John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

Hi guys,

I'm in a room that's 9,8 x 8,8 x x 8,5 (ft) = 733 cubic feet (pretty small), I mostly mix metal/rock and I'm looking for a new set a speakers. I have Behringer B2031A's now which just make me tired, haha. I have around 1500 euro's to spend.


I want to soffit them, which brings me to my first question:

1. Is it better to soffit passives instead of active's?
Won't active's heat up too much, soffit mounted? Another practical problem with actives: Lot's of them have their on/off switch on the back! Can't reach that when it's soffit mounted, haha!
I'm really not sure which way to go. Many people say active's are better because they (usually) are bi-amped, whith amps specifically made for the speakers. Others say passive is the way to go! Not sure what to do in my case...

Second,

2. Which monitor would be best in a room my size?
I made a long list of monitors which I'm narrowing down (based on what I read). Adam's seem cool but way above budget. I thought Mackie's HR828 we're cool but I'm reading too much bad things about them (muddy). I try to end up with a list of different speakers so I can check them out soon.

Right now I'm very interested in the Dynaudio BM6A/P's. Can someone tell if setting them up like the top drawing (please ignore the bottom drawing) is ok:

My ears are around 1,8m away from the speakers.

3. When going "the passive way", which amp would you recommend with the speaker you suggest? Speakers + amp should be within the 1500 Euro budget...

Looks good, you may want some sort of a corner diffuser in the back. Do you plan on monitoring that far away? I dont know what sort of control surface you will have so its hard to judge but it just looks far. I have heard mixed cases on active and passive monitors. Overall i think most say active because the amps are built just for those monitors so they are tweaked to their optimum potential. The list of possible monitors is quite exspansive. Just about anything in your price range will be good.

Abotu soffit mounting actives it can be done, some reccommend getting large and quite computer fans, they are also really cheap. Only thing is powering them back there may become aggetating.

Fill

Pennywizz6 wrote:Looks good, you may want some sort of a corner diffuser in the back. Do you plan on monitoring that far away? I dont know what sort of control surface you will have so its hard to judge but it just looks far. I have heard mixed cases on active and passive monitors. Overall i think most say active because the amps are built just for those monitors so they are tweaked to their optimum potential. The list of possible monitors is quite exspansive. Just about anything in your price range will be good.

Abotu soffit mounting actives it can be done, some reccommend getting large and quite computer fans, they are also really cheap. Only thing is powering them back there may become aggetating.

Fill

There's a lot of trapping in the back (not shown in the drawing). I'm also adding trapping at the ceiling soon.

After a lot of testing and listening I came to the conclusion that the listening spot in the drawing is the best: It gives me the most deep low end. In the middle there's allmost none, same goes for the spot one third from the front wall.

I read at http://www.dynaudiousa.com/products/instal.htm that Dynaudio's speakers aren't very suitable for soffit mounting, though the page tells about their hifi speakers.

There should be a minimum distance of 1.2 inches from the back of the speaker to the rear wall (or back of the cabinet), as well the same minimum distance (1.2 inches) from the top of the speaker to the above shelf or wall. There is no requirement regarding space to the sides of the compact monitor loudspeaker.

Not exactely a tight fit!

Having used the Mackies since 1997, I have to disagree with them being muddy. Usually it is becasue they didnt set the switches correctly.

I have had great results with my Mackies. I have had to recone them once, a year ago. (all speaker drivers fatigue over time)

Mine are in soffits (search this forum)

I am going to upgrade to Klein + Hummel Speakers O300D within the next month.

Klein + Hummel's are $3900.00 More than the Mackies.

In the range of the Mackie world, There isnt much I have heard I like. I have heard the ASP-8's... Seem a tad overly bright to me (falsely so) even after I tweaked all the switches.

The only other speaker I like (I also own) is the Yamaha MSP-10. In the same price range. After that you really have to reach!!!!!

I have not heard the Dynaudios so I dont have an opinion. I lean on others reviews......

Hi Bryan,

I'll check out the Mackies too and will make sure I tweak the switched. Though maybe they are too much for my room though.

www.musicstore.de is selling Adam ANF-10 + Fame A-400 for just €614,49, which s a pretty amazing price. Not sure how they measure up to the Dynaudio's or the Mackies. Probably a bit lighter and much more detailed from 2kHz and up. Not sure if they are suited for the kind of music I mix (metal/rock).

If you are concerned about them being TOO much for your room, try the 624's

Nice and punchy speaker.