I am not really sure what to call the kind of speakers that I need, but we do all of the recording, playing and mixing in one room. The mixing monitors are Adam A8X but these are not positioned for everyone to listen. I use floor monitors for the drummer and bass player and that works for them.

But I would like to put speakers on the wall to broadcast a mix in progress, or a track to play along with to the whole room for practicing, or for gluing the group together when playing live with some reverb added.

I would like something that sounds good, but we don't need a huge amount of power and don't need a subwoofer. I don't want to get that cheap PA speaker sound though but need something more substantial than regular stereo speakers.

Quote DC-Choppah:

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I am not really sure what to call the kind of speakers that I need, but we do all of the recording, playing and mixing in one room. The mixing monitors are Adam A8X but these are not positioned for everyone to listen. I use floor monitors for the drummer and bass player and that works for them.

But I would like to put speakers on the wall to broadcast a mix in progress, or a track to play along with to the whole room for practicing, or for gluing the group together when playing live with some reverb added.

I would like something that sounds good, but we don't need a huge amount of power and don't need a subwoofer. I don't want to get that cheap PA speaker sound though but need something more substantial than regular stereo speakers.

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i use KRK Rokit 8's, the 8" speaker eliminates the need for a sub and provides excellent bass response, PLUS the "VXT" model (the next model up from the G2's) is even better, but they have a great overall sound man and are recommended by lots of industry pros.. very good to have a set to reference against others, and seeing as they almost exclusively make speakers theyre at a good cost. you can grab a rokit 8 (generation 2) for between 250 and 300 AUD each either new or used..

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www.soundcloud.com/skerrick

How about a decent PA instead of a poor one?!

What sort of budget are we talking here?

If you want studio monitors for that sort of job in a decent sized room, you could try Dynaudio BM15. The actives aren't cheap, but you should be able to pick up the passives and a suitable amp for a decent price. There are plenty of speakers that will do the job but we kinda need more info here...

Also... had you thought about headphones/in-ears?

One of the reasons that studios used to have big monitors was so that people could work at realistic volumes when necessary. I find that I regularly have clients who want to monitor loud for a variety of reasons. One client was producing live backing tracks so he wanted something that would sound good at PA volumes with less compression than I would normally use while other clients want to play without headphones in the control room. Imagine a sax player going full blast - not only is the sound of the sax very loud in the room but the vibrations from the reed are being conducted through the jaw bone to the ears so they need a decent level on the monitors.

Normally I would use my big Tannoys but at the moment the amps that drive them are being repaired so I'm currently using a pair of dB Technologies Basic 110 PA speakers for high level playback which work amazingly well considering their price. They're not particularly impressive sounding but, in this case, it helps as it makes you work harder on a mix.

James.

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JRP Music - Audio Mastering and Restoration.
http://www.jrpmusic.net

I live a charmed life. I could do a grand or maybe 1500 US dollars for the pair. I'd like something at ear level for the room that sounds good and inspires people. But I don't need huge amounts of power. Like good monitors for the whole band to listen to together where I can control the mix going into them.

I read the article in this month's SoS on in-ear monitors. I don't think that would work for us, we stop and go a lot and like to talk to each other. It's not a huge room, so being isolated like that seems kind of weird and unnatural.