8 inch monitors in my room overkill?

[robwan]

After some research and a recent post on here I think something like the Behringer B1031A will be a good pair of monitors for the price as I have found some b-stock ones for £240

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/B-Stock-Behri ... 2c7246aed1

Only thing is though, they are 8 inch monitors and my room is about 3.5m x 3m x 2.4m (metric), 11'6" x 11' x 7'10" (imperial) (L x W x H) so medium/small size room I guess.

My current hi-fi speakers are 6 inches. Is going to 8 inch monitors gonna be over kill for a room of my size and am I just basically wasting my money and should get some 6 inch ones? The behringer truth also do 5.25 inch monitors actually.

I have heard a lot different views online about room size and monitors; some saying it doesn't really matter and then others saying you have to get smaller monitors. I spoke to one guy at a music tech store and he told me I would just have to turn the volume up less with 8 inches in a smaller room.

I don't really plan to treat my room, as its student accommodation.

Any help would be great, thanks

[fragments]

I feel like less bass in an untreated room of that size would be better. I'm basing this solely on my experience of recently upgrading to better but smaller monitors with less bass. You could always add a sub. And then turn it on to check the low end periodically but mix w it off most of the time. Having less bass response actually helped clear up issues in he low end of my mixes.

[GregLongman]

My studio is the same size as yours, with all problem areas treated and bass traps and I've been recommended 7-8 inch monitors for electronic music and I won't need a sub. If you haven't got your room treated I would invest in that first.

[Samuel_L_Damnson]

^but if your room isnt treated go for 5in monitors (6 at the most)

[Eat Bass]

fostex pm1 mk2s are nice for 6.5" and they can be had for fairly cheap.

[Samuel_L_Damnson]

Yeah those will deffo be within budget and they are pretty good to be honest i didnt expect them to be as good as they are when my mate bought em haha!

[SunkLo]

Behringer B stock in an untreated square room. That's a recipe for a terrible monitoring setup.

If you're in a dorm or something and can't invest into room treatment at all, I'd probably go headphones. You could get really accurate cans and a headphone amp for the same price and actually have a fairly dependable first reference point. Mixing with low grade monitors in such an unideal room really isn't going to do you any favors. You'll probably be chasing your tail most of the time. Headphones are most likely the lesser of two evils and there's the added benefit that you can produce at night time without disturbing people.

[robwan]

If you're in a dorm or something and can't invest into room treatment at all, I'd probably go headphones

Yea I have some ath-m50's and i love them. I just think a pair of speaker monitors will be useful as during the day i like to use speakers, plus I would like to use the studio monitors as my main speakers so i can used to listening to professional stuff through them from a 'flat' perspective, as opposed to my hi fi ones.

Well I guess I'm kinda hesitant now then to get 8 inch monitors and should probably keep to 5-6's....probably 6's I'm thinking.

Thanks for all the help people!

[AxeD]

I'm sticking to headphones until I feel like I can justify buying something like a pair of Genelecs.
Maybe then I'll invest in some room treatment basics as well.. such a pain in the ass though and
to get near decent results you need to spend quite a lot of time and cash on it.

[Crimsonghost]

I wouldn't recommend anyone investing in any type of monitoring set up in a dorm. There's just nothing ideal about it. And you're headphones are good so there's not really any point in ditching them.

I totally understand that you want some monitors, and there's nothing wrong with that, but dropping money on a b-stock, less than reputable (it's behrenger) brand in a compleatly non ideal inviroment just seems like it will do more harm than good. You'll end up spending the rest of you're time in that dorm making crappy mixes instead of focusing on how to get good ones.

Take yourmoney.
Buy beer.
Buy a new synth/effect.
?????
Profit!

[SunkLo]

Get better headphones or a DAC/headphone amp if anything. The M50s are alright but they're certainly not the best to mix on. I value them as a reference but I'd feel weird trying to mix a track completely on them. M50s plus an open back can or something with more mid focus, plus stereo speakers and a laptop or ipod dock or some other shitty mono source should really be all you need to get a well rounded image of a mix.

Or just spend all your money on a week long binge of blow and whores and then write a double LP concept album about your experience. The label will front you a mil and you can buy some high end Genelecs to finish the mix on.

[robwan]

haha ok I like the idea about blowing my money on whores.

Its not a dorm, in a house...but yea i guess pretty much box shape room....damn.

Thanks for all the help guys!

[Eat Bass]

ultrasone pro 900 headphones are the titsssss. don't get sennheiser hd280's they have no bass and hurt your ears. besides that theyre good though

[SunkLo]

Ultrasones are really inaccurate.

[Eat Bass]

Ultrasones are really inaccurate.

not really. they a little bass heavy and high heavy at first but now that mine are broken in they seem to have evened out.

[SunkLo]

No need to get an even more exaggerated version of the ATH M50s for such a crazy price when you could get something much more linear.

[Eat Bass]

No need to get an even more exaggerated version of the ATH M50s for such a crazy price when you could get something much more linear.

i only paid 279 shipped compared to the 500 retail they are so im happy with them.

also your leaving out other factors. the ultrasones have a big sound stage, will sound like an open headphone then a typical closed. and the detail in headphones especially the high end is really clear and revealing. and the way the drivers are off center and on angles they apparently seem about 3db louder than they are so you can save yourself some wear and tear on the ears. not to mention they are comfortable as hell.

also i forgot another factor. the way headphones are by nature, a perfectly flat response won't actually sound perfectly flat, especially with closed headphones. so who knows what is more accurate considering that. i actually think theres some type of a mannequin type thing to test this.

[SunkLo]

You're thinking of the HRTF which involves filtering by the head and outer ear, as well as inter-aural delay. But yes perfectly ruler flat won't be comfortable, a gentle slope with more bass than treble is ideal. For instance, the HD 600's response. It can be easy to mistake exaggerated highs for detail. The Senns have laid back HF but still sound very accurate and detailed. I can wear my HD 595s forever and never have my ears fatigue. Can't say the same for my M50s (also because they clamp the fuck out of my head and put pressure on my earlobes)

Regarding soundstage, it's a nice added touch but not something I really consider much when mixing. If I can make something sound mixed in mono, it'll sound great on a wider soundstage. Not nearly as crucial for mixing as it is for recreational listening in my experience.

279 is a good deal considering the list price for those cans, but for clinical monitoring instead of recreational listening, there's better bang for buck. Although having a nice DAC and amp is also quite important, especially for the higher impedance headphones. But that's something you can upgrade down the line while still getting moderate benefit from a modest source and amp. A great thing about the 595 vs the 600 is their impedance is much lower so you don't need an amp to get them really loud. Not that I need them that loud, and not that they wouldn't still benefit in terms of sound quality from a high end headphone amp, but it's a nice convenience.

I'd say instead of a closed can that sounds open, go for an open can that sounds closed. By that I mean, the accuracy of open but with a healthy amount of low frequency reproduction and extension. It takes a little while to acclimatize to clean accurate bass that's "just there" and not overpowering, but once you do you'll really appreciate that neutrality. You'll hear a lot of detail that was previously being masked by other more "fun" sounding headphones.

One of the best things about headphones imo is that they're relatively cheap compared to monitors so you can just gradually buy new pairs for more reference material. You're not gonna get something that's really dependable on its own without spending a decent amount of money, but once you've got a couple workhorse sets that you know very well, you can start adding in other cheap pairs that have their own flavour. I wanna get a pair of modded Fostex RPs, the Brainwavz HM5, Sony MDR 7520, and probably some K701s. Hopefully I don't get the DAC/amp collecting bug too because that could get very expensive.