classical label monitors

Wow! No kidding. Huh. ATC. That's impressive.

I'm curious now though... Why ask this in the first place?

Aren't studio monitors not the usual choice for relaxing music listening and for the far more critical needs of the producer & production process?

Aren't studio monitors not the usual choice for relaxing music listening and for the far more critical needs of the producer & production process?

Absolutely. Horses for courses. The majority of systems for home listening tend to be primarily aesthetic looking for relaxing listening. These designs (and the rooms & the position where they are installed) often fall very far short of the standards required for the critical needs of professionals.

Two-seater sports cars with loud engines and no trunk space and no rear seats are certainly not relaxing either and are impractical for taking kids to soccer practices - which is why we have SUV's and ever so popular Dodge Caravan. A studio monitor will only be appreciated by a very small minority within the already small audiophile minority.

Are you suggesting that the studio engineer expects the mix they settle on, to sound predictably different on playback, than what they hear initially? I gather the ATCs are not made for listening and are very analytical compared to a home stereo. Certainly they take into account some preconceived typical speaker voicing. I can't think of why they wouldn't use similiar sounding speakers albeit nearfield etc.
I have read here and elsewhere that they record for playback in a car. Then it would make more sense, I suppose, for them to emulate an average automobile's audio system/acoustics (while running) to make the best mix. Classical music may not be lumped into that thinking.

Perusing pro-audio magazines, books, and web sites it appears that the qualities searched for in a monitor include (1) accuracy (2) resolution so as not to miss flaws (3) reproducible settings when working with the same monitor in another setting and (4) lack of fatigue - so that one can work for many hours.