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Studio Monitors

I'm lookin to buy some new studio monitors shortly and I want to know what everyone here is using. So in this thread, let's hear what you have, how you like it, what the pros/cons are, and what you reccommend.

I'm currently looking at the Behringer "Truth" monitors. I want active (amplified) monitors, and under $400 for sure. Also I want as much low end response as possible without getting a seperate sub, but i may add one in the future.

Please post!

i got a pair of yamaha msp5 active monitors for 240$ used


excellent sound. w/ frequences similar to the lengenedary Yamaha NS-10m

very small in size but big beautiful sounds

I have the Truths and I love them .... quite a difference going to them from shitty bookshelf speakers. They have them for $350 at Audiolines.com Thats where i got mine

try the search button it reveals "hidden" threads

but because i started to write a post, i'll give you an advice: don't buy the cheapest monitors.. it's one of the importants point in audio producing! so you better buy some good monitors...

i've the genelecs 1030 here (around 800$ ONE monitor / pair -> ~1600$)

so long
cYrus

I'm still using my Jamo 3-ways. Why? Becasue they actually represent the spectrum really well. The bass was a bit weak so i just turned it up on the amp and they sound fine. After 3 years of playing records on them, I know how they sound.

Was thinking about getting the active truth monitors but in Aus' they go for around US$700 dollars, which is an absolute rip-off. Everything here is twice the price and no ebay.com

to be honest, there are no one pair of magical studio monitors that will be the best. Even if a pair of studio monitors are perfectly flat (does not colour the sound at all), it all depends on your representation of what is "flat". Your mix isn't what sounds good on YOUR monitors solely, but it should sound good on the car stereo, in da club , on a boombox, using earphones, etc...

There are a pair of absolutely HORRIBLE sounding speakers (i think it's made by yamaha) and it was purposely designed to boost the mid range frequencies to make it sound horrible. The reason behind this is if you can get your mix to sound good on THOSE speakers, then you've really done a hell of a job mastering your mix well.

The best way to find monitors that suit you are by going to the local store, bring a CD of your favourite tracks as well as music from all sorts of different genres and listen to a bunch of various monitors for an hour (if they allow you). If you find that you are getting "ear fatigue" from any monitor, than it's not for you. If you find that any of the songs you are playing on the monitors that just doesn't sound right, it's not for you.

Kewlness, that's some good advice. Thanks.

quote:

Originally posted by kewlness There are a pair of absolutely HORRIBLE sounding speakers (i think it's made by yamaha)

They would be the Yamaha NS-10s monitors. They were notriously louder in the mids, causing everyone to exagerate the low and high frequencies. All the songs made on these had heaps of bass and treble. I think the result was called the "disco smile".

It's true that different people preffer different monitors, but there are still certain facts that you need to know before buying a pair.
First of all, you need to know how much money you're willing to spend. More money will give you better monitors...Period.
Second, if somebody tells you 'if you make your tracks sound good on bad monitors, your material will sound good everywhere else' it simply isn't true. You need good monitors, so your mixes translate well into different environments-car audio systems, clubs, radio, TV and especially mono sources. What do you think, how many people will listen to your music on flat response speakers?
Third, whatever monitors you get, you need to learn to recognize various frequencies when being played over it. That's called 'ear training' and is a mandatory subject for audio engineers. Since most of us are amateurs here, try listening to as many different tracks and genres over your monitors as possible. Try to notice the amount of bass, treble, reverb, imaging, etc.
Fourth, you can't have a weak link in your audio chain if you want to produce high quality music. That's if you have a $1000.00 audio card and $400.00 monitors. It just doesn't work.
Fifth, DON'T buy Behringer monitors.

Why not buy Behringer monitors? Do you have some sort of explanation for that?

Maybe because Behringer are dodgy cheap rip-offs that colour the sound. I don't know, just a guess.

