Moderators davie Posted March 5, 2020 Moderators Share Posted March 5, 2020 Is there a recommended studio monitor size depending on the size of the room? Right now I am using 5" KRK rokits. Was considering upgrading my monitors to get a better response. My room is 12 x 9 feet (with 8 feet ceiling). Would a studio monitor with a larger woofer (6, 7, or 8 inch) be viable for a room of this dimension? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted March 5, 2020 Share Posted March 5, 2020 Although your room is on the small size, as long as you're going to keep the monitors in fairly close to you - in a nearfield configuration - I see no reason why you couldn't move up to something with a 6, 7, or even 8" woofer. You'll probably hear a bit more bass with the larger woofer, all other things being equal. Whether or not that will cause you issues with the room acoustics is kind of hard to say (is the room acoustically treated at all? Do you monitor fairly loud?) but personally I'd rather work with something with 7-8" woofers if given a choice - I personally think 5" woofers are a bit on the small size, at least for my tastes. As long as you're not trying to use larger (10" or bigger) speakers or trying to use them at midfield distances. or really cranking the heck out of them, you're probably going to be okay davie. In a room of that size, you're going to have some issues in the lowest two octaves or so anyway, which means you're going to have to "learn" the room and the speakers, regardless of what speakers you're using. As long as you're willing to do that (which means spending some time listening to how the speakers respond with mixes / music you're very familiar with) you will probably be just fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators davie Posted March 5, 2020 Author Moderators Share Posted March 5, 2020 Thanks for the response, Phil. I have some acoustic treatment in the room, but its not the best, yet still dry enough to record. One homemade 2x4' panel using recycled fabric, some cheap acoustic wedge foam, a couple of blankets and foam mattress (its my bedroom). I'm planning to revamp the room maybe some time this month, turn it into a dedicated studio space, build some rockwool panels and corner traps. And yeah, my intention is to get more accurate bass. Last month I finally put out my first full-length song and I ended up checking my mixes on in the car to try to balance the bass. On top of the bass, I feel like the midrange was a bit challenging to get right as well. I'm just trying to limit the amount of guesswork i need to do and get a more accurate sound. I dabbled around with mixing short demos but this was the first time I've gone through the entire production process. I have my monitors setup about 1 foot away from the wall, in equilateral triangle formation with ~3 feet distances. I usually mix at moderate volume, with occasional moments of quiet and loud volumes. Should I look specifically at monitors with front-porting? Or would rear-ported monitors be okay to consider in my situation? Ideally I've been looking at the ADAM A7X's, but it's a bit over my budget. Maybe Yamaha HS7 or HS8 would be in my budget, however they're rear-ported and I worry I don't have enough distance away from the wall. Would rear-porting be an issue? Any suggestions for models of monitors? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators davie Posted March 6, 2020 Author Moderators Share Posted March 6, 2020 I might be considering either the Yamaha HS7, HS8 or Adam T7V. Any thoughts on either of these? Any others worth considering too? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted March 6, 2020 Share Posted March 6, 2020 8 hours ago, davie said: I might be considering either the Yamaha HS7, HS8 or Adam T7V. Any thoughts on either of these? Any others worth considering too? I haven't tried any of those actual models, but I am a big fan of ADAM monitors in general. If you wanted to stay with KRK, the Rokit 7 G4's are nice sounding, reasonably priced, and have some rather cool features that will help you get them dialed in better for your room. The Rokit 8 G4's, which I have not personally tried, are a bit bigger, have a bit more low frequency extension, and a bit more power - but of course they're a bit more expensive too. Here's a couple more reviews from Chris Loeffler that you might want to check out... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted March 6, 2020 Share Posted March 6, 2020 On 3/4/2020 at 10:44 PM, davie said: Should I look specifically at monitors with front-porting? Or would rear-ported monitors be okay to consider in my situation? If you're a foot from the wall behind them you're kind of close IMO... you can probably get away with rear ported monitors, but ideally it would be nice if you were a coupe of feet away from it. I certainly wouldn't want to move them any closer than one foot from it if the monitors are rear-ported. Of course with front ported speakers, that's a non-issue, although you still need to be concerned about their proper placement within the room and your listening position relative to them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted March 6, 2020 Share Posted March 6, 2020 On 3/4/2020 at 10:44 PM, davie said: I'm planning to revamp the room maybe some time this month, turn it into a dedicated studio space, build some rockwool panels and corner traps. High-density rockwool is quite useful stuff and easily fashioned into rather effective acoustic panels and corner bass traps. It will probably help noticeably if you can get some of those into your room - especially if you can get some placed across the wall / wall junctures (corners), and even some key wall / ceiling juncture points. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators davie Posted March 8, 2020 Author Moderators Share Posted March 8, 2020 I'm kinda leaning towards the Adam T7V. Saw a lot of good reviews for it. I also read the owner's manual for the Adam T series, it mentions that there should be at least 16 inches distance from the nearest wall to achieve a balanced bass response. With that in mind I could probably accommodate a few more inches distance no problem. I first took notice of Adam speakers because I have a friend who uses the A7X in his studio. Super clean sounding. Judging from the reviews I saw, T7V have a very smooth high end, probably due to the ribbon tweeter technology. The Presonus ones look pretty cool too. Very nice features, front-ported, a lot of options for frequency adjustment. I think I'm most likely gonna switch away from KRK. Try something new. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators davie Posted March 9, 2020 Author Moderators Share Posted March 9, 2020 I just asked a friend who does audio and used to work at a music store, he recommended the Yamaha HS8 over the Adam T7V if I'm not intending to use a subwoofer. But when I read the HS8 owner manual, it says the speakers should ideally be at least 1.5 meters (5 ft !!) away from the wall/corner.. That's seems like a lot.. I'm not sure what to think now.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted March 9, 2020 Share Posted March 9, 2020 4 hours ago, davie said: I just asked a friend who does audio and used to work at a music store, he recommended the Yamaha HS8 over the Adam T7V if I'm not intending to use a subwoofer. But when I read the HS8 owner manual, it says the speakers should ideally be at least 1.5 meters (5 ft !!) away from the wall/corner.. That's seems like a lot.. I'm not sure what to think now.. Corners are generally to be avoided as much as possible since they’ll tend to artificially boost the bass. Five feet away from a wall, OTOH, does sound like an awful lot - especially for a home studio. I have not used the T7V’s, but I do like my ADAM speakers quite a bit. I have S3A’s and A7’s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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