That is strange caus the HS80M´s have been raved about in their current pricerange,mostly coming top place in nearly every shootout they are in(again,in their pricerange),and coming in at second or third place in the ones it didnt win(Mackies,Tannoys and KRKs mainly). Im not doubting you,Im just asking caus I want to buy my monitors sometime soon,so here goes: Do the HS80M´s suck that bad to your ears? Would you say its just in the studio youve heard them in due to bad room treatment there,or in general regardless of treatment? Keep in mind Im looking for one purpose only: Studio use. They dont have to sound "good"(not for movies or any other audiophile reason,I want no coloring of sound nor embellishing) they just have to translate really well to other systems when Im finally done with a track,sort of like the NS10´s purpose. I was really narrowing it down to the yammys now too,which is annoying,hehe. Please describe what was wrong with them for you if possible,which of the frequencies were colored or lacking? I have read some say they sound ever so slightly harsh,so that may be the mids/upper mids,then again wouldnt that encourage to mix a smoother balance overall?
The size of the room will vary but both have basstraps at the very least,I sometimes record in one room and move to the larger room to master just to give the sound an unfamiliar feel and different acoustics than the ones that my ears have grown accustomed to over the mixing period. Thats the reason I dont really want the ribbons,I mean if singing with too much air or pop can break a ribbon mic,and transporting a ribbon mic without the cover on it can ruin a ribbon mic,then imagine what would happen to my tweeters after I lug them from room to room just a couple of times,I need something built like a tank(not as far as gig-worthy,but careless heavy-handed tigerabbit worthy at least,hehe).
As far as the bass response goes Im pretty sure the 8 inchers are the way to go,I mean if nothing else its physically impossible for the 5 inchers to move as much air as an 8 incher without the cone area to do so. So when Im in the bassment(the larger of the rooms) I will hear the difference there if nothing else. Then again I dont want them too far away as these are still nearfields and I dont want to color anything by not using them as intended,again I dont want them to shine,I want them to translate well to other systems.
Anyway,Im sure youll agree that whatever I get in the end is a huge step up from having to mix/master on headphones and homesound/hifi speakers,which is always a mixed result process due to the nonlinear frequency range and undesired effect on the stereo imaging these methods have when hearing it on other systems afterwards,they do not translate well but will still be used as post-reference.
