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Triquatra
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United Kingdom
12,635 posts
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 Posted - 2012/09/22 : 20:06:12
nope, no grill on the front - which is/was one of my concerns too - luckily they're out of Oliver's reach, but I'm sure if he had half a chance he would be jabbing his fingers into the them!
each speaker has its own power cable!
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whispering
Moderator
Finland
8,453 posts
Joined: Nov, 2002
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Posted - 2012/09/22 : 21:06:49
quote:
Originally posted by Hard2Get:
I don't know if there is anywhere where you can do it there but if you can go into a shop and try them out in advance. Speakers/monitor preference is a very personal thing, at least in audio engineering anyway. Either way its worth knowing in advance if they sound better enough than the things that cost less to justify the money spent.
Specialized stores have gone from bad to worse. The KRK's aren't even sold here. So no, i rely on online reviews. Of course i could go to store and choose from the ones they stock, but they usually have extremely limited selection.
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Future_Shock
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Australia
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Posted - 2012/09/23 : 01:17:05
I wouldn't even bother with monitors to be honest.
Flat sound takes some getting used to and not everyone likes it. Monitors are loud and clean but lack the "colouring" that hi-fi systems have to make it more pleasing to the ear.
If you're really set on monitors, just go out and buy some behringer truths. If you're not producing it's not worth spending the extra money on anything better because you wont be utlizing it for what it's there for. If it's just casual listening go out and get the cheapest monitors you can (which was behringer truths when i was shopping for my monitors).
The critical thing about monitors is that there's no universal answer. That's why so many different people have so many different sets of monitors. There's a lot of personal taste to account for. Good thing about monitors is you can pop into your local music shop and test run a couple and see what works for you. It's not an infallible process (the room they are in will probably be better treated than your home) but it gives a vague idea.
Everyone here is going to tell you that the monitors they have are good. That's why they bought them. Go make your own decision - it's easy enough to do.
*edit note* If you want to fill a room with sound you might want to invest in a matching set with a sub woofer. KRK still makes a sub for their monitors, don't they? (****ing useless for production, but for casual listening will make it better for you.)
*second edit note* if you don't have one, you'll need an audio interface to run monitors from your computer because your onboard soundcard wont have the right ins. This obviously adds to the cost and affects the quality. As will the cables, as will the connection to the soundcard.
If you run a cheap soundcard, some of them only have RCA outs for the monitors (which will need an XLR>RCA or 1/4' TRS jack>RCA to run, depending on your monitor's connection points) and RCA is an unbalanced connection and WILL give you some noisy feedback - first hand experience (even with good cabling). The other option is a soundcard with USB (as opposed to firewire) which has less latency but is not a concern for you as you don't produce. I've heard USB soundcards can carry electrical noise from the computer, though. Anyway, all stuff to think about.
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Edited by - Future_Shock on 2012/09/23 01:22:52 |
whispering
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Finland
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Posted - 2012/09/23 : 07:16:49
^ Thanks for the reply. Lot to think about.
What i really like is very clear sound. Gos down enough to hear the kicks and the lows, but subs go too low for my taste. Only reason i went with monitors is 'cause their active speakers with good quality. For regular Hifi speakers the selection is pretty small.
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Shades
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United Kingdom
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Joined: Dec, 2006
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Posted - 2012/09/23 : 08:09:52
maybe buy a sub that you can alter the low pass freq?
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Triquatra
Moderator
United Kingdom
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Posted - 2012/09/23 : 09:03:10
quote:
Originally posted by Andy_Influx:
Everyone here is going to tell you that the monitors they have are good. That's why they bought them.
I bought mine because I was told to - I had/have no idea if they were/are actually any good or not! :P
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Hard2Get
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United Kingdom
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Posted - 2012/09/23 : 12:21:10
I find the flat response a good thing when it comes to bass in genres like Hardcore. It means the low end is nice and tight. And if you don't want a flat response, use an EQ. At least then you get to choose what frequencies you want to alter.
quote:
I bought mine because I was told to
LOL
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Edited by - Hard2Get on 2012/09/23 12:22:48 |
Triquatra
Moderator
United Kingdom
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Posted - 2012/09/23 : 12:24:47
:D
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DJ_FunDaBounce
Advanced Member
Colombia
2,008 posts
Joined: Nov, 2001
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Posted - 2012/09/23 : 16:55:46
quote:
Originally posted by Triquatra:
quote:
Originally posted by Andy_Influx:
Everyone here is going to tell you that the monitors they have are good. That's why they bought them.
