Recording Forum

[Kid Klash]

I've been looking at the current crop of studio monitor offerings, and the one that keeps popping up with great kudos are the Equator D5's powered monitors for $300 a pair. The reviewers say that they are as good or better than many of the $1,500 and up monitors from some very widely respected brands. These Equator D5's are available directly from Equator, or through Amazon, and come with a 60 day no questions asked return policy.

What are you using, and how do you like them? Do your mixes translate well to other speakers (car speakers, earbuds, etc.)?

[gubu]

With a lot of monitors/setups, you'll still need to learn how the mixes translate to other speakers, i.e. you'll have to learn your monitors' sound. That will involve burning a lot of mixes and seeing how they stand up on car speakers, iPod docks and anywhere else you can play them.

On the Equator D5s specifically - I've never heard a pair, so I couldn't say. I use passive Tannoy Reveal 5s, and they're fine. Nothing special, just ok. But, I can tell pretty well at this stage how my mixes are going to sound on other systems.

[Kotch]

I just recently upgraded the ones I bought twenty years ago for a pair KRK Rok-it 6's. When I first looked at them I thought, there is no way anything this small can have any sort of decent bass response. I was wrong. They sound at least twice is good as my old ones, and the bass is much tighter.

[mister natural]

I really dig my Wharfedale 8.2a actives - think that I paid ~$375 pr

great bass response & yes, they translate very well

[MarkGifford-1]

I'm using Focal Solo 6's and I like them just fine.

My room isn't ideal, but I can get a mix 95% of the way there on them, and then I'll go to the studio and do final tweaks, mainly on the low end.

The studio has Dynaudio BM15a's and Rat Shack Minimus 7's which I'm very familiar with. When it sounds right on both of them, I know I'm done.

MG

[flatfinger]

I highly reccomend that you purchase mike seniors book " Mixing secrets for the small studio" and read the first 3 chapters ; there he covers all aspects you need to know about monitoring ....and some you probably never thought about !!!

If it were me I would look into the Event monitor that has the 8" woofer and front facing port ... The D5 is a marvelous little monitor but It can't be pushed hard and loud , and a mid/woof driver that small ( even with porting) cant do the way down low very much . If you wanted to use those W/ a pair of subs I could reccomend them whole heartedly , ( BUT having just returned from the rabbit hole of a building a pair of 10" sealed SW's and the trail that is integrating them properly , I can only say that takes mucho time to get right .... thus the 8" woofer conclusion ...)


Get that book before you spend a dime !!!! ( Really)

[Syyle]

I've got the KRK VXT4s. They work great and put out a lot of sound if I need them to. I'm considering getting a subwoofer to compliment them; for the type of music I do, I'm finding that these little monitors don't quite capture the low end as it is.

[maarkr]

What kind of music u doing? Doing electronic, rap or hard rock u'll need 8' and a sub. You may get by with less than 8 if u're doing easy country or pop, or if you're a beginning mixer. I started with small mons and now I'm using Yamaha HS80Ms and a sub. They translate well. Don't rule out buying used on EBay to get the most for your money.

[Kerouac]

I have two pairs of M-Audio EX66's... one set at home and another in the studio. I've had them for years and I've learned how they sound pretty well, especially in different rooms. One day I'm hoping to snag a set of Focal's, but hat's more a "grass is greener" type of thing.

[Kid Klash]

Originally Posted by maarkr

What kind of music u doing? Doing electronic, rap or hard rock u'll need 8' and a sub. You may get by with less than 8 if u're doing easy country or pop, or if you're a beginning mixer. I started with small mons and now I'm using Yamaha HS80Ms and a sub. They translate well. Don't rule out buying used on EBay to get the most for your money.

I've been recording since the 60's, and have worked on all the genres you mentioned, as well as jazz, classical and metal (quite an esoteric collection of genres!). I've used big Genelecs, EVs, JBLs and most large in-soffit monitors, and also still have my Auratone cubes and NS10s. I'm looking at the current crop of nearfields, and so far, the Equator D5's and the Focal CMS50 (which are quite a bit more expensive) are my two favs, purely from a phase coherant point of view. I listened to a pair of passive Tannoys, which were nice, as well as a couple of the KRK and M-Audio offerings. I'm almost afraid to mention this, but I also listened to a pair of Behringer 2031A's and was very surprised at how much better they sounded than I expected. With all this being said, I'm still leaning towards the Equator D5's for their imaging, wide sweet-spot, small footprint and unbeatable price ($300 a pair). I'll mull things around a bit more this week, and make my final decision next week.

