Topic: "Boxy" Sound with Studio Monitors

With several keyboards (Yamaha P-255, RD-2000) and with Pianoteq, to me the sound through my headphones (Beyerdynamic DT-990 Pro) has been pretty good, but through speakers it was just dead and "boxy.  I've done the usual internet searches and didn't find much help.   I even have seen a lot of time looking at the frequency response of the DT-990 and adjusting EQ to track that frequency response. It helped a little but was not great.

I am using Presonus Eris Studio 5 Monitors and have come with some settings that to my ear are a significant improvement. 
- First, I put the speakers on some isolation mounts so they are a few inches off the table.  This actually made a difference to my ear
- The next most significant factor seemed to be the acoustic space.  Setting this to -2db seem to really help
- I adjusted the mid to -4db
- The high was adjusted to +2db
- The low cutoff was set at 80Hz
- The room I'm in has no special treatment, but is carpeted

To me this really helps the clarity for both Pianoteq and the onboard pianos in the RD-2000.

This has taken so long for me to get to a significant improvement that I like, I thought I'd share.

Maybe there is a studio pro out that may have some feedback on these adjustments if they make any sense.  If still seems strange to me that the recorded version of the settings on the FXP corner sounded "better" than playing through PTQ, but these adjustments have improved both in my opinion.

Re: "Boxy" Sound with Studio Monitors

Most likely your untreated room is sounding boxy. Carpets dont work at all, they absorb only high freqs making it worst. Even at 25cm of distance from the speaker the influence of your room is very important. Headphones are not affected by the ròom.

Re: "Boxy" Sound with Studio Monitors

I myself have a lot of trouble getting monitors to sound as good as headphones. I recently replaced my Presonus Eris 3.5 (to small and boxy) with Focal shape 40, which was a big step forward in terms of sound quality, but I don't really like the feeling of speakers directly in front of me (good sound but not realistic sensation). I finally oriented them in an "undadvisable" way  and I get (for playing) a better feeling, closer to the diffusion of a real piano. It's just a suggestion to try...

Last edited by YvesTh (11-11-2024 15:25)