I've decided to pick one of these. I know both are excellent. I'm just having trouble deciding if the HR-824 is worth the extra cash. The speakers will be placed in an average sized living room. Would the HR-824 be too much power? The HR-824 has a greater frequency range, namely bass, but is $300 more expensive than it's smaller counterpart. Would I need to purchase an additional subwoofer for the 624? Is the 824 too much power for the beginner producer?

Maybe one of you guys can help me put things into perspective.

"Average sized living room"? That doesn't really help

Bear in mind that placing monitors with their backs to a wall will enhance the bass a bit, then consider how much bass you really need. And on the power front, either will be loud enough for you to hear the music through your flat / house.

I'm sure some people will disagree but I don't think a sub is necessary. I personally think either the 624 or 824 will enable you to write well balanced tracks, once you know how they respond. And that's the most important point - know your monitors.

At the end of the day people can compensate for how their monitors respond (or don't respond) by knowing about the deficiencies. Always play stuff you've written on as many different systems as possible and you will begin to understand what sound you need to achieve on your system to make a track sound balanced across a range of systems.

Well, that's a bit OT, so to answer your question, either