Professional vs. Consumer speakers

Pro oriented speakers are used by recording engineers as analytical tools in the record production process. Domestic oriented speakers have a slightly different purpose. They're designed to make music sound good in a home environment. In general, domestic speakers will be more "forgiving" than their pro counterparts. Somewhat paradoxically, this does not mean that domestic speakers are less accurate than pro models. Typically, the better domestic speakers will go deeper in the bass, have a lower noise floor and reveal the spatial qualities of recordings better than pro models.

Obviously there is a huge amount of overlap between domestic and pro models and there is no reason why pro models cannot be used in domestic situations. However, in much the same way that a purpose built race car would make for a very poor everyday vehicle, most studio monitors are not ideal in home use. But then again, there are exceptions.

Kind of funny, but most of the better studios that are concerned with "audiophile grade" or just plain old "high quality" reproduction have gone to using "hi-end" speakers rather than the typical "professional studio monitors" that they were using in the past. To top it off, many of their customers ( the musicians themselves ) have commented that their music has never sounded so good to them while using these "hi-end monitors" to mix their recordings down. As such, what better "critique" and "endorsement" could one ask for when the person making and recording the music says that "hi-end" speakers do a better job at presenting the music in a more natural and accurate manor than the "industry standard" professional grade monitors ??? Sean
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I really don't think the ordinary recording engineers really care about what kind of speakers they use. If they have the money, they go for the fancy TAD or the ultra expensive Westlake. If not, Yamaha speakers or anything that can make some noise will do. Of all the recording engineers in this world, I think 99.99% of those recording engineers don't really care about the sound quality of their works since they don't have any advanced audiophile background. They really don't know what are possible....like soundstage, focus, separation...etc.
But when the recording engineers have advanced audiophile background, their approaches to recording are totally different. They really care about what kind of amps, cables or speakers.... that are in the recording chain. And it all shown in their works.
I don't think there are any major differences between the professional and consumer speakers at all. If the end user knows what he(or she) is doing, they will both sound wonderful......

I agree with both previous posts .Most of the pro studio monitors I have heard are designed for "near field" placement, where your 3 or 4 foot from the speaker since they are many times placed on top of the mixing board. Yes they are accurate but most engineers are more concerned with details and levels in the mix rather than the soundstage, bloom of the instruments, air, etc. Put it this way, I have heard some of the best and have never felt I would like them in my home. As Sean mentioned, I can see why the audiophile labels would go to a high end speaker. I have not heard them all however so there may be some exceptions. Tom G