Neumann KH310 were also on the table when I was deciding. Amazing speakers. But for my music I found Adams to be a bit sharper, tougher, darker, mistakes came more in your face…hard to explain. And half the price of course. Neumanns on the other hand would be my first choice for warmer, softer music.
Sorry for off topic. But I would still probably be looking for smaller Yamaha’s in your place. Many friends have this setup with a smaller sub included. (NS10 with a small sub is a great option but hard to find and more expensive)
I find the Eris series enjoyable to listen to music through, but the JBL LSR series great for long hours of actually working on music. For the price, a pair of LSR305 are hard to beat, especially for a small room.
There’s been some mention of the Yamaha HS series. I’ll add that I’m using a Yamaha HS8S sub with some Mackie HR824mk2’s and it sounds great. My only down point is that it’s crossover doesn’t go below 80hz. I thought I’d end up using another crossover to go lower, but surprisingly things sound good and clear set at 80… The Mackies are very clear and the Yamaha is smooth and defined, not muddy or boomy… My ears likey.
The shop I bought the JBLs from had the JBLs, Eris Presonus, Yamaha HS5 and KRK Rokit RP5G3 set up and I spent about an hour listening (and chatting with the studio guy). The JBLs were simply the best to my ears (which are pretty damaged I have to say, so anyone else might have a completely different perception), across many different genres. Every time I would switch between the different monitors it was always the JBLs that sounded the best…
My main problem at home is that the monitors are pretty close to the wall, and the bass port of the JBLs is in the back. For now I have fixed that with some foam padding on the wall behind the monitors, and that seems to do the job…
Yamahas and Adams made me mix duller (they emphasise around 7k, in the case of the HS8 to the point of hurting) and gave me insufficient information about ‘mud’ in the low mids and high bass. Much better now with the Neumanns. They don’t make me want to fix details in the treble prematurely, when the whole mix is still unbalanced. Time saver!
Subjective ofc, and the former 2 monitors are still good enough to mix on!
Hey @bradleyallen they’re the Fostex PM03d. Tiny monitors, surprisingly good sound. They really work well for him in a small room and they’re heckin’ cheap.
As stated above, the monitor brand is not so important, more are room acoustics.
As I only have little space, I use the very small Adam Artist 3 with a sub 8. Walls and ceiling have absorbers from HOFA. But key to the neutral sound is the frequency correction with the dbx Driverack PA2. I had severe room nodes that went up to 16 db in some bass areas and not enough space for bass traps. With the dbx I was able to correct them in my listening position so I have now an almost flat frequency curve in that spot. This is day and night when I turn the correction off. For spotting problems closely in a mix I use the beyerdynamic 1770, worth every penny, but the open 1990 is maybe a bit better, if you have a silent room. If you have the money, get a sennheiser hd 800S.
The DT 770 from beyerdynamic, which use a lot of people, has a nice flat frequency curve but is lacking in the details, the 1770 is much more accurate (at 4 times the price).
Frequency correction can also be done via Software-Plugins (Dirac, Arc 2 etc.). I used them for a while and the work well, but its easy to forget to turn them on and off when you change to earphones and back. You also have too route your synth through the PC which is annoying, so changed to a permanent hardware solution with the PA2.
Agree. About software I rather prefer a 32 band EQ set with the help of a transfer function, it can do magic, is like day and night or a new pair of monitors in a treated room, obviously EQ is post Studio Processor and Headphones goes bypassed.
Monitors happens to be at almost exact distance and same vector angle to the listener, I measured for phase problems anyway and and it seems to be almost the same that for just one pair.
I would like one to juice up the OT, but can’t afford right now. Thanks though! That sounds fun.
Edit: I did see the corner of a heat in there, would’ve mentioned😉…
