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I've been mixing with B&W DM 14 speakers on my home stereo. Will I hear more detail with near field monitors?

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TeddyG Sat, 03/12/2005 - 09:40

More detail? Hard to say... A look on the web at your speakers would seem to say that they are pretty nice speakers..!

Deficiencies of the B&W's?

Floor mounted, rather low. Nice to look at(And hear from, I'm sure!) accross the room on either side of the entertainment system. Rather small drivers to be "accross the room", if the room is other than small. Maybe difficult to get an accurate "sound picture" if one were to put them behind a normal, desk-height console - computer or mixer? Getting a good, unobstructed "view" of the speakers might be helpful. Just putting them up higher(On stands?) and getting them closer to you, might help..? Careful here - don't want them to fall over!(Or be knocked over - they are tall and thin...)

The "main problem"(At least in the past) with good "home" speakers can be that the finish(Cabinet quality) of the speakers "may" be much of the cost, so they look nice in the room, so for the same inital cost, the monitors might have better components? This is not so true today as even "monitors" are getting pretty fancy(Thus a higher part of the total cost) looking. On the other hand, NFM's often contain the amp! Which can rather easily "shift" the cost structure...

Home speakers "might" have a "smoother" sound, less harsh - maybe less "realistic", less "the way it actually is" on any particular recording? That IS hard to say... Some do, some don't. Monitors, at least in theory, are NOT supposed to "make it easier on you"... They are supposed to be brutal! If it sounds great, it does! If it does not sound great, it does not... Home speakers "may" want "everything" to sound... "good"... Hard to say.

All that said, it's often the room and the speaker/listener placement that has as much(Or more) than the speakers themselves, to do with how well the critical monitoring situation might be. If your B&W's are "bass-heavy", for instance(Not "flat"), that might be corrected wth EQ, if one had a way of determining what EQ and how much. The monitors are supposed to be "flat" already - don't take THAT to the bank!

It would be great to borrow/find a pair of comparable(Price-wise) NFM's to try, to "hear" any positive differences, and if there are enough positives to make you go out and buy a new set of speakers and maybe stands to go with them...

Short side: More detail, more accuracy with comparably priced "monitors"(In this case, NF active monitors, with stands, in the $800-$1000 range)? Maybe so, maybe not.

OK, probably - seemingly - so. Just be warned. Bring a pair of nice new monitors(With a nice pair of stands) home to compare with your B&W's, you'd best be fully prepared to "relegate" the B&W's to some "other" room... It may not be the sound at all that makes you want to keep them, just be prepared to do so.

TG

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