Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: MOTM

----- Original Message -----
From: <osthelder@...>
Good question! These will have to perform as mid-field or soffit
monitors. Near fields, I've got. Actually, I'd be comfortable mixing
on the redone AR's in nearfield, but the bass of ANY monitor leaves
much to be desired (like the last 2 octaves or better of audio
frequencies). Has anyone got experience wwith a subwoofer in their
studio for capturing the low end of their synth?

--LH--
OK, I'll speak up here since I think that synth playing speakers and studio
monitors for mixing and critical listening are two different animals.

For critical monitoring and mixing, I have a set of JBL4312s. I like them
as their bass frequencies seem quite flat well into the normal low range.
But, they certainly don't reach out and grab you as I sometimes like to do
when just sitting and playing my synths. Since most of my playing years
have been performance oriented, I am accustomed to feeling the vibrations of
music as much as the hearing experience (that is possibly somewhat damaged
by the experience.).

For playing music in the studio, I use performance stage speakers. I have 2
cabinets with 4 10" speakers each, one 18" JBL sub, and 2 horn arrays for
highs.

I am not fond of how passive crossovers perform in the very low end. They
are power hungry monsters that rob the system of power. So, I chose active
crossovers prior to amplification when crossing between the sub and the
midrange (or in my case nearly full range) speakers. I like that the
crossover point can be tuned to find that best match between the cabinets
one uses. Of course this means a separate amp for the subwoofer. But, any
ripples in power supply from big bass swings don't get imposed on my
midrange frequencies. I am OK with passive crossovers in the tweeter /
upper midrange area. But, I really prefer active crossovers completely.

I use a pair of 300 watt RMS amps. One I run in mono mode for the
subwoofer. And, I use a regular JBL 400 watt rated bass guitar speaker
cabinet, not a consumer sub woofer cabinet. The cabinet has the volume it
needs and is constructed of 1 1/2" think sidewalls so as not to contribute
rattle to the sound. The second amp runs in stereo for the mids and upper
packs. But, in reality, my 10s are designed to be "full range" speakers, so
my upper crossover point is pretty high. I don't like the sound of a horn
being honkey in the upper end of a midrange. I tuned by subwoofer crossover
point by ear. With one of the two amps off, I twiddled the frequency until
I started noticing roll off for that speakers response (low for the 10s and
high for the 18 of course), then reversed. I noted those points were I
started noticing roll off and split the difference for crossover frequency.
I am at about 250 Hz.

This is what works for me. However, those of you who are apartment dwellers
or have close neighbors should just hit delete. :) I like that I can rip
out a big old synth sound with plenty of bass without worrying about damage
to my expensive studio monitors. Oh that reminds me,... I need to get back
to that MOTM-490.

So the short answer for great synth bass is separate bass cabinet, separate
amp, active crossover in my opinion

Stooge Larry