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anonymous 28 June 2005

Does anyone use HIFI amp/reciever to power their studio monitors?
Some HIFI amps are very well built with very high quality components and cost MUCH more then the stuf fyou can buy at the Guitar Center. So I wonder wy not use one of those for the studio.
Would you recommend one to power NS10?

Thanks.

Comments

anonymous Wed, 06/29/2005 - 00:51

don't know any home hifi amps with balanced ins, but i like NADs a lot and i know that lot of guys (at least in the UK) using them to drive passives, like tannoys or NS10s or HHBs or whatever... and they doing the job good and come cheap-ish, and i love them for home listening... NAD plus B&W nice match...)

a.

John Stafford Wed, 06/29/2005 - 02:13

I think some of the Audio Note amps have balanced ins.

One series of cheapish amps I love is Audiolab. They're not that expensive on ebay. They match very well with the old B&W DM 602s. I assume the same goes for the current version of that speaker, unless they've made some very big changes.

My favourite hi-fi amps are by Naim. They can be very expensive depending on the setup, but bargains are also to be had.

While you could say that the primary function of hi-fi is to sound good, while that of monitoring is to sound accurate, things tend to meet up at the higher end.

Anyone here heard the Nagra hi-fi stuff?

John Stafford

Cucco Wed, 06/29/2005 - 09:39

Hey xactsound:

HiFi stuff can be amazing stuff - in many cases, I prefer it to "studio monitors and studio amps." I think certain budget companies have created a stigmatism against "studio" gear. Not meaning to pick on individual companies, but M-Audio, KRK, Mackie and others have really put a stink on quality speakers. As well, many of the amp companies really market and design their stuff for maximum power, not cleanliness (and forget about silent operation!)

Some "HiFi" speakers I recommend:
B&W 705 or 805 (802 and 801 are standards in the biz too. Another favorite is the CDM NT 1 - an older model of theirs that sounds beautiful and can be had on E-Bay for not too much dough.)

Paradigm - Studio 20

NHT - many of their models are good for the job

Vienna Acoustics - again, many models are good

Sonus Faber - many...

Dynaudio - many models including their studio series.

Great amps (which include balanced inputs)
Rotel
Sunfire
Bryston
Krell
Mark Levinson

The Rotels, to me, are the best value in amplifiers today. They sound phenomenal and are excellently priced. I chose mine OVER the Bryston 4B ST. To me, it had a fuller sound (not bloated) and an equally clean top end. There was just a tad more available headroom from the Bryston, but not enough to justify the thousands more in price.

Of course, before you check out any of the above recommendations, get your checkbook ready for a BIG shock. None of them are cheap, especially when compared to "studio" gear.

J.

anonymous Wed, 06/29/2005 - 17:36

Thanks for your responses!
So I guess often we listen to the music on higher quality gear then some of the music was recorded.
I think I'll go with Rotel.
Too bad my MYTEK converter has only ballanced outs.
How much would it ruin the sound to run it through some device (i guess DI box the other way) to make the signal unballanced.

Thanks.

Cucco Fri, 07/01/2005 - 10:48

Haflers are decent amps.

I use a PA300 for my nearfield monitoring and I have absolutely no complaints. (Okay, 1 complaint - it runs damn hot when racked close to other gear - give it at least 3 spaces above and below.)

I'm not familiar with the DH500, but if it's on par with the PA series, you're probably just fine. My advice in the "pro-audio" amplifier arena - stay away from:
Crown
QSC
Alesis
Behringer
Mackie

J.

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