KRK E8B manual Installing Your Monitors, Positioning Your Monitors

Installing Your Monitors

A close-field reference monitor speaker, by definition, reduces room interaction. This is in contrast to the conventional stereo environment or the large monitor arrangement in a recording studio where sounds emanating from the speaker reflect off ceilings, walls, and floors—greatly impacting the sound quality in the process. By shortening the path to the ear, the close-field monitor offers a tremendous amount of flexibility, enabling the sound to become less susceptible to differing room conditions. However, this is only part of the equation. The ability to adjust the monitor’s high and low frequency characteristics is equally important, as this helps compensate for positioning irregularities and enables you to achieve the highest degree of sound accuracy. With the Exposé E8B, it's easy to control the high and low frequencies. The HF Level Adjust, HF Shelf and LF Adjust switches located on the rear panel provide ample opportunity for high and low frequency tailoring.

Low Frequency Adjustment Considerations

Placing the monitor close to a rear wall, sidewall, or a corner will reinforce the low frequencies. Generally speaking, if you move the monitor two to three feet away from walls and corners, you'll hear less low frequency interaction (excluding any interaction with the mixing console). But when ideal positioning isn't practical, low frequency control is the solution.

As an example, let’s say you have two different studios in your facility. In one room, the monitors are close to the wall, while in the other room; they're further away from the wall. By experimenting with the LF Adjust switch on the rear of the E8B, you can adjust the low frequency settings on each monitor so you can match the sound in each room. This comes in handy if you're tracking in room A and mixing down in room B which does not have the same layout.

Positioning Your Monitors

Positioning the monitors correctly in the studio is critical to their performance. Basically, they should be placed in such a way that the listening position is fully “covered” with all speakers resting on the same horizontal plane. A good way to test the monitor for its imaging capability is to play back a CD that provides recordings of acoustical instruments. We recommend acoustic rather than synthesized music or sampled sounds because acoustic music typically delivers wider dynamic and frequency ranges than sampled and/or electronic music.

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