New monitors and old ears

Asheville NC... what a beautiful town. I have a few customers there. I love the mts.... I'm from the flat lands...4 hrs east in Sims.... close to wilson...30 minutes east of raleigh..... anyway...about the monitors.

Reference monitors are NOT supposed to color the sound.... however,,,, to one degree or another, they do. Refernce monitors are supposed to be a true representation of what the music really sounds like. There are some "rules" about where to set them up and where not to set them up. I'm no expert on this but I understand they should not be on the floor or close to a wall. I can not set up by those rules due to space requirements....

I don't know the monitors you have..... but I do know that when I bought mine (Mackie MR-5) I was able to compare them side by side with the same material playing..... and yes... all the different pairs of so called "flat reference monitors" all sounded different to one degree or another. I bought the pair that I thought sounded the best..... that's what we all do.

As to why they don't sound good...or satisfactory..... I dunno..... maybe, because you didn't really like the first pair, so you thought to upgrade.... but the new ones didn't cut it, and going back to the first set...well, they just are now showing their flaws too..... ?????

You should have done a few mixes with the new monitors before you sent them back.

Did you, or did you immediately notice a difference and send them back?

If you DID do mixes....how did they sound on other systems compared to you old mixes?

It sounds like you were just used to the old monitors and just didn't like the Yamas. But then the old monitors didnt' sound right - something was missing. I would think the Yamas were better - or flatter. They are supposed to be good and if they are like my old Yamahas (big brother to the NS 10s w/ 8 inch woofers) they are pretty decent.

It could be you weren't used to them, you don't like them or your room can't handle the bass. They are probably less flattering to the music. The Yama MS 7s (I think that is the right desigation) are supposed to be flatter still. You want to hear the music, warts and all.

Sorry- its late - if the above doesn't make much sense.

@

The Yamahas are sitting in their boxes in the studio, so I haven't lost them yet. When one puts new speakers in a guitar cab, they usually have to be broken in first. Do you think the same is true for monitors?

Some monitors need to be broken in. It is a good idea to let them settle first, though I doubt you will notice that much of a difference.

The M1's, are notoriously bass heavy. The sound you are getting off the HS80's is probably much more honest. I would give them another shot. The important thing about monitors is not how great they make the music sound, but how well they translate to a variety of systems. Yamaha's are the industry standard for that.

ORIGINAL: Butch

Hello all,

I have been using a pair of Alesis M1 active monitors for the last seven years. I just bought a pair of Yamaha HS80M monitors, thinking I was moving up. When I first listened to them, I thought the high end was really harsh and there was not as much bottom as my M1s. A second listen confirmed my feelings the next day. I experimented with the switches on the back and made it a little better. I decided to send them back. I set the M1s back up and too my surprise, the bottom didn't sound any better. The high end now sounded worse than the Yamahas. The Yamahas sounded bigger and sharper and put the vocals front and center, focused. What's wrong with my ears? Why does my opinion change back and forth? Any known psycho-acoustic mess I'm dealing with?

Thanks for your help.

A couple of touch points...none of which are meant as flames just statements:

1. Is your listening room acoustically treated? If not forget about judging your monitors accurately.

2. The differences could stem from many different area's; ie...your recording ability, your room's treatment or lack there of, the postional difference with the monitors. The Yamaha's could be coupling more than the Alesis...I have no idea...you'd have to determine that in your room.

3. Skip your material that you've been listening to on just the M1's. Take 2 or 3 CD's that you know intimately well and listen to the two sets of monitors with that material playing back. That will get you in the ballpark in terms of a Quality judgement.

4. The differences you hear could very well be showing you that the M1's were hyping or not Hyping your material--so what you now hear with the Yamaha's is how you really recorded the material, and how it really sounds. From personal expierience when I made the jump from prosumer to high end I also thought I had made a big big mistake. But I was lucky to have a mentor who came in and remixed some of my tracks and showed me the path to audio enlightenment. Seriously...try a remix with the new ones, then burn duplicates of the old mix and the new mix and take it to someone's house who has a stereo you particullarly like. See what transpires then.... You might find the Yamaha's translate material better.