Remember too that putting your main speakers into mono is not where it is at.  It does help but it is not in the same league is hearing mono from a single point source speaker.  Mono means one and one point source.
 
Most have their main speakers too far apart so the centre mono phantom image will be poor and weak.  And you are still getting a form of stereo from sound still arriving at you in both ears at different times.
 
The single speaker should be small too like the Avantone or Auratone.  (I see they are re releasing them now which is cool.)  And low volume on this too.  There are a ton of other benefits to be had from listening to a mono single point source small speaker at low volume.  And it won't bother your neighbours either!
 
It also helps with translation big time.  With care you can get things sounding great on both.
 
 
 
 

So if I'm reading the above (great advice) correctly, if I get the Behringer Behritone speaker (the most inexpensive I could find) and hook it up via an extra headphone out (ART headphone amp), I'm good to go correct?
 
I have the JBLs and ATH-M50s with SonarWorks and hope to get ARC when it goes on sale. That should be about as good as I can do with my audio challenged spare bedroom studio, correct? Assuming I'm not going to spend for acoustic treatment.
 
Thanks :)

Jeff Evans
Remember too that putting your main speakers into mono is not where it is at.  It does help but it is not in the same league is hearing mono from a single point source speaker.  Mono means one and one point source.

Wouldn't muting one speaker/panning 100% on one side solve that?

Yes Kalle it would be fine. But the extra small speaker provides some extra features:
 
1  It solves the mono issue of hearing the sound form a single point source.
2  It provides a wealth of other information such as what I like to call the critical mix. It shows up some real balance issues that a larger nearfiled monitor may not so much. It is great for setting nice vocal levels too over the music
3  It provides a second speaker option for translation purposes.
 
And to robbyk yes the Behringer speaker should be quite OK but like all things Behringer it will provide a reasonable performance level for the money. Spending more on the Avantone or Auratone will probably give you a slighter better option in terms of quality and frequencey response etc..
 
 
 
 

robbyk
I have the JBLs and ATH-M50s with SonarWorks and hope to get ARC when it goes on sale. That should be about as good as I can do with my audio challenged spare bedroom studio, correct? Assuming I'm not going to spend for acoustic treatment.

 
Robby,
 
Curious as to why you want ARC if you've already invested in SonarWorks? I am actually selling my ARC because I moved to SonarWorks...

 

smallstonefan
 
Robby,
 
Curious as to why you want ARC if you've already invested in SonarWorks? I am actually selling my ARC because I moved to SonarWorks...

So here's my assessment as to my various phases of mixing (not necessarily in that order)
 
Behritone speaker or hopefully Avantone or Auratone (I agree Jeff, I don't own any Behringer, I've always managed to go one or more better, but now...) for mixing in mono.
 
Headphones with SonarWorks
 
JBL with ARC
 
================
 
Incidentally, I really appreciate this thread, I used to always wonder why my producer back in the 80's sat there and mixed for hours with this tiny little speaker in front of him (along with the monitors on the shelf) and, only, for 30 seconds at the end of mixing, would switch to the towers in the corner which could blow anything out of the room :)

Robby,
You might want to consider SonarWorks instead of ARC for your main monitors - it is better IMO.

smallstonefan
Robby,
You might want to consider SonarWorks instead of ARC for your main monitors - it is better IMO.

I will definitely do so and I will look into this in more detail based on your recommendation, and thanks kindly for the advice!

Great thread any recommendations where to get Avantone or Auratone? Is one better than the other? Anyone using any kind of speaker toggle switch to go back and forth? 

I use an Avantone and love it. Here's how I route:
 
1. Main monitors (Adams) from the Monitor Outs on my Apollo.
2. I use a pair of line outs on my Apollo (7/8) and use a Y cable that takes stereo TRS to mono TS. This mono signal is fed into one of these:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000T9K8ZO?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage
The Avantone is hooked up to one side of the passive monitor control.
 
Switching between them is a two step process. First, I press the volume knob on the Apollo and and that toggles the mute of the main monitors. Next I hit the mute switch on the above mentioned passive volume control to toggle the mute of the Avantone.
 
I calibrated my main monitors to around 80db with full volume (attenuating affects the signal), and then I calibrated the Avantone by ear with the passive volume control all the way open. That way, when mixing the volumes are complimentary and driven by the pink noise calibration I did with the Adams.
 
hope this helps,