Speakers: Stereo, Monitor, PA

[zebra]

Here's a question for ya:

How are home stereo speakers (bookshelf style, front ported), recording monitors, and PA speakers different? 

I'm just wondering because I've been considering a set-up that I could use for music playback, or hook up a guitar, bass or keyboard.  Not a lot of power would be needed (it would just be for use in a small apartment). 

Anyone have any idea what sorts of considerations may come into play putting together such a setup?

Thanks for any ideas anyone has to offer!

 

[Cagey]

The difference is mainly in faithfulness to incoming signal. Recording monitors are supposed to be "flat". That is, what goes in is what comes out. Of course, they all vary in how well they do that or there'd only be one manufacturer/design. PA speakers usually aren't flat, but they aren't overly emphasized in any particular frequency range on purpose. Their anomalies are usually a side effect of cabinet design, the quality of the crossovers and driver performance. Home stereo speakers are all over the place - unless you spend a pile of money it's difficult to predict what they'll sound like, but they generally emphasize the extreme ends of their range much more than monitors or sound reinforcement speakers do.

I've done it all three ways and found that if you're playing with a modeller of almost any sort, recording monitors or speakers designed to behave that way are what you want. If you're playing along with recorded source material, PA speakers may be a better way to go, if for no other reason than you won't fight with them so much. A decent EQ will probably fix most things. Home stereo speakers rarely work out well for anything other than recorded music, and even then you've got to spend some money to get good results.

All that said, if you're cognizant and respectful of the people who are just two sheets of drywall away, then at the levels you're likely to be playing at in an apartment you could probably get away with just about anything.

 

[AndyG]

I know a few 2 piece bands that use the Bose towers as their PA in smaller clubs.  They work adequately.

The biggest problem with home speakers is power handling.  100 watts is a lot for your living room, but won't really fill a club.  Just like car engines, they will work when pushed to 8000 RPM, but are "happiest" around 3000 PRM for sustained periods.

As Cagey mentioned, the cabinet design also plays a huge factor.  Most PA cabinets are designed to throw forward, and when you're behind them (on stage), feedback becomes much easier to control at higher volumes.

Finally, unless you hook up your home speakers to a pro power amp (assuming they can handle that power), using your home stereo as a power source can also cause issues.  Home systems are designed to run with -10db input signals (consumer standard).  PAs are designed to run at +4db.  As a result, you get a much better signal to noise ratio.  Chances are if you were to hook up a home stereo and crank it, you'd get a ton of hiss when you stopped playing.