#krk monitors

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Conceal Your Speaker Wire

For those of us with a cool pair of monitors like the KRK Rokit series or the Behringer TRUTH series, connecting the speakers to your mixer or two each other is a cinch.  You have a choice of three options, and each of them will work as good as the next, so long as you’re not running them hundreds of feet apart from each other.  XLR is the preferred method of connecting speakers (although more costly and bulky), with quarter inch jacks and RCA’s coming up in the rear.  At most, the average bedroom DJ will carefully couple wires together as to keep the mess down.   A few well placed zip ties here and there keep things organized and semi-professional looking. Some of us are stubborn in our ways, and have yet to afford a decent speaker solution.  Although it isn’t ideal, many still use their home theatre receivers to transmit audio to their speakers, instead of going directly to the speakers from the mixer.  In this case, you have problem of how to route your speaker wire.  It isn’t as pretty as those thick XLR cables and you don’t want it to be seen (and tripped over).  Audioholics lays down a few simple rules to keep it clean. http://www.audioholics.com/tweaks/home-wiring-construction/tip-of-the-day-conceal-your-speaker-wire

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MartinLogan Interview

The average consumer, who does a bit of research into speaker technology, will only touch the surface of what is out there.  The fact is commercial monitors and speakers are born from countless hours of research and development; there is a lot of math that goes into calculating how good the speaker will sound.  There is also the question of what type of materials will produce a better sound, and materials cannot be altered as much as a clever design can make up for the faults of the materials.  Monitors, specifically near field monitors, tend to use the same materials in their makeup.  Offerings from KRK and Behringer may differ only in size and price – with the shape of the box being the main difference in sound delivery. Ribbon technology is also used in many monitors which you may not even care about, as long as the sound is satisfying enough for your needs.  Newer and better technology is currently being produce, and one of them is looking more hopeful than others.  It’s known as electrostatic loudspeaker technology and it claims to deliver a higher level of controlled dispersion than your standard ribbon speaker.  Note that it will also cost you much more than a typical loudspeaker setup, but the payoff is worth it for the true audiophiles out there. http://www.audioholics.com/news/editorials/martinlogan-interview-hq-tour

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Building a Spouse Approved Home Theater Solution

Although nobody will doubt the importance of functional value within a purchase, sometimes there are other aspects that simply out weight the performance of a speaker system, like the looks and style of it.  To those who have never had this problem, you may think it is really silly to buy a lesser performing model of speaker, but if that speaker has to be placed somewhere where everyone can see it, looks will matter more than it sounds.  It’s sort of like having an eyesore of a car, except that it’s really fast.  You want to keep it around but your significant other is tired of looking at it. Building a louder speaker system or even a monitoring solution can be troublesome if you’re trying to balance performance against the way it looks sitting in your living room.  Trying to get it to match with the rest of the furniture if going to be problematic, unless everything in your room is already black and yellow, then you’ll have no problem fitting in the KRK monitors.  If you can minimize your working space into something more compact, then perhaps it would be better to find a separate location (room) to mess with music. http://www.audioholics.com/tweaks/building-a-home-theater-solution    

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FOSTEX MONITORS

There are many brands and competing manufactures vying for your attention as well as your hard earned money.  Out of all the types of music gear that has saturated the market, speakers and monitors are some of the worst offenders.  That’s not to say that these offerings are worthy of your cash – it’s just hard to pick one out of the group while being satisfied with your decision.  It might be easy for a car enthusiast to complain that a car available in Europe isn’t available here in the states – but if we had too many options to choose from we might never buy one in the first place, for fear of making the wrong decision.  The same can be said with monitors and speakers. If your budget is particularly high, as in the thousand dollar range, then you are free from having this problem at all.  You are no newbie and no fool.  However, if you’re shopping for a pair of monitors in the sub five hundred dollar range, then this is where it gets tricky.  How do you know if a non-veteran company is worth the buy?  How do you know that their product delivers exactly what it says it will? http://djmag.com/content/fostex-monitors

