Need new monitors, recommendations?

  • Thread starter Thread starter VesuviusJay
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VesuviusJay

VesuviusJay

Poser Roaster
I think I have grown out of my first pair of monitors... Awwww anyway they are beginning to p*ss me off. I think they are not replicating bright properly or something. They are the maudio sp5b. I always have to turn up the treble on playback no matter what system I play it on or it has a sightly dull sound.

Maybe it is time I upgrade to a more accurate pair of monitors. Anyone impressed with a great monitor for a semi pro price? I heard Bose has a studio monitor out there but Im sure they ar spendy. Thanks for the advice you guys save me money having to take sh*t back I dont like! ;)
 
In the meantime can't you tune your ears to your monitors? If you know that you are always shortchanging the high end, be sure to make it sound overbright on your monitors. Listen to your favourite discs on the monitors and do your best to replicate the sound....or are you finding that you are doing this and it doesn't work?
 
Thanks! I noticed Yorkvill got some great reviews here on the BBS. I think I will pick up a pair!
 
I A/B'd the MAudio BX8's, Event TR8N, the Roland DS90's and the KRK V6's....... couldn't find a pair of Yorkie's tho....

While the KRK's were definitely top of the line, I wanted the larger 8" LF speaker, and didn't want to add a sub-woofer. NO $$$

Rolands I discounted as being overly bright ! Maybe it was the room acoustics, I don't know.

So that left it between the BX8's and the TR8N's. After much back-and-forth, I eventually went with the Event's as they seemed to sound fuller, and less mid-range colored than the BX8's. Again, I've heard different comments from others, so it may have been the room acoustics/position.

Anyway, I'm happy with the Event TR8N's, tho from everything I've read I would like to have heard the Yorkie's... I refuse to buy guitars, amps, speakers and the like without having listened/heard or played them first, or at least knowing what they sound like from experience.

My $0.02
Steve
 
I have had the same issue with the SP-5Bs. They are overly bright so you under compensate for that in the mix, then you discover that you have to put an EQ across the tracks to push the treble back up to listenability.

Same with the lo end. It obviously lacks so you over compensate which means you have to roll it off during mastering.

I am taking these with me when I buy new monitors so I can listen for less emphasized mid range and highs and 8 inch woofers. Also a bass port in the front. At least they can provide a reference against other monitors and should make the effort of picking a new pair easier.
 
I listened to quite a few monitors and finally landed on the TR8's. One of my better choices in all the crap I've went through in my quest for perfection. ( MO $$$ MO$$$ MO$$$) Anyway I'm very happy with these. They sound awesome.
 
Tannoy Reveal Actives!
These puppies boast a "Flat Frequency Response" which is what you want. I just got a pair and love them. I haven't finished any mixes yet but I really think that these were great for the $! My first choice were the Mackie HR824's which were twice as expensive!
:cool:
 
I used to borow a friends Genelec 1031's - and of course they were great. But after returning them I wanted a monitor that sounded close but didn't cost so much. After a lot of comparison, I bought a pair of M-Audio SP-5B's -bi-amped monitors with a 5 1/4" driver and 1" silk dome tweater -and they sound AMAZING! They have their deficits, for sure - the most prominent is, without a sub, they lack real low-end below 150Hz or so, but above that, they are VERY flat and accurate. I paid like, $200 for them. I see that M-Audio has a new version of these speakers now, with some improvements. If I were in the market for monitors, I would HIGHLY consider the M-Audio's, with the 8" driver (the ow-end will be much better represented).
Very low-cost vs performance ratio. The Events are fabulous monitors too.
 
I had a pair of sp5's and I found that because of the lack of bass in them I was overcompensating for the bass. Once I would finish a mix and put it on a CD to play in the car, the bass was overpowering and I was turning up the treble on the car stereo..

So I solved that issue by adding a samson resolv 120 sub. Using a few sine waves and an SPL meter from Radio Shack I set the volumes on the sub and nearfeilds to the same levels. It immediately made a difference on my mixes.

After a while a friend of mine bought the samson resolv 65a's. I would bring over a mix and start to notice things on his resolv's that I wouldn't notice on the sp5's. It pissed me off enough that I went out and bought a pair.

I realize that the resolv's are not mackies, genelec's etc, but IMO they (and the Yorkville's) are a huge improvement on the maudio's.


P.S. - If the sp5's are close in sound to the genelec's then I think my next upgrade will be to the mackies ! ;-)
 
I assume that your M-Audios don't allow any EQ tweaking, as do the newer version (BX5). Because I've been able to adapt their sound to my room, I'm getting very solid mixes with my BX5s although the low-end remains tricky. (I agree that getting to know your monitors--by playing lots of pro CDs through them--is a key with any monitor system.)

As this month's SOS review (of the BX5s) states: the low end seems to drop off so quickly that it's sometimes hard to know what's happening there. As the article rightly mentions, a sub is the ticket with these 5 inchers (and maybe with most or all 5 inchers). Interesting, though, that the review mentions how smooth the BX5s' mids and highs are, overall--partly due to the relative lack of bass--which is what I've found. I've had no troubles in producing a transferable mix in terms of mids and highs. But again, I've been able to use the switches to adapt them to my quirky home studio.

By the way, if you're thinking "budget," you might want to audition the new Tapco/Mackie S5s for about $300/pair. They received solid reviews in SOS although they still try to deliver bass with a 5" woofer--not an easy task.

Best,

J.
 
We must remember that there is an expectation to get great audio performance from monitors that are very, very inexpensive, so concessions have to be made - the M-Audio's, for what they do - are excellent; I'm mixing an album on them now, and since I A/B my mixes with CD's I know very well, my low-end issue goes away -

If you want seriously great monitors that deliver true flat response and great low end, you have to pay for them. The middle of the road monitors are cool and do perfrom really well, like the Mackies and KRK's etc.
 
i love my sp5b's. yeah, they're pretty weak in the bass. they DO require proper positioning. and yeah, i found myself waaaay overcompensating for the lack of bass until i learned em. using commercial cds i was VERY familiar with really helped--the bass went "away" on those commercially produced cds, too, so i knew what i should be aiming for......90% of getting translatable mixes is learning/knowing your monitors.

however, the one thing that i've NOT found about them is lacking (in any way) high end or mids. i find them to be very clear and quite accurate. maybe it's your room and not the monitors? always a possibility. and the bass, while it won't cave your chest, assuming you've positioned the things right, you WILL get plenty of round bass tone, which i'll take over thump any day.

that said, i too am looking to upgrade to something with an 8in cone. i originally started out mixing acoustic guitar and vocals, which the sp5b's are great at, but now i find myself mixing a lot of rock band material too, and i need that chest-thump (in addition to the round bass tone) from the kick. the sp5b's are just plain too small to give me sufficient thump, and i'm not interested in adding a sub. but i can't argue with their mids and highs--very accurate and clear to my ears. needless to say, i'm looking hard at a set of BX8s.


wade
 
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