I'm using Kirk vxt 8s and still find that if I mix without the s10 sub I end up with a thin or boomy mix because I'm not hearing enough of the big frequencies that consumer systems boost. so I either over compensate or give up and roll too much off. once I got the sub tuned properly it really helped

I'm using Kirk vxt 8s and still find that if I mix without the s10 sub I end up with a thin or boomy mix because I'm not hearing enough of the big frequencies that consumer systems boost. so I either over compensate or give up and roll too much off. once I got the sub tuned properly it really helped

The A7s are excellent monitors. However, they do not have enough bass extension and will need a subwoofer. Along with a sub, they'll be great speakers for you.
 
The good news is you don't have to spend a great deal of money on a subwoofer. Yes, you could get the matching ADAM sub, but it's costly. Remember, the sub only has to be reasonably flat over just one octave. It's not that hard to achieve technically. Just avoid the downward-facing subs that are intended for home theater use and spend a little bit more for one designed specifically for studio monitoring.

S10 Brand new is only 400.  you can do better if you keep an eye open.  It's a perfectly good sub IMO and would pair pretty well with the ADAM A7's.  I was looking at Adams when I got my vxt 8's.  they are great on the high end but really don't pull in the base freq.  I ended up getting a phenomenal deal on the KRK's ($500 for the pair) so I couldn't pass it up but I like the Adams better.

Thanks everyone for the advice so far.   Quick question... how does the subwoofer hook up?  Directly to the audio interface or passing through the monitors some how?  

GuitarhackerOnce you get it set up and adjusted properly ...

I guess that would be my biggest concern.  How do you do that?  How do you accurately get set the level so what you're hearing is truely flat and uncolored?  I don't recall ever seeing a comprehensive and reliable methodology for doing that.

aglewis723
Thanks everyone for the advice so far.   Quick question... how does the subwoofer hook up?  Directly to the audio interface or passing through the monitors some how?  

If you go the Adam route (which I too recommend because it's a great sub that will work on various monitors) your monitors plug into the sub so you should be able to take outs out of your soundcard right into them if you choose to. I use a mixing console here so my outs go to two channels in my board that are dedicated to DAW monitoring. From there my main sets of monitors go into a Samson C-Control...Adams in channel A, NS-10's in channel B, Sub 8 in channel C.
 
The C-Control allows for the sub to be used with both sets of monitors for me as well as a disable button that allows me to kill the sub. But as long as the sub is in C, it will always be active even when I switch through A and B allowing both sets of monitors to have the sub in them. I know you don't have that sort of set-up right now, but if you ever decided to, it's great and would allow you to keep your current monitors as well. So you could use both. :)
 
-Danny

dmbaer

GuitarhackerOnce you get it set up and adjusted properly ...

I guess that would be my biggest concern.  How do you do that?  How do you accurately get set the level so what you're hearing is truely flat and uncolored?  I don't recall ever seeing a comprehensive and reliable methodology for doing that.

David, I think this will most likely be a trial and error thing for most people unless you really go ballistic and custom tune the room and have things done by a professional. Like for example, a buddy of mine just had this incredible studio built that cost insane amounts of money. He doesn't even know how to use the stuff yet. He came into some money and just went nuts on a dream studio. He had it all build by guys that are in the acoustics field and the room was designed by an architect that builds studio's.
 
When they built this room and tuned it....they really tuned it. I've been going over there showing him how to use the stuff a bit and will be using the room for myself as well on the side. But the one thing I noticed was, this room is so dialed in, you don't miss a trick when you listen to something. He's got that really nice Event rig that's built into his walls, some JBL's with the correction.....it's just nuts. But whatever they did to tune that room and build it, there was no experimenting that the engineer would need to do. I can't find a fault with it other than the poor guy doesn't know how to use it yet.
 
In MY personal situation, it has been my exeprience to mix in a little sub until you start to feel it and hear it equally. When you feel too much and you find it exciting...that's when you are usually using too much. If you can hear too much of it....it's usually too loud also. So when I get to either of those thresholds, that's when I know I either have to back down the volume or change the frequency in the sub.
 
To me, selecting the right frequency was the hardest part because most times when we do self analysis stuff, you could totally mess things up unless you really do the research, use the right tools to analyze and of course, have the right mic that paints the correct picture. For me, you know my answer here....ARC was my personal weapon of choice.
 
It doesn't help with room issues (it may for some people) but the one thing it does do (at least for me) is flatten out my monitors. AND...this is especially useful in tuning your sub. So my advice in a sub situation would be to turn it up loud so that you can select the frequency/crossover in the sub that best accentuates your room. Once you find it, back the sub volume down until you get that 50/50 in hearing it and feeling it. Correct it with some sort of analyzer that will give you the good results and then try a few mixes.
 
The worst case scenario, you may mix bass light. If so, you lower the sub which will force you to mix bass heavier. See how it sounds after that. If you like the amount of bass you hear but think your frequency selection is skewered, you can always try messing with the sub frequency a little.
 
If you find you're mixing bass heavy, you raise the level of the sub which of course will force you to mix a bit more bass light. Do a few mixes and see how you fair. I had to do this in both of my rooms. In my home studio, my sub was a bit low which was making my mixes a bit bass heavy. I RAISED it an increment and it totally fixed me.
 
At my real studio we were a bit bass light when we first started mixing, so we lowered the sub a few increments and mixed until we felt we were getting the right results. So there will still be a little trial in error unless you really go through the pains of hell to analyze the room professionally and have it fixed the right way. At least that's been my experience. :)
 
-Danny

aglewis723
Thanks everyone for the advice so far.   Quick question... how does the subwoofer hook up?  Directly to the audio interface or passing through the monitors some how?  

 
Subs hook up in a variety of ways.  My sub is a front firing sub, not a downward sub.  
 
My interface has 8 outputs so I have one full range output feeding the sub. However, the sub also has an input on it where I can send full power to it and it outputs the power back out to the monitor speaker..... and takes the signal off that. I think too, I can send the line level (low level) interface signal to it, and it uses it and gives it back as a line level to feed the monitor....
 
I think there are about 3 main ways to fire up the sub..... use which ever one works best with your setup.

Thank you for the help everyone.   If I use seperate output ports on my audio interface (1 for monitors and 1 for sub), I will have to make sure the levels are exactly matching on both outputs, right?

That's why I was asking if there was a way to hook them up in 1 chain.... something like AUDIO INTERFACE > SUB > MONITORS or something like that.