# some thoughts on studio monitors



## drf (Oct 22, 2006)

I am about to embark on a new project. A pair of nearfeild monitors for my studio. I am only new to the home recording thing, so I don't feel the need to go to extremes however they do need to be good. Becasue of the size of the room, anything from about 6" will do. 

My current mindset is a 2way 6.5" woofer and 1"dome tweeter with an active X-over. 

Any thoughts, experiences or opinions would be appreciated. 


Cheer
Dr F


----------



## avaserfi (Jul 5, 2007)

Is your goal to build these speakers or get a low cost high quality pair of studio monitors, perhaps even crossing the two boundaries? 

If the latter is an option I would suggest purchasing a pair of Behringer 2030P monitors a pair of stereo subwoofers and a DCX2496. The 2030P monitors are extremely low cost (a pair can be had for $140 or so in the states) and are extremely high quality. Not only are they extremely linear speakers their polar response is superior to many speakers even 10X the price! Couple this with the fact that the units components are extremely high quality (high quality motors on the drivers, electrolytic caps etc..) a superior unit cannot be built for cheaper.

Of course, there are some issues with this unit, but with minor modifications these can be dealt with. Further, if you are willing the panel resonance issue (common to virtually all commercial and DIY speakers) with these speakers can be properly mitigated or removed as well.

If you are simply interested in building your own speakers and do not want to modify a pair I would suggest using the BG Neo3 PDR tweeter with a Dayton RS150 mid range. These units are very linear and using a crossover point at about 2kHz have matching, superb, polar response out to 75 degrees (in case you ever planned to use these far field) couple this with stereo subwoofers and you will have a first class pair of studio monitors. My build using these drivers can be seen here.


----------



## drf (Oct 22, 2006)

I was thinking of building myself, but if the behringer deal is that good then maybe I could buy and modify to suit my needs. Thankyou


----------



## avaserfi (Jul 5, 2007)

drf said:


> I was thinking of building myself, but if the behringer deal is that good then maybe I could buy and modify to suit my needs. Thankyou


If you are interested in a full listing of what is recommended to do with these speakers I can contact a member who has analyzed them more thoroughly than myself to offer such information. I would offer it myself, but his explanation would be more accurate .


----------



## drf (Oct 22, 2006)

well, I just checked out the 2030P, here in Aus they start at $440. I know I could build something suitable much cheaper. I am off to see Def Lepard tonight, but tommorow I will check out some drivers and start modeling some cabinet designs. Do you know what drivers behringer used in the truthes?


----------



## avaserfi (Jul 5, 2007)

drf said:


> well, I just checked out the 2030P, here in Aus they start at $440. I know I could build something suitable much cheaper. I am off to see Def Lepard tonight, but tommorow I will check out some drivers and start modeling some cabinet designs. Do you know what drivers behringer used in the truthes?


Wow, pricey! Behringer manufactures everything on site so you won't be able to get the drivers, I think. Rather, I would fall back to my second recommendation of the BG tweeter and Dayton midrange.


----------



## Ricci (May 23, 2007)

Too bad those are so expensive in Aus. I have 8 of the fully active Behringer B2031A monitors and I paid less than $330 for each pair. I got 2 of the pairs for less than $280. They really are very good for the price and IMOP make many of the home audio and other studio monitors up to $700-1000USD look very bad. They do have weaknesses of course. 

I believe that the drivers are produced by Vifa and are modified to Behringer's specification.


----------



## WmAx (Jan 26, 2008)

You should check postage from US to Australia using www.usps.com. If the postage is under $100, it seems it would be well worth having a friend in the US mail you a pair of B2030P. BTW, I am the one who has done full analysis of this device and I can answer any questions you may have in regards to it.

-Chris


----------



## Ricci (May 23, 2007)

Do you have a thread log about this somewhere WmAx?


----------



## drf (Oct 22, 2006)

well I've looked, but I can't seem to find anyone who does those drivers in Aus. I have found a dealer for Vifa/Peerless so I might go with them and design around that. There seme to be a few good choices with Vifa for drivers that perform under $50.


----------



## WmAx (Jan 26, 2008)

drf said:


> well I've looked, but I can't seem to find anyone who does those drivers in Aus. I have found a dealer for Vifa/Peerless so I might go with them and design around that. There seme to be a few good choices with Vifa for drivers that perform under $50.


DRF, I checked, and I looks like I can send the drivers and xovers and the waveguide plates(_critical to get the superior off axis response these speakers provide_) to you for about $50 using a USPS Priority International Mail 12" x 12" x 6" box. So, roughly $200 total(_looks like new price of b2030p is now 150/pair; up from 130_) if you are interested. Shipping the cabinets would bring up shipping costs alone to almost 200 dollars. Therefor, it's not feasible to send the cabinets. Actually, a DIYer would be very lucky to build speakers like this for a price like this of raw parts, and due to the unusually superb off axis response, it is still very unlikely the DIYer would match them without quite a bit of trouble(_trial and error trying to match the specific waveguide used on the Behringer_) or by using a more expensive tweeters that had the appropriate raw off axis response(some ribbon tweeters).

Off axis response set(0-09 degrees and CSD):
http://www.linaeum.com/productinfo/other/behringer_2030P/fr_waterfall_detail_offaxis_1M.gif

Note the unusual identical response, through the entire audible spectrum and up to 15kHz. Up to about +/- 60 degrees(120 degree listening window) the response is almost identical. This is extremely rare/good off axis performance.

This is a small box to fit these parts in, but it can be done. In order to ensure safe transportation, I would cut out some plywood parts for the top/bottom of box and fit the drivers into tight fitting foam forms.

All you have to do is build new cabinets. Preferably, you would build superior cabinets to the originals, using for example constrained layers and dense matrix bracing. I'll provide the T/S parameters for the woofers.

If you are interested, I'll take the parts out of my pair of B2030P and 'test' fit them in the flat rate box to make 100 percent sure I can fit them safely.

-Chris


----------



## drf (Oct 22, 2006)

Thanks Chris, I appreciate the effort. I think I found out why the us and Oz prices are so different. All the monitors I found online are active, however the unpowered versions are cheaper. With the exchange rate, $200 Us would cost me $300. I am pretty confident I can get the unpowered versions for around $200 Oz. So I might do some more research and check out a few shops before I make a decision.

Thank you all


----------