I bought mine because I was told to - I had/have no idea if they were/are actually any good or not! :P
Yeah I was gonna mention M-audios as they are what I use but I also based my choice based on on-line reviews back when I bought them. Still from what I've gathered and my personal experience with m-audios is that these and the krk's with a sub would make a good choice.
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whispering
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Finland
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Posted - 2012/09/23 : 18:47:13
I don't really want a subwoofer. It was hard enough to add one to my home theater.
After Andy_Influx and hard2get's posts, have been going on a different route. Thinking now of getting "basic" active speakers, but still above the average PC speakers. And for those moments i want good sound quality get a decent pair of headphones. ATM been looking at Audio Pros Addon Five's (white or red) and AKG's K272HD's. Both are sexy as hell:
Need to find a local store that sells those headphones, so i can test how they fit my head.
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Edited by - whispering on 2012/09/23 18:48:27 |
DJ_FunDaBounce
Advanced Member
Colombia
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Posted - 2012/09/23 : 19:15:41
From the looks of the audio pros I think that would have your needs covered. I agree with Influx that the cabling usually used on studio monitors might make it more of a hassle, making the addon 5's a fine choice due to the wireless option. Would just need to demo the sound quality.
Funny how much the audio pros look like the m-audio btw...
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whispering
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Finland
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Posted - 2012/09/24 : 16:42:02
quote:
Originally posted by whispering:
ATM been looking at Audio Pros Addon Five's (white or red) and AKG's K272HD's. Both are sexy as hell
K, just ordered those. What do people recon, do i need a separate audio card for my PC? ATM using the integrated one. Probably wount bring much difference to the speakers, but the headphones are a different thing?
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Future_Shock
Advanced Member
Australia
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Posted - 2012/09/24 : 19:42:55
quote:
Originally posted by whispering:
quote:
Originally posted by whispering:
ATM been looking at Audio Pros Addon Five's (white or red) and AKG's K272HD's. Both are sexy as hell
K, just ordered those. What do people recon, do i need a separate audio card for my PC? ATM using the integrated one. Probably wount bring much difference to the speakers, but the headphones are a different thing?
The difference between a production soundcard and an on board sound card is the same as the difference between hi fi speakers and monitors. There's colouring. I can tell you, even resetting all the settings on my onboard soundcard's software equalizers and such, it's still coloured. Very coloured.
I generally find headphones with cans (as opposed to earbuds) will over accentuate the low end a LOT just because the onboard soundcard was never intended to be heard like that because the casual listener wouldn't have that option. Lucky for you, you're only going for what sounds pleasing to the ear - so you can afford to just see how it sounds when it all arrives, and then look into an external audio interface if it doesn't sound right to you.
No point in spending money you don't need to, right?
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Hard2Get
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United Kingdom
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Posted - 2012/09/24 : 20:15:21
That and on-board sound is an utter pile of shit, or at least it used to be. Either way it is nowhere near as good as a dedicated sound card. For obvious reasons. If you consider what a sound card actually does then it seems kind of pointless to get high quality listening equipment only for the interface to re-produce poor quality sound. The very quality and accuracy of what you are listening to depends first entirely on the quality of that which converts the signal from the digital realm into the analogue, and only then that which you listen to that signal with. However, that being said, if you are happy with the sound an on-board interface produces then it doesn't matter that you can do better, and certainly you can be infinitely fussy about quality but ultimately the ears will accept and adjust to most things. But it is certainly worth considering what you are missing out on for a relatively small cost. The best headphones or speakers in the world can only give you what the audio interface produces, and if that happens to be comparatively shit then it will still be shit no matter what you are listening with (although as good as it can possibly sound).
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Edited by - Hard2Get on 2012/09/24 20:28:20 |
whispering
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Finland
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Posted - 2012/09/25 : 19:25:16
Thanks for the input. I'm not really fuzzed about slight "coloring". More fuzzed about digital noise and what makes the actual sound worse. I read some reviews, and a mid range card seems to give you a boost above the integrated ones, but after that the changes in quality become less clear (only slight improvements). But the cheaper ones still cost at least 50e. So will probably hold out for a few months, and when i do get one, get one that'll be also useful when i can finally be arsed to record my vinyls.
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