Karaoke Forums

Hi,

 In my other thread, a mod mentioned that the studio monitor would also work for karaoke systems.  Since I am pretty much an audio technology beginner, I would like to find out more about these two things.  Could someone please explain the difference between the studio monitor and PA systems?  If both give pretty equal vocal quality for karaoke, then is the only difference separating them the fact that the PA system can be turned up louder?

Could I also use a PA speaker, such as the Mackie SRM450s for home theatre?

Explain what you actually want to do.

I tried to explain in the other thread.  The studio monitors are typically used for nearfield (close range) volume levels where you are sitting maybe 3-4 feet maximum away from the speakers.  They aren't designed to be used for PA use for any kind of major volume.  They are good clean speakers soundwise, but their purpose is for recording studios at lower volumes.
Something like the SRM450 is designed to be played at louder volumes in larger areas, I haven't heard of one being used in a home theater situation as of yet (not to say they haven't, just have never heard of anyone doing so).  So I couldn't really comment on how they would work in that situation.  They are also a very good speaker, I have seen them in use in studios as well as they are generally as clean as a small scale studio monitor, but they can be turned up MUCH louder & you do not have to sitting right in front of them to get their full benefit soundwise.

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Whats the difference?   I studio monitor, also known as a reference monitor,  in theory is designed so as to not color the sound in any way, for lack of a better term I'll call it acoustically flat. Which simply means it's not adding or subtracting anything from the program material. That is also the reason for using a "near field monitor", so what you hear isn't being altered by the room acoustics. In reality an acceptable reference monitor at best doesn't exaggerate any frequencies. This brings us to "Tweaks Law" , which says, Whatever your monitors are good at is exactly what your mix will be bad at. Would I use them for Karaoke? Hex no, they probably wouldn't even sound good without a good amount of EQ, and then what would be the point of buying a monitor in the first place.

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