• WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

Bookshelf speakers vs studio monitors for just entertainment?

Thunder

Member
Joined
Mar 24, 2020
Messages
84
Likes
18
I'll be using them with my PC to listen to music, watch movies, play games always at nearfield position and I'd like a very good sound quality, I won't be doing any music production, mixing, recording... I have no specific budget. I'm giving 2 examples.

Speakers: ELAC Debut 2.0 B5.2


Studio monitors: KRK Rokit RP5 G4 + Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 3rd Gen

 
Last edited:

mmi

Active Member
Joined
Jan 15, 2021
Messages
161
Likes
180
Go with smaller studio monitors, they are designed ground up for the desktop usecase.

If you want the best sound quality Neumann KH80 DSP. It doesn’t have much bass but if you have the budget you can add a KH750 sub later on for basically TOTL full range sound.

The smaller Genelec’s in the 80X0 range sound a bit fuller in the bass IME, I have the 8010s and have no desire for a sub since I only listen at low volumes. If anything they are bass heavy for me and I roll them off with the switches on the back.
 

mmi

Active Member
Joined
Jan 15, 2021
Messages
161
Likes
180
Go with smaller studio monitors, they are designed ground up for the desktop usecase.

If you want the best sound quality Neumann KH80 DSP. It doesn’t have much bass but if you have the budget you can add a KH750 sub later on for basically TOTL full range sound.

The smaller Genelec’s in the 80X0 range sound a bit fuller in the bass IME, I have the 8010s and have no desire for a sub since I only listen at low volumes. If anything they are bass heavy for me and I roll them off with the switches on the back.
See very good breakdown of monitors by price here. Also links to a list of passives so you can compare.

https://audiosciencereview.com/foru...-recommendations-for-usa-by-sweetchaos.28269/
 
OP
Thunder

Thunder

Member
Joined
Mar 24, 2020
Messages
84
Likes
18
Go with smaller studio monitors, they are designed ground up for the desktop usecase.

If you want the best sound quality Neumann KH80 DSP. It doesn’t have much bass but if you have the budget you can add a KH750 sub later on for basically TOTL full range sound.

The smaller Genelec’s in the 80X0 range sound a bit fuller in the bass IME, I have the 8010s and have no desire for a sub since I only listen at low volumes. If anything they are bass heavy for me and I roll them off with the switches on the back.
Is there anything I'll be missing if I get studio monitors instead of good bookshelf speakers for my needs?
 

Blumlein 88

Grand Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Feb 23, 2016
Messages
20,521
Likes
37,050
Is there anything I'll be missing if I get studio monitors instead of good bookshelf speakers for my needs?
Hiss can sometimes be a problem with powered monitors. Otherwise yes, you'll be missing the need to somewhere stash external power amps between your source and your bookshelf speakers. For your use case powered monitors are definitely the way to go for most bang for buck quality.
 

mmi

Active Member
Joined
Jan 15, 2021
Messages
161
Likes
180
Is there anything I'll be missing if I get studio monitors instead of good bookshelf speakers for my needs?
Aside from the other posts, the Neumann KH 80 I mentioned have onboard dsp which introduces a tiny amount of latency: 2ms. Most of the active monitors in the list linked above don’t do this however.

Best thing to do is go listen to some, you’ll find passives in hifi stores and monitors in music gear shops.

The only other thing to look out for is coaxial speakers like those from Kef (passive), Genelec (active), and others. These are especially good for nearfield due to their point source sound, but that is a something you may or may not even notice.
 
OP
Thunder

Thunder

Member
Joined
Mar 24, 2020
Messages
84
Likes
18
Thank you for your answers friends. I asked because I read in some places that bookshelf speakers provide, compared to studio monitors of a better listening experience because they are made for that purpose, as opposed to studio monitors which are designed for music production and flat response, but I'm more inclined to get studio monitors as I want a pure, clean experience. Am I right?
 

mmi

Active Member
Joined
Jan 15, 2021
Messages
161
Likes
180
Thank you for your answers friends. I asked because I read in some places that bookshelf speakers provide, compared to studio monitors of a better listening experience because they are made for that purpose, as opposed to studio monitors which are designed for music production and flat response, but I'm more inclined to get studio monitors as I want a pure, clean experience. Am I right?
Yes indeed! IME a properly neutral sound (can be achieved with passive and actives btw) doesn’t mean dark, clinical or harsh - it means rich, balanced and clear.

Another benefit with actives, most have dipswitches built in to attenuate the bass. This is because in a desktop setting the reflections off the table can make the sound too boomy and bass heavy.
 

HarmonicTHD

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Mar 18, 2022
Messages
3,326
Likes
4,829
Aside from the other posts, the Neumann KH 80 I mentioned have onboard dsp which introduces a tiny amount of latency: 2ms. Most of the active monitors in the list linked above don’t do this however.

Best thing to do is go listen to some, you’ll find passives in hifi stores and monitors in music gear shops.

The only other thing to look out for is coaxial speakers like those from Kef (passive), Genelec (active), and others. These are especially good for nearfield due to their point source sound, but that is a something you may or may not even notice.
Hi.

