Bose, Sony, or JBL (or none of the above because I'm stupid)

[Cerrax]

Okay I've read the whole monitors/headphones thread and I fail to see JBL and Bose on the list. I also notice Sony on the Bad List. So I am worried about my choices for sound equipment.

I have:

Sony MDR-V700 headphones

a pair of Bose 301 Series V speakers

and a pair of JBL L26 speakers

I know its not at all what is recommended here, but will this equipment seriously harm my goal of quality mixing? Will I be able to mix appropriately with this equipment?

[OverCoat]

YOU ARE STUPID actually the MDRs are nice.

[zircon]

In terms of monitoring equipment, here's one way to find out if your mixes will suffer from it. Do people constantly tell you your levels are off or the frequency balance is weird? Do your mixes sound good on some systems and not on others? If so, then you might need new monitoring gear.

[Cerrax]

Well it hasn't come up that often and its usually not a drastic change that needs to be done anyway. I mainly use my MDR headphones for mixing and then listen to the mix on the Bose and JBL's (as well as sometimes my car stereo and iPod headphones) to get a general idea of how it sounds on different systems. Ususally, my car stereo and iPod headphones sound very different (much less bass, a lot more mids and treble) but the JBL's and 301's sound pretty close to my headphones. I guess I sort of answered my own question but is there anything good about JBL or Bose stuff?

I've heard that the MDR's aren't bad, but that my model (V700's) are DJ headphones and may present a little too much bass.

My L26's are from 1973 and I've heard mixed reviews on their capabilities as effective studio monitors.

Many people have told me that Bose are only great for listening and not recording, but the 301's I have don't seem to differ much in sound from the JBL's.

[realpolitik]

Well it hasn't come up that often and its usually not a drastic change that needs to be done anyway. I mainly use my MDR headphones for mixing and then listen to the mix on the Bose and JBL's (as well as sometimes my car stereo and iPod headphones) to get a general idea of how it sounds on different systems. Ususally, my car stereo and iPod headphones sound very different (much less bass, a lot more mids and treble) but the JBL's and 301's sound pretty close to my headphones. I guess I sort of answered my own question but is there anything good about JBL or Bose stuff?

I've heard that the MDR's aren't bad, but that my model (V700's) are DJ headphones and may present a little too much bass.

My L26's are from 1973 and I've heard mixed reviews on their capabilities as effective studio monitors.

Many people have told me that Bose are only great for listening and not recording, but the 301's I have don't seem to differ much in sound from the JBL's.

the v7000's are apparently crap.

the general consensus ive drawn from tranceaddict, trance.nu, blah blah blah

go for the mdr-7506/v6s.

same model basically.

cheers

[Compyfox]

Bose is overrated for (home) cinema systems. They overpower too much, which was done on purpose to satisfy the so called "golden ear" or in better term "audiophile" community.

Boss is made for longrange if they present it as "the loudest and best sounding THX equipment for your home", but not for nearfield/midfield aplications. And I've listened through a lot of surround systems for possible "mixing". All I can say is: BOSE IS CRAP. They're HiFi speakers, not mixing equipment.

Hell even the Alesis Monitor 1 mkII kicks more ass (And sounds way better for mixing, too).

[Yoozer]

The Bose speakers color the sound in order to make it sound better. They are also not expensive enough for the audiophiles, who insist on $200/feet cables that are made by virgins only at nights with a full moon, somewhere in Tibet.

I wouldn't use them to listen music on.

The JBL speakers are hi-fi speakers. Just make sure that the amplifier driving them doesn't have any equalizers set to anything - e.g. as neutral as possible.

If, as zircon says, you listen to a variety of sources and aren't getting comments, things are okay; it's just that that process (every time you change something) can take a while (because you have to 'verify' it on multiple systems). Monitor speakers would give you the 'truth' rightaway; e.g. you can compose and verify/listen to it in one go.

Headphones are useful to catch some things speakers won't; but relying on them completely is also not that wise. Also, while speakers have an amplifier where you can adjust the sound, headphones usually don't offer that option.