Just out of interest, does anybody know what the difference (if any) is between Monitors and just regular HIFI speakers. I mean, if you buy some monitors for £500 and some normal speakers for £500 what would you expect to find different between them??
>>>Well, in that price range you're going to find that hifi speakers are probably more bass heavy than studio monitors. Most people at home want their music to sound 'good' versus accurate. That's why you see the inverse bell curve sey up on home EQ's, or that people have the Loudness button (does the same thing) pushed in. The average person tends to equate bassy and loud, with good and clear and hifi manufacturers take this into account when they design their speakers.
Studio monitors on the other hand are designed to give you as accurate a depiction of what's happening in your music as possible. More emphasis is placed on smooth crossover points between tweeter and woofer. Monitors don't "hype" the sound up at all, instead trying to make sure that the frequency respionse is as linear as possible over as broad a range as possible.
I've heard some people say that monitors are supposed to have a 'neutral' sound, ie. without too much mid, bass, or treble, but surely HIFI speakers should sound like this anyway??
>>>Until you get into the home audiophile price range (ie tens of thousands of dollars), sadly this is not usually the case. I'm lucky in that right across the street from where I live is an audiophile store, most things in there are over 3 or 4 grand each! They have a $175k demo listening room set up for the ultimate in 5.1 (and stereo) sound, and it's truly a wonder to hear. I can take CD's I've heard on top notch professional studio monitors (Genelec 1035's, Quested) there, and pick up on things I never noticed before. The people who own it are really cool, and never mind if stop by to listen to a song or two if they're not busy. Although they don't undertand that not all audiophiles strictly listen to classical music, and think my breaks CDs are a bit scary :) <<<
rEalm