Home Studio/Reference Monitors

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Friday

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Hello all,
My first post so apologies if there's a thread already devoted to this subject, I had a look but didn't really find anything that helped me.
I've been using FL Studio for about 6 months now and have a few nice vst's to play around with but I'm a guitar player at heart and recently got myself a Focusrite Sapphire Pro14 to be able to add my guitar to any nice synth sounds my PC can generate. I have NI Guitar Rig 5 on the pc and don't own a decent actual guitar amp of any merit.
I use headphones to monitor at the moment but I need a pair of half decent monitors now so if anyone can point me in the right direction as to what I should be looking for it would be very much appreciated.
I want something that can be used at low volumes ,that can give me a clear piano and acoustic guitar reference but is able to handle trance/dance type stuff as well when needed. Obviously I want to spend as little money as possible but I'm prepared to go a bit further on price if I find a good performer that may future proof me for a while.

Nice to meet you all and I look forward to hearing back from you.

Andrew
 
What is your budget...?...then people will give you more realistic replies.

Also...what kind of room are you in...size, any treatment..etc.

There's all kinds of monitors out there, and surely a few that will fit your budget and meet your needs.
 
Welcome Andrew. Yes, there are many threads about monitors here. Any recommendations are personal opinions, based on experience while using them in their own environment. The best advice I could offer, is to try monitors in your space. Form your own opinion. This will most likely change in a few months. If you have the money and time to treat the acoustics of your room first, then your choices will be easier. I could recommend a pair from my own experience, but it would not necessarily be the right choice for you. Try, buy, return, or learn from mistakes. You can always sell a good set of monitors. Good luck getting a return on an investment on cheap ones.
 
Thank you folks,
yes,sorry it was quite late last night when I wrote so I did exclude some relevant info.

The room they're going in now is a converted loft/attic space 26 feet along one side by 9 feet across at the shortest point and 12 feet across at the widest point.There are 3 different widths along the north-west wall.The room is my 'den' if you like and there's a desk where my PC lives, a sofa and a tv in the room along with a polished wood floor with a few rugs .There's also a sloped roof at either end of the room and a large dormer window set into one end.The desk with the pc is at the other end so the monitors will be going into a very tight corner or at least one of them will. I am considering converting a room in the basement specifically into a music room but I guess that idea is a few years from coming into fruition.
There is no acoustic treatment in the room.

I thought that because the monitors would be 'nearfield' and I'd be sat so close to them literally having 1 on my desk maybe that any complications with reflections etc in the room would be minimised again any thoughts on how that works would be appreciated.

The budget is as little as possible but starting around £200/$300 going to £300/$500 maybe.
I've seen a pair of Samson Resolv A8 for £179 and I'm very tempted at that price but from what I've read they need to be used at volume to function well.
I'll spend a few hours today researching again but from what I've learned with other kit there's nothing like the voice of experience to help with these matters.

Cheers
 
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Any monitor or speaker will work. Treatment will also help, a little. However, the best thing you can do is to spend tons of hours practicing your mixes and acclimating to your room and speaker set up. You will find out how your mixes translate on other systems (the car, boom box, friends set ups, etc.) and, from experience, you will know what frequencies to cut or boost to make it sound decent on all systems. Good luck.
 
Cheers,
I found a tremendous leap in quality when I started using the Sapphire,the separation and clarity of individual instruments was a revelation to me.
I have a short-list coming together now,
Yamaha HS 50 M or HS 80 M
M-Audio BX5A DeLuxe
Mackie MR 5 Mk2
KRK Rocket RP5 G2
Samson Resolv A8
Dynaudio BM 5A Mk 2

It would be great to know if there's any outstanding differences between them.
:guitar:

By the way,room treatment.....
does that mean hanging cloth on the walls?
 
IMO, monitors with 5" drivers are too weak in the low end to be effective without addition of a sub. I myself would go with something that has an 8" driver. Though I have compared the KRK 5's with 6's, and the RP6's were much better sounding to me than the 5's.

