Who says studio monitors are "cold and analytical"?


Who says studio monitors are "cold and analytical"?  Does that mean audiophile speakers are warm/colored and distorted?   If Studio Monitors main goal is low distortion, does that mean low distortion is not something audiophiles want?  They want what, high distortion?  "Pretty" sounding distortion?  Or find pretty sounding speakers that make bad recordings sound really good?  What is the point of searching out good recordings then?  They won't sound as intended on a highly colored distorted speaker!   

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@kenjit Totally understand what you are saying and I agree but I never said the Genelecs didn't sound right. My Genelecs are much more accurate than my Paradigm 9hs and JL subs but the Genelecs don't sound better. These are two different questions and it make me wonder what the right way to mix sound is. Movies are more normalized but within them are many pieces of music, effects, dialog, folly, narration etc.  and I don't want my movie to sound like every one else's. 

Speakers that you use all the time are references, when you hear an actor like Anthony Hopkins on your set of speakers you know how he should sound so your brain pins that sound signature to its walls and thus no matter what system your usually listen to it becomes your reference. Many great songs have been produced with really bad monitors. As audiophiles we must strive to push manufacture not to make more wonderful sounding equipment but more accurate equipment and hopefully the extra flavoring we now put all over our music will be replace with accurate music and sounds in the future. Probably the weakest link in the cain is the way the original acoustics work with the original recording microphones.

 

 

@kenjit don't let a lack of industry knowledge stop you. Studio monitors in the past were all over the place. That is changing. They are moving to DSP corrected frequency response, optimal crossover via DSP, and low distortion.

Where they vary is in their bass extension, which ideally is addressed with subwoofers, and dispersion, which ideally is addressed with room acoustics. Distortion characteristics of speakers are much different and gets much more distinct as the volume increases.

With a listening setup where the speakers are toed-in so that they point directly at the listener, and the room is somewhat damped to control reflections, corrected studio monitors sounds surprisingly similar with the caveat you use proper subwoofer integration to fill in the bass and you don't have large room response deviations.

Where the differences are amplified are obvious non-corrected speakers, where the toe-in is reduced exposing more off-axis frequency deviation, and first reflection control and room response which is a combination of environment and speaker dispersion. Direct at the listener with reduced reflections is the best indication of the recording. As you stray from that you are using the speaker dispersion and room response to create a very indeterminate transfer function that often is pleasant, but would be hard to label as accurate.

Must always walk back to 2 channel both throws away large amount of information during recording and is often simulated. Whatever comes out the other end and reaches your ears is both a representation, and interpretation, and manufactured illusion. None of that implies that we cannot set goal within our reproduction equipment to "perfect" aspects of reproduction that maximizes the communication of information within the recording. "Perfect" frequency response improved beginning to end tonal accuracy, or timbre. Perfect frequency response also improves the ability to locate sounds. Perfect frequency response and unit matching also significantly improves instrument positioning. "Perfect" off axis response, defined as smooth frequency response off axis, smoothly rolling off w.r.t. angle (horizontal and vertical), no off axis resonances, etc. allows the ability to create a room response that is also smooth without anomalies, this also plays into tonal accuracy and timbre.  I should not have to write the importance of low distortion as a requirement for accurate reproduction.

 

Direct at the listener with reduced reflections is the best indication of the recording. As you stray from that you are using the speaker dispersion and room response to create a very indeterminate transfer function that often is pleasant, but would be hard to label as accurate.

Just throw your speakers away and use headphones if you think that

 

@kenjit ,

It would be a good idea to learn more, and type less.  If you believe what you just wrong, then you need to learn a lot more. I apologize for breaking my rule of replying to one of your posts. I will not do it again.