mjbphotos
Moderator
I'll be honest I didn't read the replies about used gear/etc; thanks but as I said before it is a pointless discussion for me. Back to speakers. New ones.
Has anyone used anything significantly less than the JBLs (about $300 a pair) that sounded at least decent, and I don't mean "decent for a pro-level studio" or other similarly high standards, but just in general a respectable, accurate, even modestly acceptable sound quality?
I can see what others say about getting the best one can afford, but in fact you do have a budget and are just looking into acoustic treatment, too. Until you tame reflections and nodes in your mixing room, even the best monitors you can afford will have issues.
I looked at specs and listened to 'budget' monitors for over a year before going for the LSR305s - and then, only when they were on sale. Musicans Friend had them for 'buy 1, get 1/2 off the 2nd) - so $225. I went into local Guitar Center and they beat the price by $1.
Here they are for $275 with a bunch of cables thrown in: Amazon.com: JBL LSR 305 Studio Monitor Pair with XLR for Mixing Boards, TRS to XLR for Interfaces, and 1/8 in. to XLR for Laptops...: Musical Instruments Wait for a sale - often the ugly red-bodied ones go on sale for $99 each.
For the money you won't find any other speakers with a low end spec down to what these have. If you don't do any music with low end (bass or kick) you could 'get away' with using a 4" speaker or a cheaper 5" one.