Hello fellow gearslutzers,
After almost two weeks of lurking around, this is my first posting here, and I come to you with an (cue trumpets) age old question: can I use a pair of studio monitors for casual listening?
HELP!
To explain a little bit: I move around quite often, I rent out, I rent out small. So no acoustic treatments, no studio setup, no production per se etc. But I'm a big fan of music, new and old. So I listen a lot. While working, while chilling. I listen mostly to electronic music, all kinds, and a little jazz and classic. What I don't listen to is: club, house, minimal, drone, pop, metal, that stuff...
I can't afford a decent hi-fi mainly due to space and money (or rather value for money) constraints. My current budget for this little investment right now is in the range of 400E, that's around 500$. I don't know if I can go higher than that.
My main (amateurish) concerns are enumerated below:
1. the sweet spot. I've been reading around a lot about this and I can't form a definitive opinion on this, especially not remotely. I didn't yet have the chance to listen in person to a set of studio monitors, especially not in 'casual' conditions. Am I to understand then that if I listen to these off axis, as in completely ignoring manufacturer and studio monitor placement guidelines, I will get a much weaker perceived musical reproduction of the material than with a set of hi-fi's?! Could someone try to elaborate on this aspect a bit?
2. room treatment. As mentioned earlier, I will be listening to these in some 'smallish' apartments I am renting around town, so I think investing in room treatment is somewhat out of the question. How much are these monitors dependent, (again) for casual listening, on room parameters? Are they entirely not recommended under these conditions?
3. monitor harshness. As I understood some monitors are perceived as having a harsher sound, and then some others are perceived as having a smoother sound. It is understood then that harsher sounding monitors will result in ear fatigue faster than a smoother sounding monitor. Does this hold in real life conditions? Should I be worried then that this, combined with the neutrality of monitors in general, their clinical sound, will result in a tiresome experience for casual listening?
I think that is all.
Please understand that I am pretty amateurish when it comes to speakers/monitors, but I've become very interested in the last weeks. These questions are aimed more at learning about all the aspects of the tech in question, and less at nitpicking. I do want to understand this medium better, so do be generous in your arguments.
Something important: I'm playing mostly mp3's at the moment. Not even the best kind (if there ever was such a thing). So please advice on that if possible. I have a vintage iMac, and a laptop - so these will be main sound sources. How much of a role will these factor in?
These are some of the monitors that I can find on stock in my region / price range:
Reveal 502 - Versatile, Active & Bold studio monitors | Tannoy Studio
Coaxial studio monitor TDC 6
LSR305
PM-2 MkII : Professional Studio Monitor
Rokit 5 G3
After almost two weeks of lurking around, this is my first posting here, and I come to you with an (cue trumpets) age old question: can I use a pair of studio monitors for casual listening?
HELP!
To explain a little bit: I move around quite often, I rent out, I rent out small. So no acoustic treatments, no studio setup, no production per se etc. But I'm a big fan of music, new and old. So I listen a lot. While working, while chilling. I listen mostly to electronic music, all kinds, and a little jazz and classic. What I don't listen to is: club, house, minimal, drone, pop, metal, that stuff...
I can't afford a decent hi-fi mainly due to space and money (or rather value for money) constraints. My current budget for this little investment right now is in the range of 400E, that's around 500$. I don't know if I can go higher than that.
My main (amateurish) concerns are enumerated below:
1. the sweet spot. I've been reading around a lot about this and I can't form a definitive opinion on this, especially not remotely. I didn't yet have the chance to listen in person to a set of studio monitors, especially not in 'casual' conditions. Am I to understand then that if I listen to these off axis, as in completely ignoring manufacturer and studio monitor placement guidelines, I will get a much weaker perceived musical reproduction of the material than with a set of hi-fi's?! Could someone try to elaborate on this aspect a bit?
2. room treatment. As mentioned earlier, I will be listening to these in some 'smallish' apartments I am renting around town, so I think investing in room treatment is somewhat out of the question. How much are these monitors dependent, (again) for casual listening, on room parameters? Are they entirely not recommended under these conditions?
3. monitor harshness. As I understood some monitors are perceived as having a harsher sound, and then some others are perceived as having a smoother sound. It is understood then that harsher sounding monitors will result in ear fatigue faster than a smoother sounding monitor. Does this hold in real life conditions? Should I be worried then that this, combined with the neutrality of monitors in general, their clinical sound, will result in a tiresome experience for casual listening?
I think that is all.
Please understand that I am pretty amateurish when it comes to speakers/monitors, but I've become very interested in the last weeks. These questions are aimed more at learning about all the aspects of the tech in question, and less at nitpicking. I do want to understand this medium better, so do be generous in your arguments.
Something important: I'm playing mostly mp3's at the moment. Not even the best kind (if there ever was such a thing). So please advice on that if possible. I have a vintage iMac, and a laptop - so these will be main sound sources. How much of a role will these factor in?
These are some of the monitors that I can find on stock in my region / price range:
Reveal 502 - Versatile, Active & Bold studio monitors | Tannoy Studio
Coaxial studio monitor TDC 6
LSR305
PM-2 MkII : Professional Studio Monitor
Rokit 5 G3
(yet another) Studio Monitors as Multimedia Speakers (thread)
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