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What makes it a studio monitor?

I agree that Wikipedia's definition is best, although much of it is marketing, even from early times. I was lucky enough to pick up a pair of JBL 4320 Studio Monitors recently, the precursor to the 4310's, 4311's, and so on. They are excellent speakers. "The JBL 4320 series studio monitor was introduced through Capitol Records in Hollywood and became the standard monitor worldwide for its parent company, EMI. JBL's introduction to rock and roll music came via the adoption of the D130 loudspeaker by Leo Fender's Fender Guitar company as the ideal driver for electric guitars." (Wikipedia) -good marketing examples on JBL's behalf. They were advertised as having a particularly flat freq. response, and a wide freq. response range. These were designed to compete against the widely popular Altec Lansing monitors of the time, and ended up overtaking them in overall use.

I also own a nice pair of Yamaha NS-10M's, the black "Studio" version. I challenge anyone to listen to the same recording through both pairs of "Studio Monitors", and prefer the Yamaha's. The sound is very different, and built for entirely different enviornments and listening levels. I can listen to the JBL's all day long, they sound good with anything. The Yamaha's don't get much use, as I find them harsh with vinyl, though they're tolerable at low levels. My only suggestion is to try as many speakers as possible and keep what you like. Besides, its part of the fun.
 
GerryC said:
I agree that Wikipedia's definition is best, although much of it is marketing, even from early times. I was lucky enough to pick up a pair of JBL 4320 Studio Monitors recently, the precursor to the 4310's, 4311's, and so on. They are excellent speakers. "The JBL 4320 series studio monitor was introduced through Capitol Records in Hollywood and became the standard monitor worldwide for its parent company, EMI. JBL's introduction to rock and roll music came via the adoption of the D130 loudspeaker by Leo Fender's Fender Guitar company as the ideal driver for electric guitars." (Wikipedia) -good marketing examples on JBL's behalf. They were advertised as having a particularly flat freq. response, and a wide freq. response range. These were designed to compete against the widely popular Altec Lansing monitors of the time, and ended up overtaking them in overall use.

I also own a nice pair of Yamaha NS-10M's, the black "Studio" version. I challenge anyone to listen to the same recording through both pairs of "Studio Monitors", and prefer the Yamaha's. The sound is very different, and built for entirely different enviornments and listening levels. I can listen to the JBL's all day long, they sound good with anything. The Yamaha's don't get much use, as I find them harsh with vinyl, though they're tolerable at low levels. My only suggestion is to try as many speakers as possible and keep what you like. Besides, its part of the fun.
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I think it's all great to offer suggestions, as you have. Problem for me is the people who not only go to extremes to point out how much they like their speakers, but have no shame in pointing out how bad other makes and models are and in putting down people "dumb" enough to own them. It's pathetic. Each of us has different hearing characteristics of our own (DNA in action). We also have different equipment, different room environments, etc.

I have over a dozen different makes and models of speakers, none of which sound the same in the same room, and none of which sound the same placed in a different room.

There are too many variables involved, so as you state, try, try, try and try again. It can be fun, it certainly can be a learning experience.

Oh, to an earlier poster, I don't eat cheerios, you must have me mistaken for someone else. Oh, read the whole thread, not just mine.
 
mr.jones said:
My understanding of a studio monitor is a speaker designed to give "accurate sound reproduction". Aren't all speakers supposed to do this? Parts Express sells Behringer studio monitors. If I buy a pair of these will I like them more because they are studio monitors or maybe like them less because I am used to the sound of regular speakers that aren't considered studio monitors?
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Nah, calling something a "monitor" is marketing BS. Of course, serious sound engineers take their speakers very seriously. But, they don't read the box to figure out which speakers to use!

Having said that... a well-designed small studio monitor is probably optimized for a closer listening distance than a similar home hifi speaker.
 
ken kantor said:
Nah, calling something a "monitor" is marketing BS. Of course, serious sound engineers take their speakers very seriously. But, they don't read the box to figure out which speakers to use!

Having said that... a well-designed small studio monitor is probably optimized for a closer listening distance than a similar home hifi speaker.
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That should be the case with nearfields, for sure. In use, the nearfield isn't used in the same way a studio monitor is, or a reference monitor. But people are led to think the little nearfild can do it all (and they are fairly remarkable in doiung that).
 
garww said:
That should be the case with nearfields, for sure. In use, the nearfield isn't used in the same way a studio monitor is, or a reference monitor. But people are led to think the little nearfield can do it all (and they are fairly remarkable in doing that).
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Well, Ken Kantor is a great speaker designer, and he's right on, as usual.

"Nearfield*" speakers were designed to be placed close to the listener to allow the speaker sound to hit the listener before any room reflections did.

*Note: "Nearfied" is a registered trademark, by the way - owned by Ed Long, along with "Time Aligned".

Home recording enthusiasts jumped on the "Nearfied" bandwagon because they thought it would allow them to avoid treating their rooms (big mistake), and get an apartment-size speaker for a lot less than the big soffit mounted JBL's, TAD's, and Augspurger systems.

Of course, this opened the way for a lot of manufacturers to introduce cheap bookshelf speakers as "Studio Monitors" by simply calling them "Studio Monitors"; throw a new badge on them and ship 'em out the door.

Bottom line: they ain't "Studio Monitors", they're nearfield speakers, and good nearfields are designed to be heard from about 3 to 6 feet away.

With the rise of the "home studio" phenomena and cheaper "pro-sumer" gear, users jumped on the nearfield speakers as substitutes for real "Studio Monitors" - and the the mess that followed is now history. It's too late to try and change that perception, but real "Studio Monitors" (from TAD, Ocean Way, George Augspurger, or the big JBL's) have to be heard to be believed.

Once you hear them, you'll understand what a real "Studio Monitor" is.

In the spirit of "full disclosure", I want to pint out that I also have a "horse in this race":

http://www.trident-audio.com/hg3.html
 
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GerryC said:
I also own a nice pair of Yamaha NS-10M's, the black "Studio" version. I challenge anyone to listen to the same recording through both pairs of "Studio Monitors", and prefer the Yamaha's.
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I have absolutely no knowledge regarding your Yamaha speakers so I am not knocking them but I chuckled because the thread was concentrating on JBL, Altec and other high end monitors. Your comment reminded me of a lot of car commercials. Everyone's car has "better handling than a BMW 5 Series," "more HP than a Mercedes E320," "more trunk space than a Lexus XXX," etc. However, in the end, owners of BMWs, MBs or Lexus' would never buy the advertised car to get the same features for less money. (example; Mazda or Subaru).
 
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I have studios, and nearfields, but phones are about all I can do for reference : ) Each doing a different job.
 
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