Home studio

[rickjt62]

I need some advice on what amplifier and speakers to buy (on a limited budget) for use at home for recording and general amplification

I use a Yamaha S90 and have been using a Peavey KBA100 for many years - for me, this does not give the clarity needed

I play mainly acoustic piano and Rhodes sounds so need something with dynamics to enhance these sounds

Any ideas?

Budget up to UK£ 1,000

 

[RotorOnTop]

general amplification? would this be like a stereo system?
I'd suggest checking out a pair of active reference monitors for home recording applications...usually reference monitors don't work well for general listening purposes. KRK, M-Audio, Event, Tannoy all make good monitors with-in your budget.

 

[keyplayer]

IMHO...amplification does not increase dynamics....raising the decibal level of a sound wont make its dynamics improve....I run 4 digital sound sources in my studio and none of them are amplified....the overall level within the modules and keyboards with the pre amps in my recorder is more than enough....even when i do a vocal with a condenser mike, i just run it thru a mixing board with good pre amps and have plenty of signal......to increase clarity, equalization and compression is more important than amplification.....when using digital instruments.....accoustic instruments are a total different animal, but if you have a Yamaha S90, you really shouldnt need any more amplification than you already have....rotorontop also said it spot on about the monitors

Keyplayer

 

[elwoodblues1969]

Hello Rick,

As a proud & extremely happy owner of a pair of Adam A7 studio monitors,as well as an owner of a few other pairs of monitors throughout my home,I strongly recommend these honey's,as I ardently feel,that these particular powered speakers are the most accurate,durable and the most stunning monitors clarity-wise & volume-wise on the market today...here's why;

Adam is a very high end,professional German company that makes some of the most accurate monitors on the market and they specialize in delivering a enormous punch in a compact size.

With the exception of the A7 model,everything that Adam manufactures is incredibly expensive,as they use the best possible materials,coupled with patented designs that are exclusive,only to the Adam company and they are designed and manufactured in Germany.

The A7 monitors are designed in Germany,but manufactured outside of Germany,which makes them less than half the price of everything else they make.

I too,was looking for adequate amplification,as well as some broad dynamic range-that simply cannot be attained with keyboard amps-regardless of how much money you spend.

Keyboard amps are mainly designed to project over a large area with high volumes and to withstand the abuse of these high volumes over a prolonged period of time(which is why you will always find horn tweeters in a live amp,because they deliver high volumes and durablity,but less clarity).

I own the Korg Triton Extreme 88 keyboard,so having a monitor set up in my studio that would do the piano sounds as well as other sounds justice,a stout,accurate pair of speakers was paramount to me.

The Adam A7's are the absolute best recommendation I can think of and in all my research of studio monitors over the years,there has never been a pair of monitors that offered so much for so little,so that being said,they are very worthwhile for you to look into and consider.

They are $1,000 a pair(USD)-which translates to $599(EURO)

Here's a link to SoundOnSound's review of these monitors:

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/nov06/articles/adam.htm

Cheers,

Thom