My main point really was to hint at the fact that there may potentially be a lot of purely studio designed gear (often from unrecognised manufacturers) that we would never hear about in hifi magazines/internet forums. There may be products from this category just waiting to be discovered. Gems that would not ordinarily be considered suitable for home use ( i belive that to be an entirely unfounded assumption on the part of the audio press)
studio equipment that makes it into home hifi
In recent years I have begun to take more notice of professional/studio hifi gear. Really ever since i got the Yamaha NS1000 my attention turned. Amongst other well known studio products that have managed to cross over into home audio is the Technics Sp-10 turntable rogers ls3/5a, revox equipment, etc. And hey a lot of these ended up being classics!
What's more they often seem to cost a lot less than home audio and sound very accurate and neutral. For example I picked up the Yamaha P3200 power amp for $150. Built like a tank, I was not expecting much from this warhorse. What the hell at 500w per channel they were only to be used to drive subwoofers. I put it into my smaller second home rig replacing the Jadis DA7 and driven by a valve preamp. Was I in for a surprise. It was subtle fast had good transparency and soundstaging and equal detail to the Jadis. Its bottom end as you would imagine was wonderfully taut deep and powerful. I was very pleasantly surprised. Only let down was a raggedness at the top end and it missed the last few ounces of tonal purity. BUT in no way did it sound cold sterile or hard, quite the opposite it was emotionally very engaging.
Has anyone any other studio products that can be used in home hifi systems even high end systems and look good???
What's more they often seem to cost a lot less than home audio and sound very accurate and neutral. For example I picked up the Yamaha P3200 power amp for $150. Built like a tank, I was not expecting much from this warhorse. What the hell at 500w per channel they were only to be used to drive subwoofers. I put it into my smaller second home rig replacing the Jadis DA7 and driven by a valve preamp. Was I in for a surprise. It was subtle fast had good transparency and soundstaging and equal detail to the Jadis. Its bottom end as you would imagine was wonderfully taut deep and powerful. I was very pleasantly surprised. Only let down was a raggedness at the top end and it missed the last few ounces of tonal purity. BUT in no way did it sound cold sterile or hard, quite the opposite it was emotionally very engaging.
Has anyone any other studio products that can be used in home hifi systems even high end systems and look good???
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My main point really was to hint at the fact that there may potentially be a lot of purely studio designed gear (often from unrecognised manufacturers) that we would never hear about in hifi magazines/internet forums For sure they have some stuff a see this The Way Studio Custom Neve 8078 and this Blackbird Studios. Both places have awesome virtual tours and some amazing gear. (mega mega bucks though) |
Hi Shadorne, Much of the monitoring in the studios in your link, are relatively cheap, but sound good. They are just in well designed and treated rooms, placed carefully, and fed a clean signal. The genelec active monitors sound really nice and are easy to listen to for long periods near field. The ATCs are used for higher SPL listening usually and to check on deep bass levels. These will also be used when the people paying for the music being created come to visit! The Neve 8078 is a beautiful mixing desk. My favorite. |
Really, isn't Revox the home line of what Studer was building for the stuido? Teac incorporated many features found in its Tascam line. What studio doesn't include a reel to reel made by SONY? Crown amps, Yamaha, McIntosh, Akai, even Pioneer had a professional line of reel to reels that crossed over into the home market. So did Phase Linear, Carver, ADS, Denon, Technics. I think the point being is that the Pro gear is very well made. And I have never found Pro gear to sound objectionable or inferior to its 'home hi-fi' counter part. |
Much of the monitoring in the studios in your link, are relatively cheap, but sound good. I agree they are extremely good value if you can accept the awful and purely functional aesthetics (no nice elegant shapes and no nice veneers). Much of the expense in consumer speakers goes to expensive cabinet work and veneers - the goal of most designers is an eye catching piece (typical manifestation: tweeter on top like a cadillac hood ornament, and cool looking shiny metal drivers rule) - designers are often the cheapest possible drivers that still sound good enough (better than best buy) at modest levels. However, most consumers are looking for something they can be proud to own (WAF happy too) and are therefore not overly concerned about the sound quality, which is often secondary to the aesthetic desirability of the component. By aesthetic measures, pro gear is EXPENSIVE and rather poor value... |
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