Studio Monitors Sound

[Roland Batovski]

Hello there,

I've recently acquired a pair of M-Audio BX5 D2 Studio Monitors.
I bought them mainly for listening to music, however I also play Electric Guitar and I thought having some studio monitors might be useful in the future ( when I might end up recording some tracks ).

I am a bit confused about the sound output. I have read on various websites about the sound accuracy of studio monitors in general and I must say that they do indeed produce a very accurate sound.

I have tried listening to various types of music ( mainly rock / heavy metal ) and they seem to lack the kick I was expecting to get. More than that, every time the song gets louder ( noticed this especially in metal music ), the sound gets somewhat muffled. Say there's a clean guitar part (that would be played loudly) and it quickly gets into distorted guitar and heavy drums (which automatically get muffled).

All in all, the Highs are really good, but they seem to lack power when it comes to Bass. They seem to be able to reach the low notes, just not hit them with much kick.

I'm not sure whether this should be happening or not. I tried different equalizer setups on my laptop and I get the same problem for each one of them.

Any ideas about how to get more punch from the bass or help me understand what's really going on would help a great deal.

Thanks!

 

[Jimz711]

I've noticed that the better the speakers the worse metal seems to sound. I'm not sure it's worse but it sounds basically the same while other music just gets so much better. I believe the problem is that metal is not recorded, mixed, etc. very well. I find that the metal I would enjoy listening to before I had nice speakers, is almost impossible to listen to now.

 

[markw]

You've got to keep in mind that you're only gonna get so much "kick" from a 5" speaker, no matter how good it is. What you're looking for comes from a boost in the lower bass/bass/mid bass range which is most likely beyond the capabilities of that little speaker. It might be great on the upper bass/lower midrange and up but plumbing the depths with authority may not be it's forte.

It's goodto know that you can appreciate the cleanliness that it does offer in other areas, though. You may find it excels at other types of music.

 

[j_garcia]

What are you powering them with in what size room as well. Big room with lower power attempting high SPLs will also quickly result in distortion. The speaker first and then the proper amp to drive it to the levels you are after are are somewhat smaller, but very important details. Another factor can be running them full range in a situation like that - cross them over at an appropriate level (presumably with a sub) and they should behave quite different. "Kick" tends to come a little lower in the range, something often better left to a sub, so if the speaker does not have authority below ~50Hz, it will tend to lack some of that kick IMO.

I've run into a few speakers that just aren't good with metal as well, while others are more suited to it.

 

[Roland Batovski]

You've got to keep in mind that you're only gonna get so much "kick" from a 5" speaker, not matter how good it is.

I can see why you would say that, but even so, my friend has a pair of Audioengine A2 speakers (note that they are not studio monitors). He seems to be getting a lot more kick than mine do, even if mine ones can go even lower in the bass than his.
With mine, it sort of feels like the speakers are capable of playing the bass (I've heard it a couple of times in some songs) but they simply "can't be bothered". Would that be because of the fact that they're meant to be accurate and some songs are just mixed with not such powerful bass ? I've heard that speakers sometimes "tweak" the sound a bit whereas monitors just give you a flat response of what the song was recorded as.

The frustrating thing is that, as I said before, I can hear a really good sound from certain songs whereas other ones are really bad. I would assume that's just because of the mixing of the song.

To give you a very vague and slight idea of what I'm talking about:

Nightwish - Wish I Had an Angel [HD - Lyrics] - YouTube

0:09 - 0:11 when you should be hearing that BOOM as the guitar riff and the drums kick in; mine just seem to go quieter for that short time and then they just settle down at a seemingly comfortable level.

 

[markw]

Well, theoretically, monitors are supposed to be "flat" so you can "hear through" the speaker's sound to the music itself. The fact that some songs seem fine while others lack seems to point to te fact tat they are doing their job.

As for the lack of "boom", a well-behaved speaker should simply ignore any bass lower than it can handle as opposed to trying to reproduce it, failing, and "farting out".

Audioengines are designed to be "musical" as opposed to "accurate"* and that "kick" you sense may be a peak in the upper bass that can fool one into thinking they are hearing real bass. A common trick designers use is to peak out upper harmonics so you "think" you're hearing real bass.

* Not that that's a bad thing. It all depends on what you want. You pays your money and you take your choice.

