[HalloweenJack]

Can you recommend some warm-sounding, cheap studio monitor speakers?
Not too large, $200-$400 per speaker?
 
To be used for music listening, not mixing/mastering.
 
I prefer a somewhat V-shaped sound signature

 

[gregorio]

  Can you recommend some warm-sounding, cheap studio monitor speakers? I prefer a somewhat V-shaped sound signature

 
What you're asking for doesn't (or shouldn't) exist! Studio monitors are designed for monitoring audio and are supposed to be flat and revealing. If they are deliberately "warm-sounding" or have a "V-shaped sound signature" then they are not studio monitors. I suggest you look at consumer bookshelf speakers.
 
G

 

[ProtegeManiac]

   
What you're asking for doesn't (or shouldn't) exist! Studio monitors are designed for monitoring audio and are supposed to be flat and revealing.

I've seen more people use KRK Rokits for home use (or dual purpose) than for total studio use. So while it shouldn't, it does, and basically having a sound similar to the old Focal Polykevlar helps a lot (and strangely enough, same color scheme on the drivers; add the grey cabinets and to those who are primarily into car audio, they look like they just ripped something off their doors). The sound (at least in the rooms I've heard them on, and none of them are really treated apart from keeping the speakers away from the sidewalls and then a DIY absorption panel on the back wall) is fairly similar to a properly driven HD600.
 
 

  Can you recommend some warm-sounding, cheap studio monitor speakers?
Not too large, $200-$400 per speaker?
 
To be used for music listening, not mixing/mastering.
 
I prefer a somewhat V-shaped sound signature

 

Having both a tipped up bass and treble is the biggest problem. The KRK Rokits are the most popular for home listening or dual purpose use among studio monitors, but the response on that is generally a slightly tipped up upper bass response and generally tapers off gradually.

Alternately the thing with active monitors is that they have separate amplifier channels and thus separate gain controls on the midwoofer and tweeter, so you can just increase the tweeter gain. The Rokit 5 and Rokit 6 have a smoother transition in the midrange, not sure about the Rokit 8. That one will give you more bass extension, but the trade off is that the crossover point might be lower to compensate for how drivers tend to roll off upper end response as they get larger. If that's the case then you could end up getting more of the upper midrange when you increase the tweeter amp gain.

 

Another alternative would be to skip studio monitors altogether and get an active speaker designed for home playback. Something like the Swans D1080MkIV. I had the MkII08 version and my default setting is -1 on the tweeter channel. The sound on that from my seat is kind of like the HD600 with some bloat on the lower midrange when pushed (that's totally hearing damage levels though so it's not really a problem, and also I didn't have enough sound dampening). That said I can set the bass to +2 and go to the shower, and I can hear/feel the bass beat through the wood interior walls (not sure if the concrete outerwall/superstructure of the house contributes to that though), despite all the water flowing. I was reviewing for my comprehensive exams at the time so I used it to pretend I'm going out like it's college.

 

[gregorio]

  I've seen more people use KRK Rokits for home use (or dual purpose) than for total studio use.

 
I can't say I've ever seen them used in pro studios, although they appear to be quite popular in hobbyist studios. To be honest, I'm quite surprised at your suggestion: The Rokits I've heard had very poor/weak bass response, though significant over-hyping of the high bass and then reasonably flat throughout the rest of the range. This is nothing like the V-Shaped response requested by the OP, in fact it's closer to being an off-center inverted "V"! A rather boxy sound overall and I personally wouldn't characterize them as sounding anything like a HD600.
 
G

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gregorio /img/forum/go_quote.gif

To be honest, I'm quite surprised at your suggestion: The Rokits I've heard had very poor/weak bass response, though significant over-hyping of the high bass and then reasonably flat throughout the rest of the range.

 

Well, I did say,

Quote:

Originally Posted by ProtegeManiac /img/forum/go_quote.gif

 

Having both a tipped up bass and treble is the biggest problem. The KRK Rokits are the most popular for home listening or dual purpose use among studio monitors, but the response on that is generally a slightly tipped up upper bass response and generally tapers off gradually.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by gregorio /img/forum/go_quote.gif

 

This is nothing like the V-Shaped response requested by the OP, in fact it's closer to being an off-center inverted "V"! A rather boxy sound overall and I personally wouldn't characterize them as sounding anything like a HD600.

 

Actually if you looked up headphones known for a "V-shaped" sound signature the very low bass would have, at best, 20hz at the same level out output as 1000hz (see M50 graph below), and then followed by a hump in the upper bass (save for that crevice in the graph below, something also present in the some "V-shaped" Superlux cans).  

 

The thing is though while you are correct about the considerable response between 20hz and 50hz vs 1000hz, this is a lot easier to achieve in a fullrange driver playing right outside one's earcanals than with a single 6in or so driver from 1m away. Heck even multiple 6in or 7in driver ported towers typically cannot get that much bass response below 50hz. Above 60hz however everything else can be fairly similar.

 

Now, one can get speakers with 8in drivers - the Rokit series has one - but then I did raise one possible problem.

Originally Posted by ProtegeManiac /img/forum/go_quote.gif

 

Alternately the thing with active monitors is that they have separate amplifier channels and thus separate gain controls on the midwoofer and tweeter, so you can just increase the tweeter gain. The Rokit 5 and Rokit 6 have a smoother transition in the midrange, not sure about the Rokit 8. That one will give you more bass extension, but the trade off is that the crossover point might be lower to compensate for how drivers tend to roll off upper end response as they get larger. If that's the case then you could end up getting more of the upper midrange when you increase the tweeter amp gain.

 

So in case the tweeter is crossed lower to compensate for 8in driver studio monitors, which means the OP will end up boosting the frequencies where he wants that hole that makes a "V" shape sound/graph, and raising the tweeter gain will compromise how he wants for there to be a hole there. A Rokit 6 paired with a studio subwoofer to play what it can't, and then just increasing the gain on the tweeter amp to get him more treble to make for that "V" if the tweeter isn't crossed too low, is ultimately the best option.