# Designs for monitors vs. home theater



## Alex Donkle (Jan 23, 2009)

I know this is the home theater forum, but I was curious if anyone might know what specific design goals are different for use in a mixing studio vs. home theater use.

(I've heard they're designed differently and that they're identical depending who I ask)


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## zatotheck (Feb 2, 2009)

I've been under the assumption that studio monitors are designed to produce a very flat response in order to hear various elements of a track while producing and they are usually designed for the listener to be close to them


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## WmAx (Jan 26, 2008)

Generally, studio monitors have a more limited dispersion as compared to home audio speakers and many are intended for very close proximity to the listener. But this is not always true. You can find some pretty spectacular values with certain pro audio monitors when using them for home use. Pro audio seems to be generally more competitive with actual audio quality/performance vs. price. However, most pro audio monitors have cosmetics that are not generally desired for home use.

-Chris


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## Anthony (Oct 5, 2006)

I'm not sure what the dispersion target is for monitors, but for home theater, you want a limited vertical dispersion and a wide horizontal one. This minimizes the floor/ceiling reflections and still presents a wide stage for all seating locations.

A flat frequency response should be the goal for either.

I've seen some pretty nice looking studio monitors. but you have to like looking at the raw cones -- many have no grills at all as they can be another source of resonance/noise/filtering/etc.


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## looneybomber (Sep 20, 2006)

Alex Donkle said:


> I know this is the home theater forum, but I was curious if anyone might know what specific design goals are different for use in a mixing studio vs. home theater use.
> 
> (I've heard they're designed differently and that they're identical depending who I ask)


At Skywalker Ranch http://www.skysound.com/ they use B&W802's in one of their studio's. It might be their main studio too. (I only know this because of the pictures I saw from Sascha D. of Sonic Mayhem) Those are neither marketed as studio monitors nor 5.1 HT use, but instead 2 channel listening. Go figure.

As others have pointed out, studio monitors typically have limited dispersion, where-as HT/home audio speakers try to disperse their sound very well for a wide "sweet spot". Depending on your application, you might want speakers with very good off-axis performance or ones that "beam" like crazy. That, however, is what you'll have to decide for your specific application. Apparently Skywalker thought the B&W's were better for their application than some JBL's or Genelec's...


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