 

[fmw]

Roland, you've made a good analysis. Studio monitors don't produce much bass. That isn't their job. Their job is to help a recording engineer mix tracks. If you pair them to a powered subwoofer they could do a great job for listening to all kinds of music. I use a pair of recording monitors as surround speakers in my home theater and they perform very well in that role. I once had a pair of B&W 805 bookshelf speakers that I used with a B&W sub that I still own and use. The sound they produced was nothing short of outstanding. While M Audio monitors aren't in the same league, they are similar in size and specs and should perform well with a sub added to the mix.

 

[TLS Guy]

Hello there,

I've recently acquired a pair of M-Audio BX5 D2 Studio Monitors.
I bought them mainly for listening to music, however I also play Electric Guitar and I thought having some studio monitors might be useful in the future ( when I might end up recording some tracks ).

I am a bit confused about the sound output. I have read on various websites about the sound accuracy of studio monitors in general and I must say that they do indeed produce a very accurate sound.

I have tried listening to various types of music ( mainly rock / heavy metal ) and they seem to lack the kick I was expecting to get. More than that, every time the song gets louder ( noticed this especially in metal music ), the sound gets somewhat muffled. Say there's a clean guitar part (that would be played loudly) and it quickly gets into distorted guitar and heavy drums (which automatically get muffled).

All in all, the Highs are really good, but they seem to lack power when it comes to Bass. They seem to be able to reach the low notes, just not hit them with much kick.

I'm not sure whether this should be happening or not. I tried different equalizer setups on my laptop and I get the same problem for each one of them.

Any ideas about how to get more punch from the bass or help me understand what's really going on would help a great deal.

Thanks!

A manufacturer can label a speaker with any label he chooses. The fact is those are cheap active two way speakers. A discriminating engineer is not going to call those studio monitors or monitor with them.

You can't get a lot of bass out of small speakers like that. From your description they are awash with thermal compression problems, as you would expect from a speaker in that price range.

 

[Roland Batovski]

I managed to get them to sound a lot better now.

What I was doing wrong is that I was trying to increase the bass output from my equalizers and that only made matter worse, as it was trying to output loud bass and by doing so( and failing ) muffling all the other sound in the process.

I think they were saying "woah! why are you making me do that ? I wasn't designed for that". I reduced the bass now and they sound a lot better. I don't have any sound level fluctuations any more and the "kick" has definitely improved.

TLSGuy:

I can imagine a pair of £150 studio monitors are not the best thing on the market. However, I do think the sound quality I bought for that price is very good and the M-Audio's are overall good value.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Roland, you've made a good analysis. Studio monitors don't produce much bass. That isn't their job. Their job is to help a recording engineer mix tracks. If you pair them to a powered subwoofer they could do a great job for listening to all kinds of music. I use a pair of recording monitors as surround speakers in my home theater and they perform very well in that role. I once had a pair of B&W 805 bookshelf speakers that I used with a B&W sub that I still own and use. The sound they produced was nothing short of outstanding. While M Audio monitors aren't in the same league, they are similar in size and specs and should perform well with a sub added to the mix.

I have another budget 5" monitors - see my sig - JBL2325p and I 100% agree with above and your analysis as well. They produce very loud and clear sound, but not so much in really low notes.
As mentioned you need to pair them with subwoofer. There is only so much 5" woofer could do (that is without MASSIVE folded horn box)

 

[fmw]

I managed to get them to sound a lot better now.

What I was doing wrong is that I was trying to increase the bass output from my equalizers and that only made matter worse, as it was trying to output loud bass and by doing so( and failing ) muffling all the other sound in the process.

I think they were saying "woah! why are you making me do that ? I wasn't designed for that". I reduced the bass now and they sound a lot better. I don't have any sound level fluctuations any more and the "kick" has definitely improved.

TLSGuy:

I can imagine a pair of £150 studio monitors are not the best thing on the market. However, I do think the sound quality I bought for that price is very good and the M-Audio's are overall good value.

The purpose of an equalizer is to equalize. In other words, it is supposed to adjust the frequency response of your speakers to correct for room resonances and reflections. Their purpose is not boost certain frequencies for the sake of boosing them. You learned the lesson the hard way. Now it's just a matter of considering a subwoofer.