Are you married? haha
You can also try to pick up some JBL 4312 used. I know alot probably dont find them to be the best option but they are great sounding monitors and can be found used. My Father-in-law has some and I have to say that they sound great.
I forgot to ask Charles , in case of the amp why did you go directly to a good class D (hypex in this case) why not consider a good AB class ?
I know what you mean...DIY has that "I did it myself" pride thing going for it...and the knowledge that you can fix something.
I am indeed married but I also have a pair of rather large speakers in my living room, probably about 230L externally plus a largish amp rack.
However since they are active I can control the relative outputs and managed to 'hide' them in room corners. I had to reduce the bass quite a lot to keep it level with the rest.
I really wouldn't want to swap mine for 4312s.
They you are a very lucky man!
I got a little anxious with a build and wanted to hear them so I made some quick nasty stands and my wife even complained about those when I just wanted a quick listen.
the 4312 definitely are not what I would call reference as I still consider the Wilson Maxx 3 to be my reference as they are the best that I have heard(I dont own them but listened for a long period of time in a store). However, they are very good from what I have experienced in my short audio experience...I only got involved in this hobby about 3-4 years ago and I havent had the opportunity nor resources to really delve into much hi-fi...I am getting there though.
Kinda slipped my mind.
I stopped looking at class AB amps altogether since I got my MC2 Audio amps but new they are not cheap and s/h difficult to find.
I know because I got mine s/h and it took a long time to get the three together.
From everything I hear those Hypex are very decent amps and if you put them together yourself they are also very reasonably priced.
You could even go for one of their two-channel plate amps. That way you get the DSP thrown in which would make your life a fair bit easier.
The reason I shied away from building my own studio monitors was the inability to get the speakers to integrate well at 3 feet.
That, and I got a steal on a pair of BM6 passive monitors.
The Dynaudio wasn't the last word in build quality but it was very good at microdynamics even at stupid power levels, summed correctly even at three feet listening distance, had enough information in the bass to prevent boom in the mix, and had very low distortion even when played loud. I drove them at -18dB on a 200W amp (my ears were hurting bad for the few seconds this was going on) and the speakers showed no signs of distress, compression or bottoming out with severe orchestral music.
Also, it was very tolerant of poor setup, which I had to resort to as I moved three cities while I owned it, with the monitors constantly being poorly placed in rented flats and temporary 'studio' alcoves.
The best thing about those was that you could never remember the sound. Comparing it to most hifi systems I've heard (including Dynaudio hifi speakers) it would probably be described as 'cold' and 'without soul' (not my words). Nothing ever stood out except that which you wanted to. Oh, and you could get 6 monitors and they would all sound identical, which is not trivial. Getting two channels to match closely enough is a problem in itself.
I suspect that poking holes into a box of indeterminate size and construction, and throwing some drivers and amps in may not be the best way to approach this (though I will admit a lot of commercial monitors may be made this way). I would suggest that a monitor is a tool or measuring instrument, and though the largest contributor is the talent, the instrument also has a pretty big role to play.
That, and I got a steal on a pair of BM6 passive monitors.
The Dynaudio wasn't the last word in build quality but it was very good at microdynamics even at stupid power levels, summed correctly even at three feet listening distance, had enough information in the bass to prevent boom in the mix, and had very low distortion even when played loud. I drove them at -18dB on a 200W amp (my ears were hurting bad for the few seconds this was going on) and the speakers showed no signs of distress, compression or bottoming out with severe orchestral music.
Also, it was very tolerant of poor setup, which I had to resort to as I moved three cities while I owned it, with the monitors constantly being poorly placed in rented flats and temporary 'studio' alcoves.
The best thing about those was that you could never remember the sound. Comparing it to most hifi systems I've heard (including Dynaudio hifi speakers) it would probably be described as 'cold' and 'without soul' (not my words). Nothing ever stood out except that which you wanted to. Oh, and you could get 6 monitors and they would all sound identical, which is not trivial. Getting two channels to match closely enough is a problem in itself.
I suspect that poking holes into a box of indeterminate size and construction, and throwing some drivers and amps in may not be the best way to approach this (though I will admit a lot of commercial monitors may be made this way). I would suggest that a monitor is a tool or measuring instrument, and though the largest contributor is the talent, the instrument also has a pretty big role to play.
