What is the difference between Monitors and HiFI bookshelves?

[tone]

I know this has probably been asked over and over but what on earth is the difference?

HiFi enthusiasts want pure sound the way it was supposed to sound, but isnt that what monitors are also?

there are so many people nowadays that buy active monitors for a great sound for hifi . dont they?

thanks!

 

[Al ears]

As far as I am concerned this confusion has come about due to the widespread missuse of terminology.

Monitors have little to do with 'hifi' and were speakers utilised for near-field listening devices for use in recording studios where accuracy of tone etc where the main items of importance with depth of soundstage etc taking a back seat. Listen to true monitors in a situation where you are well away from the speakers themselves and the effects of the room that they are placed in comes into effect and this would not make them good 'hifi' speakers.

Any titles that indicate positioning of speakers, such as 'bookshelf' should also be banned as they are never / hardly ever actually designed to be used in this position. I realise that some speakers are indeed designed to be used in certain places (in wall, in ceiling, on wall etc) but these are niche markets to say the least.

To me speakers are, generally, one of two types floorstanders or standmounts.

You can get away with using some standmounts in positions they were not designed for but this generally compromises their abilities.

 

[tone]

So why do they also say that these can be used for Hifi?

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13645_3-57586054-47/meet-the-new-champ-of-desktop-speakers-adam-audio-f5/

are they also making them less "monitor" and more all around use?

Also are monitors more harsh and more ear fatiguing than Hifi speakers?

cheers

 

[davedotco]

There is no difference, hi-fi manufacturers use the word monitor as some sort of 'badge' of quality, ie if it is good enough to be used in the studio then it is good enough for hi-fi.

Both domestic and studio speakers can and are built to very different standards and requirements and the differences can be huge. In the pro world the legendary LS3/5A is a true monitor, designed primarily for speach and of a size to fit into outside broadcast vehicles, it is a world away from a pair of recording studio main monitors designed to handle uncompressed feeds from the studio floor.

Full size recording monitors are, unless you are japanese, practically useless in the home. They are designed to produce a wide bandwidth at high sound levels and in normal domestic situations would be far too loud, rattle the furniture and take out the windows (seriously!). In an acoustically treated control room or playback suite they can give a very convincing portrayal of a live musical performance.

The real confusion is the rise of the nearfield monitor of the kind that are found in music shops and sometimes recomended on here. Designed originally for the home or 'project' studio these are usually compact, active designs termed as 'nearfield' monitors only because to be effective as a 'monitor' in largely untreated rooms you need to take the room out of the equation by sitting quite close.

They work perfectly well as hi-fi speakers too, sure, you sit further away and the room has more of an effect but that is the same as for any speaker. The big difference is that such monitors are invariably active and 'sound different' because of that, the power and control that is available, along with other factors, encourage the user to play them much louder than they would normal hi-fi speakers and many hi-fi users hearing this for the first time describe the sound as forward, it isn't, it is just louder than they are used to.

Personally I like the sound of active speakers and, in the main, find them preferable to 'conventional' amp/speaker combinations, particularly at the budget end of the market, say up tp £1500-2000.

 

[sthomas048]

My Neutron 5s are hinted at as being used as monitors in studios by AVI themselves, but in my little room they sound beautiful.

 

[drummerman]

One has covers/grills ... the other is usually pig ugly.

Other than that, made for mixing speakers usually have treble/bass shelfing adjustments and other things useful for the job.

Hifi manufacturer as well as pro equipment ones could probably learn a thing or two from each other as far as aesthetics and versatility are concerned. The two dont have to be mutually exclusive imo.

regards

 

[craig84]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfD7RnC7P6Q

 

[Tarxman]

I know this has probably been asked over and over but what on earth is the difference?

HiFi enthusiasts want pure sound the way it was supposed to sound, but isnt that what monitors are also?

there are so many people nowadays that buy active monitors for a great sound for hifi . dont they?

thanks!

I typically think of the term monitors as active speakers used to connect to a mixing desk in a sound production setup. At the end of the day though, it is all just terminology really.