Are these monitors ok? 2-way, passive, 100w max...

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scottmd06

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I ran across these AUVIO speakers at Radio Shack that they market as bookshelf speakers but they look like studio monitors! Has anyone seen, heard or experienced these things? Just curious because of the 49.99 price point and the fact that I would just need an amp for them. THANKS!
 
You can get studio monitors that are active (amp built in) or passive (require an external amp). The ones you mention are obviously passive. Active monitors are quite a bit more expensive because you are paying for the speakers, enclosure and tuned amp all in one.

What sets studio monitors or nearfield monitors as some call them apart from other speakers like the Auvios you mention is the clean flat frequency response. Ideally they reproduce exactly what is being sent to them without adding or taking anything away from the sound like hyped up bass, or missing mid-range.

Before jumping in, do some more research on nearfields and if you can, try to budget a little more and I think you will be happier in the end.
 
guitarplayr82 said:
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3721942#tabsetBasic

These are the type of speakers that would get connected to a home stereo system, not an interface. They take speaker wire, so that right away tells you these are probably not what you're looking for.
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I use NS-10m's, which are probably the most popular studio monitors in pro studios and they use speaker wire.

$50 for Radio Shack speakers is crazy, you should be able to get something that good for $10 max at Goodwill or more likely for free somewhere. I've bought $400 Infinity speakers for $10 each at Salvation Army.

If you can't afford known-to-be-good studio monitors, I'd buy used speakers from Goodwill for $10 each. I'd stay away from crap and try to find decent brands. I've seen KLH's (old tankers) and Advents at Goodwill for peanuts.

When you buy old speakers make sure you take off the grilles and inspect the foam surrounds.

In general, if a speaker weighs almost nothing it's probably crap. If it weighs a ton it probably has a better chance of sounding good.
 
lmao alright. i just want to be cheap lol but bottom line ill have to invest in the goods and ill be happier. i checked out some new samsons that seem pretty solid. i cant recall the model but they have kevlar cones and run about 250.
 
guitarplayr82 said:
Really? You learn something new every day :)
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Yes, the NS-10m's were originally designed as home stereo speakers and studios started using them. They are far from flat and lots of people can't stand them. I like them.

In a way you might consider them a home stereo speaker that studios agreed to use as a regular Joe standard, because regular people don't have studio monitors.

It just sort of worked out that way. For sure there are more accurate... more everything speakers out there and most high end studios have some high end speakers as well as NS-10m's.
 
I've used a pair of Alesis M1active520 monitors for a few years. They are not high end, but certainly decent. You can find them on sale usually for $199/pr
 
well I got my RP8s this afternoon...talk about overkill, I may sit in the neighbours apartment to listen to my mixes :rolleyes: :D
 
btw these are gen 2's but while i was hawking ebay i saw a set of gen 1 rp8s go for $177...thats an insane price for a pretty good monitor...well worth hawking old fleabay if your on a budget
 
guitarplayr82 said:
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3721942#tabsetBasic

These are the type of speakers that would get connected to a home stereo system, not an interface. They take speaker wire, so that right away tells you these are probably not what you're looking for.
Click to expand...

I'm going to have to throw out my JBL 4430's since they take speaker wire. :( All these years I thought I had a good pair of studio monitors.

Taking speaker wires has nothing to do with whether they are a good pair of monitors. Being from Radio Shack, however, assures two things, that they are not good "studio monitors" and that they are very overpriced. :D
 
Washburn100 said:
What sets studio monitors or nearfield monitors as some call them apart from other speakers like the Auvios you mention is the clean flat frequency response. Ideally they reproduce exactly what is being sent to them without adding or taking anything away from the sound like hyped up bass, or missing mid-range.
Click to expand...

They are only called "near-field monitors" when they are near-field monitors - plenty of studio monitors are not near-field in nature or design.

The NS-10's mentioned, as well as a ton of other available monitors are not near-field.

Also - all speakers (to some extent) color the sound - there are no speakers I know of that are perfectly representative of the actual sound recorded in a room........

The room the speakers are placed in also affect the sound heard at the listening position - which is one of the reasons that you will see a very wide variety of speakers used in pro-studios.

Believe me - if you could purchase a set of 5 or 600 dollar speakers that would always get the job done there would be no market for 10,000 (a pair) studio speakers........ the Genelec 8260A 10" Active 3-Way Digital Monitor Speaker runs around 5,800 each, the
Genelec 7073A Four-Way 12" Long Throw Active Subwoofer runs around 9 grand each, the Quested QSB118 18" Active Subwoofer runs around 10 grand each, Barefoot Sound MicroMain35 (Pair) run around 5,500 a pair, the list of top of the line monitors runs a heck of a lot longer than the above.

You can buy decent monitors for a heck of a lot less......... and every one of them will have a different sound in the same room.........

Rod
 
Richard King said:
I'm going to have to throw out my JBL 4430's since they take speaker wire. :( All these years I thought I had a good pair of studio monitors.

Taking speaker wires has nothing to do with whether they are a good pair of monitors. Being from Radio Shack, however, assures two things, that they are not good "studio monitors" and that they are very overpriced. :D
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Just to clarify, since this person is only starting to learn about studio monitors I was just giving them a tip, telling them that what they are looking for most likely won't be connected with speaker wire. It would be the easiest for them and anyway you usually have to be looking at pretty high-end monitors for them to be connected with speaker wire. I wasn't saying that all monitors don't use speaker wire, just the ones he should be looking for :)
 
guitarplayr82 said:
Just to clarify, since this person is only starting to learn about studio monitors I was just giving them a tip, telling them that what they are looking for most likely won't be connected with speaker wire. It would be the easiest for them and anyway you usually have to be looking at pretty high-end monitors for them to be connected with speaker wire. I wasn't saying that all monitors don't use speaker wire, just the ones he should be looking for :)
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I think you are trying to describe something, but are not quite hitting it.

Speakers can be active or passive, and studio monitors of decent quality can be either. Any passive speaker needs to be connected via speaker wire.

I think that what you are trying to described are passive speakers that are hooked up with flimsy bits of wire that you typically get with very low end stuff, as opposed to passive speakers connected with, say, speakon connectors, or with heavy duty speaker cable. As Richard King notes, his JBLs are passive and use speaker wire.
 
Oh, okay. I guess the only experience I've had with monitors hasn't been with passive monitors that use speaker wire. I understand now. Thank you for teaching me.
 
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