Do I need new monitors or just a better listening position / room treatment?

[Sunburst71]

Hi all,
I have a pair of old Event PS6s that sound pretty flat, congested and boomy. Do you think that a pair of modern monitors (~$300 range) would be a significant improvement, or is it more the room and positioning that's causing it?

Here's a picture of my "home studio" - it's a corner of our living room (small Brooklyn apartment)

Thanks!

 

[Papanate]

Having the wall on your left is hurting your
listening field. Moving your gear to the center and
out from the wall a foot or so to improve
your imaging.

If the PS6 monitors sound 'congested' and flat
I would think that something may be wrong in your
signal path or with the speakers themselves.

What DAW are you using? What Sound Card?
Do you run the output line level or mic level?
The PS6 are line level on both the XLR and 1/4"
jacks. If you are mixing mic over line or vice versa
it will sound pretty bad.

 

[mattball826]

nfm's should face in towards the listener, not across the room. the event mon's are fine. start with some isolation foam or stands for those mons.

you would need a lot of room treatment to solve those room issues. cant really say without a more detailed room overview. one pic doesnt give much.

what you might want to do instead is get those dividers for the mix area and desk. they might be unsightly though for an apt.

 

[Sunburst71]

Having the wall on your left is hurting your
listening field. Moving your gear to the center and
out from the wall a foot or so to improve
your imaging.

If the PS6 monitors sound 'congested' and flat
I would think that something may be wrong in your
signal path or with the speakers themselves.

What DAW are you using? What Sound Card?
Do you run the output line level or mic level?
The PS6 are line level on both the XLR and 1/4"
jacks. If you are mixing mic over line or vice versa
it will sound pretty bad.

Thanks for the suggestions.
I'm running Ableton Live 8 Lite on a dedicated Win laptop with Firewire into a Focusrite Saffire Pro 24, and then 1/4'' line outs into the monitors.

 

[Sunburst71]

nfm's should face in towards the listener, not across the room. the event mon's are fine. start with some isolation foam or stands for those mons.

you would need a lot of room treatment to solve those room issues. cant really say without a more detailed room overview. one pic doesnt give much.

what you might want to do instead is get those dividers for the mix area and desk. they might be unsightly though for an apt.

Thanks!

 

[loudboy]

I might look for some better monitors.

I've only had experience w/the 20/20s and I didn't like them at all. I found it impossible to know what I was listening to.

 

[straticus]

If it were me I would try setting up the work station caddy corner in order to keep things symmetrical and equal. Then I'd hang some acoustic treatments on the walls on either side of my listening position to block reflections. I'd also treat the corner that would now be behind the work station.

This could be done for $100.00 or less. This looks like a good deal:

http://www.amazon.com/2x12x12-BURGU...=UTF8&qid=1392268111&sr=8-13&keywords=Auralex

 

[Sunburst71]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I appreciate it

 

[NashSG]

Rule of thumb I have heard for desktop speaker location is to have the speakers at ear level as wide apart as they are from where your head is sitting when working. This generally means at a desk like this, you want the space pretty narrow and not spread out left to right. You might also want to try a set of isolation pads for the monitors. I got a free set when I bought a second set of monitors a few years back and I think they do help as it keeps the table top from transmitting bass signals.