Cheapest pair of not-entirely-worthless speakers/"monitors"

I'll be honest I didn't read the replies about used gear/etc; thanks but as I said before it is a pointless discussion for me. Back to speakers. New ones. :)

Has anyone used anything significantly less than the JBLs (about $300 a pair) that sounded at least decent, and I don't mean "decent for a pro-level studio" or other similarly high standards, but just in general a respectable, accurate, even modestly acceptable sound quality?

I can see what others say about getting the best one can afford, but in fact you do have a budget and are just looking into acoustic treatment, too. Until you tame reflections and nodes in your mixing room, even the best monitors you can afford will have issues.

I looked at specs and listened to 'budget' monitors for over a year before going for the LSR305s - and then, only when they were on sale. Musicans Friend had them for 'buy 1, get 1/2 off the 2nd) - so $225. I went into local Guitar Center and they beat the price by $1.
Here they are for $275 with a bunch of cables thrown in: Amazon.com: JBL LSR 305 Studio Monitor Pair with XLR for Mixing Boards, TRS to XLR for Interfaces, and 1/8 in. to XLR for Laptops...: Musical Instruments Wait for a sale - often the ugly red-bodied ones go on sale for $99 each.
For the money you won't find any other speakers with a low end spec down to what these have. If you don't do any music with low end (bass or kick) you could 'get away' with using a 4" speaker or a cheaper 5" one.
 
I'll be honest I didn't read the replies about used gear/etc; thanks but as I said before it is a pointless discussion for me. Back to speakers. New ones. :)

Has anyone used anything significantly less than the JBLs (about $300 a pair) that sounded at least decent, and I don't mean "decent for a pro-level studio" or other similarly high standards, but just in general a respectable, accurate, even modestly acceptable sound quality?

Well it is too bad you have an aversion to finding a way to quality at a budget...Your loss dood. Totally, because I have a pair of monitors I could sell you now used for $200. But, well...since you ignored advice I gave to you then best of luck...

I have purchased many less than $300 a pair monitors ($600 -$800 a pair new) and have found them to be shit for me. The best of those were a pair of Event TR8's. They are the best of the cheap end and the ones I have to offer for sale that showed me the what I needed. But...

8 years later I realized that in my personal world, I needed better than I had before. So I invested way more money in monitors as did Miro. We realized how important they are in just the basics of recording.

So go ahead and rely on your own judgment and deny purchasing used gear. You would be better off making friends here.

One member of HR once sent me a $5000 pair of mics 5 years ago just to try out because he trusted me. No charge. I ended up buying a $900 pair of KSM141's for $500 from him. Still use them to this day.


Take the advice you are given and investigate yourself. Most of the shit you hear on the internet is bullshit hype... Maybe this is, but I doubt I would waste my time as a moderator offering help on a home recording forum if I didn't give shit. Make sense?

Best to you Joey
 
Two points of veiw.

1) Get as good as you can afford despite it just being a hobby.
Hobbies come and go. In the event of not being interested any more the good stuff can be sold. The junk you're stuck with forever.

I know some guys into model railroading. I never heard of one saying they got the cheapest locomotive just to get by.....because it was just a hobby.
Nope. Never heard that once. :)
(Now THAT's a hobby that will eat up massive quantities of cash)

2) Just go to Goodwill and pick up a set of decent computer speakers. Heck, that's probably the highest level of fidelity people would be listening to your stuff on anyway.

In the event of getting serious and picking up nice monitors they can still be used to check how your mixes sound in a real world listening environment.


Have fun.
:D
 
...accurate...

See...right there, that one word is going to be the Achilles Heel for most inexpensive monitors...and as others have said, the acoustic treatment works hand in hand.

If you're just talking about "decent sounding" monitors...that's not the same as "accurate"... for mixing.

You can find a LOT of inexpensive monitors that will sound pretty good as a basic playback system...even some better computer speakers can sound pretty decent...but that's not what works too often for actual mixing.

