Powered studio speakers

Studio speakers

In order for you to properly evaluate your sound mixes and studio recordings, suitable loudspeakers are indispensable. After all, all the decisions you make in the studio are influenced by the speakers. Therefore, it is also important that you feel comfortable with your studio monitors. Good studio speakers should therefore have the following characteristics:

• Neutral sound characteristics to objectively judge music or speech reproduction
• Sufficient reserves in terms of volume and frequency response
• Good handling of extreme level peaks, popping noises and raw audio material

Finished mixes can be played back by simple hi-fi speakers. However, single tracks and intermediate mixes demand high dynamics and good handling of level peaks from the loudspeakers. Only studio speakers are capable of reproducing these dynamics and level peaks without distortion and damage.

Active studio speakers

In these boxes, each tweeter, midrange and woofer has its own power amplifier. The active monitors are used in almost every area of music production. The only thing that varies is the size. For singer-songwriter music, even small monitor speakers are sufficient. For electronic music and hip-hop, larger speakers are necessary, possibly even an additional subwoofer.

A question of point of view

In addition to the size of the active speakers, their position in the studio plays an important role in achieving the most neutral sound results possible. Therefore, we recommend mounting studio speakers on their own stands. This way you can avoid reflections and comb filter effects. If you still need to place your speakers on the studio table or console, you should place foam pads or other rubber underneath. This is the only way you can avoid transmitting structure-borne noise, which would affect the sound quality. In addition, it is important that the studio monitors are fixed and cannot move. This plays an important role especially when reproducing kick drums. There, the box has a tendency to move backwards. Furthermore, it is important to place the speakers so that the tweeters are at about the same height as your ears. All speakers have this so-called sweet spot.

Additional studio subwoofers

Some styles of music require special attention to the bass range. During production, you need a monitoring system that reproduces this frequency range particularly well. For this purpose, you can connect a subwoofer to the existing studio monitor. Subwoofers have the property that they can also reproduce frequencies below 20 Hz. However, the existing speaker system must be precisely tuned to the subwoofer. Therefore, professional mixing consoles often have a separate output for connecting a bass box. When using subwoofers, make sure that you adjust the room acoustics to the low frequencies with the help of bass traps and diffusers.

This is what you should look for when buying active studio speakers:

• Active studio speakers are a long-term investment. Don't be afraid to save up a little longer for a high-quality model.
• Depending on music style, application and room size, you decide what size is suitable.
• Ensure that your speakers are firmly positioned and that they are placed as far away from the walls as possible.
• It's worth looking for the sweet spot of your speakers. You will find it in an equilateral triangle consisting of you and the studio speakers.
• Remember that a studio speaker system is an analytical tool.