Home studio monitors?

[TheEliteOne]

The other day, I went down to the nearest Guitar Center with my friend to purchase a White Les Paul Custom. While we were there, we were roaming around the store when I came across the recording section. I noticed all of the home studio monitors hooked up to an Apple desktop. They had a recording program with recordings already loaded. I played various recordings.. from rock to jazz and these home studio monitors that the computer was hooked up to were the best sounding speakers I have ever heard. The sound was.. beautiful.

Now, let me tell you some information first. I have never heard any high end audio speaker before in my life, unless you count damaged Syngery series speakers hooked up incorrectly at the local Best Buy. I own RSX series satallite speakers and they sound incredible.. I can't imagine what high end Klipsch speakers would sound like.

Anyway, the home studio monitors probably sounded so good to me because: a) I have never heard any high end audio speaker before, so these are pretty much the closest I have heard to them. The recordings on the computer were EXTREME high quality.. I'm talking filesizes were in the gigs.

Now, I'll post a link to the monitors I am talking about and all you audio experts let me know if these are even any good compared to some high end speakers out there. http://www.krksys.com/v3/vseries2_v8.asp

If these are somewhat decent, I wouldn't mind picking up a pair of these to hook up to my computer and listen to music on. Also, I hope somebody could shed some light into the practicality of using Home Studio monitors for music listening. Would it be better just to get an amp and bookshelf speakers? Or just get the self powered monitors? I was looking around on the internet and I came across these other monitors which look alot better then the KRK that I have heard. Below are the links.

M-Audio Studio Monitors = http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=home/search/detail/base_pid/603702/

Dynaudio studio monitor =

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=rec/search/detail/base_pid/605002/

Behringer Studio monitor =

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=rec/search/detail/base_pid/600603/

I am sorry if any of this post didn't make sense or if there are a lot of spelling and gramatical errors.. I am posting this on a Sunday morning at 5am and I didn't go to sleep yet. Anyway, Thanks for reading this and please give me any information you have on this or anything related to this. Thanks.

[TBrennan]

I use KRK ST6s as the main speakers in my HT setup in my den. They are as good as any speakers of the type (small 2-way direct radiators) as any I've heard including much more expensive speakers of the type by "high end" companies such as B&W, Quad, ProAc and Coincident.

In the room and situation I'm using them the KRKs are much better than the Klipsch Heresys they replaced; a much better tonal balance and no listener fatique at all, the Heresys were quite strident in the situation. (Heresy IIs with thier better tweeter are probably better than the old Heresys.)

If you like them get them, use them and don't worry about whether "audiophiles" approve of them or not. You wouldn't believe the number of lousy "audiophile" approved speakers I've heard during my 35 years in this hobby.

Mind that speakers are a mature technology that was basically perfected in the 1930s. This stuff can be done very well at low cost, especially when talking simple direct-radiating cones and domes.

[Marvel]

As Tom says, the KRKs are great. My desk at home uses Alesis Monitor One models. 6.5 in woofer and silk dome tweeter. 100 watts per side. Hard to beat that at your desk. They would work well in a small room also.

A lot of the newer nearfield monitors are very good. Are those KRKs self powered? Mine aren't, but they make some that are. Very hard to beat for the price.

Marvel

[DrWho]

I personally never cared for the sound of the KRK series monitors (I've heard the V6 and the V8). They supposedly require great acoustics in order to sound good. Well I suppose that's true of any speaker...how bout they sound awful in a bad environment. Anyways, they are a good speaker and they translate very well, but I just don't like how they sound...almost a crunchy muddy sound? I dunno how to describe it. If you dig it then go for it.

I never tried to test the limits of the V8, but the V6 monitors don't get very loud which would make them a bad choice for a HT environment. Near field studio monitors are designed to be listened to within a few feet (the bass rolls off quickly as you move away).

I would argue that "studio monitors" are built to be as revealing as possible, while also providing a tonal balance such that a good sound through them will sound good anywhere else. I would highly recommend bringing in some of your own personal favorite musics and listen to them and see if they sound good to you. In the end it's all about making the music you listen to sound as good as possible to you...that may or may not require a "revealing" speaker.

For example, it's common to have a studio monitor that's a little bass shy so that the engineer boosts the lows so that it sounds good to his ear...when played in another system (especially cars or boomboxes), the boosted bass on the mix is found to be enjoyable...on a more accurate system, the bass bost will be found to be obnoxious. The opposite is true too when the studio has a bass heavy rig...the engineer will dial in the bass so that it sounds good to him, which causes the recording to be a bit shy in the bass. So basically, a good studio monitor is one such that the compensations the engineer makes end up being beneficial to the mass market sound systems. They're not exactly built to try and make everything sound good (though it will sound good if the recording is good).

[Duke Spinner]

Bass shy monitors ??

like ..JBL..'n Altec ??

throw in some EV Sentry's ... while yer at it ..

whatcho be talkin' here, Willis ,..??

[TheEliteOne]

Thanks everyone for your replys. The KRK's that I listened to were self powered.. but for both it would end up costing around $900.. which is pretty expensive I think? For $900 what are some good bookshelves and/or floorstanders and an amp? Would I be better off with the monitors or a amp/klipsch speakers? Again, thanks for your replies and I hope to hear more.