Hi everybody
Only now am I able to post- I have been taking care of my sick 1 year old baby girl, and I have been working long hours in studio projects under dead line pressure.
So here is part 1.
Let me first make 2 points:
1- I am looking for monitors that translate, and NOT speakers that simply sound good. Why? As we all know, if it sounds nice and sweet and forgiving in the studio, and then in the car or MOST people's homes, or even the multi-compressed radio it sounds awful, then we have the same old common problem. So translation is my first priority.
2- I am looking for monitors that allow me to hear immediately when the mix is off, [snare too loud, vocal too low, hidden violin too recessed, etc.] and NOT a forgiving speaker, that requires too long, and listening to a song [or sound] several times before I notice something wrong, or make a correction.
The test:
1. Adams, Mackies and the Genelecs were connected from Aux outputs 1&2, 3&4 and 5&6 respectively from the Yamaha O2R [I will leave out YSM1s and the entry level Sonys for now]
2. White noise from the O2R was measured equidistantly for all speakers, at 88 dB SPL, for 3, and 6 feet [those were the main two distances we care for now, even though we came back up to 12 feet because the Genelecs are also considered mid fields]. We used an Ultra Curve Spectrum analyzer and the SPL meter from Radio Shack [gulp excuse me].
3. We rechecked continuously with different musical material for the same SPL, at the same distance, before each comparison.
4. We used the same cuts or boosts in all 3 pairs at the same time. So, if we used a 47 Hz roll off filter, all 3 pairs would undergo through the same or closest adjustment before next round of songs.
5. The songs were everything from Steely Dan, to Santana, Latin, Josh Groban, a lot of 70s oldies like Kool and the Gang ladies night, Gloria Gayner I will survive [go ahead and laugh, but I like that Kik bass mix-combination in some dance ocasions, and some really screwd-up mixes like Whitney, and some Christina Aguillera. We wanted to know what bad sounded like in all 3 pairs, as well as the good well mixed sounds.
I am no stranger to Lab work, after studying electronics for over 4 and a half years, but this was good enough, considering how most of us mix and master. We didn't feel we had to be more scientific than this.
The room:
It is a 17' by 23' by 7.5 and 8' [ceilings are uneven].
there are basically no parallel walls, with Prime Acoustics treatment- 5 bass traps several mid absorbers, carpet and wood.
The procedure and conclusions:
We would measure the SPL for 88 dBs for a steady 10 seconds, and then play several songs listening first on the exact triangle spot, and then several varied distances.
Folks, some conclusions are really not that complicated:
keeping in mind that all filters had the same settings and equal SPL, distance etc, the Genelecs were always the ones lacking in upper mids, always the bassier, and the ones that sounded really nice, with all material we listened to. Vocals always sounded lower, and quite sibilant, snares always softer, and bass and kik louder.
Bill here at the forum had mentioned the term " Hi-Fighish"; we confirm that. They would be excellent to show customers your final masters or mixes, but, no doubt they simply do NOT translate.
This finding got frustrated, because my budget and hope was to get the Genelecs; I even had already worked the price with Long and McQuade in Toronto. So, in essence I was a touch biased to go with the Genelecs, but if you read points 1 and 2 at the beginning of this post, "nice" and "sweet" is not what we need to do our work.
Different filter configurations, would not bring back the upper mids, around 1.0KHz to 4KHz [roughly] no matter which of the back panel switches we tried.
The Mackies, had louder low mid range [around 200 Hz to 350 Hz]
always causing, what we normally call mud in vocals, snares, and upper bass part of the material.
The highs were not as airy or clear as the Genelecs, [always keeping in mind the switches in the back panel], but the upper mids easier to work in mixing. Slightly less bassier than the Genelecs, and mids were louder, allowing us to know a lot better where to place vocals snares etc.
I know this is all just our opinions, but that is all I have for you, and that is what I need and learned for now.
The Adams:
Last Summer I went to Steve's Music Store in Toronto, and heard the only Adams they had- the P 10. I made a brief 1 hour comparison with Mackies HR824s right in the store, [simply because I own a pair, and know them better] and the first impression was that they made all vocals sound like 4 feet behind the monitors, and everything else brighter. So from then on, I kind of did not take most opinions about the Adams too seriously.
Well the Adams S2.5A were a completely different set of monitors.
They definitely sound brighter from all 3 pairs [again, filter configurations as close as allowed in the speaker panels].
At first, I did not like the mids, High mids, and highs all "in your face". So I commented,"I like the sound of the Genelecs way better".
Then the first little surprise:
Several hours into listening, comparing, measuring, spectrum analyzing and switching between Aux 1, 3 and 5, we came across a particular song, that had a snare with a wood "ring" type of sound, for lack of a better word. Well, for the life me and the other audio pros present, we could not hear that same ring in the Genelecs, or the Mackies, mo matter how long or hard we tried.
This was my turning point.
a- How can we possible adjust or EQ a sound we cannot possibly hear?
b- Is it worth the price of having to get used to hearing music a little more on the bright side?
Absolutely yes.
Adams did not have near as much bass as the Mackies or Genelecs.
But bassier tracks, would be perceived as such. Bass mud would come trough exactly as mud.
And the vocals, or just about any instrument for that mater, could be heard and analyzed at a microscopic level, for lack of better words.
So one huge big point for Adams.
But there is more.
2nd surprise:
[To be continued...]