monitors mackie/genelec/event

A

arjanv

Guest
Hi,

I going to buy active monitors, but I don't know witch yet.

I think that i'm going to choose between:
Genelc 1031a
Mackie hr824
Event 20/20bas

The genelec 1031a are very expensive and i'm not buying this thing......... I think.

I must choose between the mackies and the events, can someone help me choose

Or does someone have other sugestions?

Thanks a lot..............I know i can count on you guys
 
i personally have event 20/20s and they do me well...
buti think everyone will tell you to go with the mackies.

--kev
 
I also have the 20/20 BAS and I really like them. I've never mixed with or even spent much time with the Mackies but I did hear them when they first came out and they did seem to reveal an extraordinairy amount of detail ( I even heard some distortion in a then-new Tracy Chapman album they were using to demo them in the Mackie booth at a NAMM show... then again there were three other engineer types and the demo guy and none of them heard it... so who knows :D )

Anyhow, from my very brief exposure I wasn't absolutely sure that fatigue might not be a factor working with the Mackie's. My concern might disappear in a few hours, though, if I could afford to spend some time with them. (My pro shop offered to send some home with me when their rentals came back but since I just didn't feel like I could afford it I thought it was wrong to tie them up just to cop a free listen.)

The BAS were less than half the price, I think, at the time and, while I don't think they're perfect, they are quite flat except for a tiny bell-like peak in the mid-treble -- they're much better for me than the NS10's I was using before (which I still use for everyday use -- even though I've started to feel deprived by their anemic bass and shrill upper mid. How they ever got to be an 'industry standard' is anybody's guess, in my book. The old saw about if a mix sounds good on NS10's it'll sound good on anything is hooey... for me to get a mix to sound good on NS10's I have to jerk the mix around so bad it almost always sounds bad on flatter, smoother speakers. All those big-time producers who claim they only use NS10's must be relying on those $1000 an hour mastering houses to clean up the mess.

My advice to you is to spend some time with the speakers you're considering -- in the shop's listening room or much better if you can swing it, take a pair home for an evening of mixing and fooling around (make sure you play your favorite reference CDs that you're familiar with the sound of.) Remember, the "best-sounding" speakers are not necessarily the best reference monitors for the job -- if they have too much bass your mix will sound weak and thin when you play it on flatter speakers. If there's too much treble in the speakers you'll probably overcompentsate and end up with a dull, flat mix.
 
Well thank goodness i didn't fork out for them (the NS10s) altho i was quite taken by their nice black/white color scheme which would have matched really well with the rest of my room..... ah well....
 
Well... some people really like NS10's... and some really big name producers, too.

But my recommendation for electronic people is avoid them because the bass response drops way off under 80-85 Hz or so. Of course, you can use a subwoofer (and folks do). But call me an old fuddy-duddy but I think subwoofers work best when they're designed to match the rest of the system -- and especially vice versa. (And I'm not a huge fan of subs... but they do deliver the bottom bass for the buck.)

There are no speakers that are perfect for everyone.

:)
 
theblue, do you have any experience with more budget monitors? I'm thinking along the lines of the alesis monitor 1's. I haven't heard anything bad about them and they're the right price. SOS even gave a good review of the first model (although I haven't read the review of the alesis monitor 1 mk 2's because I don't have an eSub). The behringers are also around the same price but I'm skeptical... i've heard a lot of mixed opinions. Have u heard/tried any of these?
 
azurro

I also heard good things about the Alesis Monitor 1's but it's been a while. I do have a lot of Alesis gear (all bought before their recent financial difficulties), including a pair of old ADATs. Besides the ADATs the only piece of gear that ever needed service (out of roughly 11 pieces of gear total) was my Quadraverb 2 and as I recall they fixed it for free even though it was a little out of warranty and fairly promptly, too. (Of course, speakers pretty much never break down on their own -- and the company management has changed, anyhow, I think, so that's semi-moot, I guess.)

WIth regards to other gear -- I know there's a lot of it out there. I'd read a bunch of reviews and -- if at all possible spend some time listening to all the candidates.

