With all the great posts here on modern production techniques, using EQ, Compression, Busses, Sends, etc etc   I'd really like to know what are some brands & models of "decent"  (good quality, lower cost) monitor systems?  What gripes me to no end is to spend hours putting a mix together, using headphones primarily and then I switch to 2 different speaker systems to listen and adjust levels more.... only to find that when I get the MP3 on my car system, I find a horrible mix with vocals too hot or instrumentation totally out of whack....  !   What ARE some decent brands and models of monitor systems?   What are you all using?   

do you want pro level, or just simple home recording level?

could be monitors are the least of your worries.....

room treatment can sometimes be more critical than the monitors.

everything is connected.

everything influences everything else.


i would spend some time, if i were you, browsing the SEARCH function, all of your questions have been asked a hundred times before, and by spending some time looking at those answers, you can probably boil your questions down to some specifics, which will save you a HUGE amount of time/learning curve

"Monitors - what makes up a "decent" system?"

Personally speaking, I focus on adequate power amp capacity.




Lot's of fancy name speakers come with cut rate amps built in them.

Mains with 50 watts on the woofers? Don't even bother. :-)


best regards,
mike

I get what you're saying there Mike, and I also have seen other posts on the subject, but I guess what I'm asking is, what does it take in a monitor system, to really get a faithful reproduction of the nuances of the balances in the mix? 

I.E., Why does a car stereo (well, a fairly decent one I guess), seem to be able to reproduce a clarity and balance that I can't get with phones or multiple PC speaker systems with subwoofers, as well as a 5-1 surround-sound speaker system?   Are there certain specs for a DAW monitor system that's required in order to get that correct balance before mixing down the audio from the project?  It all seems so hit-n-miss to me right now - it's like headphones are SO accurate you hear every little thing, but maybe what's happening is they are somehow compensating.  So I try to use as many speaker systems to preview as I can, but sheesh.  Enough to drive ya to drink, getting an accurate monitor of the mixdown ???  

There are certain specs for specialized tasks such as film sound mixing but for music it's never really been formalized into specs. The film sound specs include room specs as well as electronic specs and they are intended to facilitate consistent play back in theaters that meet the same spec. That's why some studios run things like EQ on the monitors... it's actually part of the spec.

File that under too much info. :-)



Some say that "monitors" are specialized and flat while "stereo speakers" are meant to entertain and emphasize certain things to enhance particular styles of music.

My thought is that all good speakers are reasonably flat, while most cheap speakers are not. A lot of times this can be associated with the cheap amps that are stuffed inside them.

Back when we all used separate speakers and amps one could see how a good amp made a cheap speaker sound better. We could also see how a great speaker didn't make a bad amp sound any better... it just sounds more accurately bad.

Now, if you get a powered speaker you get what you get and the cheap stuff will never sound better than it does.

With regards to comparing the car stereo; perhaps you have a nice car stereo? My Honda Van OEM package sounds great. My Wife's Honda Element OEM system sound ugly. Go figure.

With regards to headphones... well, they take the room out of the equation.  Batsbrew already mentioned that one should seriously consider the listening environment when considering the usefulness of speakers.

I dislike using headphones and I like to learn to listen to speakers in a room and make the best of it. I have to use headphones for work... I just dislike adding any more time to that experience.

My approach is to keep the speakers off the wall and use all the tried and true placement techniques that stereo buffs have enjoyed for a few decades.

If you take the fanciest speakers and put them up against the wall on a shelf you are wasting their potential. Indeed that is why you can find so many people who claim to have tried the best but also claim that a pair of cheapies are just as good.

If you can't get the speakers off the wall... you are fighting physics... and you'll end up learning about all sorts of compensation techniques.

One thing is for sure, treating the acoustics of the room is always a good thing.

You can use a combination of approaches to make a best circumstance.


I'd be embarrassed to relay how much any one of my speaker rigs cost, so I will not.

I believe that good placement,  greater than adequate power, lot's of active listening, and acoustical treatment for the room are the most important factors.


Disclaimer, for those that need to have it spelled out... this is all just my personal opinion.


I know my answer isn't formatted for you to make easy use of the info.... I'd say beware of anyone who tries to make such a complicated subject seem easy.

In any event, you are certainly on the right track in thinking about all this stuff... I'm confident that if you get enough good info you'll eventually come to understanding that is effective for your circumstance.

If your speakers are sitting next to a wall, try an experiment... get them off the walls and give them a try just to see if it becomes easier.

I hope you find this helpful.


all the very best,
mike

room treatment can sometimes be more critical than the monitors.  

Really, it depends on your budget. Remember, quality can be reached on average speakers as well. Especially if you set up your listening/mixing set up properly and tune your room well, whether with software or acoustic treatment.

The car system, good or bad (supergood excluded), does not have balance or whatever. It's a system that has several types of filtering/FX built in to compensate the less ideal listening environment. But usually, if you make a mix that sounds OK in the car, it most likely sounds OK in most other places.
 
Are you mixing with a surround system???? The only recommendable system for mixing/mastering is 2 speakers (+subwoofer if necessary). And then, a poorly adjusted subwoofer can totally sabotage your mix. And I can imagine any 5.1 system is no good for mixing. They are not designed for colourless reproduction.

There are no magic speakers. No matter what you buy, you need to do a lot of trial and error before you get there. You can make a decent mix with 300$/pair Behringers or with  2000$/pair Genelecs, or you can make useless mixes with both if the room acoustics is  (too) bad.

Comparing the frequency contents  of commercial CDs and your own products with an analyser gives usefull info. The free Voxengo Span2 is excellent for that.