Hey All,
Kind of a weird question.
I've been looking for new monitors and have followed the discussions here quite closely. I'm nowhere near able to afford the high-end stuff that's been mentioned, so I'm in the market for something in the 'Pro but budget' range. I've listened to Behringer, Tapco, Blue Sky, and Mackie. The last two are out of my budget, but they did give me a good idea of what I like (liked the Mackies, actually).
Suddenly, however (and this is the weird part), the old Polk Audio speakers my parents had when I was growing up leapt into my head. Those things sounded amazing! Mind you, this is a memory of 20 years ago, but strangely as clear as yesterday... incredibly clean, smooth, detailed. The last time I heard them was about ten years ago, and I still remember them sounding fantastic.
So I got to thinking that maybe instead of active speakers I could track down some of those (which I've found, BTW), get a half-decent amp, and be set up for around the price of the Behringers.
Obvious disadvantages: 1) being from yesteryear, they're passive and have no roll-offs on the speaker for tuning to the room, 2) quite possibly a "hi-fi" type sound, since I really can't remember. However, I was already involved in recording at that time (pop/rock stuff), and was hearing the monitors at local studios. In fact, I only remember being blown away by the sheer volume of the studio ones, not necessarily the sound -- these would be old JBLs, Altecs, Tannoys.
The second problem has been addressed in reviews I've found, where they are consistently described as "flat", "natural", etc. -- in fact, the flat quality has even been used as a criticism! The other thing I like about the reviews is that they are consistently described as having an exceptionally detailed sound stage (good for VSL-ing!).
Anyway, this has all made me even more confused (and a little sentimental), so I'd appreciate any thoughts -- particularly if anybody knows these old speakers "personally". The ones I'm looking at (that we had when I was a kid!) are Polk Audio Studio Model 5, just in case anybody knows them.
I should mention that this came into my head after listening to the above monitors at my local shop. I started thinking about the type of sound I was after, and this is where it got me. So part of my thinking is definitely along the 'newer is not necessarily better' lines.
Thanks in advance.
J.
Kind of a weird question.
I've been looking for new monitors and have followed the discussions here quite closely. I'm nowhere near able to afford the high-end stuff that's been mentioned, so I'm in the market for something in the 'Pro but budget' range. I've listened to Behringer, Tapco, Blue Sky, and Mackie. The last two are out of my budget, but they did give me a good idea of what I like (liked the Mackies, actually).
Suddenly, however (and this is the weird part), the old Polk Audio speakers my parents had when I was growing up leapt into my head. Those things sounded amazing! Mind you, this is a memory of 20 years ago, but strangely as clear as yesterday... incredibly clean, smooth, detailed. The last time I heard them was about ten years ago, and I still remember them sounding fantastic.
So I got to thinking that maybe instead of active speakers I could track down some of those (which I've found, BTW), get a half-decent amp, and be set up for around the price of the Behringers.
Obvious disadvantages: 1) being from yesteryear, they're passive and have no roll-offs on the speaker for tuning to the room, 2) quite possibly a "hi-fi" type sound, since I really can't remember. However, I was already involved in recording at that time (pop/rock stuff), and was hearing the monitors at local studios. In fact, I only remember being blown away by the sheer volume of the studio ones, not necessarily the sound -- these would be old JBLs, Altecs, Tannoys.
The second problem has been addressed in reviews I've found, where they are consistently described as "flat", "natural", etc. -- in fact, the flat quality has even been used as a criticism! The other thing I like about the reviews is that they are consistently described as having an exceptionally detailed sound stage (good for VSL-ing!).
Anyway, this has all made me even more confused (and a little sentimental), so I'd appreciate any thoughts -- particularly if anybody knows these old speakers "personally". The ones I'm looking at (that we had when I was a kid!) are Polk Audio Studio Model 5, just in case anybody knows them.
I should mention that this came into my head after listening to the above monitors at my local shop. I started thinking about the type of sound I was after, and this is where it got me. So part of my thinking is definitely along the 'newer is not necessarily better' lines.
Thanks in advance.
J.