues at the low end of the price chart, where all gear tends to have more compromises. Studio monitors and audiophile speakers aren’t the same thing Steve Guttenberg Audiophiliac. Really? June 13, 2018 by Paul McGowan. towards lower frequencies for constant SPL and the driver is not built for that. This is very difficult to guarantee with any two-way speaker, though many manufacturers, and even my own DIY monitors, violate this rule mercilessly. Add to this the wide frequency coverage overlap between tweeter and midrange, with the resulting irregular polar radiation pattern, and the 6 dB/oct. This was definitely not the case with the Paradigm Monitor 11 system we put together, which comprised a pair of Monitor 11 towers, a Center 3 speaker, two Mini Monitors… Audiophile Speakers are usually with some color and warmth in the sound. I will only try to add some of my own observations. ..... as it is assumed that someone dropping a lot of cash on a system will also have a great room or one with proper acoustic treatment. wish I had those in my college dorm!! Some speaker systems excel at reproducing movie soundtracks but are merely satisfactory on music—or the reverse. Studio Monitors are usually more neutral sounding and relentlessly accurate. Thanks! ..........and I'm guessing I can best that with a pair of B&Ws and a decent power amp. I personally find Maggies very capable of dynamics. LOL! For some time the main monitors went out of favour. Home stereo speakers are often designed to boost or enhance audio levels, say, by upping the bass or bringing out richer tones in the mids and highs. Usually too dull. Image 3 of 4. I tried that once and it was a dismal failure. Guys, with all due respect, one just can't mix on a Maggie. I do mainly TV/Film work, and I measured them and equalized them a little. Performance is easy to understand.The highest performing speakers would get the highest grade of 100 points. With 1030a you need a sub for sure. I did refoam them, but I never thought about recapping the crossover. You'd be surprised! The same topic has been discussed in the mastering forum recently: I like to discuss this a bit, because loudspeaker manufacturers overstate this "protection" too much IMHO. but clipping before power amp will be delivered to the tweeter in any case (passive or active design)! The Nearfield Monitor — A Brief History. Not trying to speak on behalf of Steve but is'nt he speaking about mastering using Maggies? Active/passive – studio monitors tend to be active i.e. A sound-worthy speaker costing $100 purchased back in 2008 from the now defunct Circuit City. Yup, audiophiles has nice lacquered and veneered PMCs and ATCs (ok, sometimes floorstanders, which is not common in studios), and pro studios … For small room, 1031a is my choice. highpass behavior of the tweeter itself. I think you may need to spend a lot more money on a powered monitor before that ends up not being the case. The differences mainly emerge in baffle step compensation, directivity and polar response. Passive speakers have no built-in amplification, which means you need to connect them to a stereo … You are talking about Advents, right? So we brought in our home speakers. He had them set up in the living room when I was a kid. they require an external (power) amplifier with speaker outputs. http://www.atcloudspeakers.co.uk/hi-...-series/scm19/, http://www.revelspeakers.com/Products/Details/224, https://www.gearslutz.com/board/maste...ting-hype.html, New Event Opal Monitors - not your regular speakers. If both speakers look the same then you are not getting a stereo pair. Studio monitors tend to come in 2-way or 3-way designs. The whole thing came out with the vocals too loud when played back on any other speakers. This is not to say that small audio speakers … Let’s first talk about technical differences. In my opinion they look nicer, don't need stands and I (usually) don't have to worry about power. ... Are studio monitors more accurate than audiophile speakers? Guys, with all due respect, one just can't mix on a Maggie. Neither home speakers nor studio monitors are immune, so all are compromised, just the nature of the compromises is different. (I'm 36, so the speakers are slightly older than me.) The only time you should use a fourth order electrical network on a driver is if has response at least two octaves beyond the crossover frequency, to ensure driver rolloff does not interfere with the filter behaviour. Interesting! On the other hand, my living room system features a pair of nearly 40-year-old Advents (lovingly reconed.) Both 'studio monitors' and bookshelf speakers can have different sound, so it's not as if one is only meant to be used in the studio or for mixing music while the other is only used for musical enjoyment. The frequency response graph of a studio monitor is normally flat in comparison to normal speakers. But there's no way I'd want to mix on them - they make everything sound much too pretty. The monitor speaker is a speaker without sound rendering. Furthermore, the tweeter will contribute a good amount of intermodulation distortion because the cone excursion wants to rise at 12 dB/oct. 1031a is much better alternative. Forum Policies, Rules, and Terms of Service. I have a pair of ASC Sapphires that I use for both... (maybe finishing options and some floor standing designs, which exist only for audiophiles). Former has crossover at 2KHz, latter has it at 5KHz. Have you ever seen 'audiophile' speakers used in a 'pro' studio? ATC SCM 150 ASLs are found in studios and home systems worldwide. Re: Studio Quality Monitors vs Book shelf speakers. Audiophile speakers usually err on the side of TOO MUCH DETAIL. This is mainly because there is no international recommendation what professional loudspeaker need to be. Dynaudio BM6 passive studio monitor uses single cap, as does popular consumer speaker KEF Q300. Those screens don't give full dynamics and without that it's impossible to judge vocal to music mix ratios. The truth, if you are objective about is that you really need both the headphones and monitors… Ones that you would recommend? Driven by my (modern) Rotel amplifier, they sound great. Read the KRK Rokit G4 review. Passive vs. When you buy products through links across our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Active: Audiophile speakers can be active (powered) or passive (unpowered). No difference is the simple answer, but it doesn't fully describe reality. It just about predates the explosive rise of the home and project studio and was originally the term applied to auxiliary monitors that sat on the meterbridge in large commercial studios, and were supposed to reflect the sound of typical home audio or TV speakers. OPINIONS DIFFER: Studio monitors vs. audiophile speakers 3 December 2020 There's an often quoted misconception that studio monitors are better than high-end speakers or vice versa. At 40 watts with a frequency response of 35Hz – 20KHz, it is not comparable to studio monitors… Typically very expensive speakers will also have more uniform directivity and wider polar response similar to studio speakers. I am not boggy, but I have spent some time in studios. We are making some updates and reconfigurations to our server. Point is that certain audiophile speakers tend to make the listening of certain recorded material more pleasurable than an accurate studio monitor. At best, the goal may be obtained over a very small region in space and over a limited frequency range. they have built-in power amplifiers. Barry's stuff sounds good to me. Home stereo or hi-fi speakers are almost always “passive” speakers; i.e. When we mixed on them, the results were very often blatantly skewed. But that was way way back. What are the differences? Studio monitors, with very few exceptions, are “active” or “powered” … Is there essentially any difference between the two? These were considered audiophile speakers when they were new. They were decent, but I have to say any similar sized Genelecs I have heard recently sound much much better. Try it on a non-screen. Individual power amplifiers – with active speakers, particularly studio monitors… Studio Monitors vs. Is there such a thing as too much detail? There's an often quoted misconception that studio monitors are better than high-end speakers … I grew up listening to those speakers, so I certainly am familiar with the sound. Hi-fi and other home speakers are generally passive, receiving power from a dedicated standalone amplifier. Well I'm not mixing on them, I have 2 pairs, even had them stacked in my tiny room when I was 17 (which isn't that long ago), now I use one pair ocasionally as editing speakers. 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