How To Choose Studio Monitors Based On Your Room Size

Are you looking for a new set of studio monitors but you don’t know how to choose the best one?

This is a common scenario of many people. If your daily work has nothing to do with speakers and anything related to them then you may not know a lot of information about them. There are different types of studio monitors and finding the best one that fits your needs can be a bit tough. If you want to spend your money wisely and purchasing a good product then you may need to read also other guide and tips.

In this post, I will give you some tips how to choose the best home studio monitors based on the room size. There are also plenty of other factors that may be decisive, such as sound quality, speaker features and options and so on. However, if you are a beginner and don’t know how to choose the best speakers, I recommend you to look for an in-depth guide that explains everything in details.

Studio monitors are an essential tool for people mixing music. There is a must for every studio where every recorded and mixed sound will go through. Having a good pair of speaker that fits on the room size is essential to produce high-quality mixes or even new songs.

Studio monitors are a crucial thing for the quality and the performance of the production studio. Many people still go ahead and spend their money buying plug-ins and outboard gears that in most of the cases are unuseful. They buy them instead of getting the right studio monitors helps you to hear what’s going on in your recordings and mixes and finding if anything isn’t going right.

The harsh truth is…

Only a few people know how to make the best choice and even fewer ask for help. There is so many free information on the internet to help you understand the qualities of studio monitors and how to find the one that fits your requirements.

A big thing to look when buying a brand new pair of studio monitors is to find the one that fits on the room size. No matter how great can the sound quality be if they don’t fit appropriately into your studio, you are not making it really great. The size of the room has a profound effect on the quality of the way you hear your mixes.

Why size matters?

When deciding to get a pair of studio monitors one big thing to consider is the size. The fact is that the type of audio or music you intend to record and lay may influence in the way you make the choice. In terms of driver or woofer size, the bigger it is the better it will reproduce low frequencies. There is no doubt why music producers who produce Dubstep, Drum and Bass use bigger speaker because the low frequencies can be heard more clearly.

Bear in mind that the common range of human hearing is 29Hz to 20kHz.  Also, note that any sound below 40Hz is not perceived as pitched anymore but felt. If you aim to produce sounds such as acoustic guitar-based folk, using very little of the low-frequency range and smaller speaker may not be a big issue.

Besides the size of the speakers another thing that needs your attention to is the size of the room. It the place where the studio monitors will be placed and where you will produce your music. In a small room is not recommendable to put large speakers because they do have bigger bass frequencies that will bounce all around the walls. A rule of the thumb the bigger the room size the bigger the size of studio monitors.

Factors to consider

The size of the speaker and the size of the room has been a debate for many years. Lots of people continuously purchase studio monitors without considering their size and the size of the room they are going to put them. By the end, they waste money and time and still not getting what they really want. The sound from the same speaker can be different in places that don’t have the same size. The position of the speaker also may affect how you listen the sound but this is completely a different feeling. For the best quality, you should buy studio monitors bases on the place you will put them.

1. Driver Diameter

If you are going to produce low-frequency sound and using low-frequency drivers then you should put these speakers in a large room. They have long diameters usually 12, 15 and 18 inches so for the best sound performance, it is needed a room that supports all this low-frequency energy. To achieve the best audio recording, low-frequency energy must be controlled prior to launch it. Also, speakers should have the proper diameter to get the best quality.

Once the energy is launched it should be managed through the proper low-frequency sound absorption technology. It is also great to manage the low-frequency room distortion by energy containment or the proper use of absorption sound technologies.

2. Room Reflection

A room is composed of floor, ceiling and wall. They are the first that reflect the energy, especially the floor and the ceiling before it reaches our listening. You should add more ceiling reflections to intermix it with the direct sound. This will make the reflection time delays. You should do the same to the wall since it will also be dealing with reflections.

You can create a speaker boundary interference effect so the small distance between the ceiling and the speaker will start to have a comb filtering effect. Putting such filter can also create phantom images that will give audible distortions from the area.

3. Correct Ratio

Finding the correct ratio of the room and the speaker may be hard but finding the correct one help things up. So if the ceiling height is 8 to 10 inches, it might be good to place 4 to 6 inches speakers. If you ever consider placing studio monitors in your room, you should consider the low-frequency diameter as well.

Monitor Size VS. Room Size

The size of the two, the room and the speaker, matters a lot. Smaller rooms are bad for reflection. You will also be hearing some sound that comes directly from the speaker and the sound bouncing back from the surfaces around you. Small rooms may need more mass to absorb the low end.

When it comes to the monitors, near field monitors are mostly designed to match the smaller rooms and choosing bigger ones may only cause a lot of trouble.

The point is this: can you put your car in your pocket? Definitely not! So, there is no losser in the fight. Both are important. Both are designed to match.