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Is there a speaker equivalent of Sony pro headphones like the MDR-7506? Something that produces high quality, accurate, flat response at a relatively inexpensiv

by abtinf 9y ago

Is there a speaker equivalent of Sony pro headphones like the MDR-7506? Something that produces high quality, accurate, flat response at a relatively inexpensive price point?

dharma1 9y ago
Active speakers for studio use? https://www.thomann.de/gb/topseller_GF_studio_monitors.html https://www.thomann.de/gb/topseller_GF_studio_monitors.html Take your pick - so much choice for good speakers these days. Your room will be a larger factor in the sound than any difference between two decent pairs of speakers (of same size).
secabeen 9y ago
Do you have an amplifier, or do you need internally-amped speakers?
- matwood 9y ago
  I have some fairly old paradigm floor speakers. I’d like to move to some decent bookshelf’s. I have an amp. Any suggestions? I use them for music, TV, and movies.
  - secabeen 9y ago
    Wirecutter has a fairly recent review: https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-bookshelf-speakers/ https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-bookshelf-speakers/
  - mnutt 9y ago
    I recently got the KEF Q150s (wirecutter-reviewed below) to replace some old JBL horn floor speakers and can attest that the Q150s sound really good.
  - throw-away-8 9y ago
    https://www.stereophile.com/content/recommended-components-2017-edition-loudspeakers https://www.stereophile.com/content/recommended-components-2...
  - PascLeRasc 9y ago
    What's the amp? There's a lot of info on /r/zeos for the best speakers at each price point.
    - matwood 9y ago
      I have a decent Yamaha home stereo receiver. Nothing crazy, but I don't need powered speakers. I actually still like the sound of my Paradigms, but something came loose in one of them during a move so now it crackles on low base notes.
lflux 9y ago
I have a pair of Genelec 8020's which fits the bill pretty well.
dsr_ 9y ago
To an extent, JBL LSR305. $300/pair, self-amplified, takes XLR and TRS inputs.
SwellJoe 9y ago
Yes. There are at least a dozen (just as there are at least a dozen high-quality headphone options). The worst of the mid-range products today is probably better than the best of the mid-range products in 1990, as long as you limit it to respected brands. And, the differences between the best and the worst is pretty small. I paid $1200 for my home studio monitoring setup back in 1995. It was a set of Tannoy System 600 speakers (about $700) and a Hafler amplifier (about $500). I still own and use the speakers today, but if I were doing any real work, I'd go pick up something new in the $500-$1000 range, and it would be better than my setup from two decades ago. My point is that there's been a revolution in the quality:price ratio for audio equipment. It's not built as reliably as it used to be, but the quality of sound you can get at a mid-range price, even in transducers like speakers and microphones (which don't follow the same innovation rules as digital tech), is astonishing. You can safely search any major online music retailer, select your price range, sort by rating, and buy the top-rated thing in your price range, and you'll almost certainly be happy with the result. The product will sound really good for the price (no matter what that price is, though there's a law of rapidly diminishing returns on the high end).
jdietrich 9y ago
The MDR-7506 isn't especially accurate, but it is a very practical tool for use on location. For mixing, you'd be far better off with a pair of open-back headphones like the AKG K701 or the Sennheiser HD 650. Speakers are inherently more expensive to manufacture, so they lag well behind headphones in terms of price-to-performance. The other crucial factor is the acoustic quality of your listening room, which in most cases is a far more significant factor than the quality of your monitors. Rather than buying expensive monitors, you're usually better off buying inexpensive nearfield monitors like the Presonus Eris and spending the rest of your budget on bass traps and diffusers.
seanp2k2 9y ago
It’s more about understanding how the monitors room translate to different systems and being able to mix to that. Headphones mostly eliminate the room factor. Many recording artists use Beyerdynamic DT770s, Senn HD280s, or ATH-M40x . None are particularly expensive as headphones go. For monitors, lots of Genelec, Tannoy, Mackie, JBL, and Adam stuff is out there. Focal Twin6 BEs are particularly nice. None are really cheap (they’re all >$500 / one) and go up from there. Meyer HD-1s are apparently amazing, but they’re ~$9k for a pair. Their newer, cheaper Amie is $3500 each. Their new flagship Bluehorn stuff is $xx,xxx per channel. Lots of home studios use KRK Rokits because they’re cheap ($150/channel on up).