I know there are some very well liked powered and not-powered monitors out there. (BTW, one good thing about a conventional amp and speaker setup as opposed to powered speakers is that you can add an alternate pair (or more) of speakers quite easily (even if the amp doesn't have provisions for switching between pairs you can make or buy a simple speaker switch for next to nothing. And even if you have killer monitors it's a good idea to be able to get an idea of what the mix sounds like on other speakers. In fact, I've known people who even would route the line signal into the aux input of a portable blaster to see what the mix sounds like on a super-low-end system. (And while lots of folks will burn the mix onto a CD [or even, yuck, a cassette -- NOT recommended because cassettes skew the sound so much] I've actually heard of people who've run a wire out to their car so they can run out and listen to the mix over their car stereo! [Some car stereos have a line in for CD attachments -- but I heard of at least one guy who spliced into one of those car-adapter 'cassettes' that they give out with portable CD players and sell at Pep Boys.

All of which, I guess, is a really long-winded way of saying, gosh, I really don't have a knowledgeable opinion... best to check around. :D And listen! (Make sure you take some CDs of music you're familiar with. You should have at least one or two CDs that you take with you to eval speakers or when you mix on unfamiliar setups [so you can 'calibrate' your ears].)
 
Thanks a lot :)

I'll definately take your advice about taking cd's I'm familiar with... the only problem is that I'm not really "familiar" with them... I haven't been listening on monitors so won't that be a problem? Because I don't "really" know what they should sound like.

Also, the monitor ones come in active and passive versions. Would you recommend the passives, if I used it with alesis' amp (ra150 i think, off the top of my head) because of the added flexibility? Or should I be on the safer side and go with the actives?

Thanks again.
 
azzurro

Boy... you really shot a nice clean logical hole in the middle of my advice... :D I guess, on the CD thing, I'd say pick some albums you know and like and think sound good wherever you hear them. Make a point of listening to the CDs on a handful of systems before you do any serious shopping. (And if they're CDs that other people -- like critics and the like -- say sound good 'sonically', so much the better.)

On the passive/active decision path... I dunno, man. I think it can go either way. One nice thing about a well designed active monitor is that the amplifier and the speaker system can be "tuned" to optimize the sound. I think that's why we're seeing more systems wtih very flat response curves. (When I was a kid speaker response charts tended to look more like line drawings of mountain ranges.) But I noticed that Event makes some passive monitors with very close to the same relatively flat response curve as my BAS 20/20s...

The flexibility thing has some subtle (and not-so) ramifications. For instance, with powered speakers you essentially have a power amp built into a speaker. While there's often a master volume control (more of a trim, really, that sets the maximum volume for a given installation) on the back of the speaker -- you generally will control the volume from your mixer (via the control room send) or from your computer (if you're doing your mixing there.)

When I power down my system I get the nasty sound of a half-wide-open 200 watt per side amplifer system suddenly cutting power -- a fairly loud "BLAMP!" because there's no practical way to lower the volume first. (In pro studios you leave the gear on all the time as a rule -- and I used to but when the Enron-and-pals engineered energy crunch hit California and my electirc bill threatened to go from $70 a month to $200 I started cutting some corners -- even if it does mean a hit to my equipment longevity. Plus, those 200 w/side biamps put out a bit of heat all on their own, too. But Event NOW makes a 100w/side BAS version for about half the money... that's a nice deal.)

Like I said, I dunno... it's hard to say what the all the trade-offs stack up to...
 
Last edited:
Why must things be so complicated? :confused:

Say I went with, for example, the M-Audio Audiophile (or Delta44, or Echo Mia) and the Alesis Monitor One Actives. I'd want to hook up the monitors, my headphones, and maybe some other speakers (just as a method of testing... for example to hear what my mix sounds like on a ten dollar pair of computer speakers). Volume control is extremely important for the monitors because I can't always have music loud in my house, and sometimes it has to be completely off (so the headphones will come on).

