im looking for good monitors?

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metalmansam

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ok i have read alot of the fourms and went to different stores, i know i need monitors witha flat responce. and ive heard the roland the mackie, the krk, and the m audio. here is the real queston i have around $500 to spend on good monitors to mix with. can you tellme some models and some insight on them. thanks alot
 
Do you want passive monitors (cheaper, but require an amp to power them) or active monitors (more expensive, but have a built-in amp and don't need an external one)?

I personally use Samson Rubicon R5A active monitors...other good ones are Behringer Truths, Mackie HR624, M-Audio BX8A, and KRK V8 series.

You should be able to find some nice monitors in your price range...the real test is your ears, so keep on trying them out and see how they sound to you.
 
well i woul like to get active monitors. im mainly looking at the bx8a from m-audio but im still confused
 
if i were you i wouldnt hesitate to get the bx8a's. i own the bx5a's and they sound incredible. they lack a tad bit of bass but obviously that problem would be solved with the bx8a's. (or in my case, a subwoofer.)
 
Also take a look at the Event TR line, they come in 5", 6" and 8" woofer models. I have the TR5's and the TR8's, and they sound fabulous. Price range is $300(TR5) to $500(TR8).
 
Sampler said:
Do you want passive monitors (cheaper, but require an amp to power them) or active monitors (more expensive, but have a built-in amp and don't need an external one)?
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I am sorry, but I need to clarify and correct this description.

The difference between "passive" and "active" technically is the type of crossover that is used for the speaker.

A "passive" crossover takes the same audio feed from an amplifier and filters the frequecies and distributes them to the proper speaker.

A "active" crossover takes the same audio feed from a line level device (such as the output from your mixer or soundcard), electronically filters the frequencies, and distibutes them at line level to power amplifiers that are dedicated to each speaker.

The reason that this needs to be clarified is because there is another type of studio monitor configuration that is available, which is passive monitors with built in power amps.

Event 20/20's came as:

1 - Passive, no power amp.
2 - Passive, with power amp.
3 - Active, with power amp(s) (yes, they technicall need two different power amps...blah blah blah...)

Myself, I like the sound of passive crossovers MUCH better than active crossovers. I feel that it provides a smoother, more ear friendly sound. To that end, I prefer passive studio monitors.

Whether to get passive monitors "powered" or not (with built in amplifier, or not) is a personal decision.

I like that if my power amp messes up, I still have my monitors available to me. With powered monitors, if the amp goes, you are out of monitors until you get the amp fixed. For me, I can't afford that happening.

Next is the relative quality of amplification. I see way too many power monitors with anemic power amps! We are talking like 75 watts for woofers and 15 watts for tweeters. What I don't like about this is that often the woofer is at least rated for double that power capability, and I like HEADROOM on my speaker systems.

I run a Hafler P3000, which is some obscene amount of power at 4 ohms. Something like 200 watts a side. This ASSURES that I have plenty of "headroom" in my monitoring system. Headroom is important for when you might have unexpected surges in the audio level. If you have to push your power amp fairly hard to just get a acceptable listening level, if there is a big surge in the audio volume from the source, it will clip your power amp and cause it to output dangerously high wattage to your speakers. If your power amp is already running at a low volume to achieve the same listening volume as a lower wattage amp, you would be far less concerned with this, because the audio surge would not clip the input of your amplifier.

You can score Event 20/20 passives for about $300 new right now (a KILLER price considering I paid $360 for mine about 8 years ago!), and pick up a Hafler TA 1600 for about $150. The TA 1600 is a bit anemic in power though, only 75 watts per channel at 4 ohms (the Event 20/20's are a 4 ohm load).

You can probably score a 200-300 watt per side power amp used quite easily for around that same price. QSC and Crown are both popular and very dependable power amp companies. There are many others that could work well too.

To wrap up, in my opinion, having compared Event 20/20 passives to their active counterpart, and having compared many speaker systems between their built in passive crossovers and active crossovers on the same box, passive seems to have a more natural and smooth sound.

Having a seperate power amp means that if you ever have a problem with the amp, you can at least temporarily switch the amp and still use your monitors.

If you play in a band, and have a small stereo PA system, you could possibly just use the amp you use to power your speakers, and then you only need to shell out the $300 for the passive monitors.

A little aside about the different Event products. I don't recall ever hearing about passive 20/20's having any problems. Speakers blowing out, etc... I have heard a few complaints about the TR series stuff, where the speakers blew out fairly easily. That is something to think about. Remember that the 20/20 is their flagship monitor, and all the other stuff is cheaper knockoffs.

You are going to get a LOT of opinions on what people "think" is the 'best" monitor to buy. Basically, it is a lot of opinions! I have seen just about every reputable company represented with users that have produced quite good results using their monitors. So, aside from QC issues, it is mostly a matter is getting used to a certain monitor, rather than what is the "best".

My $300 Event's have served me very well for 8 years now. I have ABUSED these monitors (have had several times where I routed things wrong in the studio and sent hellacious blasts of white noise and feedback thru the monitors!). They haven't needed any repair. They also sound very good. They supply a decent amount of low end (but of course nothing like a power sub woofer would!), and they are pleasing to the ears.

Here is a sampling of my work I have done over the last 8 years using these monitors. http://www.phoenixlightandsound.com/Audio . While these mp3's probably show more of the skills I possess, they DO show that you can do very nice sounding work on these monitors.

