best speakers under or around $100?

[nap]

hi, I'm looking for some ideal speakers for recording+mixing (+ listening to) music on my computer..(they will also be my computer speakers). Right now I just have cheapo RadioShack speakers ;( , so anything is an upgrade... I'm certainly in no financial situation to have AMAZING sounding recordings anyway, so, what would you buy/recommend in my situation?

 

[mixaholic]

to tell you the truth there really isnt any good monitors for mixing and mastering under 100$ or near that price range. if you want accurate sound you will have to purchase better monitors that cost alot more

 

[nap]

Did you read my post? Maybe this was the wrong community to ask... =/

 

[ds21]

Did you read my post? Maybe this was the wrong community to ask... =/

Well in that case... as you said get anything, it will be an upgrade.

 

[Massive Master]

Save more. Don't get $100 monitors. You'll hate them in a week.

 

[nap]

Well in that case... as you said get anything, it will be an upgrade.

My whole point was, what would be the best upgrade (under $100)

 

[noisewreck]

My whole point was, what would be the best upgrade (under $100)

And like everyone said, there is no such thing. I know it's difficult to accept and it's frustrating, but honestly, truly, there is no such thing. There is no need to lash out at people who are honestly trying to help.

You'd probably be better off getting headphones in that price range than anything that pretends to be "monitor".

 

[nap]

well thanks I guess...I'll just go with some cheap logitech x230's

 

[studiomaster]

Logitech x230's aint gonna help man. i own logitech z5300e and i cant imagine monitoring my mixes with them...these speakers imitate sound and dont reproduce it the exact way. so if u want good mixes(with skills), u gotta save up more cash and buy a pair of m-audio DX4's atleast...

 

[JeffLancaster]

A quick glance at the Musician's Friend website shows a number of monitor options starting at 99 dollars - for example the M-Audio Studio Pro 3. There also seem to be quite a few options if you could get into the 150-200 price range. Normally for someone on a tight budget, I would recommend the Alesis Monitor One MKII's at 350 (I use the older model of these and am very pleased with them). However with such an extreme budget of 100 dollars, I just don't know if you can really get anything worthwhile. But like I said, they do exist and if that's all the cash you can come up with you might try going somewhere and auditioning the Studio-Pro 3's and see if they're at least better than what you have now.

 

[Newbie dude]

First of all, don't listen to these people[ at least on this issue. I'm sure you guys are smart about alot of other things.]. Contrary to alot of people's beliefs, you CAN make good songs with cheap equipment. You don't NEED bass traps, Diffusers, and eexpensive monitors. I have the M-Audio Studiophile, and they monitor great. My songs sound good when I play them on my comp through the monitors, and after i burn them onto cd and on my stereo. They do sound a little bit different through my headphones, but still okay. The M-Audio studiophile pair is 150 bucks, but I got mine at guitar centre for 130 bucks. A little more than what you what you said you wanted to spend, but they're worth it. Of course, if I was starting a PRO studio i wouldn't buy them, but they work awesome for a home studio.

 

[Massive Master]

You don't NEED bass traps, Diffusers, and eexpensive monitors.

If you want to skimp on it, that's fine. But don't knock the importance of the monitoring chain - It is the only connection to the brain.

And I've never been in a room that didn't need bass traps. Ever. Your monitors are only going to sound as good as the room allows them to. If you're using nearfiled, narrow dispersion, limited range boxes (as most do), you can get away with a little less room treatment (which is why those types of speakers were designed in the first place). But you can't argue that a good room and truly good speakers are the quickest route to good results.

 

[bigj]

You know, not everybody is willing or capable at present time to dish out for the best, or for a matter of fact for anything that would be alright sounding.

Some people prefer to dish what they can now...than not being able to make better mixes than with what they got for a long period of time. People are desperate sometimes, but others just ain't gonna be able to spend that 300-400 bucks for a half decent monitors.

If they ask something... it's alright to point to them what are they gonna get for the money...if that's their budget...it's their budget. If you can't help because your believe's of the price range and the get nothing and save BS, then don't help...point to them the harsh facts and move on. let other people that have experience with cheaper equipment handle the suguestion part of it.

This is what i hate sometimes in here...people trying to get what they can...and if they can't some people can't and will not understand this and just bash in a way their decisions/budget. Not everybody wants the profesional output, some people do this just for fun, some just don't got crap and want the quick fix...again tell them the cons and move on. Don't keep putting in their faces that they don't have the mula necesary to produce a near pro quality product, cuz guess what? 99% already know this.

check musiciansfriends.com americanmusical.com there are a lot of options in both and if you check americanmusical.com

They also have a 3 month payment plan which charges 1 3rd of the payment at time of purchase and then 1 3rd 30 days out and the last payment 90 days out of the day of purchase to a credit card or debit card as long as the total is 249 dollars or more...which this could be an option if you wanted to get something more expensive but can afford to dish out the money at one time...

Im a get some 499 monitors soon for which i will pay 3 payments of like 166 or so...Good option...im not paying more than i can in a month and im getting good quality monitor...well decent quality monitors!

BTW here's a search for monitors...check em out and check the higher prices...you could get a pair that's 299 for 99 bucks for 3 months

Monitors search in AmericanMusical.com

 

[kludge]

The best $100 mixing monitors? A good pair of headphones.

Sad, but true. Actual speakers in that price range will be severely compromised, but $100 headphones can be quite good.