I had Behringer Truth 2031 studio monitors for 2 years. In those two years I was struggling to properly mix my tracks. Whenever the end result sounded good on Behringers, it sounded muddy or lacking in definition on other speakers. The best environment to check the final mix was my car and it was very hard to obtain satisfying results.
Then my woofer stopped responding and I could not find a dealer to replace it for me.
After everything, the decision was to buy quality monitors to complement quality hardware in my studio, and I opted out for Dynaudio BM6A's.
The price of Dynaudios is much higher but you get 10 times the results. When the two set of monitors are compared this is my explanation why:

1. Frequency response
Behringers have exaggerated low frequency response. The frequency in question is higher bass frequency (200-500 Hz). Even after you attenuate the bass response, it's hard to judge how much bass you need. Also, the mids are shrill and not clear, in other words too much treble and you can't get rid of this frequency by playing with filters in the back.
Dynaudios have punchy and clearly defined response in any frequency department.

2. Imaging
It's hard to locate sounds in space with Behringers.
Dynaudios imaging is precise and outrageously accurate.

3. Dynamics
If you want to use the compressor you have to be able to hear your compression. Compressors are used to make the material (especially drum tracks and bass) more punchy and defined. You can easily distinguish this with Dynaudios but not with Behringers.


These are some of the main reasons for a switch to a different set of monitors. That is not to say that Behringers are very bad speakers. They are actually better called hi-fi speakers than near field studio monitors. It's possible to get good results with these, but the question is, how long will you need till you get used to their sound and is 'good' good enough for you.

Regards
Design

Design, thanks thats a great explaination. A hell of a lot more usefull than cheggy's.

quote:

Originally posted by danieldavid Design, thanks thats a great explaination. A hell of a lot more usefull than cheggy's.

Always here to help.

I use a pair of Axiom M22ti monitors ($400US) and an Adire Rava sub ($400US). I must say that the accuracy of sound reproduction is amazing on these.





The axioms are all around great speakers for neutrality, detail, and soundstage. They do roll off the bass fairly high, so thats where the rava comes into play. very clean, controlled bass with it's 12" shiva woofer, all the way down to 25hz. The integration between the speakers and sub is almost flawless, giving the impression of full range towers.

I personally don't know how someone can monitor properly with something like Tannoy Reveals (which i use at school) just because the bass response isnt there. Especially for a music genre that is heavily dependant on bass, you need something that can give you accuracy. On the other hand, we also have a pair of old Tannoy System Series speakers (dunno which model) which can surprisingly give good bass. I guess it depends on the actual speaker, but most smaller ones arn't designed to reproduce the entire frequency range. With small drivers how could they?

The only 'con' for these speakers is that they arnt active. I personally see that as a pro, cause you can then upgrade amplifiers later, but I guess some people want actives for whatever reason/

quote:

The axioms are all around great speakers for neutrality, detail, and soundstage.

But the Axioms are audiophile speakers, not studio monitors.

Haha, just bullshitin', I know that pisses you off, just playin'. I bet I had you going though.

lol Etherium

some people stick with their view of things, others are more open minded.

What if you are open minded, and stick with that? hahaha.

Anyway, damn this thread, it's just burst my bubble about Behringer monitors.

Does anyone have experience with the Alesis Monitor 1 MKII's? I've used them as broadcast monitors at a radio station, but the matierial being played and the board makes it hard to know if the reproduction is accurate, and not to mention the wall of glass behind the board... Anyway, the active version of the Monitor 1 seems to be nice, any thoughts?

DD,

Hmmm, well, you probably can't afford the Dynaudios or Genelecs or you wouldn't be looking at Behringer Truths, but what about a pair of Mackie HR624s. They are just as good as the 824s but with a little less bass response.

I have the Event TR8s. They are pretty flat, but the soundstage could be better.

With speakers, it seems that you get what you pay for. Another thing to consider is that it is hard to resell monitors. So, make a good decision the first time. No pressure, hehe.

Etherium, no pressure huh? Haha this is a tough decision, before i started this thread it would've bought my Truth monitors and probably never looked back. But sometimes its better to know the truth (no pun intended). Anyway, yes i cannot buy Genelec or Dynaudio monitors, i just dont have $1000+ to drop on monitors. Maybe if i get something signed? Anyway, this is still a great thread, because I think there are a lot of people out there who think anything called a 'studio monitor' is worth buying. Obviously there is more to it than that.

