Why choose studio speakers over full range?

I have a large (25'x30') listening area and would like to feel percussion from moderate level listening (Rock, Motown, jazz/blues)

The monitors seen in most of the photos of studios are the little ones used on the meter bridge and they are bass restricted due to their small size. However, major studios nearly always have "main monitors" and these are humongous beasts that are used to impress clients (how else do you impress someone like Sting or Phil Collins who are worth 100's of millions) - Westlake, Quested, and Genelec are three well respected brands. These "main monitors" will completely blow away pretty much anything you can find for domestic use and you won't find them at your local dealer as they are often custom designed and installed into wall, which significantly improves acoustic performance and is called a "soffit mount".

Here is Hans Zimmer's Setup (Quested) Far from being a wimp, this HM415 speaker is capable of 138 db SPL with next to no distortion. Certainly enough for you Rock, Motown, jazz/blues. ;-)

Far from being a wimp, this HM415 speaker is capable of 138 db SPL with next to no distortion.

I don't think my house insurance would cover some of its special effects. :)

Regards,
-- Al

There are several advantages to minimonitors:

1) The drivers are so small and close together that they come pretty close to forming a point source.
2) The front baffle is very small, eliminating most diffraction distortion--the time smear you get from reflected sound waves bouncing off the front baffle.
3) With such small box panels, it is easier to build a minimonitor free of enclosure resonances.
4) A 2-way speaker with a small mid/woofer has less time lag in the separate arrival times of the woofer and tweeter elements. Minimonitors are inherently *almost* time-aligned. Their ability to "disappear" while throwing a large, well-delineated soundstage is captivating. Their speed and clarity make small-group acoustic music come alive--think small jazz ensembles and acoustic folk/pop (James Taylor, Sarah McClachlan, Joni Mitchell, etc.)

The disadvantages are, of course, small radiating area, making it a struggle to scale up to large complex pieces and fill large spaces, bass extension, and dynamics at both ends of the spectrum.

That's why there are premium minimonitors that use mid/woofers capable of greater cone excursions to be able to play louder and go deeper while retaining the decided advantages of a near point source mounted in a nearly inert cabinet with minimal front baffle area. Examples include the better Totem stand-mounted speakers (The One and Mani-2) and the Sonus Faber Guarneri Memento.

Still, I wouldn't likely choose minimonitors for a such a large listening area, unless it included powered subs that were time-aligned with the monitors--maybe a pair of Totem The Ones or Mani-2's plus a pair of JLs or RELs.

Most studios use multiple speakers for points of reference, a near field and far field arrangement. There are many reasons; some may be mixing preference, some studio are not as acoustically neutral as they should be, mixers want to know what their music will sound like on smaller and large systems.

Hi-end colored fullrange speakers are usually not used because that is part of what happened to many recordings in the 60's to 1980's. Some monitors were bass reflex and were used near walls, and the bass resulted in many 'engineers' EQing the bass down in their recordings and the warmth of the speaker made them boost the high mids. Typically a good studio wants the most honest reproduction affordable within reason.