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Room Correction, DSP & EQ Processing of Loudspeaker Systems

Every speaker, whether it is placed inside of a pair of headphones or inside of a speaker box, has the same basic function and provides the same output.  Of course, the quality and speed at which each speaker does this will differ from set to set, but the concept of taking a signal and turning it into audible music is similar across all types of speakers.  Some consider speakers to be nothing more than an output for which a signal can be amplified – but modern speakers are much more than that.  They contain their own brain or processing unit which can adapt to any needs that may arise. This may not be common on speakers which are meant to provide accurate unaltered sound, such as KRK monitors – but loudspeakers that are used in situations that necessitate the need for them to be “smart” have abilities that separate them from the rest.  Digital signal processing is the word of the day, and it is actually very complex, much like the programming of a computer.  These systems actually take the user’s needs into consideration, such as angle and geometry of the speaker and its placement.  Expect to see some type of DSP on high end units.  http://www.audioholics.com/news/editorials/legacy-audio-dsp-eq

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In-ceiling Speakers?

The trouble with mounting speakers inside your house is that there are few places to put them where they will blend in well.  In fact, it would be extremely difficult to find a spot for them at all where they were to remain unnoticed.  The best option is to actually design the room around the set of speakers rather than the other way around.  It’s actually so simple when you think about it.  You dedicate one room to studio and music production – where any amount of ungodly speakers and wires can be strewn about without any worry of making the house look bad.  If this is not idea (and I’m betting it isn’t), the next best option is to design the speakers around the room. If you have most of your gear in a more open living space, why not try a cleverer placement of the speakers instead?  The idea that only large speakers are capable of big sound is fallacious at best, and there are currently many options that will allow big sound to come from a small package.  Ceiling speakers aren’t a bad alternative since they fit flush with the wall and do not need to protrude more than what is necessary. http://www.audioholics.com/reviews/speakers/architectural/speakercraft-profile-speaker-preview

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Loudspeaker Measurements Standard

Any speaker company can make great claims about the products they sell – often they can be exaggerated truths or even flat out lies.  The smarter ones will make use of the humans’ inability to read the fine print, or advertise key words that makes a product seem better than it really is.  It is unfortunate that this is probably mostly the case with selling speakers.  Why speakers, you ask?  It is because the average listener is simply not very good at knowing what good sound is and basically has no way of testing the claims that these companies make.  Testing products down to the “T” requires a good set of testing tools and even more importantly, the knowledge of how to use them. Bookshelf speakers are a good category of speakers to test from; they are relatively low cost (in consumer markets), and there are plenty of them out there.  When there are too many of them on the shelves, manufacturers need new ways to stand out from the bunch – and this is where the half truths are born.  The smart guys know what to look for when they test.  They test key areas like distortion and sensitivity – which cannot be done by the human ear alone.  http://www.audioholics.com/education/loudspeaker-basics/loudspeaker-measurement-standard

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Reloop Wave 8 Studio Monitors

Having a set of quality monitors in your booth or production room says something about you.  Disregarding brand and imaging for now, it says that you care about the true sound of your music.   It is also ironic since the average listener will never appreciate the true sound of music on run of the mill speakers, so the experience may never be shared in the way that we like.  The term “monitor” is still difficult to characterize as many manufacturers offer their own version of what a monitor is supposed to be; some will even go as far as warping the definition in order to make a few bucks. As it stands now, most monitors are purpose driven meaning that they are design for specific uses rather than holistic uses – but that doesn’t mean a monitor isn’t capable of delivering sound outside of the standard comfort zone.  Monitors have been known to be very picky about how sound is delivered, some will not even give you a proper idea of what you’re hearing outside of it 60 degree triangle setup.  Reloop’s Wave monitors aim to please a broader group of listeners and offer a broader range of sound production as a result.