Hiss. The KH80 don’t hiss audibly, when idle and sitting about 50cm away on your desk that’s why I bought them for my office ;-) (others like the very small Genelecs do, others might as well)

Latency. Unless you play first person shooters the 2 ms are negligible. The audio interface 2i2 as well as any other audio interfaces will add in the order of 10 to 30ms depending on buffer size, sampling rate and CPU power. And that is still good to play and record live instruments (even if you don’t want that).

After all the 2ms latency comes from the KH80 built in DSP, which will allow you to adjust the speaker to your room and which will have to most positive influence on sound quality next to the speakers itself.

If your budget allows, the KH80 is excellent. See also the reviews here (make sure you get the 3rd edition of the review).
 

mmi

Active Member
Joined
Jan 15, 2021
Messages
161
Likes
180
Hiss. The KH80 don’t hiss audibly, when idle and sitting about 50cm away on your desk that’s why I bought them ;-) (others like the very small Genelecs do, others might as well)
I know there have been other reports but my 8010s don’t have audible hiss unless I hold my ear directly up to the drivers. Just for others reading :)

Man those KH 80s tho, if I’d known they came in white and was spending a bit more at the time I would have got them for sure. Auditioned them again just this past weekend, the music store also had D8D 8c Studios set up nearfield lol. The D&Ds were obviously amazing (putting my head behind them was surreal), but the clarity and imaging from the 80s was phenomenal. I put on Caverna Magica by Andreas Vollenweider and blissed out.
 

More Dynamics Please

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Joined
Nov 18, 2020
Messages
562
Likes
752
Location
USA
James Larson's audioholics.com review of the Kali LP-8 is worth reading as it addresses the general subject of how active studio monitors can outperform similarly priced home audio speakers for home audio and home theater:

 

NiagaraPete

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Jun 23, 2021
Messages
2,185
Likes
1,953
Location
Canada
James Larson's audioholics.com review of the Kali LP-8 is worth reading as it addresses the general subject of how active studio monitors can outperform similarly priced home audio speakers for home audio and home theater:

Sadly though the LP8 has a a lot of hiss. The v2 apparently has corrected this.
 

BALKAN_RAKIA

Member
Joined
Aug 8, 2022
Messages
41
Likes
155
for several years I had JBL 305 as my PC/gaming speakers and they were excellent, levels above anything logitech. But I had to use passive DI box to filter out noise from the GPU.
 

Digby

Major Contributor
Joined
Mar 12, 2021
Messages
1,632
Likes
1,555
How much do you like bass? Sans subwoofer, with smaller speakers (4", 5", even 6" bass driver) a lack of very low frequencies might be apparent (you might be missing notes in your basslines).
 
OP
Thunder

Thunder

Member
Joined
Mar 24, 2020
Messages
84
Likes
18
How much do you like bass? Sans subwoofer, with smaller speakers (4", 5", even 6" bass driver) a lack of very low frequencies might be apparent (you might be missing notes in your basslines).
I like bass but I'm not a basshead, it's ok.
 

polmuaddib

Senior Member
Forum Donor
Joined
Mar 1, 2020
Messages
479
Likes
852
I like bass but I'm not a basshead, it's ok.
Many people, myself included, found that when you add more low end extension, either by adding sub/s or a speaker with deeper bass, that bass affects our perception of the whole frequency range.
Or simply, having more bass (deeper bass, not a bump in a midbass) makes everything sound better.
 

Vacceo

Major Contributor
Joined
Mar 9, 2022
Messages
2,632
Likes
2,751
Many people, myself included, found that when you add more low end extension, either by adding sub/s or a speaker with deeper bass, that bass affects our perception of the whole frequency range.
Or simply, having more bass (deeper bass, not a bump in a midbass) makes everything sound better.
Yes, absolutely. The largest change I realized was going from listening to TV sound on the TV itself to use a set of LS50 Wireless II and a KC62 (not even a big subwoofer). The room is not too large and it drastically changes everything. The sound from series is a looooot more cohesive.
 

Recluse-Animator

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 27, 2022
Messages
331
Likes
316
For nearfield listening coaxial speakers should always be on top of the list.

Probably the cheapest one you want to consider is the Fluid Audio FX50.
157€ at Thomann.

https://www.thomann.de/intl/fluid_audio_fx50.htm

ASR review:
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...fluid-audio-fx50-review-active-speaker.19881/

If you go passive then get KEF.

Other budget coax monitors;

Fluid Audio HX80
Fluid Audio FX7
Kali Audio IN-5
Kali Audio IN-8
Presonus Sceptre S6
Presonus Sceptre S8
DMAX Audio Super Cube 5
APS Coax
KS Digital C5
KS Digital C8
 
Last edited:

Koeitje

Major Contributor
Joined
Oct 10, 2019
Messages
2,292
Likes
3,880
If you are using them on a PC just get the ADAM T5V and equalize the treble with a single shelf filter.
 
Top Bottom