My DAW Expands (Part 23; I've lost count)

Editor's note: This has been a week of depressing blog entries. I thought I would lighten the mood a little with this post.

I have had the itch to spend some money in the last couple weeks, as the Savoys are on a 6-month hiatus, and I was hoping to put those earnings into good use, before I allocated those funds to paying bills.

On Thursday morning, Purolator arrived at my office, delivering a package to yours truly. The contents within were a pair of nearfield studio monitors. As you can see from the photo, what I purchased were Behringer Truth B2031A's.
Before I get into some gory details, I would like to explain, for the uninitiated, what monitors are, and why they are desirable. You see, studio monitors are constructed in such a way that they realistically reproduce the most accurate sound possible. Believe it or not, but those home theater speakers that you blew a few paychecks on are built to sound "bigger" than they actually are. It's no secret, but subwoofers are now included in a lot of home theater packages to cover up the corners they cut in designing your main listening speakers.

The most neutral speakers are those designed to reproduce the same volume at all frequencies. Audiophiles will call this a "flat speaker" -- and what makes this so desirable in recording studios is that it will mean that the mix produced on these types of monitors will likely sound good on almost any system.

Many listeners do not like the sound of studio monitors the first time they hear them. That's because they have been conditioned to hearing "bombastic" sounds, with a lot of bass; they aren't used to listening to speakers that will reproduce all frequencies at [nearly] the same volume.

I humbly admit that I am an audiophile, and I wish to have the best sound I can afford if I am listening to music, or producing music on my own. For many years, I have been researching studio monitors, waiting for a time when I could afford a good pair that was within my budget. These are key words here.

Studio monitors come at all price points. You can get a cheap pair for about $300, though many models cost ten times as much. Price was an important factor, as I wanted to get the best bang for my buck. I found it very hard to justify spending nearly $2000 on a pair of Mackie HR-824's. Conversely, I didn't want to buy a pair of speaks that I would be unhappy with.

After much deliberation, I decided the model that I would be most happy with, both acoustically and economically were the Behringer Truths'. These speakers promised to deliver 95% the sound quality of the Mackies, but at 25% the cost. I was sold on the Behringers as soon as I read the specs and features.

The Behringers came loaded with a 450-watt system -- 150 watts dedicated to each woofer, and 75 watts to each tweeter. A large number of switches on the back would allow the studio engineer to tailor the sound of the speakers to the room acoustics. Automatic power-saving features, and built-in limiters to control signal spikes were also very desirable features. Finally, the speakers displayed a surprisingly flat frequency curve, as demonstrated on the final photograph.

As I gleefully unpacked my new purchase after work on Thursday I quickly noticed that these speakers are deceptively heavy. The speakers are only about 18" high, 12" wide, and 12" deep, but they weigh in at 33 pounds each. The weight is largely due to the large magnets used to amplify the signal and drive the speakers. Given my small frame, you bet I was relieved when the speakers were delivered in two boxes.

I soon had the speakers mounted on my desk, connected them to the audio interface on my computer, and plugged in Matt Good's Avalanche to test them.

Within 2 seconds I was blown away with the detail, large soundstage, and clarity the speakers produced. I heard details in music that I had never heard before. I could hear minute breaths in a singer's performance; I could hear their lips pursing and smacking as they prepared to deliver their next line. I could swear I was hearing music in three dimensions (which isn't possible in a stereo system). I barely opened up the speakers, running them at about 40% of full power, and it was so loud that it hurt my ears. The Truths produce crisp, detailed highs, with a lot of midrange, and ample bass. In fact, many listeners would think that so much bass could come out of a pair of 9" woofers. There's a lot of bass -- but not the boomy kind that you hear in car stereos. This is a very tight, controlled bass.

So how did they sound? In one sentence, they blew my Bose 201's out of the water.Within a few hours, MA came over to jam, and drink a few beverages. He was excited to hear my new speakers. I had him sit in the sweet spot, popped in a CD, and turned the Behringer's up to a comfortably loud listening level.

MA is an audiophile, so he would be a tough person to win over -- especially such a product that is not considered to be "top of the line". His reaction should have been captured on video. Within 2 seconds, MA nearly fell off his chair, shaking his head in disbelief. I swear I saw a tear drop. To say he was totally blown away would be an understatement. We spent the remainder of the evening drinking beers, relishing in musical bliss. After some four hours of listening to music at a decibel level that should have damaged our ears, we were surprised that once the music had been turned off, that our ears weren't ringing. The Behringer Truths delivered such accurate sound, that it wasn't harsh -- and harsh tweeters are usually the culprit in giving any listener hearing damage.

Conversely, I will profess that these are not the best speakers I have heard in my life. But for the buck, I can say that there are few products that could compete with the Truths. They give speakers at much higher price points a run for their money -- they really are that good. There are limitations though. The highs begin to get harsh at high volumes. The bass frequency only goes down to 50Hz. If you like listening to rumble, or are into producing Hip Hop, Electronica, or any other styles of music with a lot of bass, you might want to invest in a subwoofer, like the Behringer B2092A, which will produce frequencies down to 30Hz -- which is below the threshold of human hearing. Beware the sub though: When you introduce a third speaker into your listening system you have to worry about phase cancellation, and much greater care must be taken to accurately tune your speaker system.

Forgive the pun, but the truth is that I don't want to listen to music on any other system; only the one that sits in front of my computer.