So again, I have $400 to spend, I need a pair of ACTIVE monitors, or the amp and monitors have to cost less than $400-$500. And they will be used only for production and maybe some minor mastering. What are the options?

For further validation that you are making the correct decision by not buying the Truths, see this article.

ProRec

Other than that the Event TR8s are good for the price, they are a little over your range at 500.00.

You might just want to go with the Alesis M1s. To be honest, I would try to save up a little more i.e. donate sperm or become a manwhore or sell something on Ebay. If so, you could get a pair of Mackies.

Good luck.

quote:

Originally posted by DJ Chrono I guess some people want actives for whatever reason/

I saw this on the mackie website regarding external amps. Of course this is from their website and they most likely will have a biased opinion

quote:

http://mackie.com/products/mackietechnology/Active_vs_Passive.html because power amps vary widely in output ratings, damping factors and sound characteristics, they introduce an unwanted variable in the monitoring process. The HR824's internal amplifiers are low negative feedback, audiophile-quality designs which are specially tailored to the optimum power requirements of the transducers.

quote:

Originally posted by SOLTRI I saw this on the mackie website regarding external amps. Of course this is from their website and they most likely will have a biased opinion

Yeah, active speakers are always being backed up by the argument that the amps are specifically designed to work with the speaker to give you the best output.

I dont believe it at all. If a pair of active monitors costs 1000, how much is going into the speaker itself, and how much is going into the amp? Chances are they skimp on the amp, because it has less impact on the sound compared to the actual speaker components. They are also usually pretty low power output, not that you need alot for monitoring, but its usefull, especially when you're testing out your mixes at a nice loud level, and want alittle headroom to prevent any signs of distortion or clipping. Also the watts are sometimes inflated in their specs. I know alot of companies do this, with there tricky ways of rating power (eg if an amp is rated at 60watts, it could be 60 into one channel with only one mono channel,, when you use regular stereo it goes down to 40 or something per channel).

I would prefer to have a choice of what seperate amp to use, to assure that I'm getting quality.

Something like a nice Creek A50i. (i personally dont use anything fancy as an amp right now, but thats the beauty of having passive speakers. can always upgrade.)

quote:

Originally posted by danieldavid Does anyone have experience with the Alesis Monitor 1 MKII's? I've used them as broadcast monitors at a radio station, but the matierial being played and the board makes it hard to know if the reproduction is accurate, and not to mention the wall of glass behind the board... Anyway, the active version of the Monitor 1 seems to be nice, any thoughts?

Sorry to dig this up, but its that or start a new thread, anyway...

I'm also thinking about getting the Alesis Monitor 1 MKII's, as thats in my price range, its priced at GB�200/US$350. My Question is what do you think about it, will it do the job? here is the spec for it if you didn't know and my questions:

Frequency Response: 45 Hz - 20 kHz +/- 3dB

will that be fine?, will it need a seperate subwoofer for it if it only goes to 45Hz?

Power Handling: 120 watts program, 200 watts peak at 4 ohms

will my 30 Watt per channel at 8 ohms amp do the job, will it just mean it want be able to go to max volume and/or will the quality be reduced? this cost me about GB�120/US$200 if that helps.

Thanks, and a happy new year!

quote:

Tannoy Reveal Active Studio Monitors - Pair One of the most popular monitors from Tannoy's line is the Reveal Active. It incorporates some rather neat features that can often be overlooked when confronted with the usual "monitor wall." Its two high quality drive units are mounted in a 1 1/2" thick (!) MDF baffle, which has its edges shaped to reduce diffraction, an effect that causes poor imaging in monitors with conventional square-edged baffles. The system uses a 1" shielded soft dome tweeter and 6 �" shielded long-throw woofer. An interesting feature (and rather rare nowadays) is that the drive units are actually made in-house by Tannoy. This ensures a quality and consistency that cannot be guaranteed by OEM drive units made offshore - a cost saving tactic used by many other manufacturers. Sonic excellence at an affordable price is the hallmark of the Reveal Active.

I scored on a pair of these myself! Ebay ...some guy bought like 6 sets for a casino that didnt end up buying them from him...i got em for like half price...I dont have a studio yet, but I knew these were the ones to have!

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