COVER STORY: Sound Choices

Mar 1, 2005 12:00 PM, By Rusty Cutchin

           
 

Phonic P8A

Phonic is relatively new to the studio monitor business, although the company caries an extensive line of live sound, DJ, and other audio products. The flagship of its recently introduced monitor line is the P8A. The front panel features two slotted vertical ports next to the 1-inch tweeter and 8.75-inch woofer, the largest LF driver in our survey. The rear-mounted amps provide 150W to the woofer and 75W to the tweeter. The rear panel also hosts balanced TRS and XLR connections, an input level control, a three-way power mode switch that puts the monitor to sleep after five minutes of inactivity, and EQ controls.

The phonic P8A offers a large 8.75-inch woofer and a Low Match switch for selecting crossover points to use with a subwoofer along with a ±6 dB High Match switch.

A Low Match switch allows you to select 45, 60, 80 or 100 Hz crossover points to use the monitor with a subwoofer. (Phonic also offers the P28 subwoofer.) A High Match switch adjusts highs by ±6 dB. A room compensation switch attenuates low frequencies by ±6 dB to help deal with wall proximity.

The P8As exhibited accurate midrange definition and depth of field when set flat. But they also exhibited a noticeable lack of bass response and slightly less ultra-high-frequency response in the 12-15 kHz area, resulting in a sound that seemed heavy on mids and truncated the high and low ends of the frequency range. We were able to improve the sound somewhat with the P8A's controls. Boosting the Low Match switch gave us a fatter bottom and a little bump in the low mids (around 200 Hz), but without any added definition. (In fact, when we switched monitors to the Yamaha NS-10M's powered by the Bryson amp, the improved bass definition and energy were startling, even with the NS-10M's 7-inch woofers and limited low-frequency range.) Boosting the high end with the High Match control (8 kHz) resulted in more strident upper mids and not the silky sheen we were looking for. We kept the setting flat for listening.

The P8As didn't generate much apparent loudness. Monitoring at moderate levels, we were able to get an accurate picture, but not the thumping volume necessary for monitoring rock and hip-hop accurately at high volumes. We were most concerned about the apparent roll-off in the bass response, which seemed to descend rapidly starting at about 150 Hz, creating a sense of lightness in the low end. The high end sounded mostly flat with a little too much energy in the midrange between 1 to 2.5 kHz.

Tweaking the band mix on the P8As was difficult because the tracks had plenty of midrange energy already. Darlington struggled to get an accurate reading on the kick drum and electric bass. The sax and guitars, however, were clear and nicely separated, and the ambiences were well defined. But we agreed that we would be tempted to increase the hi-hat and drum overhead (cymbal) tracks to bring a little more shine to the mix. Overall, the P8As were noticeably lacking in full-range tone, and especially bass energy, compared to others in our survey.

Tapco S8

Mackie resurrected the Tapco brand in 2003 and made budget monitors one of the new company's priorities. When I reviewed the first offering, the Tapco S5 (see the May 2004 issue of EM, available online at www.emusician.com), I was impressed with the monitor's value but wished that it had a big sibling with an 8-inch driver. As if on cue, Tapco released the S8, a hefty bi-amped monitor with a much heftier bass output than the S5.

And the heft doesn't stop there. The S8 is also the most expensive of the monitors we tested, with a list price of $750 for a pair. It is also the heaviest, weighing in at 35.2 pounds. On the other hand, it has the lowest listed power rating of the six monitors, at 60W RMS each for the 8-inch polypropylene woofer and 1-inch silk dome tweeter. The rear panel has an adjustable sensitivity control and low- and high-frequency EQ switches, providing standard boosts and cuts (+2 dB or +4 dB at 100 Hz and below and ±2 dB at 5 kHz and above). The crossover point is set at 3 kHz.

The Tapco S8’s rear panel contains an adjustable sensitivity control and a low-frequency EQ switch that provides a +2 dB or +4 dB boost at 100 Hz and below.

The S8 provided exactly what I was hoping for — more bass. The monitor sounded very good and never suggested that listening to it could become fatiguing. That may be because a slight scoop is apparent in the lower mids, and a slightly elevated bass is apparent below 100 Hz. That results in a slightly muddier bass as attack transients disappear on bass guitars and low frequencies tend to cannibalize each other. The monitor's high-frequency response was very good in my studio with all switches set flat. In my room I saw no need to use either the LF or HF adjustment switches.

At Bass Hit, Darlington was impressed with the low-frequency energy of the S8, which produced a lot of volume, efficiently using its 60W of power. The sound was somewhat reminiscent of Bass Hit's Tannoy 2.1 system (used to more closely emulate a club environment). But as a stickler for tight, accurate bass for jazz and R&B projects, Darlington found the S8s pumped out too much of a good thing. The S8s didn't need bass boost, although setting the HF switch to +2 dB seemed to balance the monitor nicely in that room. When Darlington remixed the rock band, however, without making adjustments for the monitors, the mix was short on bottom and upper frequencies during the car stereo test.

Bass frequencies, however, were very intense on hip-hop mixes such as “Yeah.” Although midrange male vocals sounded fine, shouted chants like those in the chorus of the Usher/Ludacris tune became ear-splitting at high volumes. That kind of EQ curve might work well in rooms with limited response in those frequency ranges. If you like to mix loud hip-hop, the S8 is a good choice, but you'll need to check your mix carefully on other systems for lower vocal and bass levels, because you'll be hearing somewhat elevated levels of both on the S8.