Another serious lowball option would be a set of OLD Radio Shack Minimus-7 speakers and some old receiver for power. Don't get newer ones, they started putting humps in the bass like too many other small speakers. But the old ones are actually reasonably flat, and not too fatiguing.

 

[pandamonk]

I've found a pair of Nady monitors here for $135 that have a "full linear frequency response (35Hz-20KHz) for (apparantly) perfectly balanced mixes that translate accurately to any other system". Here is the manual with frequency response graph. It looks to be about +/-12dB or so, but i don't know how that type of graph works, with both woofer and tweeter responses plotted separately . I'm guessing that you take the average of both, like the attached pic.

 

[Dr Biscuits]

Well, I have to agree that the sad thing is that there just really isn't much out there for under $100 but I can very easily remember not having the cash to invest in the bottemless pit that is recording gear... I guess the question is, is this something you're just buying now to tide you over, or is this all you're ever going to want to invest? If you DO want to eventually get into some at least SOMEWHAT decent monitors, I would just run your computer through your home stereo (even if it's not a very good one) and save your $ - I did that for years way back, just because I had no other options.... but not ideal as that is, at least you know and are used to the sound of your stereo so you can mix according to how things sound through that system... if you buy cheap new monitors now, not only will you be mixing 'blind' but you won't be used to the colourings of the new speakers and you'll have a whole new learning/listening curve...
You'd be surprised how good you can get at compensating for a crappy monitoring set-up by listening to your mixes on all of your friend's stereos, etc... although I wouldn't go back to that if you paid me!

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

I have to be honest here and take a politically-incorrect position. This is going to get me flamed by a lot of people I respect on this board and will probably lose me some political capital with these people, but I'm going to tell the truth as I see it (and have personally heard it).

In the past year or so I have heard some self-amped computer speakers that sound better and more accurate than some of the low-end crap that the music stores sell as "studio monitors". And I'm not talking real fancy-schmancy computer speakers, either, I'm talking your typical in-line desktop computer speaker system. Granted, some of them sound like crap, and also, granted, none of them would I actually "recommend" for project studio work, even on a budget.

But if what you have now is some $19 or $29 pair of computer speakers that make it sound like you're listening to your music over a landline telephone, a high-quality pair of Altec Lansings or similar for a hundred bucks would be very much an improvement over what you have now, both in pleasure of sound and in accuracy of your work.

And I'd also say that spending twice that for a pair of cheapo "studio monitors" or a pair of consumer bookshelf speakers is not necessarily and automatically going to be a worthwhile improvement over a high-end pair of computer speakers. Not only do a lot of $200/pr "studio monitors" sound absolutely horrible (not all, but many), but if you're driving them off of your PCs SoundBlaster card, it's not going to make a whole hell of a lot of difference anyway.

So while I'd like to see you save your money until you can afford something $300/pair and up, a good $100 pair of computer speakers is better than a crappy pair of $29 computer speakers andy day, and if you choose correctly, can be just as effective as most bargain basement "studio monitors", especially when being driven by a PC sound card.

I don't at this time have any specific brands or model numbers for you, I didn't exactly take names and numbers when I was at my friend's house where I was nost impressed. I know they were not a special purchase; they came with his new PC. But you know what? just go to Best Buy or CompUSA, bring one of your CDs with you, and try them out. They'll let you open a box and plug them in to a display computer if they don't already have the speakers out on the line. Then keep your recipt and take them home. If you're not pleased with their performance at home, exchange them for the nearest model by the competing brand and try those. Repeat as necessary.

G.

 

[JeffLancaster]

You know, if I only had a hundred bucks to spend (and no hope of acquiring any more in the near future) I think I would still be tempted to try to find the best speakers/monitors I could for the money anyway. I don't know if the better choice would be the ultra cheap "studio monitors" from a music store, or the high end computer speakers as Glen has suggested, but I think it would be worth doing some careful shopping to find out which would work best for the money.

My first experiments with computer music and recording were performed several years ago, using a soundblaster card, cheap computer speakers, and if I remember correctly, a copy of Voyetra Music Explorer software which came as a freebie along with a Casio keyboard I bought. I hooked the keyboard to my computer using a game port midi interface, and I attempted to record guitar and vocals through an old dynamic mic (left over from my rock band days) directly into the soundblaster card. I did this upstairs in my den (which anoyed my wife and daughter quite a bit), and it all sounded like crap. However it peaked my interest enough that I started upgrading my setup a little at a time. Nowadays, I have moved into a sound-proofed, custom built studio room in my basement, complete with acoustic treatment, and thousands of dollars worth of software and gear. Had I never made those first attempts and got the ball rolling, I would never be at the point I'm at today. So the point is, maybe it's not so bad to start out with a hundred dollar pair of speakers, as long as you have something to experiment with and just start trying stuff.

 

[bigj]

I'm glad im not the only only one who thinks this way!

"So the point is, maybe it's not so bad to start out with a hundred dollar pair of speakers, as long as you have something to experiment with and just start trying stuff."

 

[nap]

Ah thanks a lot for the feedback, the first few replies were discouraging to say the least. But I guess I should have made myself more clear that I'm not interested in monitors (like someone said, I'd just being running them on my cheap soundblaster anyway), but strictly great pc speakers under 100 EVEN if obviously they're going to "sound like crap" compared to high dollar monitors...

My mixes don't need to be mastered anywhere near pro home-studio quality at this point; As of right now I rely on the actual song to sell itself, as opposed to "bah there's too much bass when I listen on my friend's system." Plus, I don't mind burning several test CDs