I can see where there would be a lot of confusion regarding the use of low budget studio monitors. Its my own opinion through years of experience that higher end (expensive) monitors are for the lazy or overly efficient people. When a rich man invests into a business and expects a million dollar product, you know they are going to buy the most expensive stuff. Pro tools is a great example of this kind of nonsense. But it doesn't matter what you buy. If your ears can't hear, don't expect to get a great result. The only important thing to consider with studio monitors is the presence of the entire frequency spectrum. How can one know this? There are a number of ways and there are an equal number of opinions and contradictions. I trust my own opinion because my experience has already taught me how to create a high quality product using pretty much anything thats in front of me. You can easily do your reading to find what the majority say is a fine budget monitor. BUY THAT. Then make sure you treat your room acoustically, otherwise you are wasting your time. The only thing that matters is how your ears percieve the sound in the position you are sitting at. Post treatment analysis will ensure a "fairly" balanced sound. The only thing that validates "flatness" is the assurance that all required frequencies are present in order to be heard and altered. If there are dips in a frequency, you can bet your mixes will have a major problem later. But to do a lengthy comparison between Monitor "A" "B" "C" an so forth is a waste of time. Chances are, all those monitors will be "useable", providing you do your homework and get them tuned in.
But the bottom line is this. If you are a newbie trying to buy into the hype of getting the perfect monitor to stick in front of you and expect magic, you will no be pleased! Nothing like that exists in this world. When I started mixing years ago, I used a cheap pair of Polk pc speakers and RTA'd them to the room. I am certain that some "expert" would go into a spill telling me about room acoustics and so on. I know this. But I can bet that the sound above my pc chair was fairly balanced and translated well elsewhere. Of course, using at least 2 more reference points helps a lot. But you don't have to be rich, and you don't have to be high budget to put out commercial quality sound. Only lazy people who push buttons think that way. And they infest the major studios.