You want the "accurate" ones...and for that, you will have to pay more.
Also...there's some variety even within the "accurate" bunch...so you kinda have to try them out some way, and find the ones who's accuracy fits your listening preference.

If you can't trust the monitors...you just end up trowing money away even if they were inexpensive.
 
You might consider a par of Behringer Truth monitors. The B2031 8" monitors are reasonably cheap and sound ok. I used them happily for years.
 
As a studio occupier for over 30 years, I have had the time to come to certain conclusions based on experience and this is all I have to offer in a group discussion on anything.

That being said and I see this will fall on deaf ears, but perhaps someone else can benefit, I have found over the years of buying and selling gear of all sorts, that the "better" quality the gear was at new, the better chance it was used well and taken care of.

This is NOT an absolute, just simply something that has, in my experience, shown itself to be mostly true.

I do understand the reluctance about 'transducer' types of gear perhaps being most vulnerable to idiot usage....mics are certainly capable of being paperweights without a lot of effort, but better "monitor speakers" especially those with a higher price tag on them originally tend to be 'broken in' rather than broken......in general. ALL speakers of any sort require an exercise period for break in. And for what it's worth....self-powered monitors tend to have built-in protection against overdriven and harmful effects being applied.

Peace.
 
Here's a pair of D8's at a decent price...not sure if they're as good as the D5's...

Equator Audio D8 Pair | Reverb

...oh wait,...they're used.

:D

Shit, if I had the coin right now I'd snap those babies up!

Unfortunately right now my money is for things other than studio gear purchases.


In general on this thread, I think anything any of us bring up will fall on deaf ears.

Here we have an apparent case of a poster with pre conceived ideas and a made up mind.
I don't even know why the subject was even brought up except as a 'trolling' operation.

There are so, so, so many monitor threads and reviews on the net, that posting an entirely new thread is pointless.

Just some research would tell the OP EVERYTHING he would want to know.

Yes, my fellow forumites, I do believe we are bring trolled. :D
 
Shit, if I had the coin right now I'd snap those babies up!

Unfortunately right now my money is for things other than studio gear purchases.


In general on this thread, I think anything any of us bring up will fall on deaf ears.

Here we have an apparent case of a poster with pre conceived ideas and a made up mind.
I don't even know why the subject was even brought up except as a 'trolling' operation.

There are so, so, so many monitor threads and reviews on the net, that posting an entirely new thread is pointless.

Just some research would tell the OP EVERYTHING he would want to know.

Yes, my fellow forumites, I do believe we are bring trolled. :D

Oh yeah that makes sense.

Let's review:

- I created the thread
- I made it quite clear what info I was interested in
- I also made it quite clear - and had to repeat it at least once, which is once more than should be necessary - I was not interested in used equipment when the idea came up
- I also made it clear I was quite firm on that and therefore had zero interest in discussing it
- Several people, including you, keep throwing it in my face anyway and in some cases starting to cop at attitude because they can't convince me

And now on top of that, we have these snotty little jabs at me by you (and perhaps others in the other posts I didn't fully read, but can't say either way).

And I'M the troll.

Right.

If someone asks if you know of something (and again I made what that was quite clear) and you don't, try at least pretending to be an adult and simply say so and move on. Or better yet, just move on. There's no need for this kiddie BS or being a d-bag because someone dares not to share your opinion.

Done w/this thread
 
There was absolutely no "snotty jabs" at you in previous posts. I do admit in my last post I'd had enough.

Any of your questions could have been answered with a simple Google search of something like "decent studio monitors under (insert price)"
Or "ten best budget monitors"


All I got to say is that when a mod, who is quite helpful to so many, starts getting frustrated with you, that's an indication of a problem.

And with that said, I'm out of here too.

Wish you luck. Sincerely.
 
Oh yeah that makes sense.

