John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

I must be old fashioned or inexperienced or something...

When i see the price & spec of JBL LSR monitors...i seriously start to wonder.
Is this not just an expensive "studio monitor" label that has been added to the price?

Are speakers not speakers?
Is the audiophile world really incompatible with studio monitoring?
What's wrong with a good old-fashioned amplifier? Why can it not be OUTSIDE the speakers?

I reckon that for the same money as a pair of Mackie or JBL monitors, you could get a very good amp and some much better speakers.
Big B&W floorstanders anyone? 704's?

Don't they have the B&W Nautilus speakers at Abbey Road? Ok, those are veeerryyy expensive...

Here's my reasoning:
If your speakers are neutral, go real low and real high, and you are used to them because you listen to everything on them...then what on earth could the problem be? Why not mix on your hifi?

Is all this studio monitor lark not just a bit snobby and a bit too marketing?

I ask in all honesty. I will accept a no. No need to shout.

The short answer is there's no difference if you purchase a good amp. Amp's that don't give out enough wattage, and amps that dull out dirty or unstable power are not going to allow the monitors to work at their best.

It's also important to note that amps will impart a sound into the monitors...so something like Bryson amps will tend to sound very good, and something like a $200 Alesis amp will not sound so good. Lots and lots of studios still use passive speakers powered by big, expensive amps but you need to remember that ever since studio equipment has gotten cheaper active monitors have become a more convenient and easier to use option than matching amps to speakers.

Speakers for studios are often designed quite differently to Home Hi-Fi passive speakers. The first thing is the robust nature of the drivers, these have to contend with Engineer abuse from feedback to excessive volume. Then there is the sheer power that is required in a good sized recording control room. Many Hi-Fi speakers don't have the power handling to do this.
Speaker manufacturers have made hug leaps of quality with well designed active montors. They can have several advantages over passive designs:
1) with no inductive/capacitive crossovers they do not lose heaps of power.
2)Very short cable runs from the power amps to the speakers.
3) the amps can be matched to the speakers
4) The electronic crossovers can be designed to match the characteristics of the speakers to very close tolerances and the curves can be well steeper then the passive x-over.
5) A feedback coil on the Bass driver can send info to a servo to give exceptional damping characterisitcs.
6) DSP's can be employed with room analysis to create speakers that can compensate for poor room design (not ideal but hey it can be very useful when you are forced to work in an non ideal situation.
7) moving powered speakers and creating a 5.1 room is greatly simplified when using matched Active components.

I hope this helps.
Simon L.