I'm confused about hooking this all up, and what I'd need to do it... would a speaker switch be enough? Do I need a mixer? It's stuff like this that is really confusing me (besides actually picking the monitors I want, that's a different story). I don't actually need a mixer for making music at this point (I'm doing everything with VST's), so I don't want to spend too much... but I don't want it to be cheap to the point where it degrades the quality of the sound I'm getting out from the monitors. I'm doing everything digitally, so a cheap mixer isn't going to directly effect the sound quality, but the reason I bought a soundcard and monitors is for good sound and accurate mixing/mastering. There's a cute behringer mixer for $50 that I think would suit my needs, but it's 50 bucks... It's gonna make everything sound bad won't it?

If I got the passive monitor and amp, would that bypass the need for a mixer? Or if I got a delta 44 with more outs? I'm so confused :(

Thanks for any help though :)
 
I have the 20/20bas running balanced off my mackie CFX20 and I love them. I still want another set for comparing, which I haven't decided on yet.
 
arjanv said:


Genelc 1031a
Mackie hr824
Event 20/20bas

The genelec 1031a are very expensive and i'm not buying this thing......... I think.

I must choose between the mackies and the events, can someone help me choose
Click to expand...

the genelecs are pricy because the amplifier (among other things) is very very good, you get a very fast slew rate (80 volts per microsecond) the typical (think cheap) amp like an alesis will give you a 10 volts per microsecond slew rate (think mushy sound), a fast amp will give you a tighter more defined sound, transients are sharper, the bass register sounds tighter and everything just sounds better, I've worked with genelecs in the past and they are great.....but pricy, that's why I bought the mackies which are excellent, the amp is not as good but they sound great and the bass extension is amazing, they actually go lower than the genelecs, so check them out...
of the three models you are considering the events are at the bottom, the sound is very good and I find that ear fatigue is low after long sessions, the thing I didn't like is that (I think) they sounded a little boxy next to the mackies, this is only my opinion though, but I'd say if you want bang for the buck the mackies are unbeatable.....
 
I've heard good things about the Mackies too. I've heard them sound really good in listening rooms and at clubs. I don't think you could go wrong with a pair.

On a side note, I'm not really sure where they fit in, but i've been pretty happy with my Roland ds50's. Bass response seems quite adequate, and I've used them both for recording sessions and mixing in loud-ish party/club environments.

Let us know what you decide, and how things turn out.
 
Re: Re: monitors mackie/genelec/event


I going to buy active monitors, but I don't know witch yet.

I think that i'm going to choose between:Mackie hr824
Genelc 1031a

Event 20/20bas

The genelec 1031a are very expensive and i'm not buying this thing......... I think.

I must choose between the mackies and the events, can someone help me choose

Or does someone have other sugestions?


the genelecs are pricy because the amplifier (among other things) is very very good, you get a very fast slew rate (80 volts per microsecond) the typical (think cheap) amp like an alesis will give you a 10 volts per microsecond slew rate (think mushy sound), a fast amp will give you a tighter more defined sound, transients are sharper, the bass register sounds tighter and everything just sounds better, I've worked with genelecs in the past and they are great.....but pricy, that's why I bought the mackies which are excellent, the amp is not as good but they sound great and the bass extension is amazing, they actually go lower than the genelecs, so check them out...
of the three models you are considering the events are at the bottom, the sound is very good and I find that ear fatigue is low after long sessions, the thing I didn't like is that (I think) they sounded a little boxy next to the mackies, this is only my opinion though, but I'd say if you want bang for the buck the mackies are unbeatable.....
Click to expand...
another thing about the gens...look at the responce..fairly flat monitors... the mackies, tend to get muddy b/c they're trying to push to much bass...you asked any skilled engineer/producer about any of the listed monitors VS Blue Sky..they all will pick Blue sky monitors.. there are very flat and the sound they offer...its crazy... and the price.. at 1300.. the genelec 1031's don't even compare to them...
i've mixed on all types of monitors...
Krk,genelec,Mackies,roland,Hafler(trm8.1's are some of the best), Tannoy,adam.blue sky,event and a few others.. none come close to the Blue skys...

Get the Blue sky 2.1 set...2 6.5inch monitors with 12inch subwoofer. at 1300.. they can't be beat...you won't find 1 person to have a bad thing to say about blue sky, and if they do.. they must have bad ears
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top