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anonymous 20 March 2007

hi all - basic question from a beginner:

- do i need an amp for good monitors or do i go for an Active pair?
- any tips for something in the sub £500 range? space is at a premium in my room FYI!

i will shortly be purchasing the Digi 003 rack and need monitors, would the 003 have an amp built in for monitoring?

Thanks, John

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anonymous Tue, 03/20/2007 - 17:50

It sounds like for what you're doing and the price range you're in, you should go with active monitors (built in amps). The amps are made specifically to power those monitors, you save space, and it's cheaper (and no extra cables!). I'm not sure what 500 euros translates to in Canadian dollars, but I have a feeling you're in the M-Audio, B$4rin&er, KRK, Event range. Some of these brands sell an additional sub-woofer that is made to go with these monitors.

Do your research dude. You should already know if a 003 has a built in amp if you're buying one. It does.....n't

RemyRAD Tue, 03/20/2007 - 23:59

The self powered monitors just make total sense for Project Studios and for the huge full-blown commercial facilities. Because regardless of speaker you choose, it will sound different with every different amplifier connected to it, if you don't get the self powered versions. It doesn't matter what it blah blah specifications say or what you think the quality level is. We used to power our JBL speakers, first from a Macintosh 2100 and then from a Crown DC 300 A. The difference in sound and how the speakers responded from the different output loads of these two completely different amplifiers was just simply phenomenal! Each one sounded great and each one sounded greatly different from the other. I preferred the Crown and have been using that combination ever since as that is the sound that I know intimately which gives me the ability to judge most everything quite accurately.

But if I had to purchase a new monitors, with the self powered monitors, you're getting a completely integrated and designed from the ground up precision monitoring system. Everything has been done for you by experts. You merely need to pick out what flavor you like best. I would recommend however, that you absolutely take some kind of reference CDs, by major artists and their producers, that are known high quality recordings, with excellent technical aspects. This will give you a reference to start from.

I don't like listening to somebody else's music during demonstrations. I need to hear what I know. That way, I'll know if I can relate to the equipment and what I'm hearing from it or whether I can't.

Discriminating listener
Ms. Remy Ann David

Boswell Wed, 03/21/2007 - 04:35

jvp wrote: hi all - basic question from a beginner:

- do i need an amp for good monitors or do i go for an Active pair?
- any tips for something in the sub £500 range? space is at a premium in my room FYI!

i will shortly be purchasing the digi 003 rack and need monitors, would the 003 have an amp built in for monitoring??

Thanks, John

Hi John,

I guess from your budget of £500 that you are in the UK. That amount is a bit of a between-figure for monitors over here. I would certainly endorse the advice to go for powered (active) monitors, although you have to think carefully about how you will drive them, where the monitor volume control is positioned in your audio chain and so on. You don't want to be reducing the digital levels to the 003 outputs just to control the listening levels in your room.

That amount (£500) will get you a pair of KRK V6s or possibly Dynaudio BM5As. You should also try to listen to some Genelecs if your store has any of that make in the price range. Work out where you would position the monitors in your room, particularly how much space there would be behind them. This may influence whether you go for front-ported or rear-ported cabinet designs.

anonymous Wed, 03/21/2007 - 21:21

Blueraven wrote: Oh shoot. My topic didn't register.

I was talking about the Event ASP8's.

sorry about that..

BR

Those sounded great when I was testing some monitors recently.
I thought they were better than the KRK, M-audio, Yamahas, etc.

If space is a premium, you might want to get the ASP6s.
They use the same exact amp, sound just as good in my opinion and you only give up slight amount in the low end (40Hz for the ASP6 and 35Hz for the ASP8), which shouldn't be a prob if you are in a small room (I may have assumed that incorrectly since you said space is at a premium).

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