Good room treatment will involve more than cloth. Owens Corning 703 or Roxul is the way to go. You could Google for 6 months and still not know all there is to know about room treatment. There are many threads here about DIY treatments in the studio building forum.
 
I've read a few folks saying similar things about the differences between and 8'' and under speaker size,I think I'll take a trip to DV 247 tomorrow and check a few out in the flesh.
I run a 5.1 home cinema set up here using a Denon AVR and Wharfedale speakers and I very rarely use the sub as I find there's enough bass in the speakers for me already so maybe smaller speakers wouldn't impact on me so much,hmm.
As always with tech kit there's too much choice and never enough money....
 
Yeah, hearing them is the best bet. I have the KRK 5's, and they 'seem' to have good low end. The problem is, they are not clear in the low end. Hyped would be the best way I can describe them. It sounds good, but translation to other systems doesn't seem as easy as when I mix with my Event TR8's.
 
All I'm looking for is a way to get the sound into the room, I noticed the difference that the interface made to the quality of what I hear and I guess I'm hoping to be able to keep that quality when I go to monitors.
I'd hate to shell out the cash and then be disappointed by a muddy low end or any other lack of clarity.

I wouldn't describe myself as anywhere near a pro mixer or anything .All I do is play around but I know what I like and I know what I hear. I'm more interested in being able to hear the nuances that my fingers carry when they touch the guitar strings than in having a 'big' bass sound.Bass should be controlled and tight for me but not overpowering or all that matters to a sound although I do like to immerse myself in huge bass landscapes at times I think the thing that I appreciate there is the control of the bass rather than the presence of it alone.
Again I'd hate to buy something only to find as soon as the return has expired I could have got way better for another few bucks.
 
Your best bet would be to try different monitors. See what you like, then find used ones. Mine are all from Craigslist. KRKG25's $160, Event TR8's $300, Yamaha NS-10T's $100.
 
jimmys69 said:
Your best bet would be to try different monitors. See what you like, then find used ones. Mine are all from Craigslist. KRKG25's $160, Event TR8's $300, Yamaha NS-10T's $100.
Click to expand...

You could always go to a Best Buy Music Center, Guitar Center, Music-Go-Round or any other music store and test out different models. That's what I do most of the time before I buy anything.
 
Found a pair of Yamaha HS50M for just under £240 they appear to be a decent entry level unit for me
 
Yes,I'm going to go to a store very soon and hear a few up close and personal ,I've always shied away from buying used kit as you never know how much of a spanking it's had.
:)
 
I always test gear before I buy. Craiglist is a internet site in the US, that has free local classified ads. I hope that you have such a thing in your part of the world (wherever that may be). Speakers will immediately show signs of abuse, just by playing music or a test tone through them. I tend to be shy about EBAY purchases, unless it is a reputable seller. Even then, I would rather touch what I am buying before sending money. But that's just me. Many use EBAY all the time with nothing but good results.

You ever rent a car? You know what the first thing you do with it.....see if the tires can be spun and jump it over speed bumps. Never buy a used car from a rental agency!

From what I have read, and mixes done on the HS50M's, I would consider that a good choice even without hearing them myself. Though, you are the one who needs to make the final decision.
 
I'm in South Wales, UK and I've spent the best part of the day scanning various classified ads to see if there's anything near me that I could go visit but to little purpose,only choice left to me now is to go see the new stuff in a store about 30 miles drive away.
I'm very reluctant to part with cash until I've had some hands on experience myself especially with such subjective things as you get with music.
The HS50M's have good reviews and appear to be not too bad a starting point for me.
From what I can see I'd prefer the HS80M's but they come in at almost double the price .

I guess I can sit tight for a week or 2 and see what the classifieds throw up too or maybe even until after x-mas,maybe there'll be some going cheap in january.
 
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