John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

I've got a pair of JBL Control 1 near-fields and 10 feet of space from left to right. Is it worth soffit-mounting them? I was going to... and build the soffit in such a way so as to replace them with bigger monitors at a later date.

Should I soffit them? Or wait until I have better monitors?

Thanks for any advice!

I guess it all depends on whereabouts you are in your studio build, what other treatment you have in the room, how the room is laid out, what your plans are for the future, and many other things.

Personally, I probably would soffit mount them, even though they aren't great speakers (or maybe precisely because they aren't great speakers), but like you said, making it possible to adapt the soffit easily for other speakers in the future.

It's been a few years since I last listened to Control 1's, but from what I recall (and from checking the manual), they aren't bad speakers for the price, but they sound pretty small, and really lack any low end, which soffit mounting would help quite a bit, probably. However, since they are pure passive speakers, there are obviously no roll off controls, so you might have to get a parametric equalizer for adjusting that.

Put it this way: soffit mounting them can't do any harm, and most likely will improve things a lot. I reckon I'd go for it.

But that's assuming the rest of your room makes the effort worthwhile (layout, treatment, etc.)


- Stuart -

Many thanks for your reply. I'm finishing up my electrical wiring today in the control room. Just started hanging drywall on the ceiling in the live room. Lots left to do in the vocal/isolation booth. Still so much to do...

I've always thought the low-end on the Control 1's wasn't so great. Thanks for confirming that.

I've got a sketchup file I've been tweaking... it's rough, but has helped me tremendously. Thanks for your advice. It is really appreciated.

http://wongastudios.com/su/floorplan_raw3.skp (3.8MB)

i have a pair of control 1's. definitely intended to be near field... i think if you soffit mount them you'll still need a sub... you could frame out for the larger monitors and build a small sub-frame to sit in it then you can cut away your baffle plate later. did this for a CR where the owner was going from a Genelec 1031 to the 1037C later.

in your SU file it looks like you're about 7' on your panels center which should be ok assuming you are seated that far back; if not, frame them to sit closer together to make your listening triangle a bit smaller.

Ahh!!! Many thanks for that

I have a great JBL sub that I intend to use.

yeah, i used a dual 8" JBL sub which seems to do the job...