The Basics Of Choosing A Good Floor Monitor

The average distance from the performer for most monitors is 2-3 meters. It is unrealistic to need extended response below 100 Hz at these distances in moderate to high-level stage volumes for 12" and smaller floor monitors. With this in mind, follow these easy steps to picking out a good floor monitor:

1. Determine the primary use of the monitor (vocal, instruments, instruments or music play back) where low frequencies are critical.

2. Determine the distance from the monitor to the microphone and the area that needs sound coverage. Co-axial floor monitors usually offer wider coverage angles and make the best choice for a general purpose floor monitors. Monitors with a separate woofer and high frequency horn cut through higher stage volume situations for vocals. This is because they generally have a narrower coverage angle in the crossover region between woofer and horn.

3. Usually, you don’t need as much bass as you may think. Most mixers and equalizers have a high pass filter available. Not only does this clean up the sound by limiting high unnecessary speaker cone excursion, but also makes better use of amplifier power. Unnecessary speaker cone excursion tends to beat the speaker to death and usually results in speaker damage. Limiting this unnecessary potential damage is good, also saving amplifier power. Most important to the performer, this really results in a cleaner, tighter bass sound.

4. Different speaker cone sizes require different high pass filter settings. Here are some good starting points with a high pass filter of 12 DB/Octave:
- 8" 150hz to 120hz
- 10" 120hz to 100hz
- 12" 100hz to 70hz
- 15" 70hz to 60hz

5. Smaller 8" and 10" monitors will work very well as a close range monitor. By using them only 1 meter away you they are more effective and generate a lower over all stage volume.

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