HEDD 20 Mk2 - Are they worth the money ?

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Re: HEDD 20 Mk2 - Are they worth the money ?

Post by Hugh Robjohns »

If you're in a non-treated room there really is no point at all in blowing £3k on speakers. You will never get to appreciate what the speaker is capable of and what you're paying for.

I've just reviewed the updated Focal Alpha Evo65s. Compact active two-ways. Bass extension down to an impressive 40Hz, but still tight and well-controlled without smearing. Great imaging, and a neutral, transparent sound, and all for the bargain price of under £600 a pair.

I was genuinely impressed with what they can do, and especially so for the money. They'd be a huge step up from your Absolute poos, but they won't break the bank and you're not throwing pots of money into something that you won't be able to benefit from by not having a good acoustic space.
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Re: HEDD 20 Mk2 - Are they worth the money ?

Post by RichardT »

Marbury wrote:Perhaps because a lot of my monitoring is up close and usually evening, perhaps a good, accurate nearfield (not 3 way) with a good bass extension may be the way to go. It would also mean me not having to treat the room which would be an added pain.

You would still benefit massively from room treatment, even with nearfields and low volumes. In fact, if you need to monitor at low volumes, the extra clarity and impact makes it a much more workable experience. If you have 3k to spend I would spend about 2k on monitors and the rest on room treatment (less if you make the treatment yourself).

Or you could get 3k monitors and add the room treatment over time.

It really does give you the best bang for the buck of anything you can do in your studio!
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Re: HEDD 20 Mk2 - Are they worth the money ?

Post by Luke W »

Marbury wrote:I have heard that the initial first response to hearing the 310s is disappointingly bland and flat, but their sound apparently grows on the ears.

It's already been said in one way or another, but one person's bland and flat is another person's accurate and revealing ;)

I still don't regret a penny of my 310s, they're incredible bits of kit and once something sounds good on them, it really does translate well to anywhere else I've tried so far. Bad mixes stand out a mile as well, which is exactly what you need from a monitoring system.

Marbury wrote:It would also mean me not having to treat the room which would be an added pain.

As others have said, even just the basics are worth doing regardless of what speakers you go for. When I put my current space together I was mainly working on headphones with no real plan to invest in decent monitors as the space is pretty small. I had an old pair of passive Tannoy Reveals that I put on some nice heavy stands and when I had some time spare I decided to build some treatment. The difference was amazing, even with my battered old Tannoys it was like night and day. I've since upgraded to the Neumanns, and as impressive as they are, I still think the difference the treatment itself made with much lesser monitors was just as significant.

The room treatment advice gets given over and over again on here, but it really is for good reason. :thumbup:
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Re: HEDD 20 Mk2 - Are they worth the money ?

Post by Drew Stephenson »

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Re: HEDD 20 Mk2 - Are they worth the money ?

Post by Hugh Robjohns »

:bouncy:
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Re: HEDD 20 Mk2 - Are they worth the money ?

Post by Marbury »

Its a small room with carpet and lots of clutter so it will hardly need any treatment if any to be honest.
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Re: HEDD 20 Mk2 - Are they worth the money ?

Post by Drew Stephenson »

It's possible that what might really do the trick is a very nice set of headphones?
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Re: HEDD 20 Mk2 - Are they worth the money ?

Post by Marbury »

I do have a very good, accurate set of Shure SRH840 headphones that I tend to use to mix permanently.
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Re: HEDD 20 Mk2 - Are they worth the money ?

Post by RichardT »

Marbury wrote:Its a small room with carpet and lots of clutter so it will hardly need any treatment if any to be honest.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings, but I’m afraid that’s not right. Carpet will cut down some of the high frequencies, but it won’t do anything for mid and bass frequencies, and it can lead to a dull but boomy sound. Clutter won’t help there either. Small rooms can have really bad problems with both room modes and reflected sound, as I know from my own experience. Lots of treatment may be required to get a decent sound - broadband trapping, and absorption at mirror-points.

Seriously, do not get expensive monitors and leave your room untreated!
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Re: HEDD 20 Mk2 - Are they worth the money ?

Post by Marbury »

Well perhaps headphones for monitoring is the way forward, for now at least.
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Re: HEDD 20 Mk2 - Are they worth the money ?

Post by RichardT »

Marbury wrote:Well perhaps headphones for monitoring is the way forward, for now at least.

That sounds like a good idea. You can use your existing Spirit monitors, even if they’re not very good and the room is untreated, to give you some information on whether things are panned sensibly - that’s not always clear on phones (at least to me).
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Re: HEDD 20 Mk2 - Are they worth the money ?

Post by Marbury »

I am in the process of re-jigging the room, de-cluttering as its not right for me as a working environment. Its hard to explain but it needs to be a place I want to spend time in, and for some reason it affects my creative mood. Sounds pretentious, which it isn’t, but I hope you know what I mean. Every now and again you feel like a change. Been through 18 months of emotional upheaval losing my mum, selling the house, etc and neglected the creative side because of this. I will perhaps sit tight and keep using the cans for now, and to be fair, I don’t think my mixes are too bad considering. Also my musical direction is changing. I do the library bread and butter work (although it’s more bread crumbs these days) but my heart is in the sound design, experimentation side.

So I will get the room right and then start thinking about the monitors, treatment of the room. I just get impatient and need to slow down. I either spend too long being ridiculously indecisive or make reckless impulsive decisions that I live to regret.

The ideal monitors would sound pleasing to the ear as if listening for pleasure, as well as being very accurate. HEDD do some seriously good headphones for £1500, but at that price you may as well get monitors.
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