Just going by the measurements I wouldn't call Wilson Maxx 3 reference.
The frequency response is too much of a roller coaster for that and way too much bass around 50-60Hz.
This monitor measures more reference-like:
RL 901K
Reference by ear alone might be a better way to say it?
I know their frequency response is horrid and by that alone they are not worth their price. However, they had this sound that was just easy to my ears...only way I know how to describe it.
I know their frequency response is horrid and by that alone they are not worth their price. However, they had this sound that was just easy to my ears...only way I know how to describe it.
In one of my mixing rooms I am using 5(with the option of adding two more for 7.1) Dunalvy SC-V's, and two TSW-V subwoofer towers. It is all being powered by Bryston 28B SST II monoblock amps.
Another mixing room is built around a 5.1 system consisting of soffit mounted ATC SCM-300A, and two custom built 18" subwoofers.
Another mixing room is built around a 5.1 system consisting of soffit mounted ATC SCM-300A, and two custom built 18" subwoofers.
of course building a pair studio monitor is not an easy job you can not build any kinda speaker just by put some drivers in some cabinet and call it an speaker , it need lotsa calculation , careful driver selection and most important part an accurate XO , what you mean by 'cold' and 'without soul' is they don't have any coloration and that s what an studio monitor should sound , you don want a pleasant to ears set of speakers , you want an honest one , I spend many years try to learn how to mix and getting familiar with freqs behavior and harmonics and also had obsession for audio since i was a teenager ,but never had access to any real studio and big super monitors (I used to live in Iran !) but I think I know how an studio monitor should sound like ...
you mean you work in a dreamy room, you r a luck man 🙂 , never mixed any 5.1 mixes afraid to touch that subject yet , never had a good 5.1 setup for mix either ..
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summary ...
so for I try to get a brief summary , here s what I learn from here so far , correct me if I m wrong ,
PA drivers usually used in far field monitors cause you need more efficient freqs and dynamics till sound travels the room and get to your ears , somehow same with 2 and 3 way designs , almost all of the mid and far field monitors are 3 way , because of the frequency loses from the distance between monitors and the ears , and almost all of the near field monitors are 2 way ,
one thing is still unclear for me , is that I read somewhere that some tweeters won't sound good in near distance and they should be heard from a distance beside the diameters what other elements should I look for to avoid that problem ?
Regards
Ahmad
so for I try to get a brief summary , here s what I learn from here so far , correct me if I m wrong ,
PA drivers usually used in far field monitors cause you need more efficient freqs and dynamics till sound travels the room and get to your ears , somehow same with 2 and 3 way designs , almost all of the mid and far field monitors are 3 way , because of the frequency loses from the distance between monitors and the ears , and almost all of the near field monitors are 2 way ,
one thing is still unclear for me , is that I read somewhere that some tweeters won't sound good in near distance and they should be heard from a distance beside the diameters what other elements should I look for to avoid that problem ?
Regards
Ahmad
you mean you work in a dreamy room, you r a luck man,
Actually, I worked sooooooo hard to get the money to build my studio. It is not really a recording studio, but a post production sound studio. We do commercial spots, audio for televsion, and mostly work on Disney cable shows since Disney is where I work.
Don't be afraid, dive in. The only way you will learn how to mix multichannel is to get in there and do it. When I started off mixing 22 years ago fresh out of film school, I was thrown into mixing a foreign movie in 5.1. Since you always work with one or two other guys, they kind of guided me through the process. I have since done over 150 hometheater mixes for DVD and Bluray for Disney.
Get in the studio, roll up your sleaves, and give it a try.
I understand , i know how hard it is to make it through audio engineering , I heard a lot of complains about how audio engineering is living without net these days ...
unfortunately I had to give it all up for 3 years now and we are on our way to move to another country so I have to start all over again and ofcourse I won't looking at audio related jobs as I should look for some secure jobs as a newcomer 😀 , anyway the point is unfortunately I can't start any 5.1 project soon , since I don have any equipment here 😉
do you know what the drivers are ? not for studio monitors , but it certainly good to know 😀
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