Let's review:

- I created the thread
- I made it quite clear what info I was interested in
- I also made it quite clear - and had to repeat it at least once, which is once more than should be necessary - I was not interested in used equipment when the idea came up
- I also made it clear I was quite firm on that and therefore had zero interest in discussing it
- Several people, including you, keep throwing it in my face anyway and in some cases starting to cop at attitude because they can't convince me

And now on top of that, we have these snotty little jabs at me by you (and perhaps others in the other posts I didn't fully read, but can't say either way).

And I'M the troll.

Right.

If someone asks if you know of something (and again I made what that was quite clear) and you don't, try at least pretending to be an adult and simply say so and move on. Or better yet, just move on. There's no need for this kiddie BS or being a d-bag because someone dares not to share your opinion.

Done w/this thread

So you don't want the used TR8's for $200? lol!

Dood, seriously everyone here is only trying to help. You want to buy new but you want cheap. So what some of us are saying is that when it comes to monitor speakers in the $500 new range for sale for $200 you are likely dealing with guys that made the next step. Especially with speakers, they do not just go bad with abuse. Not from use. Maybe from kids poking at the tweeters, but that does not happen if the monitors were placed appropriately....Anyway...

So I hope you don't take offense to RFR's post either. You are now throwing out again the point of your post (and by the way it is quite 'clear'), but neglecting the fact that those answering may have more experience than you do and have given opinions based on their past purchases or sales when upgrading.

We are just trying to help from our own experiences man. Chill bro. You asked. I offered. Don't throw me under the bus for offering a good pair of monitors for the price of crap ones....

Jeez dood. Seriously, CTFO
 
"Let's review:

- I created the thread
- I made it quite clear what info I was interested in
- I also made it quite clear - and had to repeat it at least once, which is once more than should be necessary - I was not interested in used equipment when the idea came up
- I also made it clear I was quite firm on that and therefore had zero interest in discussing it"

That has to go into the first post and first post are, usually,quite flaky . That can be OK as the poster usually, is clueless : ) People mix on shit boxes day in and day out so they're not worthless in any sense
 
I don't understand why people say they only want specific answers, and then get upset by the wealth of information that is offered...?

Sometimes I think it's because people know the answer they want to hear before they even ask the question...they simply want someone to confirm what they've already decided on. :D

New, cheap and accurate...those three things don't come in one box...sorry.
When folks have those kinds of expectations...it's best to just wish them good luck and let them learn their own lessons.
 
I don't understand why people say they only want specific answers, and then get upset by the wealth of information that is offered...?

Sometimes I think it's because people know the answer they want to hear before they even ask the question...they simply want someone to confirm what they've already decided on. :D

New, cheap and accurate...those three things don't come in one box...sorry.
When folks have those kinds of expectations...it's best to just wish them good luck and let them learn their own lessons.

I happens way to often...

And nope, new/cheap/accurate does not happen with monitors. I learned that the long hard way myself...
 
Well, I posted a free air(minimal boundary and coupling) freq sweep of my Minimus 7, before. It will be hard pressed under many conditions, but one can mix levels and soundstage
 
Most people don't need or have the space or an 8" speaker. 5" are great. I have 2 pairs of Tannoys, Reveal 5. I liked them so much I purchased another set. They are the previous generation, so I can't say the quality of the newest. I use Adam A7 (not A7x) and whatever sub that goes along with them for surround mixing in my studio. The Tannoys, for the price, are almost as good as the Adams for most people. I purchased my second set for less than $100 each. The negatives: they are not grounded. So make sure you don't have any ground loops and you'll be OK. More important is to get your room sounding good. Use lots of egg cartons. Tons of them. Plaster them on everything... twice. (please don't do that with egg cartons... the best thing you can do with egg cartons is hold eggs)
 
presonus scepter 8. they almost sound too good. a/b'ed with adams and genelec which are more expensive. Bought the scepters. coax design and couldn't be more pleased with a difficult task of purchasing studio monitors for a home studio. GL
 
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