[Scott Dorsey]

In article .com,
Ben - TheStudioRI.com wrote:

Okay, what HAVE you liked in the past 15 years? And why have you liked
them? And what haven't you liked about the Mackies?

ok, I've liked the NS10's to mix on, but they were not detailed
enough. I also liked the event 20/20's, but they are not as good as
the mackie's IMHO when it comes to image. The mackie's just seem to
have this unnatural sound in the lower mids that throws off the rest
of the balance. I've got $50 computer speakers that I can get a
better mix on. I know I have some room issues that cannot easily be
fixed, but i'm thinking that these speakers just don't sound right to
my ears. I've tried them in three different rooms too, all with the
same complaints.

Lower mid issues definitely make me think you have some room problems.
Try moving the mackies closer to the wall and farther from the wall and
see if the issues you've got change.

I can't imagine describing the NS10s as "not detailed enough" since they
have such an exaggerated top end. Maybe you want a more sharp, etched
kind of sound like the Adam monitors will give you?

I kind of find the Adams to be a little too pitched up, but they are not
harsh.

What do you want in a monitor? Is accurate vocal reproduction important
to you or is low end accuracy more important? Are you working on music
built around the vocals, or music built around guitars? Is accurate imaging
important to you or are you mostly doing panpotted stereo anyway? Do you
need to have a good sense of space or is that irrelevant?

I record everything from rap to rock to jazz. I need a versitile
system. I'd like to get a sub with the monitors too. Have you ever
just listened to a set on monitors and said "wow, I can really hear
the mix"? I never got that feeling with the mackies.

No, but I have listened to monitors and said, "wow, that sounds like it
did in on the other side of the glass."

Most of what gives me that feeling is midrange accuracy.

The subwoofer is a funny thing... it can give you better bass extension
if you have monitors that don't have good enough extension in the first
place. But if you have room problems and you KNOW you have room problems,
that bass extension may turn out to be a bad thing rather than a good thing.

You can also set a subwoofer up to be peaky and thumpy, which is a good
thing if you need to check your mix against a system built like that for
dance music. But doing that gives you a system that is less accurate,
though it might be useful.

ok, based on that, I can tell you that yes, I like a distant
presentation as well. a nice midrange is very important too. I don't
necessarily need extended highs and lows, but I want to hear them just
in case there is something there that needs to be addressed. I
don't know. I'm all flustered now since I started using those damned
headphones! lol.

Maybe you DO want NS-10s.

I know monitors are kind of subjective, i'm just tryiung to get
opinions to weed out the hype. I bought the mackies on hype (yes, I
know I know.) and I don't want to do that again.

The Mackies you can at least trade in for something else. I'd suggest
listening to the Adams and to the Blue Sky system and maybe to the
new Genelec 8000 series and the NHT A-20. But which one you wind up
liking I don't know. And you may just find yourself happier with the
NS-10 if that's the way you're used to working.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."