We often see the same threads coming up over and over again asking the same questions. Most of the time, the thread starters get a good flaming and told to do a search.

However i've noticed that even though threads about monitors seem to crop up again and again asking whcih one to buy, these, in general, seem to get a good response with a healthy amount of people giving their 2 cents.

Why is this?

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Because monitors are probably the most important part of your setup. Like beauty, its all in the eye of the beholder. Also, unlike most other questions on this forum, when it comes to monitors there is no "one best" thing.

I wouldn't say the most important. However monitors are the most subjective so some leeway is given. With things like convertors, the more money you spend, broadly, the better you get. With convertors, its really a question of how much cash you have to blow. If we all had 10 grand to spend on convertors only, we would probably all be using Prism Sound ADA-8XRs or those Apogee AD/DA 16 convertors. Or something in that kind of range.

With monitors you can spend a fortune but some people just don't like the sound of those 3 grand Genelecs. And the sound of your monitors is vastly influenced by the acoustics of your room and where you position your monitors in that room. I remember having my Dynaudio BM5as in my old house. I had one of them about 4 inches from a wall and they never sounded right. Endless flicking of dip switches made some difference but I was still never happy with them until I moved house.

With monitors - more money spent does not equal better product.

I think the issue of monitors keeps coming up and continues to be tolerated because people love to tell others why their monitors rule. Same with synths. When really, we should just sticky something that says:

Advice on buying monitors:

1) Never buy anything without listening to it first.
2) If you like it personally, and you can hear all the things you need to then buy it.
3) Always always always audition loads of monitors in the same price range - you never know when you hear a pair you never considered and really love them. Or if you listen to a pair and you can hear some part of a song you couldn't hear on another.
4) Conversely, don't go out of your way to audition monitors you can no way in hell afford. If you like them bad, then you will just get depressed. I didn't bother to audition anything more expensive than an ADAM p11a - the top end of my budget. I am blissfully ignorant of what lies beyond and thankful because of it.

The most important thing is you enjoy listening to sound whilst you are working. The more you enjoy it, the longer you can work without taking a break. And if you like that then you can build up a hell load of momentum. Thats priceless.

Heh, well I tried to address that one with the equipment recommendations thread, but all of the people who put in their 2 cents in the individual studio monitor threads didn't seem to want to actually vote.

Oh well; you win some, you lose some.

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People don't get flamed because the people that love to post "RTFM" can't do that in regards to monitors.

quote:

Originally posted by echosystm Also, unlike most other questions on this forum, when it comes to monitors there is no "one best" thing.

Umm...

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