Recording Forum

[zoobooboozoo]

Hi all,

I'm looking to get new monitors for my humble home studio.
Again, the budget is pretty low.

I record mostly jazz, funk, rock, and sometimes other kinds of music, but mostly these three.
I'm also listening to other people's music with the monitors, since my DAW is also My everyday PC.

Price range 100-200$, preferably around 150$.

[ermghoti II]

That's super low, and I'm sure you don't have any sound treatment... so better monitors' performnce would be masked by room issues anyway. You're just as well off getting Grado cans or something, unless you want to boost your budget markedly.

[zoobooboozoo]

I need to get some kind of speakers anyway,
would you suggest crappy monitors or some regular stereo?

[wesg]

My recommendation would be for something with a fairly flat frequency response. That is not usually how HiFi speakers are made. Similarly, monitors are usually made to work better closer to head, so you are listening to the speaker instead of the sound bouncing off the room. Not the general case for HiFi speakers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studio_monitor

Maybe you should watch your local craig's list for a while to see if anything good pops up? I see bookshelf monitors here quite regularly.

Or shop Guitar Center used stuff.... I think you would be way better off, for example, buying these instead of HiFi speakers:
http://www.guitarcenter.com/In-Store-Used-USED-012913-USED-PAIR-JBL-4206-STUDIO-MONITORS-108635418-i...

[headstack]

What do you have for a budget and what is your idea of low cost?

The KRK Rockit 5 is pretty decent for the money and can be had for well under $500 a pair now.

[zoobooboozoo]

@headstack: Price range 100-200$, preferably around 150$.

[Rudolf von Hag…]

price low to high


http://www.sweetwater.com/c409--Passive_Monitors/low2high

[Kid Klash]

If you could spring for $300, you could have a pair of these :

http://www.equatoraudio.com/D5_Studio_Monitors_with_DSP_p/d5.htm

[Rudolf von Hag…]

it doesn't work like that with loudspeakers

what works is that you go with some music you know to a music store and tell the sales rep to play it for you on all the speaker he has in the store, and you buy the pair you like the best

[Zooey]

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Kid Klash wrote:

If you could spring for $300, you could have a pair of these :

http://www.equatoraudio.com/D5_Studio_Monitors_with_DSP_p/d5.htm

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These have been getting great reviews. 

[headstack]

Has any one here heard these Equator monitors?

$300 for a pair of powered coax with 100 watts (if it is clean power with some fair headroom) is very nicely priced!

$750 for surround is a deal if these are as nice as they say.

[zoobooboozoo]

I have an interM PA2000 amp.

Would it be better to buy powered or un-powered monitors?(I don't have to use the amp...)
is there a difference in the price?

[headstack]

Powered monitors will always cost more than a passive counterpart because you are paying for the internal amplifiers.

That said, the tone and other charachteristics of an amp ilke slew rate, damping, frequency response, etc can make an enormous difference in how a mix is percieved.

For instance, I have a friend I used to work with (he has two Grammys) who hates NS-10 monitors.

However, he loves mine which are powered with a Bryston 4B amplifier.

The tone and soundfield is totally different than all the other NS-10 I have used over the years, and they are quite easy to mix with and have final product that translates well on other systems.

You could probably find a pair of Tannoy Reveal passives (the older first incarnation) for around $150 used.

These are pretty nice to mix on!

Frankly, if your budget is super slim, you might be better off with a pair of used Auratone monitors or Avantone Mix Cubes to work with.

They are what we lovingly call "Crappytone" monitors and are decent for getting your mix levels and EQ balance for separation.

If you can get great sounding mixes on these, you will be most of the way home.

A pair of good headphones to square away the bottom end of your mix will be of great help when using tiny monitors like these.

[WRGKMC]

They have the Alesis nearfields on sale at guitar center for $49. They n6ormally sell for $200. I'm thinking  about buying a couple of sets. Even if they arent top of the line they come in handy for compatibility checks.  

[Kid Klash]

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Zooey wrote:

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Kid Klash wrote:

If you could spring for $300, you could have a pair of these :

http://www.equatoraudio.com/D5_Studio_Monitors_with_DSP_p/d5.htm

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These have been getting great reviews. 

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For all the right reasons too.  I've had a pair of them for two months now and I'm floored at how accurate they are, especially regarding the clarity, smoothness and accurate imaging do to their coaxial driver design. 

They have a "60 day no-questions-asked money back guarantee" too; if you don't like them, return them, so it wasn't much of a stretch to order a pair and try them out in my own studio with my own audio masters.  You can't do that at the local GC!

[Kid Klash]

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headstack wrote:
Has any one here heard these Equator monitors?

$300 for a pair of powered coax with 100 watts (if it is clean power with some fair headroom) is very nicely priced!

$750 for surround is a deal if these are as nice as they say.

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Yes, I have a pair of them.  IMHO, they are the best powered nearfield monitors available right now for less than $800 a pair.

[gubu]

+1 for the Tannoy Reveal passives, 2nd hand. You'll easily pick up a pair in your price range, and they're head and shoulders above anything else you'll get for around that money.

After that, consider some room treatment. Even the best monitors will be hampered by the acoustic environment in which they're used. Simple bass trapping and reflection treatment can cost next to nothing if you DIY.

[Rudolf von Hag…]

one of the disadvantage using powered studio  monitors is, when you move the volume away from the calibrated SPL  level, you either need an addition amp stage, or you have to do it with a console fader virtual or real

I do this it with the volume knob on the power amp which is next to my seat, and when working at home with a hi-fi amp's volume knob, also next to me