5.1 Speaker purchase advice

[rabinrocks]

I'm getting ready to set up my project studio for 5.1 mixing and was curious on anyone's experience when it comes to speaker sizing.

I have a small project studio. I'm leaning towards the Krk VXT series and was thinking of the VXT 6's for the Front Left Center Right and VXT 4's for the two rears. Being the VXT 4's are smaller could this pose any sort of problem and would I be better off going with the same size speaker for all five and if so why?

cheers.

[sunburst79]

I know at one time the BlueSky 5.1 system was held in pretty high regard among the post guys and are relatively compact compared to some. I don't run 5.1 and am just throwing that out there.

[Cheesehead]

It sort of depends what you're wanting to mix.

5.1 music? HD TV? Movies?

If you're trying to get something that will translate into movie theatres, that's a whole different kettle of fish and the subject of much discussion.

But there are already lots of threads on this forum that will give you ideas.

Having said that I don't think KRK speakers would be my choice for any of the above. Blue Sky, Genelec, JBL, Dynaudio, PMC are more often used.

[rabinrocks]

My question was more on speaker sizing rather than type, should I have the same size speakers all around (for example all 6") or is it ok to have the rear speakers smaller 4"

[SmartGear]

I would go for 5 identical, especially if you wanna do both films and music.

[Cheesehead]

I would go for 5 identical, especially if you wanna do both films and music.

Agreed.

[reichman]

Don't forget to add the surround monitor controller to your budget. They're expensive, and some of the dedicated surround packages from JBL, Genelec, and Blue Sky address this need in (good) proprietary ways. For what it's worth, my listening experience with the low and midrange KRKs has not been as satisfying as the JBLs.

[Olukunle]

I've been doing some research for a few years on how to get your surround studio up and running for a budget, and for a newbie, I thought it would make sense to do it on a tight budget. The cheapest option would be the Bluesky Mediadesk II which goes for about $1500 and it comes with its own surround monitor controller, but the reviews were all the same, saying they sounded too bright.

I had to improvise and I went for 5 units of the Yamaha HS50M and 1 HS10W subwoofer, with an SPL SMC 2489 Surround Monitor Controller, all this I purchased tax free in the UK £1,272, (about $2,000). I know the Yamaha's and they have always been quite accurate with great reviews across board for budget speakers. The SPL unit is really good, giving you the ability to control your 5.1 and Stereo speakers, with mute, trim and solo capabilities for individual speakers, and it sound superb and well rounded, coming from a Presonus Monitor station. You can also run your DVD player through it if it has discrete 5.1 RCA outputs, this would be excellent for auditioning DVD's for reference purposes.

I use a Saffire Pro40 for my Stereo and Surround outputs from Pro Tools, with Neyrinck Mix 51 to manage routing and mixing to discrete channels within Pro Tools.

I know this is far from ideal, but if you're on a tight budget and you really want to mix in the surround environment, I'm not really sure there's a cheaper option that can get you up and running, for at least DVD/Blu Ray delivery, except for using computer speakers or home entertainment speakers. I've also purchased a DVD with calibration tools and downloaded a load of documents from this forum (thanks to all the contributors) that are really helpful.

I just finished treating my room a few minutes ago and saw this. As a final note, I've been able to get some 5.1 movies and load them into Pro Tools and learn the speakers, again might not be ideal, but a wise man once told me that expensive equipment are good no doubt, but nothing compares to learning and understanding how your equipment translates, no matter how much they cost.

Hope this helps.

[peter5992]

Originally Posted by SmartGear

I would go for 5 identical, especially if you wanna do both films and music.

That is what I was taught by mentor Marco, and that is what I did.