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Im finally going to give up on using my cheap stereo speakers as
reference monitors, cos theyre clearly not, and buy myself some proper
ones instead.

Im thinking of the Tannoy Reveals, or possibly the Samson Resolvs.
However, will I need to get an amp of some sort, such as one of the
Samson ones, or can I continue to use my Denon one until funds are
available for an amp ?

What difference will I notice between say a Denon stereo amp and a
Samson Power amp ?

What would be the benefits of getting active monitors instead of passive
ones (the downside being they cost twice as much).

Anything else I should be considering whilst Im looking at this ?

D.

In article ,
Dave Hayward wrote:


Ive heard comments about the Samsons (and the similarly priced [I
think] Haflers) being a bit harsh-sounding. Id have thought a decent
hi-fi amp (ie with enough power to drive the speakers properly) would be
fine.


You might not have been on IRC when I mentioned I was thinking of
selling my Tannoy Reveals. James is first in the queue, but if he
doesnt want them... ;-)


Adrian

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Dave Hayward wrote:

Dave,


I bought a pair of Spirit Absolute Zero recently. I am more than happy
with them, although they lose a little on the bass. (I also have two
large, B&O speakers on the second speaker channel if I need the bass.)

However, a few years ago I was using Alesis Monitor 2 - they are budget,
but with a 10 bass speaker, they were fantastic. Im sorry I got rid
of them. There are many monitors better than these, but at that price,
nothing touched them.

I would use your current amp at the moment - just using proper studio
monitors will be noticeable over normal Hi-Fi speakers.

Dont get a Samson amp - get a second hand amp of better quality.

Odie
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Odie wrote

And what is wrong with Samson Amps ?

Cheers
James

Dave Hayward wrote in message
news:c6033o$6cuoa$1@ID-161612.news.uni-berlin.de...

No reason why you cant use it assuming you are putting your master outs
into it. The Sampson power amps just amplify whatever signal is put into
them, no tone controls or bass enhancers. Might be worth doing do some
reference mixes just to make sure your Denon doesnt add any colour.


It means you wont need to get an amp, but if they blow - youll be without
monitoring.

My personal setup is a Samson 170 power amp and a pair of Alesis Monitor
Ones (which are going cheap these days). Alesis can be found here
http://alesis.com/products/monitor1 mk2/. I think Sounds Live had these for
under 200 quid with a Samson 170 for about 130 your talking 300 quid for the
same setup.

Andy D

PS: Quick search shows:
http://www.soundslive.co.uk/moreinfo.asp?ID75
http://www.soundslive.co.uk/moreinfo.asp?ID=1338

James Screaton wrote:

Not intended to offend - but those I have heard were not too impressive.

My opinion!

Odie
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Data Recovery Experts
www.retrodata.co.uk

Odie wrote in message
news:4083A1C4.8DCCDB57@athotmaildot.com...
hmm, interesting - in what way were they not impressive (I use one, and thus
wondered why you were not keen :)

Dave Hayward wrote in
news:c6033o$6cuoa$1@ID-161612.news.uni-berlin.de:



Hi Dave,

I use an elderly Denon amp, driving a pair of Harbeth monitors. Owing to
some accident in the past, Ive had to replace the HF drivers in the
Harbeths and I got some great assistance and advice fomr teh folk at
Wilmslow Audio - http://www.wilmslow-audio.co.uk/ . They supply drivers,
capacitors, kits, etc etc etc. I too had been in a similar quandry to
yourself about what should I use. I read a lot of articles and spent many
hours on the web trying to decide whether I should go for Tannoys or
Absolute Zeros or Bose or whatever. In the end I decided to repair my
Harbeths and am absolutely delighted that I did.

My reasoning was based on something I either read or talked about with
someone and it was quite simple. It might have been an article on teh Sound
on Sound website (do go there and look at the articles on Monitors and
Mixing) It doesnt really matter what your speakers are (assuming they are
of a good quality). What matters is that you know how they perform.
Keeping a few reference pieces of music with you to check anything youre
mixing against, is a good idea. In this way, you can compare how your music
sounds, on your speakers and system, with other music. Whatever you use
will be coloured by the room you use it in. Doing this lets you compare
against a known standard. If you like the soudn of your mix, against your
reference standard, then it will probably still sound as good as your
standard does on all other sorts of sytems.


Well I think thats what I meant to say anyway. As the great George
Martins autobiography put it All you need is ears........



hope this helps


andrew s