 Monitor usage in the industry was highly conservative, with almost monopolistic reliance on industry "standards", in spite of the sonic failings of these aging designs.The Altec 604 had a notoriously ragged frequency response but almost all U.S studios continued to use it because virtually every producer and engineer knew its sound intimately and were practiced at listening through its sonic limitations.Recording through unfamiliar monitors, no matter how technically advanced, was hazardous because engineers unfamiliar with their sonic signatures could make poor production decisions and it was financially unviable to give production staff expensive studio time to familiarize themselves with new monitors.