Quote:
Originally Posted by
lulumusique
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Had a pair of HS80 for about 5 years. (Sold them for personal reasons...) My big concern about those speakers was the unbalanced mids. lets say the high-mids/low-trebble are +1/+2 dB higher than the average volume and the low-mids are -1/-2dB lower than the average volume. I will not call them bright since the top-high frequencies are a little lower than the low-high frequencies: so it's more harsh than "airy". I didn't find the mids that precise. For sure they are "there" but not with that much precision.
The lows are OK for the price but there is defintely something wrong around 80Hz. It's hard to judge low frequency since they are totaly depending on the room (a lot of people seems to forget it) but I got the bump you guys already talked about at 80Hz in every room I mixed in.
I bought the sub (HS10W) for more precision in the low frequencies: it did help because it gives more controls (you can play with the filters and the extra volume control). It's not night and day but it was definitely an improvement. And it brings an extra 10Hz in the lows.
I wouldn't buy a sub again anymore because for the price of the whole set (2*HS80+1*HS10W) you can upgrade for the higher range and get something with better frequency response (including lows), better transient response, better imaging.. so it's not worth the money to me...
The corrections you can get with the switchs behind really suck to me... the frequencies aren't the smartest choice: the low control start's at 500Hz, so it makes the low-mids even lower and the High freq control starts at 2kHz and makes the High-mids even higher (if you set it at +2dB) or kills the high-trebbles (if you set it at -2dB). So definiely a bad choice to me (I guess the High frequency control is just an extra boost on the tweeter volume).
The Medium control is set to 2kHz (or 2.5 I can't remember) so if you set it to -2dB the 5kHz seems even higher. I would have loved to have it set to 5kHz.
So if you want to soften the high mids/ low highs you can only do it with the high control => but then you loose too much of the top high.
Overal they are good speaker for that price of range, don't take me wrong they definitely are. They are not perfect, they are not flat either, but they also definitely do their job => They translate pretty well for the price (except in the mids for the reason mentioned above).
I work with the hs80m and i know them quite well. I absolutely agree with you on the lack of upper mid clarity. You can test this by tweaking around a narrow band eq in the upper mid region,,, you clearly hear a dip somewhere around 16 till 20.
But i have to admit,,
1: The hs80m are pleasent to work on for hours straight one without getting too much ear fatigue.
2: Although clarity is lacking on the speakers, I never made a big mistake on the hs80m. Somehow i can hear when to leave stuff alone if this makes sense.
The biggest bang for the buck nowadays is the tannoy 501A, they are almost half the price of the HS80, but the mid range is much clearer, stereo width is more defined, and the low end is more honest (although lacking pressence).
Ild suggest those Tannoys today in stead of the HS80m.