Lowfreq
Well-known member
Hey all,
I'm on my monitor hunt at the moment, and I've been looking at the usual suspects: Focal solos & twins, dynuadio BM6a & bm12a, Adam A7x & A8x.
New Zealand is not the best for trying to get hold of monitors, and there's lots of brands that aren't available here. Sucks to be on the arse end of the world sometimes.............
I am flying to Melbourne on monday, to meet my wife on her way back from Africa and have a few days together, with the advantage of being able to go check out a few of these monitors that I can't back in NZ.
Now i know it's all about hearing them in your own studio, but that's just not realistic option. Ideal, but not realistic. And also before anyone asks, my room is treated..... always room for improvement, but it's not bad.
I'm currently using some passive Alesis monitor I mkII with a gainclone type amp kit that I built from JLM http://www.jlmaudio.com/shop/index.php?_a=viewProd&productId=18 & http://www.jlmaudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=21.
The JLM amp has been great so far, no hiss or noise & lots of grunt. I hardly go past 1/2 way on the monitor controller, but I'm aware that my crappy Alesis monitors are probably colouring things more than the amp ever will.
So I can only assume that the amp has a good flat response.
Now, if I continue to use my amp, it opens up my options to other passive speakers, such as Proac studio 100, & PMC TB2+S. But from what I've read on the internet, both the proacs and the pmc are fussy about needing good quality amps. Where do the gainclone amps stack up in the heirachy of power amps? I know the jlm is only 60W, but it's cheap enough to get another couple of kits and bridge em to 120W
The advantage for me is both cost and the weight of shipping to here in New Zealand, is generally going to be lower with passive speakers, and I can get everything going with my existing amp for now, but in the long run, is the cost of upgrading to a better quality amp later on going to out way the extra initial cost of an active speaker?
I'm on my monitor hunt at the moment, and I've been looking at the usual suspects: Focal solos & twins, dynuadio BM6a & bm12a, Adam A7x & A8x.
New Zealand is not the best for trying to get hold of monitors, and there's lots of brands that aren't available here. Sucks to be on the arse end of the world sometimes.............
I am flying to Melbourne on monday, to meet my wife on her way back from Africa and have a few days together, with the advantage of being able to go check out a few of these monitors that I can't back in NZ.
Now i know it's all about hearing them in your own studio, but that's just not realistic option. Ideal, but not realistic. And also before anyone asks, my room is treated..... always room for improvement, but it's not bad.
I'm currently using some passive Alesis monitor I mkII with a gainclone type amp kit that I built from JLM http://www.jlmaudio.com/shop/index.php?_a=viewProd&productId=18 & http://www.jlmaudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=21.
The JLM amp has been great so far, no hiss or noise & lots of grunt. I hardly go past 1/2 way on the monitor controller, but I'm aware that my crappy Alesis monitors are probably colouring things more than the amp ever will.
So I can only assume that the amp has a good flat response.
Now, if I continue to use my amp, it opens up my options to other passive speakers, such as Proac studio 100, & PMC TB2+S. But from what I've read on the internet, both the proacs and the pmc are fussy about needing good quality amps. Where do the gainclone amps stack up in the heirachy of power amps? I know the jlm is only 60W, but it's cheap enough to get another couple of kits and bridge em to 120W
The advantage for me is both cost and the weight of shipping to here in New Zealand, is generally going to be lower with passive speakers, and I can get everything going with my existing amp for now, but in the long run, is the cost of upgrading to a better quality amp later on going to out way the extra initial cost of an active speaker?