Just bought some Event ASP8 monitors! (w/ pic)

Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2008 10:31 pm

Hi folks,

First post!

I bought some Event ASP8's this weekend at Guitar Center's "The List" event. They were demos that they had out. They were attached to a keyboard when I got there. One corner was slightly dinged, but they are otherwise in great condition. Listened to them for an hour and a half before I bought them, and I thought they were great! (in my limited knowledge). I A/B'ed them to some krk's, jbls, mackies. I thought the jbls had some more bass response, but get this: I got two of these monitors for $650 out the door. HECK YEAH!

Very happy with the monitors. I really just goof around with recording, but my logitech speakers were really starting to annoy me when I was recording. Just because I knew they weren't what I should be using. I use a firewire 410 interface with SONAR. Just wanted to share my excitement with you since my girlfriend just gives me confused looks when I talk about this stuff! Very Happy

Here's a pic with my 24" monitor, click for bigger view:

Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 5:18 am

Yours are not my favorite brand of speakers but.... This will change your whole life now! A decent pair of monitors is completely different from a decent pair of headphones. Not to mention toy computer speakers. Which are fine for most kids. You are obviously much more serious now. Glad you got those. Nothing wrong with scratch & Dent. Just bought a pair of KRK V6's the same way. Don't quite sound like my JBL's but I have no problem with the translation. So don't get rid of your toy speakers as they are still and adequate representation of what most will likely listen to your music on. It's just that now when you balance things well on your new monitors, it should translate to just about everything well. Now you're cooking with gas!

Give me real speakers! Or give me real death, metal!
Ms. Remy Ann David

Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 6:49 am

Now if you REALLY want to revolutionize what you hear from those monitors (which, BTW Remy, compared to any other "Event" branded monitor, ROCK!), get them off of/out of that desk and onto some stands and away from that wall!!!

Those are truly magnificent monitors and were contenders when I chose my Dynaudios. Putting them on that shelf is doing them a HUGE disservice.

Enjoy those speakers - they're a fantastic breed.

Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 9:02 am

I've had them, too for about a week and absolutely love them. My mixes have translated so much better.

Keep in mind I was using KRK Rokit 5s before these Wink

Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 9:37 am

The whole monitor thing confuses me a bit. It seems that a great sounding speaker would only deceive what you want to hear/know. I mean, sure you don't want it to suck but it all seems very subjective because a mix may sound good on one speaker, yet sucky on another. Added that most people 'enjoy' music through an Ipod headphone and it almost seems like a monitor choice could be a moot point.

But I'm being a bit facetious.

To really know that one's mixes would sound better through any given set of reference monitors is a tough argument. Of which I have no strong opinion or stance really...so please, no flaming.

Congrats on your purchase.

Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 10:33 am

Yeah, I knew I was probably breaking some rules by putting them on that shelf. Unfortunately I am severely limited with space as I am in an apartment with a roommate. I plan to look into isolation pads to set them on and maybe think about clearing out the sides of the desk and setting them on some stands next to the desk.

I am under the impression that since they have forward facing ports I would not be affected by being near the wall as much. Could be that I'm wrong. Either way, thanks for your comments!

Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 11:30 am

Yes, the front-facing ports *helps* but still doesn't alleviate all of the problems. I also wouldn't strongly suggest the use of the isolation pads. They work well on some monitors, but I haven't found many where it generally improves the speaker (it makes most speakers muddy and slow in the lower frequencies.) There are some cones you can use under speakers (China Cones I think - Atlas Pro Audio has them) that work MUCH better.

Regarding SShack's comments -
No flaming here, but it's VERY important to understand that a good-sounding pair of monitors will not make your mixes sound good. If it's truly a good sounding monitor, it will show a sh*tty mix as sh*tty and a quality mix as good. For the most part, it's a myth that some (or most) quality speakers make recordings sound good. If a speaker does this, there's a fundamental design flaw.

Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 11:37 am

"If a speaker does this, there's a fundamental design flaw."
And a huge potential for marketing to the lesser-educated and for cheap Chinese spin-offs to appear...

Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 11:43 am

A Lunatic once said that using pads under monitors only works when you add a boat load of mass to the monitor.

Anyone more credible got any comment on this?

Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 11:49 am

Jeremy, I couldn't agree more.

The monitors that I use are more times than not frowned upon as cheap and NOT very good at all (HS80M), but I feel like they've been fairly 'true' to me so far.
Could I get better mixes with better monitors? Perhaps. But is it worth my time or trouble to go chasing after every other suggestion that's floating on the internet? Well, that's for me to decide, however I've found that my mixes HAVE gotten better with treating my room, learning gain structure, mic'ing techniques and simply learning how to play/track better.

Besides, any time that I have left is chewed up chasing preamps! Very Happy

Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 11:59 am

sshack -
If you're happy with the Yamahas and you get good mixes on them, then I submit to you that they are better than any monitor I own and for that matter, anyone.

I'm a firm believer that you can monitor on anything as long as you know how that system sounds and translates. One giant caveat - your room must be relatively non-involved in the sound. A poor sounding room will make a huge difference in the translation of your monitors - move your head a couple inches and no longer does the mix sound the same. No one can create a good mix in that kind of environment.

Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 7:40 pm

So what the advantage of a stand over the placement that they are in now? Should they point at me or face straight? What exactly constitutes "ear level" that the monitors should be facing? For me, depending on how I'm sitting, ear level falls at the tweeter level or just at the top rim of the woofer.

Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 8:24 pm

They should face straight at your ear, far enough apart so that each is 30 degrees off straight. So I heard.

Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 6:56 am

I wouldn't go quite that far CM.

Some monitors work best when "aimed" at your head (toed in up to maybe 21 degrees or so), others work best aiming straight forward. My NHT M-00s would likely kill you if they were aimed directly at you, but aimed straight forward, they're one of the most glorious sounding monitors ever conceived.

Similar story with my Adams. My Dynaudios though definitely need a toe in.

As for height, the tweeter should be at ear level.

My strong (STRONG) recommendation is get a shorter stand than you think you'll need. If you need to raise the monitors up a bit, don't use foam pads between the monitors and the stands. Go to Lowes or Home Depot and buy some of those large (2'x2' or 18"x18")brick pavers and stack up as many as you need to bring the monitors and stands up to ear level. This will not only get the height right without having to saw your stands, but it will very effectively decouple your monitors from the floor. The bass will tighten considerably as will the image.

Cheers-
Jeremy

Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 10:25 am

Touch brick pavers to the bottom of my scratch and dent monitors? NEVER! They need to be babied from this point out because up until I adopted them they lived in the hell of a Guitar Center playing test cd's burned from MP3's.

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