Best monitors for $300 - $400

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eduleal

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Which are the best active monitors for a small home studio in the $300 - $450 price range? I work mainly with rock music. I´m a young musician who wants to produce and mix good quality demos for new bands, nothing pretensious, but I do want near-field monitors which I can keep for a while. They´ll be my very first set of monitors. Here are some options I thought about:

- Alesis MKII (why does everyone has a pair of these nowadays?)
- Tapco S5, by Mackie (I was told it´s really good for the $$$)
- Behringer Truth
- KRK RP5
- Event TR5
- M-audio BX5
- Samson Resolv 65

Any other suggestions?
Does anyone know for sure which would best fit my needs and why?
Does anyone have experience with some of them?
Since I live in Brazil, I don´t have all of them available to listen around here. But I do intend to buy one of these next time I´m in the states.


Thanks a lot

cheers
 
I would take the berries off the list unless you have a fancy for them. I used them for a little while and couldn't stand them. They tend to hype the highs and the lows so you don't get a good representation of your sound at all. i've been using Wharfedale Diamond Pro 8.2A's for a few months now and like them quite a bit.
 
I guess the Wharfedales would be a bit out of my budget. They´re actually quite cheap in the UK, but since I live in Brazil, importing them would be expensive. Am I wrong?
 
Look at the Event TR6. I don't think 5 is big enough. I've got a pair of Event PS6 monitors I really like, and they were $275 on eBay.
 
M-Audio BX5 and Wharfedale Powercube 8 sub. Total paid retail $370. Stunning sound, well integrated, completely tweakable, and small enough for a tight studio space.

J.
 
About the Wharfedales: their website says that the 8.1 and 8.2 are HiFi´s. I´m not an expert, but would that be good for reference monitors?!

well, for now, I´m leaning towards the BX5, with a Sub later.

any other thoughts?

thanx
 
eduleal you could buy the wharfis for an nice price from DEEPWATER ( a member of this forum who shipps those worldwide ).

i have the 8.2 pro actives wharfis and did hear a lot other´s ( some in A/B ) last year. Did hear the m-audio bx5 too. Ok there not bad but never as good and flat as the wharfis.

It would be the best if you could hear them before but if you can´t do that. I will not an mistake to buy them.

I am very happy with them.
 
But why does the website say that they´re HIFIs?!?!
How can I contact this Deepwater fellow?

THANKS AGAIN!
 
copy and paste from an massive master posting of the wharfedale topic ( you can use this topic to contact deepwater ) :

I found out about the 8.2's from a mastering engineer in the U.K. - He called them his "secret weapons" - I found a set on ebay and quickly found out why.

Those things have one of the greatest images I've ever heard - In the nearfield, you'll hear things you've never heard before. In the midfield, they went head-to-head with my old B&W 602's (they can't touch my 802's, but what really can?).

And Deepwater is right - If I listened to them and they said "that'll be a thousand dollars" I probably would've coughed it up. Well, maybe not a thousand dollars, but damn close.

They're one of those products that I just can't figure out why they're not more popular in the U.S.A. Maybe now that they're going active, they will be.

They should double the price, though...
 
cheers! For how much can I get one of these?

Any thoughts on the other ones?!
 
I think you may be looking at the wrong ones. They make 8.2's that are just for everyday use (they have the yellow woofer) but they also make the Pro series, which have shielded kevlar woofers and are meant for studios.
 
Ok! I´ll try and talk to him, but I see some people are having problems. The brazilian customs sometimes charge up to 60% taxes for imports. That´s a bit of a risk for me.
So, KRKs, Events, M-audio are preferable if compared to Behringer, Alesis, Tapcos? Well, at least the list gets smaller =)

Thanks guys
 
The one's you like the best for $300-$400 are the best monintors for the money.

From that list I would go with the Events or the Resolve, but nothing else.
 
eduleal said:
Ok! I´ll try and talk to him, but I see some people are having problems. The brazilian customs sometimes charge up to 60% taxes for imports. That´s a bit of a risk for me.
So, KRKs, Events, M-audio are preferable if compared to Behringer, Alesis, Tapcos? Well, at least the list gets smaller =)

Thanks guys
Click to expand...

60% tax .-> really too much.

i am from germany and did hear about an opportunity to get it without german tax. The wharfedales have to be send as a PRESENT ( with an card inside -> happy birthday or something else ) so there would be no tax to pay. Or another option is here to write 49 dollar at the bill ( <50 have to pay tax ). Did buy mine alessandro music series headphones from usa and had no problems with tax.

I am here since one year and a lot of people did buy the wharfis from deepwater without any problems all over the world. I don´t know what the problem you are talking about is but i did read a post from deepwater last days that he had not enough time.

If you don´t want to buy the wharfis or have another problems i would go with EVENTS TR6 ( Should be available in brazil ? )
 
Might as well get BX8 at musicianfriends.com now because they're on sale for $299.



eduleal said:
About the Wharfedales: their website says that the 8.1 and 8.2 are HiFi´s. I´m not an expert, but would that be good for reference monitors?!

well, for now, I´m leaning towards the BX5, with a Sub later.

any other thoughts?

thanx
Click to expand...
 
Thanks for your tips, guys.
I´ve sent deepwater an email but he hasn´t answered. Can anyone confirm his email address?
Are the Wharfedales that good? I`m very impressed with what´s being said here ´bout these monitors!

Thanks again!
 
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