I'm having some difficulty understanding the differences between studio monitors and bookshelf speakers. Is one better overall than the other or are they each better in different circumstances?
I don't know what the technical difference is, but there is a recording aspect to the studio monitors that speakers don't have. Maybe a studio musician can answer it better than I can
Wayne Parham Messages: 18786 Registered: January 2001
Illuminati (33rd Degree)
A studio monitor is sold as being more accurate than lesser speakers. You can see how it would be easy for a manufacturer to label their speaker this way to give an impression of quality, without having actually achieved such quality. But I do know of several studio monitor speakers that are more accurate than the typical commercial speakers. They're expensive though too.
The best thing to do is to look at measured performance data. It doesn't really matter how a speaker is labeled; What matters is how it performs. And the only way to know this is to look at acoustic measurements. The most important things are flat amplitude response, uniform polar response (which indirectly shows time domain response), wide dynamic range (which shows as an ability to reach high SPL when needed) and low distortion.
The best thing to do is to look at measured performance data. It doesn't really matter how a speaker is labeled; What matters is how it performs. And the only way to know this is to look at acoustic measurements.
I think this is the best advice to anything we are buying, and that is to check and try first before buying the electronic.
Most of us don't have the ability to hear the quality of sound that is really good. If we are in doubt of a speaker quality, then a musician that we know of might help figure out whether the speaker's quality is great or not.
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