Monitors vs FRFR for bedroom player?

RosettaStoned

RosettaStoned

Member
I’m a relatively new guitarist. I own the FM3 and currently just play through headphones. I’m debating between a pair of Adam studio monitors or the Friedman ASC-10 for jamming in the bedroom. I don’t do any recording or gigging just a hobby player and want the best possible tone while playing at home. Which would be a better option for me?
 
Monitors are more useful overall, but it’s more enjoyable to ply through a nice frfr even though it’s total overkill for a bedroom.

monitors are great for sitting in the sweet spot, frfr speaker has much wider dispersion and potential volume etc

in a perfect world having both is a nice option
 
In my home studio (small extra bedroom) I have 2 nice stuido monitors plus 2 Yamaha DXR10's. If I had to choose one or the other to use "at home" with the FM3 I would choose my studio monitors. More versatile, especially if some recording is in your future plans...
 
If you think you might want to jam with other people at some point, small studio monitors probably aren't gonna work for that. Or you could figure that out when the time comes.
 
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I would go with the ASC 10 personally over the monitors. Depends what you are going for though. I am not a huge fan of playing through studio monitors. I like the amp in the room (real cab) kinda sound which you will get from the ASC 10.
 
wcfieldskx said:
I would go with the ASC 10 personally over the monitors. Depends what you are going for though. I am not a huge fan of playing through studio monitors. I like the amp in the room (real cab) kinda sound which you will get from the ASC 10.
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I agree I would like the amp in the room sound but I play in a 12x10 foot untreated bedroom. I don’t know how loud the Friedman needs to be to sound good or whether monitors would sound better below 90 decibels.
 
At lower volumes I prefer studio monitors by a wide margin. What you lose with the AITR thing is easily made up for with stereo effects.
 
Frodebro said:
At lower volumes I prefer studio monitors by a wide margin. What you lose with the AITR thing is easily made up for with stereo effects.
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remember though that stereo monitors sound best in a sweet spot between the monitors. If your not going to play your guitar in that spot, they won’t sound as good.

I have my monitors set up on my studio desk with my pc monitor, my mixing console etc. Sounds great when I sit at my desk as the monitors are set ear level in height, equal distant et al. It’s great except, I don’t like to sit at my desk and play guitar. I like to stand up and move around a bit.

this is why I love my CLR wedge. It has a massive sweet spot so I can move around freely, I can stand, I can pull up a stool, I can put a foot up on top of it etc.

I could totally live with my monitors alone, they are great, but it’s simply more enjoyable to play through a CLR (IMO)

even better, can you combine both for things like a stereo wet, mono dry style rig.

have your dry signal come through the floor monitor, have the wet effects is full stereo through the studio monitors. Sounds awesome and totally fills the room!
 
Personally, no matter what I'm thinking on the top of my brain, underneath that I'm playing with people in my mind. It's the world I was in for decades.

I'm not dreaming of Madison Square Garden or anything, just jamming with friends, or playing in some smallish venue. Reasonable volume, but not baby in the next room quiet either. I'm old, but I still rock in my heart!

So. Just sayin. Studio tones are what really matters in the wider world, and if that way flips your beanie, have at it.

But playing with people, even imagining it, is a whole other thing. If you have a way to try out studio monitors and an FRFR rig, do it.
 
is it true I’ll need to play at my computer desk for studio monitors to sound good? I try to avoid that when possible and prefer to stand and move around
 
RosettaStoned said:
is it true I’ll need to play at my computer desk for studio monitors to sound good? I try to avoid that when possible and prefer to stand and move around
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three to five feet
“Nearfield” refers to monitoring where you are hearing more of the speaker and less of the room's reflections — in small rooms and project studios, this means your listening position is typically going to be three to five feet from the monitors.
(Googled "optimal listening distance nearfield monitors")
 
RosettaStoned said:
is it true I’ll need to play at my computer desk for studio monitors to sound good? I try to avoid that when possible and prefer to stand and move around
Click to expand...

Most studio monitors are called “near field”, meaning they are designed to be listened to at a very close distance and sweet spot for the best imaging band accuracy. They are what you see on desk or on stands right next to a desktop in most home studios. Work great, but they aren’t meant for sound reinforcement purposes or to serve as stage monitors etc. Not only do they lack the volume, but also the dispersion.

there are mid field and main control room studio monitors but then your spending massive bucks and they are not for home use.

don’t get me wrong, studio monitors still can put out pretty good sound, I use mine (scepter s6 with t10 sub) for most of my music listening, BUT, the imaging etc is noticeably improved when I’m in the sweet spot at my desk.
 
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