Reference Monitors

[Rabbit]

Again you will find strong opinions on which is better, powered or non-powered if you start browsing the plethora of recording/pro audio forums on the web. Go with whatever arrangement works best for you. I happened to have powered monitors but that's because the whole package sounded right to me for my mixing needs; they've served me well so far.

[Cary B. Cornett]

Any thoughts on powered vs. passive when it comes to monitors?

As with anything else, "there's good and there's bad" among powered monitors.

Having the amplifier right next to the speaker means the wires between are very short, usually a good thing. For the woofer in a system, the low resistance means a higher "damping factor" which technically may give the amplifier slightly better "control" over the speaker. There may be arguments about whether you could hear the difference in that.

Other than just the overall quality of everything that goes into a powered monitor, the most important thing to look for is whether there is an electronic crossover followed by separate power amp for each driver or if it's the more ordinary single power amp followed by a passive (the kind most speaker systems have) crossover. A certain amount of power gets "lost" in a passive crossover, and it is next to impossible to make a passive crossover that is as steep (rapid cutoff of unwanted frequencies from each driver) as the better active crossovers are.

It is possible to do an active crossover setup with separate components (crossover, power amplifiers, speakers), but takes more work to set up, and if you don't know how it is easy to screw up. The all-in-one systems take the guesswork out of it.

The models of powered monitor that I have spent any time working with impressed me as having a clearer, tighter and more detailed sound than the various passive systems I have heard.

[andysharifi]

Is the Mackie Hr824 Mk1 powered monitor considered a good powered monitor compared to much more expensive monitors, like Adams and Genelec? Were these middle end or high end when they came out?

I personally think they are great. I cut the power in the back so they can simulate smaller speakers, and this works better for translations in my room.

I use them along with the Sony V6's, and a passive stereo system with crappy small speakers right in front of me.

I also have a set of big floor standing speakers that I bought for my bro's birthday, that I use sometimes. (B&W Nautilus)

[Ian Alexander]

Is the Mackie Hr824 Mk1 powered monitor considered a good powered monitor compared to much more expensive monitors, like Adams and Genelec? Were these middle end or high end when they came out?

I personally think they are great. I cut the power in the back so they can simulate smaller speakers, and this works better for translations in my room.

I use them along with the Sony V6's, and a passive stereo system with crappy small speakers right in front of me.

I also have a set of big floor standing speakers that I bought for my bro's birthday, that I use sometimes. (B&W Nautilus)

Nice! When I buy birthday presents for people, they usually expect to keep them at their houses.

[andysharifi]

Lol, I live with my brother so they are in the listening room right next to me. I bought them when I had a career (pharm. sales). Bought them used, but still they were very pricey.

[Bill Park]

I don't doubt that there are unscrupulous salesmen out there, but I'm thinking most retailers just want to sell you something, and give you some options.

Mark

Mark,

They prefer to sell old stock, items with which they are stuck, and items which have a better profit margins than other items, depending upon what their managers tell them on any given week. Differences not only inlcude dip swicth settings, placement, inserting eqs that the customer cannot see in line, various gain tricks, and other sales gimmicks.

But right now Icoul take you into any room you want with multiple monitors, hit you with a quick loud treble sound, and then you would find any accurate monitor to be dull, while one that you might normally find to be hyped and edgy would sound better.

Bill

[Bill Park]

Is the Mackie Hr824 Mk1 powered monitor considered a good powered monitor compared to much more expensive monitors, like Adams and Genelec? Were these middle end or high end when they came out?

Adams weren't around then. The Mackie is almost a copy of the 1031, the idea being to build a better 1031 at a cheaper price, since the 1031 at the time was arguably the 'best' full frequency monitor on the street at that time. There were guys who worked for Mackie back then who frequented the Compuserve forums (original home of the SAW discussion forum) and they kept us abreast of the progress through the long development period of this product. We knew about it before the general public, and we knew that the 'target' was the 1031, before the lawyers got involved and told everyone at Mackie to shut up.

In terms of amplified verses non-amplified monitors, there are different considerations and compromises to each design. One of the things that Lipinski brought to light was that cabs containing amps have more distortion. Subsequently, they designed theor own speaker stand which holds the amp, just below the speaker. this isolates the speaker from the amp enough to eliminate that distortion, and keeps the speaker leads very short, both good things. But you are talking an expensive solution. For the low budget guy there is NO question that an amplified monitor is a better deal all around.

Another advantage to seperate amplification for the guy looking to achive quality over price is that he can pick his amplification quality, his speaker quality and mix and match what is best. I picked Cello ( a Mark Levinson company) amplification for my setup over a short list that included Classe, Aragon Palladiums, Bel Canto, and Krell. At the time that I bought there was really no question, Dunlavys were the way to go for a room that was mostly mastering, Dunlavys and Duntechs showing up in more rooms (of engineers that I respect) than other brands. Now there are other choices, and I'd have to give a full Lipinski system a shot if I were buying today.

Bill