Need monitor advice...

R

ryguy76

New member
Hi guys,

I'm having to sell off most of my recording gear as we are downsizing to a smaller house and I don't use my 2 room studio enough anymore to justify having a dedicated recording space any longer. I will be keeping enough stuff to record myself when the urge hits.

With that said, I am left with this dilemma. I will need to have small monitors for my new "small nook" recording area. Any small footprint monitors that sound decent, despite their small size? I realize I'm asking a loaded question, and fully understand that I will no longer be in the same league as what I'm used to, but between good studio HP's and whichever small monitors I decide upon, it's going to have to be enough.

Love to hear any recommendations for small footprint monitors that any of you may have so I can add them to my list for research.

Thanks.
 
If you use a sub, there are lots of good options...Rokit 5, LSR305, PreSonus, etc. If not, the best at low volume that I tested (two years ago now...wow!) were the JBL LSR308. They go down to 37 Hz, which is pretty sweet (and on sale right now at Sweetwater for $199 ea), and they gave a pretty flat line. The Truth 2031A from Behringer also was quite flat in my tests (completely unscientific with a SPL app on my Samsung Tab 2 in the "vault" at GC playing a test tone I generated in REW).
Two things always come to mind. If you go to a GC or Sam Ash or wherever you prefer, most will let you buy and return no question in 14 days. Take a pair home and take detailed notes. Then trade for another pair and do the same until you get a pair you really like or realize one of the pairs you had was ideal to your situation.
or
Take some reference tracks, a 1k test tone and a 2 minute sweep from 20-200 with you and take your own measurements and listens like I did. I ended up with M3-8s when I went, but I don't recommend them for most as they are LOUD at minimal volume. Great for mid-field position...Still using my Gen 2 Rokit 5s for near field. ;)
 
thanks. I should have put this in my OP, but I'm even looking for smaller than 5". I know. yikes.

Looking at the Rokit 4 G3's, and thinking they will be the ballpark size I'm aiming to be in. I haven't recorded anything music wise in over 4.5 years, due to job change and small children, so that's why I'm not too worried about flogging all my stuff and downsizing. Can't not have a recording rig of some sorts, but the big dedicated room idea is no longer in the cards. Currently I have 2 average rooms setup and no use in 4.5 years doesn't go over too well with the missus. :)
 
For a small footprint monitor that is good, you cant go wrong with the Equator D5. They are just damn good speakers, period. But with the added bonus of being small.
 
Okay. Probably need a sub then. :)
Take a look at Avantone's MixCubes while you're at it. They're 5" speakers, but in a 6" cube. Pretty flat rating (never played through them personally, but worth a look) They are bass challenged, though (90Hz bottom), so def need a subwoofer system. Designed to hear how your mix will sound on cheap computer speakers/iPods/etc...
 
Agree with the D5s by the way. Coaxial design. Zero phase issues. $400 a pair. Hard to find them in stores...
 
Love my JBL LSR305s - but with rear bass ports, you've got to have traps behind them, that might limit you. ANything smaller than 5", the low end usually cuts off at 80Hz or higher, not much good even with a sub.
 
How much are you willing to spend?

---------- Update ----------

I found this site for recommendations, check it out
 
ryguy76 said:
I realize I'm asking a loaded question... Love to hear any recommendations for small footprint monitors that any of you may have so I can add them to my list for research.
Click to expand...

For future reference, it's very helpful if you include your budget, what you've used in the past, your signal chain and what you anticipate needing to do with them in the near and distant future. And we MUST know what kind of room you're going into. Also, just saying big or small footprint is a little vague. Specifics specifics specifics.
 
Really, we don't need specifics. The op just needs to make a decision.

ALL monitors need to be learned. As long as the best monitors within the budget are bought, the op will be fine.

Buy em, and the the fun begins. Hours and hours of listening to reference tracks is involved till you know the speakers like the back of your hand.

Anyone's advice is going to hinge on their own personal bias. What works for them. Keep in mind that bias is coming from a perspective of them having learned the monitors.

Plenty of threads throughout the net on peoples favorites.
I like D5s and my good old fashioned NS10s. But hours upon hours were spent not mixing, but listening to my favorite music.

All studio monitors are supposed to be "flat" and all monitor manufacturers claim the monitors they make are "flat" but they are not.

All sound different.

This is where your ear and knowing your monitors comes in.

Buy the best you can afford, and then learn them.

:D
 
I have a slightly different take on this, though I respect everything that was said.

RFR said:
ALL monitors need to be learned. As long as the best monitors within the budget are bought, the op will be fine.
Click to expand...
Sometimes it's better to sit on a pair of junkers until you can figure out how to get the cash to skip your mid level mons and go for something good. I should not have bought Focal Twins. I should have skipped them and gone for the 9's. I should have kept my JBLs until I could have bought the SM9s or K&H's because there's an enormous quality jump from $2,600 to $8,000. I accomplished very little by moving from a $2,600 to a $3800 set when what I truly needed was a professional grade system.

Again, not meaning to throw water on RFR's comment...just a different point of view.
 
Many ways to look at it, thats for sure.

Sometimes holding onto the "junk" monitors indefinately works too. :D
Look at how many great records were done on ns10s. By today's sensibilities, right or wrong, they aren't considered great monitors by any means. Yet they have produced greatness by engineers who swear by them both in the past and today.

This is because the engineer knew both the room and the monitors.

Even a set of barefoots (just one example) have to be learned to be a useful tool. Just because a painter has great brushes he doesn't overnight become great. The new tools need to be learned and mastered.

Anyway, you get my point.

Back to the op, what he is looking for is a small footprint monitor. I don't know of too many high end monitors that offer little speakers that are good.

Then again, no price point was mentioned as I recall. Also, the original post was 4 weeks ago and the OP hasn't been back to the conversation since.

I think at this point it's just us talking about speakers because, well, we like talking about speakers. :D
 
I think at this point it's just us talking about speakers because, well, we like talking about speakers. :D
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Isn't that the truth.

RFR said:
Look at how many great records were done on ns10s.
Click to expand...
There's a lot of truth to what you said in the previous thread. For years I beat myself up because I just couldn't hang with the big boys and make ns-10s work. Then it finally dawned on me that it IS ok not NOT use ns-10s. I'm probably in the minority of people that don't do well on them. I have no idea if its the genetics in my ears, the habits I may have developed in my workflow...I couldn't tell you why I sort of couldn't adapt to them. [/quote]
...This is because the engineer knew both the room and the monitors.

Even a set of barefoots (just one example) have to be learned to be a useful tool. Just because a painter has great brushes he doesn't overnight become great. The new tools need to be learned and mastered.
Click to expand...
Preaching to the choir now :D couldn't agree with you more.

Back to the op, what he is looking for is a small footprint monitor. I don't know of too many high end monitors that offer little speakers that are good.
Click to expand...

The only two that really come to mind are an adam a7's and focal solo 6's. Again, totally preference. I feel they're only marginally better than a pair of JBL LSRs. I still have my LSRs. Both the 300 series and the 4000 series. One is in a video editing booth, the others got moved to my living room to watch movies on. I didn't think the A7s were any better. I may have just provoked and onslaught of 'you're an idiot' headed my way, but I'd be telling a lie if I said I thought the A7's truly sounded better to me :( Maybe others can hear big a difference (with big being the operative word), I can't for some reason.
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