But in all fairness, once you get used to ANY monitor, you should be able to do nice work on them.

Good luck.
 
I don't know where you heard that about the TR line blowing out speakers. I've ready every thread here and there is NO mention of that ever happening.
 
Done both actives and passives, still have my power amp, but I much prefer powered monitors. Both my pairs of monitors are powered. No rules-just what works, right Ford? :rolleyes:

The key is, as Ford says, to get to know your monitors extremely well. And get to know your room and how both room and monitors translate to other systems. Once you understand how what you are hearing on your monitors translates to what you hear on home stereos and car systems and other playback systems, you'll be well along in getting your mixes to sound good most anywhere.

I don't know what the KRK V6's cost, but I'm impressed with my KRK V4's. They are my small monitors, I wouldn't want to use them as my main pair, but I think you might want to check out the V6's or V8's if you have the budget.
 
michaelst said:
I don't know where you heard that about the TR line blowing out speakers. I've ready every thread here and there is NO mention of that ever happening.
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Who said I read it here? Anyway, you have only been here for about a year. I have been here for about 7 years.

There might not have been posts about drivers blowing recently, but there has been in the past.

You might not be able to even search far enough back.

Anyway, I stand behind the comment anyway. The TR line is the "budget" line of Event monitors.
 
SonicAlbert said:
Done both actives and passives, still have my power amp, but I much prefer powered monitors. Both my pairs of monitors are powered. No rules-just what works, right Ford? :rolleyes:
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Now now Fat Albert. No need to resort to sarcasm. I stated that my OPINION is that "I" PREFER passive non-powered systems. I have a different reason for liking passive, and a different reason for liking non-powered.

I won't argue the passive/active crossover thing. Some VERY good ears in the industry agree that a well designed passive crossover is hard to beat, but even THEY say it is just their peference.

I could really care less what a guy buys. No matter what, they will have to put 100's of hours of listening in before they REALLY know what they are doing with those monitors.
 
I will have to second the Event TR8's. I used an old pair of Monitor 1's that never translated well. I did a big comparison with all the monitors the music store had available, KRK's, Truths, Events (excluding the 20/20's above), etc...

I must say the best I heard was the Mackie HR824's which many people love but the price what out of my range. Second was the TR8's. I thought they sounded really true to the demo cd's I brought in. I have also found that my mixes translate very well now which is a huge relief. Also they have a TR8XL that has 50 more watts and from what I have read a bit more bass presence.

Now, if at the time I had the money, I would have got the HR824's. But for the money, the TR8's are very nice.

Also about the 20/20's... I have used an active pair of those and found them to be very nice as well.
 
I have a set of NS-10's (passive) and Mackie 824's (powered) sitting in my room here, controlled by a presonus centralstation switcher router thingy

The NS-10's get whatever spare power amp I happen to have around * AS LONG AS ITS POWERFUL ENOUGH! * they blow easy if you underpower them

I mostly mix on the ns-10's but the mackies make customers happy. "hey man wheres the thuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuud on my kick" flip on the mackies " coo man"

For me the mackies make everything sound too good, they are much more forgiving.

If I mix something on the mackies, it may or may not sound good on the NS-10's. If I mix something on the NS-10s it ALWAYS sounds good on the mackies. Strange world
 
Ford Van said:
Now now Fat Albert. No need to resort to sarcasm.
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No sarcasm intended, just having some fun with ya. I'm going to be giving you s**t about your "Boyz-there are NO RULES" post for a LONG time! But when you read things like that, just think of me writing it with a little twinkle in my eye and the hint of a devilish smile. Absolutely no bad intentions, just tweakin ya!
 
see that is the thing, do i want to ge speakers that are forgiving and make anything sond good, or good ones that done a touch of flavor on them, and why?
 
You *don't* want studio monitors that are forgiving and make everything sound good. You want monitors that are as honest as possible.
 
Hey Al....?

How do you feel about the Alesis M1 Actives? Are they "honest" or "forgiving"?
 
The most honest monitors on a low budget I know of are the Fostex PM 0.5's. And I've auditioned a lot of monitors!
 
I've got a pair of M1 MkIIs, they're not too bad, however they're not all that flat (although, my room isn't prefectly tuned either).

My main gripe with the M1s is that there is no "sister" subwoofer for them. They drop off around 60-80 Hz, so, if you're not careful, you'll end up jacking the bass too high.

But, for a small room, they have more than enough volume, and they won't break the budget. Plus, blue power LEDs! I'm sorry, but I'm addicted to the blue LEDs... they're jsut so... cool...
 
Ford Van said:
You can score Event 20/20 passives for about $300 new right now (a KILLER price considering I paid $360 for mine about 8 years ago!), and pick up a Hafler TA 1600 for about $150. The TA 1600 is a bit anemic in power though, only 75 watts per channel at 4 ohms (the Event 20/20's are a 4 ohm load).
Click to expand...

I am running this exact setup, total cost was around $320, since I got the 20/20's used. I really like this monitoring setup, and although I've only A/B'ed them against my old Behri Truth2031A's, it was a joke how much clearer and more defined the Events were. And the Behri's are actually decent compared to stuff in their price range and I never had any problem with the way they sounded, before getting the Events that is :D.
 
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