Why change something that works?
In order to make consumers buy the high resolution formats they need to hear a real difference when comparing high resolution recordings to CD and MP3 recordings. If it gets so far that people in general don't want to pay for music in the future, the only category left prepared to pay for quality recordings are audiophiles.
No matter what happens in the future, sound quality has to be taken seriously. The only way to do this is to take every part in the signal chain under consideration: every weakness from the recording microphone to the mastering recorder is audible and will degrade the sound quality. There's a reason why some of the best sounding recordings are done by studios and mastering facilities that use power treatment, good signal cables and more than often free-standing loudspeakers as monitors together with the best sounding studio equipment.
If you gave engineers a wish list of the type of loudspeaker they wanted it would probably look like: Getting the dynamics and bass from a PA system mixed with an analytic monitor that was as pleasant to listen to as a lot of hi-fi speakers are. Finding a loudspeaker like that would be great wouldn't it.
When using our loudspeakers as monitors you will have a tool that shows why most recordings are not audiophile recordings. But more importantly you will also hear what's wrong and how to attend to the problems, and these are qualities you don't want to live without once you've got used to them. The most immediate character you will notice is the correct bass reproduction and the natural way everything is presented. You hear everything as it is recorded all the way in to the back of the room or reverb.
When working with our loudspeakers you will notice the distortion free sound which will make long mastering, recording and mixing sessions at high volumes more pleasant for your ears. Listening fatigue caused by loudspeaker distortion will never be a problem when using our loudspeakers together with amps and cables with the same qualities. If you have to lower the volume, the tonal balance will stay the same at any level - this goes for the bass too, which usually decreases when you lower the volume with other designs. This is really good news if you have problems with tinnitus.
When working in front of a mixer you will find that Respons's wide horizontal dispersion will give you more freedom as you get the same stable soundstage outside the usual narrow sweet spot between the monitors.
Respons's realistic dynamics and tonal balance will also make it easy to evaluate small changes in volume, compression, eq and phase when mixing or mastering. Mixing and mastering will be more organic when You hear exactly what you're doing, you will have no trouble getting the right balance in the mix from the lowest frequencies to the top and you won't feel the need to control listen to other speakers after a while, because you'll know you always get it right.
When recording, mixing or mastering you will have a clear three-dimensional soundstage. This makes it dead easy to decide where to position microphones when recording. You will also see how easy it is to add the right amount of reverb to the mix, and when the early-reflections or reverb tail need to be adjusted.
Another valuable feature is that none of our designs invert the phase and knowing you have a absolute phase when mixing is a good help in the studio.
It won't take much critical listening before it becomes clear that this is a loudspeaker that immediately shows it all as it is recorded. You will hear things you only by experience knew you had to adjust before, especially when it comes to the bass and reverbs. Now, you will instantly notice how much dynamics that is actually lost with too much compression, but also how flat, harsh and lifeless a mix can get with the wrong treatment from equalizing, compression and distortion.
If you think sound quality will be more important in the future; give one of our models a listen.
Which model should you choose?
It looks as a serious approach to build one line of loudspeakers for studios, another for hi-fi and a third for surround listening. But one of these models will ultimately sound closer to the recorded source material than the other two, and this is why we use the same models for all applications. All our models offer enough resolution, bass and three-dimensional information to make them useful in any home or project studio.
If you are a music producer and usually don't have the budget to spend on professional mixes you will find our loudspeakers extremely use full. It won't help you to become a professional mixer over night, but you will have a much easier session when sorting samples that don't measure up in sound quality. You will also find the right balance easier and know what's going on in the low frequencies. What would hip hop and dance music be without a massive bass? For really professional applications we recommend that you choose the Baby Grand model or better for it's extremely correct and uncoloured sound.
It's well known that 2-way designs usually don't measure up in bass performance, and have problems playing at high volumes but the Baby Grand offers the same balanced sound as its larger siblings with enough bass, dynamics and resolution to give a lot more expensive 3-way designs a good run for their money. Under normal circumstances our monitors have enough deep, dynamic and natural bass response to get the job done and to make a subwoofer obsolete. If you feel the need to extend the bass further you can of course complement your loudspeakers with one or two of our subwoofers.
Surround mixing and mastering
We recommend the use of the same model on all channels, but as all our models have absolute phase, and the same character You can use any model that suits your budget as main channels together with a cheaper model as centre, or back channels.
If you need a space saving monitor our advice is to use five Baby Grands and a sub woofer. This combination will give you all the performance you need to fully take advantage of high resolution formats and multi channel applications.
We strongly recommend the use of the same amplifiers on all monitors when you're not using our active monitors.
Active or passive
Choose our passive monitors if you want to use the best amplifiers money can buy, or if you're satisfied with your current one. Either way you will get an excellent sound from our monitors - even with very modest amplifiers and cables. |
