Keep BM5As and get sub or...

[tripey]

I want to upgrade. I know getting something new won't solve my issues. I have a treated room. Ive ran REW and have placed my sound panels and traps to the best of my abilities.
My mixes are always a little dark and thick sounding. I want my mixes to be leaner and have some air. I've only for really mixed 10 songs and they have progressively gotten better but now I want to get those final touches.
Ive had my BM5As (original) for 15 some years.
I've never really wanted to upgrade as I wanted to learn them and use the money for room treatment.
The thing is, I've never been really happy with the dynaudios but I also understand I have to learn them and treat my room AND it's good that they don't sound "good". But it's been 15 some years, which to be fair to myself, it wasn't until about 4 years ago that I have actually been deep diving into mixing.

So now! I'm thinking I might want a sub, namely the KH750 for its dsp, to fill out the low end in my room so my BM5As can do better things in it's midrange and high frequencies.

My room is in a finished basement. 6.6ft ceilings. 12.4ft wide and 41ft long.
I have 7" bass traps dividing the room.
So my studio space is about 12.4 ft wide and 13 ft long.

My listening position is about 3.3ft away from the monitors.

I know the KH750 is not guaranteed to work well with my Dynaudios but Ive asked around and read some threads and people generally have good results with non Neumann satellites.

I can't make up mind about my upgrade path. Would it make sense to get KH750? I have no idea when I'll be able to get the 120ii or 80 dsp.

Or should I just forgo the sub and get the 120ii?

 

[DVDdoug]

How does it all measure?

You didn't say if you're using EQ.

My mixes are always a little dark and thick sounding. I want my mixes to be leaner and have some air.

Do they sound "dark" in your studio, or elsewhere? You should be able to adjust the EQ in your mix to whatever you want... If they sound good in your studio but dark elsewhere you've probably EQ'd your speakers/room "too flat". Some downward-is more normal (tilting downward toward the high frequencies) when flat on-axis speakers are placed in a room (including a studio). My quick search didn't find a good reference but someone else can chime-in...

Also, you should be using some reference recordings, mostly to "keep your ears calibrated".

A subwoofer is probably worthwhile. It's hard to get "realistic bass" with small woofers. Or headphones can sometimes be used to check the deep bass, and that avoids room problems. Again you need reference recordings and it's not exactly "realistic" since you're not feeling it in your body.

 

[tripey]

Hey! Thanks for the response!

My mixes sound dark elsewhere. Dark isn't really the right word. Theres just no air to them.
My monitors aren't eqd. I have Dirac Live (for studio, the one with the plugin - it's like sonarworks) and I recently stopped using it because I want to tune my ear to my room.
I use reference songs all the time. I actually use reference songs to practice learning my room. Since I'm familiar with them and they're produced and mixed really well.
I'll listen to a reference song in my DAW. I would have an EQ on the song and close my eyes and boost / cut certain frequencies, say 250, and hear how my room would react.
What I am trying to achieve now is mix with more certainty and not do 50 + revisions every time I listen to my mix elsewhere.
Im not looking for the sub to add bass but to reveal the mids and highs.
Per REW, I have a crazy dip around 70 us and another one around 100. I don't remember exactly I have to look at the graph again.
I think what is happening is that high frequencies are more prevalent in my room because of the deficit in my low mids.

 

[tripey]

How does it all measure?

Oops I didn't answer this. I'll have to dig up my rew graphs and upload them. I remember there's a big dip around 70 hz.

 

[Ben Jenssen]

You might consider some bigger, passive Dynaudios and an amp. I still have my BM6'es, and they perform as well as they did 25+ years ago. My mixes always translated well with them. They're certainly less bright and brittle than the BM5a's. I'm guessing that the brightness of the BM5a is what makes your mixes 'dark and thick'. I never liked them.

 

[tripey]

If anyone wants to check out my last mix...

 

[tripey]

I'm guessing that the brightness of the BM5a is what makes your mixes 'dark and thick'. I never liked them.

Maybe.. but I don't tend to cut high frequencies much when I mix. I also don't boost them either because everything sounds bright enough in my room. Hmmm...

 

[tripey]

You might consider some bigger, passive Dynaudios and an amp. I still have my BM6'es, and they perform as well as they did 25+ years ago. My mixes always translated well with them.

I'll check out some passives but I think if I was to get another set of monitors, I might not do Dynaudios again.

 

[tripey]

So...
I think I might be going about this all wrong. I was listening to Starship Trooper by Yes tonight and realized I need to learn how to build the sound stage of a song. Rather than looking at it as an eq balancing game, I need to place things in their own place and create space. I know this is kind of like a "duh" type of statement but this way of thinking will help me to decide how to move forward. So let's say I get the KH120 ii. Instead of listening to it for its frequency spectrum, I'll judge it by how it images and places things in a mix in my room.

 

[tripey]

I realize this thread is dead but I finally found the rew measurement of my room untreated. I have a pair of KH120ii right now and I really like these compared to the Dynaudio. The Dynaudio BM5a actually sounds scooped in the mids. I had to turn down the HF and LF dip switches in the back after listening to the KH120ii. Attached is the MA1 calibration. I'm still not sure if I am going to get a sub or keep the KH120ii but I am definitely moving things around in my room after running the rew simulator. Attached are the room simulator images of what the new setup would look like.

 

[tripey]

Sorry, this is without the sub