Ok so an interesting one this. First of all I think we must put aesthetics aside as it's quite clear that in general traditional Hi fi speakers are on the whole meant to be visualy appealing, fit in with decor e.t.c...... So it's a straight shoot out pound for pound.
Let's compare a traditional mid budget system for cost.
Marantz 6003 amp £250, Marantz 6003 CDP £250, B and W 685 £365, Speaker Cable £20, Interconnect £20. Total £905
against
Behringer B2031A Truth Active Monitors £255, Marantz 6003 CDP £250, Studio Pro Phono lead £20 Total £525
a saving of £370.
That seems to be quite a big gap cost wise,
Now studio monitors are designed to produce a balanced flat sound with no colouration, where possible, which makes sence so we can listen to music as it was intended to sound. From personal experence I find this far more appealing.
Traditional Hi Fi speakers(mainly in the budget end) usually have some kind of colouration in a particular part of their frequency range. Which I guess is ok when listerning to pop, rock, funk and the like, however, for electronic and classical is that really ideal? Do traditional maufacturers tune their speakers to sound appealing to the ear? If so I find this appeal soon goes! Some people are of course content with this !
, I would like my music system to produce the music faithfully, which the active monitors get close to and the previous Hi Fi I've owned hasn't. So it appears in my biased non scientific comparison studio monitors win for sound quality and value for money but not for looks! .............but then again I would say that woudn't I. []
May be a good comparison for a future feature in the Mag........? hint hint
Let's compare a traditional mid budget system for cost.
Marantz 6003 amp £250, Marantz 6003 CDP £250, B and W 685 £365, Speaker Cable £20, Interconnect £20. Total £905
against
Behringer B2031A Truth Active Monitors £255, Marantz 6003 CDP £250, Studio Pro Phono lead £20 Total £525
a saving of £370.
That seems to be quite a big gap cost wise,
Now studio monitors are designed to produce a balanced flat sound with no colouration, where possible, which makes sence so we can listen to music as it was intended to sound. From personal experence I find this far more appealing.
Traditional Hi Fi speakers(mainly in the budget end) usually have some kind of colouration in a particular part of their frequency range. Which I guess is ok when listerning to pop, rock, funk and the like, however, for electronic and classical is that really ideal? Do traditional maufacturers tune their speakers to sound appealing to the ear? If so I find this appeal soon goes! Some people are of course content with this !
, I would like my music system to produce the music faithfully, which the active monitors get close to and the previous Hi Fi I've owned hasn't. So it appears in my biased non scientific comparison studio monitors win for sound quality and value for money but not for looks! .............but then again I would say that woudn't I. []
May be a good comparison for a future feature in the Mag........? hint hint