Help needed in choosing reference monitors

S

shootingstarpro

New member
Please help with info on reference monitors! I thought that my little Yamaha computer speakers were pushing out decent accurate sound but then I layed down my own tracks which sounded okay on playback, but when I burned them onto a CD, they sound like shit!

Can anybody give me good advice about purchasing decent, economical POWERED NEARFIELD REFERENCE MONITORS? I would love to buy the Mackie HR834s but minus zero beer budget limits me. I'm thinking of a pair of Alesis M1 Active mk2 Biamp monitors or the MAudio SP58 Powered Nearfield monitors but really don't know which would be best. I record digitally with Cakewalk. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!
 
I own a pair of the M-Audio SP-5b's and I love 'em. They have a very clean sound and are very unforgiving, meaning that you will hear every mistake or anything that sounds out of place or not quite right, wich is a good thing when you're mixing.
 
Blue Bear Sound said:
Forget Alesis monitors........

The powered Yorkvilles are excellent on a budget... far better than the Alesis in my opinion.
Click to expand...

Bruce, have you actually mixed on the Alesis M1 active Mk2's or does this just follow your normal pattern "If Boray says something, I just have to go in there and contradict him"...?

shootingstarpro, Here is another thread that should interest you: http://www.vsplanet.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=011753

And here is Alesis' technical info:
http://www.alesis.com/products/m1active/index.html

/Anders
 
Last edited:
I haven't mixed with them (wouldn't want to!) -- I've auditioned them along with a number of others when I was monitor shopping...

They didn't rate in comparison to many others -- there are simply so many monitors that are far better out there - even at a cheaper price.

Trust me, bore-ay -- you're not a big enough factor in my life to influence my gear decisions based on whether *you* like something or not.... :rolleyes:
 
Re: replies about reference monitors

Wow! There is a wide difference of opinion on reference monitors out there. Thanks to everyone's input and I checked out all the sites you suggested, but now I'm really confused. As I am not a techie, can anyone tell me what specs to look for when shopping for powered ref monitors that indicate how well they handle and convey sound? Like Hertz, Megaherz, Ethel Mertz, I dunno! I am in a very rural area so I can't go down to the music shop and listen to all of these monitors and compare notes. I'll most likely be shopping online and hoping the Fedex truck doesn't drop 'em on the way! I just need to know that my $250-$350 for a pair of these babies will be music to my ears. More thoughts?
 
You *NEED* to hear the monitors - there's no way around this....

What works for one person's ears will not work for another's .........

I could recommend the best monitors in the world and your ears could hate them... so they wouldn't work for you.........

Schedule a shopping trip so that you can get out there and use your ears...... that's the only spec you need!
 
Frequency response curve: Should be as flat as possible. It should also go as far as possible in both directions. For example, one model could just be flat up to 18kHz and then dropping while another could be up to 22kHz before it starts to fall. There are a lot of other figures as well, for example signal-to-noise ratio of the amps. But have in mind that it is the manufacturers that display these figures.

I would recommend:

1. Decide what price range you are interested in. (You have already done that).

2. Look at specs, user reviews, you can also read different reviews on the internet. I would listen to user reviews more than someone just listening to a bunch of monitors and then says which he likes best. What you want is to get accurate monitors so you can produce good mixes, so reviews from people that have mixed on them are more useful. Placement is very important for monitors and in a music shop, the monitors are placed here and there even in different rooms, so it might happen that you like the sound of one pair of monitors that really IS worse than another pair just because the first pair was placed better. (playing the same test music of course). My monitors sounds a lot better here at home than what they did in the store. And as Bruce said (Bluebear), different people like different sound, so these kind of reviews are just one persons oppinion. But read them anyway, they always give you some info. Don't just take everything of it as "truth". Here is one of these "listening" reviews: http://www.digitalprosound.com/2002/10_oct/reviews/monitor_shootout.htm
As you can see this guy praises the Behringer Truth to the sky... But I know he ended up buying the Mackies! ;)

3. Now you have narrowed it down to 2-3 monitors. Go to the store and listen to them. Also compare to a pair that is a bit more expensive. Buy the ones of these that you like the most (the more expensive ones included).

Good luck!
/Anders
 
Btw, If you use a commercial CD as the test music, you will never be able to compare the very low end of different monitors as most CD-masterers put a lo-cut filter around 40-55Hz. You will also have to play quite loud to even hear these low frequencies.
 
Thanks Spinsterwun and everybody else too! I guess I have more homework to do and the link from Spinsterwun above is excellent source. Like I said, I'm techie challenged so I still don't understand the different frequencies and what to look for in terms of specs per brand so if anybody else would like to add their 2 cents I'd appreciate it...Also what wattage is good? 75 watts? 40 watts? And regarding Boray's advice, I don't understand...should I bring a home-recording to the store rather than listen to professionally mastered CDs as a test? What do you mean by "frequency response curve should be as flat as possible"? How would that translate into a manufacturer's specs. Thanks for everyone's help and patience!
 
Along with the specs there usually is a frequency responce curve. This is how the monitors reproduce different frequencies. It's a diagram with frequency on one axis and sound preassure level on the other. This curve should be more or less flat in a frequency range as long as possible. The more it varies, the more the sound will be colored. There are other aspects to how speakers perform as well, for example time allignments between the drivers and other stuff. But the frequency response curve is at least something you can understand. (And one of the few things that actually is measureable). You can listen to commercial CDs yes, but just be aware that they don't contain the lowest frequencies.

The wattage? I don't personally think that is very important. With powered monitors the manufacturer has put together amps and drivers that should work well together... and as long as it sounds as it should, then why bother. (But I don't monitor very loud).

/Anders
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top