Good studio monitors

T

Thisnameistaken

New member
I have a maximum budget of 400 dollars for some studio monitors. I haven't educated myself too much about them. I hear KRK rockets are really good quality for the price range, and that I shouldn't get any smaller than 6 inches. Feel free to leave me some suggestions as to what else I can look into please and thanks!
 
On questions like this, you are going to hear a lot of personal preferences and the statement "Go to the nearest store and test them out and choose the one you like best," even though the listening environment is probably going to be quite a bit different.

My personal preference - Yamaha HS 50m. Love 'em
 
Xelly said:
Yes go for HS50m. Its my first monitors as well. But I think HS50m only has 5" woofer.
Click to expand...

I havn't bought a sub yet, but I just switch from my monitors to headphones (they don't have to be good) just to get an idea of the bass. A 5" woofer should be fine
 
Monitors are like Crows was saying they are a preference. I can tell you don't get the rockit's bad choice. i love the yamaha's if you could say up some more and get teh HS80m's then do it i love them. I am not more towards Adams but thats 700 per speaker. (best i've heard over focal's genelecs, anything.) but look for something thats clear and got some good bottom end. get a cd of a song you really like, and then listen on different speakers and what ever sounds good then go with that. it's hard to describe over a forum site. but good luck.
 
Hey, I asked the question a few weeks ago but for a 500-1500 budget. I ended up getting a pair of hs50 for 280 ca$ and they are only 6 months used, in almost perfect condition. For that price, they were def the best choice for me as for what I'm doing now. The hs80 are better on the low end, but also way bigger and a of course more pricy.
 
I think KRK is a good buy.
They keep value, they have focused on speakers only for a long time. (I dont know who owns them these days with background mergers always going on)...

I hooked up an old passive set to a rack power amp, and I couldnt tell them from the actives I have. So passive and amp is an option if you have room and a rack anyway, who cares?

I do believe in getting a 6"-7" driver...with some power try for 100watts, maybe 25-or more on the tweeter in active.
For me and my past tests, I could truly hear a difference in 4", 5" 6" and 8" drivers. MOre power seems to help a lot too.
The triangle setup and some basic room treatement helped and was actually noticeable to the ears (not just a graph).

$400 is a tough price, a lot of great posts on the original M-Audo BX5 or whatever they were, rarely you might find a pare for $180 or $200. Maybe an option but most said they came to life with a sub, and I had a pair for testing and a sub left me agreeing.

Sound on Sound did a shootout years ago, and passive B&W 300 or 301 something, with a separate amp, were rated really good and those can be around that range of $400.

I bought some hi end JBL's in a pawn shop once for $150 pair, and they were passive but the clarity was amazing, though they seemed harsh to my ears, they had more definition than most I have heard.

I might say Behringer but they have more breakdown posts than most, though you might get lucky with a good pair?

just my two cents..... $400 good luck
 
James21 said:
Monitors are like Crows was saying they are a preference. I can tell you don't get the rockit's bad choice. i love the yamaha's if you could say up some more and get teh HS80m's then do it i love them. I am not more towards Adams but thats 700 per speaker. (best i've heard over focal's genelecs, anything.) but look for something thats clear and got some good bottom end. get a cd of a song you really like, and then listen on different speakers and what ever sounds good then go with that. it's hard to describe over a forum site. but good luck.
Click to expand...

Have the rockits gone down in quality or something?
I havent really listened to any for a couple years and was curious. Its common someone starts chopping away to get costs down adn the product becomes crap...only survivor is their original reputation.

are the rockits breaking down or you think its a sound issue?
and did you mean 5" or 8"....I always liked the V6 and V8....5's were not a first choice.
 
theres a used pair of KRK 6000 for $400 on the sale forum.

toss in a power amp... your in pro territory.
 
Thisnameistaken said:
I have a maximum budget of 400 dollars for some studio monitors. I haven't educated myself too much about them. I hear KRK rockets are really good quality for the price range, and that I shouldn't get any smaller than 6 inches. Feel free to leave me some suggestions as to what else I can look into please and thanks!
Click to expand...

I just grabbed a pair of KRK RP 5 in a CL deal. Curious to hear some 5" again...

The KRK came with some nice SONY 7506 headphones still with the box, and a MAudio Nova with pop filter in box.., and a set of audio cables, and a 2 Tier Keyboard stand,

all in mint condition for $175 CL...new $475.

I really only wanted the headphones...but I'll try the monitors for awhile on another pc...selling the rest on CL probably.
 
I had the Rockit 5" hooked up and quickly realized the placement was very critical;
a small sweet spot.

But I got out the tape measure and did a quick 3ft triangle and with tweets about ear level they sound fine. The bass is what it is for a 5" at 30watts,. but listening to pro-sumer cd's and a few HR, they sounded really good. I already know adding a sub made the BM5's come to life...but thats another price range.

the 5" handled acoustic stuff really well and vocals perfectly well which I would expect a 5" to do, which is shine in the midrange.

the KRK's, like others I tried out, seem really really well built, they have such a weight to them and the connections offered seemed very hi quality, fit was snug, a cool bonus is the variety of inputs!
Rokit5's had a XLR, a Straight 1/4, and even a RCA! Also a volume and a hi freq knob that also seemed very high quality and sturdy.
The yellow lights were still working. Nice rubber pads attached to the bottom of the speakers.

This package had a keyboard stand so I imagine these KRK Rockit 5 were used for that. I dont know. There are some scuffs, but then I probably only paid $75 for the pair?apprx.

I've tried RP8's, and though their beautiful they seem to like the db's cranking and come to life at higher volumes, and the 8" is then left to do vocals and mid range, with fighting the bass a bit...

I'd still recommend 6-7" for a medium sized HR bedroom type system. Probably why DynAudio, Adam and many others do this size for nearfield.

so who knows whats best for you?

I have an amp laying around too with no speakers....so I keep an eye out for old DynAudio passives or something passive, really cheap that are pro- level for $50 to $70 pair on CL.
 
just my 2 cents...
I actually have YSM1p's as my favorites ! haha

for $300 new is one perspective, used on CL for sub-100 is another...thats probably more what I'm promoting? used save $$
 
Thanks for all the feedback guys. I went with some krk 6's afterall. They should be here shortly. Unfortunately I live in Canada, and the only places I found a good deal on them were in America, and after shipping/duty/all that it wasn't a great savings. So the pair came to 520$ after taxes. Either way, one item scratched off the list! xD
 
congrats... nice choice imo. post up when you're ready.

just thinking thats funny...I'm in the US and bought Canadian made monitors! haha
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top