Unflattering, revealing reference monitor designs

[ChrisCummins]

Hi,
first post here - go easy on me haha.

I'm looking to build a pair of reference monitors for my home studio which will be used as my main speakers for all mixing/mastering. The key goal is that they are incredibly revealing, portraying every sound as accurately as possible so as to show up any faults in a mix, artificats in a recording or other nasties. The idea being that these speakers would play back 'what is there' and then I can use a selection of other speakers to represent average playback systems, such as bass-less car stereos etc etc.

Since this would be my first speaker build project, I'm almost certain that I'll have to use an existing design/kit, as I simply don't beleive I can design anything to meet my high expectations without years of experience.

So my question is, does anything like this exist? I will also be building my own amps (either passive or active design), probably based around Hypex modules, what about bi-amping?

Any help would be much appreciated.
Regards

[Glowbug]

Zaph ZD5 comes to mind...

Zaph|Audio - ZD5 - Scan Speak 15W8530K00 and Vifa XT25

Calling Zaph Audio ZD5 Owners

[ChrisCummins]

Hi Jim. Thanks for the reply, those look like very interesting speakers, however, I was a little worried by the comments that they struggle in the low bass. From my perspective, extreme bass (< 60Hz) is just as important as any other part of the frequency range. I've mixed a song on thin sounding monitors that sounded great until I checked them on a large PA system, where I realised that all of the bass EQ I had been applying had accumlated right down to 35-45Hz and created a rediculously boomy mix.

[rcw]

This is a small speaker I built a few years ago that has the sort of chracteristics you nedd..

Small satellite loudspeaker system.

This system is intended for a filter assisted alignment that optimises power handling and produce a lot of clean sound from a small box.

Using a Zaph design with such a box to optimise power handling for monitoring is something to look at.
rcw.

[godfrey]

How about Orion or Pluto?
Linkwitz Lab - Loudspeaker Design
You didn't mention budget, btw. I assume there is a limit ...

[Spasticteapot]

An active DSP crossover like the DCX2496 allows for very steep crossover slopes and room-specific precision EQ for incredibly flat frequency response. (It's also a very good DAC - just feed it a digital output from your workstation, and you're effectively done.) Combine with bi-amping for the monitors, and you have a very nice setup.

A really nice setup would be a Behringer DCX2496 with some MTMs in sealed boxes using ScanSpeak dome tweeters with waveguides and Seas Excel 8" woofers, with a Rhythmik Audio 15" subwoofer (or, ideally, one per channel.) Or you could build it open-baffle using either two or four super-high-excursion subwoofers per channel (Peerless XXLS, for example) in place of the sealed Rhythmik sub.

Alternately, you could use the above setup open baffle, but you'd need some truly enormous woofers.

[Ling Gowa]

As above, you didn't mention a budget or anything like size restriction etc.

[lousymusician]

When you say "reference monitor" I think of something along the lines of a big JBL monitor - horn loaded treble and big, efficient woofers that can deliver both the full frequency range and full dynamic range of the mix. I assume you mean something similar, not near-field monitors for the soundboard.

For a refined, semi-DIY approach to that concept I'd say go with a pair of the Gedlee Abbey or Nathan kits (Loudspeakers), along with two or preferably three subs to handle the deep bass. Lots of discussion about those here! Not cheap, but should be very capable of giving you what you need. Note that the subs are not optional, the Gedlee speakers are not designed to go deep on their own, and one sub will probably not give you the smooth bass response you need no matter how good it is.

Another kit to look at would be Wayne Parham's Pi 3 or Pi 4 (Pi Speakers - unmatched quality and state-of-the-art performance). Again, waveguide loaded tweeter and large pro woofer, with a couple of upgrade options depending on your budget. Messrs Parham and Geddes take what look like similar approaches, but disagree on the details enough that it's worth studying each of their design decisions.

For a budget approach that will rely a little more on you for completion, look up the Econowave project at Audiokarma and use that waveguide/compression driver combined with your (preferably high-efficiency) 12" woofers of choice and subs to taste. You should be able to pull together some pretty good mains for $400/pair or so. I have a set of E-waves with cheap P. Audio woofers, and while they aren't the most refined speakers on the planet, they aren't half bad for their low cost.

Also look at Brandon/augerpro's Eminince/QSC design at Can you smell what Brando's cooking!? - AVS Forum. He went with a nicer compression driver and woofer than the average Econowave, selected after some extensive testing. Looks like a very nice system.

Happy hunting!

Bill

[Spasticteapot]

Originally Posted by lousymusician

When you say "reference monitor" I think of something along the lines of a big JBL monitor - horn loaded treble and big, efficient woofers that can deliver both the full frequency range and full dynamic range of the mix. I assume you mean something similar, not near-field monitors for the soundboard.

The Altecs of old have been replaced with speakers that can reproduce similar SPL with much less distortion. Most of the ones I've seen use a silk dome tweeter in a waveguide, one or two cone midrange drivers in yet more waveguides, and several enormous woofers.

[dantheman]

I think you should just buy good studio monitors. You music is too important to leave up to your first build. Trust me.

Dan