Why Do Audio Engineers Use Different Speakers?


I gather that audio engineers generally use different speakers than audiophiles. I hear they tend to use smaller self-powered speakers the majority of the time.

Other than the appearance of the box and the smaller room size they are likely to be in, why wouldn't an audiophiles want to use the same speaker?
hdomke
Mix engineers often work at huge consoles, which can be a bad (reflective) listening environment with small near fields (narrow dispersion) placed on the meter bridge. The narrow dispersion reduces reflections but it makes for a very narrow sweetspot - good for one person at work but not the best way to hear music. They don't care what the speakers look like (no WAF issues so exotic shapes or veneers are a waste of money to them). Finally, they care about accuracy and that mixes "translate": self powered speakers tend to suffer less from IMD distortion and phase/crossover issues compared to passive designs and there is one less variable (amp/speaker interaction) to worry about.

Audiophiles listen at home and therefore it often makes sense to choose speakers with a more natural sound with wide dispersion, for an even soundfield and a larger sweetspot. It also makes sense to choose a pretty speaker design rather than a purely functional one, as the environment is domestic. Audiophiles also do not need to worry about whether the speaker presents a precise balanced sound at different listening levels, as they simply adjust volume to suit their taste on the equipment they have.

Mastering Engineers however will use tend to use some designs that are closer to what audiophiles use.

Examples (and you will see that not all are "different" but many are)
Bob Ludwig used ATC's (in the past) and now uses Egglestons at work and ATC's at home. Alan Parsons uses B&W 802D. Doug Sax uses ATC's at work. Elliot Scheiner uses Yamahas. George Massenburg uses ATC and Genelecs. Bob Katz (Chesky) uses Lipinski's. Chuck Ainlay uses ATC. Ed Cherney uses Custom Tannoy SGM 10's/Mastering Lab at home and KRK E-8 at the studio. Michael Bishop uses ATC. Al Scmitt uses custom Tannoy/Mastering Lab design. This is the Mastering Lab custom design by Doug Sax of Sheffield Direct to Disc fame; a mastering engineer with famous credits list almost as long as Bob Ludwig, Incidently Doug Sax bought the last production run of Tannoy's famous SGM10 - so these are a are collectors item. There are many other custom designs by Ausberger with TAD components and perhaps ten other popular makes that I did not mention (Adams, B&W, K+H, Meyer, JBL, PMC, Wilson, Dunlavy, JM Lab, Von Schweikert, Westlake etc. - go to Gearlutz.com to learn more) Not all but several of the custom designs are "in walls" which requires flush mounting the speaker baffle with the front wall in an acoustically designed setting. In walls are rarely used for mixing and most often used for bass checks and to impress clients or discuss the mix with the band (the nice even soundfield means a large sweetspot which makes group discussions practical). Examples of "In walls" can be seen at the final critical LP mastering stage on the link Albert gave and here at Nashville's Blackbird Studio.

So lots of variety, however, there are some common themes in studios. Reliability is very important so you rarely see ribbons or electrostatics. Loud and dynamic is important so you rarely see electrostatics and you may see more horns. You rarely if ever see speakers with "ambience" drivers. You rarely if ever see dipoles. You rarely if ever see a Studio 5.1 system with a different center channel and/or placed at different height from main left and right. Studios tend to use small nearfields for one purpose and much bigger main monitors for another.
Post removed 
Another way of asking your question is: Why aren't powered speakers popular with audiophiles? Simple, they'd be "stuck" with one amplifier. The thing that drives this hobby (and keeps people employed) is the constant changing, upgrading and experimenting.

Recording engineers need speakers that are accurate. They don't place a premium on imaging and soundstage - just that the speaker is flat enough so it's easy to compensate for different frequencies. Also, their speakers have to reside and perform in a cramped environment so they need to minimize wherever possible. Imagine setting up all your seperates in your bathroom - that's about the workspace of a control room.
They don't place a premium on imaging and soundstage - just that the speaker is flat enough so it's easy to compensate for different frequencies.

I think you will find that recording engineers spend a lot of time adjusting the presentation of the soundstage (left/right and forward/back and tight focussed image/distributed or broad image...track(s) for each instrument are treated differently to create a desired presentation. Don't underestimate the imaging capabilities of studio gear as it can be equally good and bear in mind that all conventional box speakers suffer from edge diffraction at the baffle edges whilst "in wall" speakers completely eliminate this detrimental affect to the soundstage...
The answers to my question have been most enlightening. Thank you.
Now let me put a twist on my original question:
Why Don't Audio Engineers Use Expensive Cables?

I suggested to my audiophile friend that Audio Engineers do not use the expensive cables found in so many audiophile systems. His response:
"Au contraire! The high end remastering studios (not the run-of-the-mill giant studios) use high-end cables, power cords and power conditioners."

Does anyone personally know if Audio Engineers use high-end cables, power cords and power conditioners?

Are there any Audio Engineers out there who might be willing to offer an opinion?