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Desktop speakers for mixing AND music?

It has been a long time since I posted here, but only because I have been living in audio bliss. My two channel system is perfect (for me). Refurbished HH Scott 222 (not Mapleshade), Omega speakers and an iMac with a 2 TB 7200 rpm drive serving up about 600 lossless CDs to my Schiit Bifrost. My movie/tv set up is fine too - older B&W C series all around and an older Rotel AV receiver that (knock on wood) won't die.

However, now I have a minor problem. I have a third system that is in the works. My home office desk. Yet another two Macs are set up with a Steinberg UR22 audio/midi interface I use with Logic, Final Cut and more for recording, including music, voice, interviews and for video, though not too serious. Now, I find myself wanting to listen to music here too. So, what kind of speakers should I get? Can I get monitors that also are great for casual listening? Right now I only have the iMac built in speakers (I know...) and a pair of Audio Technica M50X headphones (in effect my Steinberg UR22 audio interface is my "headphone amp").

If I am going to use this as a true studio set up, many people are recommending monitors made for this purpose and people seem to really like JBL LSR305 5" Active Studio Monitor‎s. I can get a pair at about $300. However, it really isn't a studio as much as it is a place to work, so should I be thinking of something else? Dare I go passive and try to get some kind of little power amp? Can I do this for $400ish (and I am open to used). I do have a very old (90s era) pair of passive Tannoy monitors, but they are kind of big and I don't have a spare amp. I'd hate to go buy an amp and not be happy with the Tannoys...

However, if I go the more "audiophile" route, I might I have better sound, but not a good reference source for mixing. Right? Or am I being ridiculous? Any suggestions highly appreciated. Remember, budget of, let's say, $500.
karavite

Showing 6 responses by zd542

zd542
5,339 posts
 
I had 2 pairs of M Audio powered monitors for use on my and they both went bad with low hours on them. You would probably like KRK. I don't know if they are the best, but I can't see doing that much better for the same money.
zd542
5,339 posts
 
There's any number of reasons why the Tannoy's can hiss that's not the speakers fault. With pro gear, sometimes people mistake signal cable with speaker cable. They look exactly the same and use the same type of connectors. I wouldn't be too concerned because Guitar Center has a good return policy.
zd542
5,339 posts
 
"You are all set now with your HS8's right? The HS5's I listened to seemed quite extreme in focusing on mids and seems designed strictly for mixing, but would be miserable for casual listening."

That's an interesting point. One thing you need to do when looking at products like this is to verify the setup. As audiophiles, I think we take for granted that when we demo a system, someone takes a CD player, plugs it into a preamp, to the amp and then the speakers. And aside from volume, there's not much else to adjust. Pro gear is different. There's buttons and controls everywhere. High and low pass filters, tone controls and all types of other things that will change the sound. Just out of curiosity, I looked at the Tannoy 502's. On the back of that speaker, it has controls for speaker position (I'm assuming left or right), high frequency cut and HF boost. I think it would be a good idea to look at the system from source to speakers and verify all processing is turned off, or set to neutral. People in pro audio usually have no problem with that type of processing, and wouldn't think to turn it off before a demo.
zd542
5,339 posts
 
"08-30-14: Karavite
FYI, apparently Tannoy has acknowledged and addressed the problem with the hissing/buzzing issue in their Reveal monitors:

http://support.tannoy.com/entries/60922977-Reveal-502-802-My-monitor-emits-a-static-electrical-buzzing-noise-What-do-I-do-"

Out of curiosity, I went out a couple of weeks ago and bought a pair of Tannoy's. Reveal 502 is what it says on the box. If you get the hum, you're not hooking them up properly. Depending on what type of connection options you are going to use, the fix may be different. But if you have a pair of them and want to prove that nothing is wrong with them and the hum can really go away, try this: First, take a stereo 3.5mm to 3.5mm interconnect and go from the output on something like an ipod, pc, or something similar, to the 3.5mm input on one of the speakers. (You need to make sure the cable is stereo, not mono.). Take another cable exactly like it, and connect it to the monitor link input on both speakers. Just to clarify, one cable goes from a source to 1 of the speakers and the other cable goes from one speaker to the other. If you connect everything this way, you shouldn't get a hum.
zd542
5,339 posts
 
I think you meant Lewinskih01 and not me. He's the one that brought up the AE's. I haven't heard them myself, but they do look like an excellent option.
zd542
5,339 posts
 
"Out of curiosity, what makes for a good speaker for listening but not for mixing? I never mixed so I'm lost with my admitedly basic thinking of "both need to reproduce as acourately as posible, right?"

I've noticed some differences between the 2 types of speakers. Studio monitors don't seem to have the same imaging qualities of regular speakers. They just need to be detailed enough to let you hear whats on the recording. Probably the biggest difference is that most monitors are meant to be listened to near field. People tend to sit very close to them. Also, there's really no need to use expensive, exotic materials, like they do in some high end speakers. Not only that, a lot of regular speakers sacrifice studio monitor qualities in order to gain others. A good example is Magnepan. They measure terrible. A frequency response print outs look like a heart rate monitor when someone's having a heart attack. They wouldn't make for good monitors, but people buy them anyway because they like other qualities that monitors typically don't have.
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