95% of people get THIS wrong about Studio Monitors

What is the real benefit of a 3-way studio monitor?
In this video, I discuss some of the myths and misconceptions about loudspeakers while comparing 2-way and 3-way systems. This is not a sponsored video.

If you are looking to upgrade your studio monitors, there are things you can do to improve your current set-up without having to invest in a larger system right away and these are discussed in the video.

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0:00 - Intro
0:40 - Audio Myths
1:11 - How a 2-way system works (Audio Example)
2:24 - How a 3-way system works (Audio Example)
3:20 - Why this can be better (or worse!)
4:23 - My Mixing Plugin
5:00 - Mix Translation
5:42 - Why not 4,5 or 6 drivers?
6:20 - How to make your speakers sound better
7:30 - Summary

My Plugin (Reviver) Free Trial:

Music: La La Land by Kennedy Wilde

[stefanstroe]

The way you just said that audiophiles don't know a thing about audio at the beginning was amazing. LOL.

[the_oc_brewpub_sound_guy]

This just made me realize why many seasoned mix engineers mix at a low volume, but occasionally crank up the volume to see how it "Feels".
What they're really doing is checking how the midrange sounds when the woofer is displaced; which is a valid thing to do since most people like listening to their favorite music loud.

[richardbixler]

Demonstrating the frequency ranges was really enlightening! Honestly, I’ve never heard any of those ranges isolated like that. The midrange really does a lot more of the heavy lifting than I realized.

[GabrielPassarelliG]

Before upgrading your monitors, always make sure to have at least a basic acoustic treatment setup in place, with all First Reflection points covered and some bass trapping. After you room is sounding good, you can then invest more in speakers. A better sounding room will make your current monitors to sound better as well.

[michaeltablet]

Please make the video about 2 subwoofers. Very interested!

[sunnyboner]

Alan Parsons, a recording engineer who produced albums such as Dark Side of the Moon, once said “Audiophiles don't use their equipment to listen to your music. Audiophiles use your music to listen to their equipment.” So true…

[rhalfik]

The main drawback of two way systems is intermodulation, which is higher on wideband drivers. Using a dedicated midrange in a critical range between 1k and 4k reduces intermodulation where it matters and that's why this config works. Without the split between bass and midrange, the distortion of the midrange rises every time the speaker is reproducing bass at the same time. The displacement of voice coil from the magnetic center is very bad for linearity of higher frequencies. There are other things too but this is one that gets overlooked.

[dwindeyer]

3 way is a fortuitous optimisation that moves the crossover out of the pinna activation region. Going to 4+ way re-introduces the issue again, with the exception of dealing with large monitors that have both a midwoofer and subwoofer for LF reinforcement

[R.W.FilmSound]

I recently got the avantone mix cubes to isolate the mid range and i have to say i am astonished by how easy they make the process of finding out the weak spots in a mix. I really love those speakers and can safely recommend them to anyone who wants to clean up their mixes. However, i found myself overdoing the mid cleanup as consequence of my new setup, making my mix feel too clinical in the end. I am now trying to focus more on reference songs combined with reference speakers and i‘m convinced this will lead to a nice balance between a clean and a natural result.

I find it funny how fixing one problem immediately leads to the next one. Guess that‘s a neverending process and part of being a human.

[DJPastaYaY]

Thanks for keeping us informed Michael. Appreciate the video!

[namelessdisciple]

I got dynaudio Lyd 48s a couple years ago and found that I really don't need to do car tests anymore at all, where I did with my old 2 ways (Yamaha MSP7S). This did a great job of explaining why.

[kadiummusic]

I have a pair of Kali three-way IN-5's strapped to a Kali WS-6.2 sub woofer, effectively a four-way system. It sounds great and gives me very precise monitoring set-up for my small garden mixing studio. The beauty of the WS-6.2 subwoofer is that it's actually two speakers in one cabinet, so effectively a stereo two-way sub in one box. Amazing! 😎

[FoxGhost]

What a 3 way also does is massively reduce intermodulation distortion in the mids. Especially since the non-linear distrotions get a lot worse the more the speaker has to move, getting that away from the mids just helps so much. That goes doubly for passive speakers where the crossover puts a huge dent into the damping factor.

[kumquat]

I just got the VSX headphones and am SO excited for them. Thanks for this video!!!

[andreymosin]

It's not just that. Big drivers have narrow directivity and in order to keep sweet spot wide, midrange driver is necessary. The bigger the cone, the lower off axis response starts to go down. But in terms of the topic of the video: Very well 2 way monitor with really good quality drivers and REALLY GOOD crossover job can be as revealing as a decent 3 way system. I've spent last 2 years designing such monitor system for myself

[NiamorH]

I remember reading that the more holes in the speaker, the more source points for audio waves and thus the more waves interferences. So I always thought a 2-way speaker was in fact by default less worse than a 3-way speaker. The fact that engineers can design around that is amazing to me.

[Litz_]

Great information. Congratulations on the 1 mil subscribers!!! Love this channel

[ReferenceFidelityComponents]

Lots of good points but also a few too many generalisations. I’ve designed a few two way designs specifically for mixing and mastering duties and they have been accurate and just as insightful as any three way. I picked high efficiency low distortion designs using steep crossovers and coaxial drivers to ensure both time and phase alignment. Even vintage hpd315’s can be superbly revealing if used with a decent crossover and cabinet design. Crossed over at a khz means most of the sensitive 700hz to 5khz is handled by the horn loaded hf unit but the real issue with crossover designs is NOT that they somehow leave a gap or screw up detail at crossover.

The issue is this: many audiophiles do understand the importance of time and phase alignment but fail to comprehend polar response as do many studio mixing engineers I’ve worked with.

It’s not enough to get alignment right if you screw up polar response as this affects both directivity and stability of image and even phase response. This is where a 3 way can avoid the issue at the critical mid point BUT a well designed 2 way can do as good a job IF polar directivity is matched for the crossover point AND phase/time alignment is good plus sensitivities are matched.

Whilst its true subs hugely improve system efficiency and can reduce distortion of two and 3 way systems, there’s no reason why with proper driver selection and cab design you cannot match or better a satellite system with sub. Subs have their own issues with room and driver integration.

A good full range three way, using a good room correction like a Trinov system is the ideal but I wouldn’t rule out a two way either. There are compromises with all speaker systems which is why it is wrong really to generalise.

[jojay.blessthismess]

Not me happy to see Michael post a video😭... Thank you for the insight

[shorerocks]

Back in the 2000's I got my Genelecs 1030A, added a sub, and this is a killer neutral mixing and mastering setup. Plus room treatment, obviously.