Flat Speakers

The tapco's are live speakers, I believe, which explains some if not most of your sound problems.
 
Re:  in audio speak, "flat" means flat on a graphed chart, no large deviation from 0 in reproduction from the original signal.  But we know what you mean when you say "flat" tho, as in no depth or perception of depth (air) in and around a sound.  Tho that is not "boxy," which means congestion around a recorded sound, as if you recorded it inside a deadening box.
 
Others may know some other, decent, low-cost monitors, but the best one's at cost I know of are the Yamaha Msp speakers.  I've used pro studios that have the 5s as near fields, and they work.  The HS series is more popular, and I doubt if there is a great deal of end user difference between the series, but the HS is more listenable, like a home speaker.  The MSP doesn't try to "improve" the sound, just the facts.  For under a $1000 a pair, the MSP 7 are the speakers I'd buy to replace my mains, and they are $600 or so.

I find my Yamaha NS 10's which are now sold as powered as mentioned above, sound fair enough for just listening to pre recorded music. But as said in the second post, it is because that's in my studio chair where I'm used to listening. The room is important. 
I put then in my front room once as a Hi Fi  set and they were all midrange and no warmth like my Missions or Paradigm's are. And then if I try the Missions or Paradigm's in the studio they are way too much bass and very inaccurate. So, my studio monitors suck as Hi Fi speakers in the front room, but sound fine in the studio, And my Hi Fi Speakers sound great in the front room but suck in the studio. 
 
In my studio I also have my Alto TS 112's PA set up for proofing my backing tracks with the system I use live. The Alto's for the money are a super nice sounding speaker, very full and I'd say accurate too. So if what your looking for is powered speakers , cheap, and are a lot of fun, check out the Alto's if what you want is to blast your songs at higher SPL. Your Tapco's should be just fine as near fields, I do believe Mackie and Tapco are connected somehow. 

Firstly I would listen to really well mixed and mastered music on your speakers in your room.  If that sounds great then you have both a good set of speakers and an adequate room acoustic that will let you hear them. That should be got out of the way first. (Sting - 'Brand New Day' or Steely Dan 'Everything Must Go' or 'Two Against Nature') 
 
(If that does not sound great then you maybe in need of both a better set of monitors and the room treatments mentioned here)
 
If that test is good then it is you who is not producing a satisfying mix. You are thinking about your tools instead of looking closer at what you may be doing. 
 
The Tapco speakers you mentioned are not live speakers either.  Not sure where that came from.  According to the SOS article they are ideal for a project studio. 
 
But then again maybe you could spend a little more on a better pair of speakers such as Yamaha HS7's for example. They have got a nice balance of low end to the mids and highs.  Although an 8" driver is going to get you into some lower frequencies a little better. 
 
A mix can sound however you want it to.  It can be nice, warm and laid back.  If your monitors are not meant to sound nice then what are they meant to sound like? It is the engineer that can make monitors sound nice.  I witnessed a situation in a studio where a pair of Yamaha NS10's were setup and a quick listening test revealed they sounded horrible.  (as they do!!) But then the engineer mixed this lovely track on them and all that horribleness just drifted away and the sound turned into gold.  In fact they sounded nice, warm and laid back!  In this case the engineer just overpowered the sound of the speakers and took control creating a beautiful rich balanced sound. 
 
 
 
 

Hi To Everyone
Sorry for late reply
 
I have fiddled with the Tapcos and I am getting a far greater sound out of them than before.
I will of course try the Yamaha Hs 7/8 out when Yamaha bring out the Genos or Tyros 6
I have for ages been using the Tyros 5 sounds and now starting to get Into the VST side.Also want to combine the two.
 
 
Thanks for all of your help and especially to Johnny who has helped me In the past.
 
All the Best
John

igiwigi
Hi
I can see when mixing that flat response speakers do that job. In my little home studio I have a old pair of Tapco S5 monitors and they do sound a little better than my Tyros 5 keyboards Ts05 speakers.
My pain is that the Tapco speakers being flat response sound very flat to me and boxy.
Is there a set of decent monitors that can give a flat response for mixing and maybe a switch to get back sound like a quality hi -fi.
Does anyone know what I mean??
I would like some help as to me flat sounds,sound very flat and when playing for pleasure flat does not sound great to me.
Just a little question.
 
All the Best
john

A few years ago, I had a box called the KRK Ergo.  It came with a mic, and measured the frequency responses at various parts of your room, and then EQ'd what you hear to compensate.  It worked really well, and had the on/off feature that you had mentioned.
http://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/krk-ergo
 

Nearfield vs hifi is also a consideration.  The way the speakers project makes a HUGE difference

You're asking about flat speakers, but I think your premise is flawed right from the get go. This is because chances are better than not that your tapco speakers which you believe be flat are in fact anything but flat. A spectrum analyzer and a very good reference mic would tell you for sure but most of us don't have access to those kinds of things.

Very few speakers are truly flat and even if they are, as has been mentioned, the room you put them in can change that completely. What you're really looking for is speakers that are 'uncolored' i.e. speakers that don't try to artificially alter the source material in some kind of pleasing way. Once you find those, you have to put them in the room you're going to use them in and then you have to 'learn' them. Which means you have to start building mixes on them and then take those mixes and play them on as many other systems as possible to see how accurately they translate on the whole. 

Once you do that, you learn what kind of compensation, if any, you need to make when you mixing i.e. less punch than you ultimately want in the low end or more sizzle than you really want in the highs etc.
 
Obviously the ideal is to not have to do any compensation at all. But those systems/rooms are rare. If you can get it dialed in to where you're making only very minor compensations, call it good and get to work IMO.