Monitor Controllers
A monitor controller is the volume knob for a studio, and calling it that undersells the job. Every sound you judge passes through it, after the converter and before the speakers, which is the most exposed position in the room. A cheap potentiometer sitting there adds noise, drifts out of channel balance at low settings, and lets the stereo image wander as you turn it down. You will hear it as a mix that keeps needing another pass.
The rest of the job is switching. One source or several. One pair of speakers or three. A mono fold down, a dim, a mute, talkback, and headphone sends for whoever is playing. Those are not luxuries. Checking a mix in mono and on a second pair of speakers at a matched level is one of the few reliable ways to catch a problem before somebody else does, and it only happens if it takes a second.
The reason this is a separate box is that doing it in software puts the control behind the converter, where attenuating leaves fewer bits doing the work, and it puts the most used control in the studio inside the thing that crashes.
A monitor controller for stereo, surround and immersive rooms, running speaker systems up to 24 channels with room correction EQ and bass management on every channel, from a desk remote. On its own it takes digital sources: AES on DB25 and XLR, ADAT, S/PDIF and USB. Each ADC card adds eight analog inputs on DB25, and on the first card channels one and two can be switched to a stereo pair on XLR or RCA. The option slot takes one card, and we list Dante and Avid DigiLink. Every card we list can be fitted later, and fitted at the factory each one costs less than bought on its own. Grace also makes a Ravenna card for the slot, so ask us about that one. It also comes with a rackmount remote in place of the desk remote, listed without cards; ask us about adding them.
Which one
Passive or active is the first fork. A passive controller is a stepped attenuator or a good potentiometer with some relays and no gain stage, so it cannot add noise of its own. The cost is that it loads whatever drives it and has nothing to give back, so a quiet source stays quiet. An active controller buffers the input and drives long cable runs without losing the top end, at the price of a circuit that has to be good enough not to become the weakest thing in the chain.
Then look at how attenuation is done, because that is the specification that separates these. A cheap dual gang potentiometer can be a decibel or more out of balance between channels near the bottom of its travel, which is exactly where quiet checks happen, and that shifts the centre image. A stepped attenuator built from matched resistors, a relay switched ladder, or a good electronic volume control will hold channel balance across the whole range. When a controller does not say how it handles this, the answer is usually a potentiometer.
Which one
Passive or active is the first fork. A passive controller is a stepped attenuator or a good potentiometer with some relays and no gain stage, so it cannot add noise of its own. The cost is that it loads whatever drives it and has nothing to give back, so a quiet source stays quiet. An active controller buffers the input and drives long cable runs without losing the top end, at the price of a circuit that has to be good enough not to become the weakest thing in the chain.
Then look at how attenuation is done, because that is the specification that separates these. A cheap dual gang potentiometer can be a decibel or more out of balance between channels near the bottom of its travel, which is exactly where quiet checks happen, and that shifts the centre image. A stepped attenuator built from matched resistors, a relay switched ladder, or a good electronic volume control will hold channel balance across the whole range. When a controller does not say how it handles this, the answer is usually a potentiometer.
Inputs, outputs and price
Count inputs and outputs the way you would on an interface. Two speaker pairs and two sources covers most rooms. Three of each covers most of the rest. A mono button, a dim and a mute earn their place daily. Talkback and a headphone cue matter the moment somebody else is in the building.
What the tiers buy. Entry gets clean switching and a usable knob. The middle buys better attenuation, properly balanced connections, and a remote so the box can live behind the desk while the knob sits in front of you. Above that you are buying reference grade attenuation, calibrated trims per output so speaker pairs can be matched exactly, and metering.
Inputs, outputs and price
Count inputs and outputs the way you would on an interface. Two speaker pairs and two sources covers most rooms. Three of each covers most of the rest. A mono button, a dim and a mute earn their place daily. Talkback and a headphone cue matter the moment somebody else is in the building.
What the tiers buy. Entry gets clean switching and a usable knob. The middle buys better attenuation, properly balanced connections, and a remote so the box can live behind the desk while the knob sits in front of you. Above that you are buying reference grade attenuation, calibrated trims per output so speaker pairs can be matched exactly, and metering.
Worth knowing
Per output level trim is the feature that changes how you work, and it is the one people skip when comparing. Two pairs of speakers are almost never the same sensitivity, so switching between them changes loudness as well as sound, and the louder pair wins every comparison on merit it does not have. A controller that lets you calibrate each output to match makes the comparison honest.
Insist on balanced connections here. This box sits between pieces of gear on different circuits, often at the end of long cable runs, and it is the likeliest place in a small studio for a ground loop to start humming. Balanced in, balanced out, and a metal case solve most of that before it starts.
And this is a buy once item. It has no drivers to go stale, no format to be superseded, and nothing in it that goes obsolete when the computer or the speakers change.
Worth knowing
Per output level trim is the feature that changes how you work, and it is the one people skip when comparing. Two pairs of speakers are almost never the same sensitivity, so switching between them changes loudness as well as sound, and the louder pair wins every comparison on merit it does not have. A controller that lets you calibrate each output to match makes the comparison honest.
Insist on balanced connections here. This box sits between pieces of gear on different circuits, often at the end of long cable runs, and it is the likeliest place in a small studio for a ground loop to start humming. Balanced in, balanced out, and a metal case solve most of that before it starts.
And this is a buy once item. It has no drivers to go stale, no format to be superseded, and nothing in it that goes obsolete when the computer or the speakers change.
We take monitor controllers on consignment and in trade. Tell us what you have.
What you get either way
The listening room
Third floor at 215 East Lewis Street in Livingston, by appointment. An hour in the room settles this faster than anything either of us could write.
How we grade
Used and consigned gear is graded at the worst axis and never averaged. Every defect is named on the listing and the standard is published, so as described is something you can hold us to.