[aZnrockstar]

Originally Posted by maarkr

What kind of music u doing? Doing electronic, rap or hard rock u'll need 8' and a sub. You may get by with less than 8 if u're doing easy country or pop, or if you're a beginning mixer. I started with small mons and now I'm using Yamaha HS80Ms and a sub. They translate well. Don't rule out buying used on EBay to get the most for your money.

Speaker size has little to do with what style of music you're mixing, and more to do with the size of the room you're mixing in.

I've been mixing with a set of KRK Rokit6's for the past few months, and I am quite pleased with them. I snagged a pair of the limited edition blue Rokits for $300, so that might still be a good option, if you can find them.

[Mo Facta]

Yamaha HS80s and HS50s.

Love em and I don't care if they're not Lipinskis.

Cheers

[sdelsolray]

A pair of Quested H108 passives with a Bryston 3B ST power amp and a pair of Quested F11 actives. For my uses (solo fingerstyle acoustic and classical guitar) I prefer the F11. For most other applications, folks would likely prefer the H108.

[The Radman]

A pair of Mackie HR824's atop a pair of horizontal Mackie HR626's, as my main tracking/mixing monitors. These translate everything from high gain amps and distortion to the most dynamic of
synth leads or pads, and the complexity of modern multitrack electronic/power/pop/guitar mixes.
I also use a pair of M-Audio BX8's in front of me , in addition to the Mackie's for sound designing.
I couldn't be happier. After I got all my instruments and electronics playing nice {no small feat when dealing with 16 electronic intruments} dead quiet throughout when on and not in use, when I do play, track or mix, I can monitor with as much gain as a mastered mix would have.
Speaking of mastering, I'll be picking up a pair of Mackie MR8MKII'S real soon for mastering, I know their sound, and they are f-ing incredible.
As an update got my MR8 MKII's installed, I needed to put a 10db pad on the inputs for my source was sending +4db which was causing clip/thermal shutdown. It worked like a charm. Now when playing CD's or mastering, I have all the tone and gain I need: they are a great addition and sound like the HR's for much less cost. I mastered a track last night and it came out above and beyond my expectations, these will really help my workflow, I'm getting used to their hyped low end, but I do kinda like it, it feels like they get down below the 25hz range and it feels good! Diggin' these monitors...

[Phil O'Keefe]

My main monitors are ADAM S3A midfields. I also have ADAM A7 nearfields, Avantone Mixcubes, and modified JBL 4412's. I'm really, REALLY happy with the ADAMs.

[DVaz]

A7s and a sub8. Love them.

[DW_Man_TX]

I have been using KRK5s the original first gen, bought them new. I finally just bought a pair of YAMAHA HS80Ms, i cant believe the difference, night and day, the YAMAHAs are amazing in comparison.
They exposed so much.

[Sillypeoples]

My monitors are pretty much anything in the house....I used to use my Sony/JBL home stereo...then I recently switched....get this.... to outputting the MR8 to the speakers on my Sony Big Screen....it's surprisingly not as 'voiced' as I might have thought.....I've used headphones....last night I was using ear buds..

I suspect I will end up with some studio quality monitors...it's a bitch to mix on earbuds...run the CD out to the car for the 'CD Player check' and it sucks...run back in and re EQ.

[Beck]

Yorkville YSM1i passive nearfields (Made in Canada) paired with a vintage Yamaha P2050 power amp. About ten years ago I wanted to simplify monitoring to one pair of great nearfields and the Yorkville’s did the trick with flying colors. The Yorkies are unfortunately discontinued and difficult to find. People hang on to them. I was lucky to find them new and from Canada. The last run of YSM1i were made in China and I wouldn’t be interested in those if I had to replace these.

[veracohr]

ADAM A7. I love them. I could really use a sub for my electronic music, but I don't have the money, and besides I live in an apartment, so I'm sure my neighbors would rather I not. I supplement with a pair of KRK KNS 8400 headphones.