by abtinf 9y ago

Is there a speaker equivalent of Sony pro headphones like the MDR-7506? Something that produces high quality, accurate, flat response at a relatively inexpensive price point?

dharma1 9y ago

Active speakers for studio use? https://www.thomann.de/gb/topseller_GF_studio_monitors.html https://www.thomann.de/gb/topseller_GF_studio_monitors.html Take your pick - so much choice for good speakers these days. Your room will be a larger factor in the sound than any difference between two decent pairs of speakers (of same size).

secabeen 9y ago

Do you have an amplifier, or do you need internally-amped speakers?

matwood 9y ago
I have some fairly old paradigm floor speakers. I’d like to move to some decent bookshelf’s. I have an amp. Any suggestions? I use them for music, TV, and movies.
- secabeen 9y ago
  Wirecutter has a fairly recent review: https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-bookshelf-speakers/ https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-bookshelf-speakers/
- mnutt 9y ago
  I recently got the KEF Q150s (wirecutter-reviewed below) to replace some old JBL horn floor speakers and can attest that the Q150s sound really good.
- throw-away-8 9y ago
  https://www.stereophile.com/content/recommended-components-2017-edition-loudspeakers https://www.stereophile.com/content/recommended-components-2...
- PascLeRasc 9y ago
  What's the amp? There's a lot of info on /r/zeos for the best speakers at each price point.
  - matwood 9y ago
    I have a decent Yamaha home stereo receiver. Nothing crazy, but I don't need powered speakers. I actually still like the sound of my Paradigms, but something came loose in one of them during a move so now it crackles on low base notes.

lflux 9y ago

I have a pair of Genelec 8020's which fits the bill pretty well.

dsr_ 9y ago

To an extent, JBL LSR305. $300/pair, self-amplified, takes XLR and TRS inputs.

SwellJoe 9y ago

Yes. There are at least a dozen (just as there are at least a dozen high-quality headphone options). The worst of the mid-range products today is probably better than the best of the mid-range products in 1990, as long as you limit it to respected brands. And, the differences between the best and the worst is pretty small. I paid $1200 for my home studio monitoring setup back in 1995. It was a set of Tannoy System 600 speakers (about $700) and a Hafler amplifier (about $500). I still own and use the speakers today, but if I were doing any real work, I'd go pick up something new in the $500-$1000 range, and it would be better than my setup from two decades ago. My point is that there's been a revolution in the quality:price ratio for audio equipment. It's not built as reliably as it used to be, but the quality of sound you can get at a mid-range price, even in transducers like speakers and microphones (which don't follow the same innovation rules as digital tech), is astonishing. You can safely search any major online music retailer, select your price range, sort by rating, and buy the top-rated thing in your price range, and you'll almost certainly be happy with the result. The product will sound really good for the price (no matter what that price is, though there's a law of rapidly diminishing returns on the high end).

jdietrich 9y ago

The MDR-7506 isn't especially accurate, but it is a very practical tool for use on location. For mixing, you'd be far better off with a pair of open-back headphones like the AKG K701 or the Sennheiser HD 650. Speakers are inherently more expensive to manufacture, so they lag well behind headphones in terms of price-to-performance. The other crucial factor is the acoustic quality of your listening room, which in most cases is a far more significant factor than the quality of your monitors. Rather than buying expensive monitors, you're usually better off buying inexpensive nearfield monitors like the Presonus Eris and spending the rest of your budget on bass traps and diffusers.

seanp2k2 9y ago

It’s more about understanding how the monitors room translate to different systems and being able to mix to that. Headphones mostly eliminate the room factor. Many recording artists use Beyerdynamic DT770s, Senn HD280s, or ATH-M40x . None are particularly expensive as headphones go. For monitors, lots of Genelec, Tannoy, Mackie, JBL, and Adam stuff is out there. Focal Twin6 BEs are particularly nice. None are really cheap (they’re all >$500 / one) and go up from there. Meyer HD-1s are apparently amazing, but they’re ~$9k for a pair. Their newer, cheaper Amie is $3500 each. Their new flagship Bluehorn stuff is $xx,xxx per channel. Lots of home studios use KRK Rokits because they’re cheap ($150/channel on up).