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studio equipment that makes it into home hifi

In recent years I have begun to take more notice of professional/studio hifi gear. Really ever since i got the Yamaha NS1000 my attention turned. Amongst other well known studio products that have managed to cross over into home audio is the Technics Sp-10 turntable rogers ls3/5a, revox equipment, etc. And hey a lot of these ended up being classics!

What's more they often seem to cost a lot less than home audio and sound very accurate and neutral. For example I picked up the Yamaha P3200 power amp for $150. Built like a tank, I was not expecting much from this warhorse. What the hell at 500w per channel they were only to be used to drive subwoofers. I put it into my smaller second home rig replacing the Jadis DA7 and driven by a valve preamp. Was I in for a surprise. It was subtle fast had good transparency and soundstaging and equal detail to the Jadis. Its bottom end as you would imagine was wonderfully taut deep and powerful. I was very pleasantly surprised. Only let down was a raggedness at the top end and it missed the last few ounces of tonal purity. BUT in no way did it sound cold sterile or hard, quite the opposite it was emotionally very engaging.

Has anyone any other studio products that can be used in home hifi systems even high end systems and look good???
audiojoy4
shadorne's avatar
shadorne
7,477 posts
 
Do a lot of the makers you mention actually build to differing standards for home use or studio use - different designers etc?

Most of what I mention is the same for home or studio. Although any pro speaker maker needs to add grills and veneer for home use but that is about the extent of it (so the drivers will be the same on the models that have crossed over) . Studios also like clipping indicators so they know when they are definitely over driviong something. Otherwise the stuff is not so very different for most of the items I mention.

Consumer ref = -10 dBV = 0.316 V rms. Professional ref = +4 dBu = 1.228 V rms. Some designers have a built in switch but older pro gear may not be compatible and a pro pre amp or mixer will overdrive consumer gear. That is a 12 db higher signal level....just another reason why pro gear is general better for S/N.
audiojoy4 OP
98 posts
 
My main point really was to hint at the fact that there may potentially be a lot of purely studio designed gear (often from unrecognised manufacturers) that we would never hear about in hifi magazines/internet forums. There may be products from this category just waiting to be discovered. Gems that would not ordinarily be considered suitable for home use ( i belive that to be an entirely unfounded assumption on the part of the audio press)
shadorne's avatar
shadorne
7,477 posts
 
My main point really was to hint at the fact that there may potentially be a lot of purely studio designed gear (often from unrecognised manufacturers) that we would never hear about in hifi magazines/internet forums

For sure they have some stuff a see this The Way Studio Custom Neve 8078 and this Blackbird Studios.

Both places have awesome virtual tours and some amazing gear. (mega mega bucks though)
chadeffect
586 posts
 
Hi Shadorne,

Much of the monitoring in the studios in your link, are relatively cheap, but sound good. They are just in well designed and treated rooms, placed carefully, and fed a clean signal.

The genelec active monitors sound really nice and are easy to listen to for long periods near field. The ATCs are used for higher SPL listening usually and to check on deep bass levels. These will also be used when the people paying for the music being created come to visit!

The Neve 8078 is a beautiful mixing desk. My favorite.
normansizemore
601 posts
 
Really, isn't Revox the home line of what Studer was building for the stuido? Teac incorporated many features found in its Tascam line. What studio doesn't include a reel to reel made by SONY? Crown amps, Yamaha, McIntosh, Akai, even Pioneer had a professional line of reel to reels that crossed over into the home market.

So did Phase Linear, Carver, ADS, Denon, Technics. I think the point being is that the Pro gear is very well made. And I have never found Pro gear to sound objectionable or inferior to its 'home hi-fi' counter part.
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