Please help me pick one of these monitors

  • Thread starter Thread starter Joe-H
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Joe-H

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First time poster here. Been a lurker for a week.

Please advise as to which one I should go with. I'll be listenning to music and occasionally mixing vocal track with it mostly. My budget is tight, so the better bang for the buck item, the better it is for me. Trying to save some money to get a good effect processor.

1. Fostex PM05 ($250)
2. Samson Resolv 65a ($300)
3. M-Audio BX5 ($300)
4. Tapco S5 ($350)
5. Event PS6 ($375)

I'm leaning towards the Event PS6, as I think it's a nice deal. But is it worth to shell out the extra buck for it? Being poor sux... :D

EDIT: I should also add that I listen at a fairly low volumn level (don't wanna piss off the neighbors), so loudness of a speaker doesn't really matter to me.
 
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Joe - I don't want to sound... What's the word... Eh, forget it.

Anyway, if you've got a chance to save a little extra and take a step up in your monitors, you WON'T regret it.

Your monitors are the only link between "everything else" and your ears. The greatest processors, mics, consoles, effects - Worthless if you can't hear them accurately.

The models you listed (if I'm not mistaken) are all of the "small" variety. As you stated that you listen at low volume, you're serving yourself a double-whammy. A larger monitor - Even the Behringer Truths - would arguably seve you better at low volume if for no other reason than the low end response. I'd either go used, go Truths, or save up a little more and go with a KRK-8 or a BX8 or something in that range.
 
Massive Master,

Thanks for the reply. I now realized that I made a mistake in purchasing all the other gears (Rode NTK, dbx 376, Mackie 1202VLZ Pro, Lexicon MPX1) that I didn't leave much money for monitors. Probably like most noob, I didn't think much of studio monitors. I figured I could get away with my hi-fi stereo speakers and headphone. I don't listen loud to not disturb my elderly neighbors, so it is kind of tricky to crank up the volumn for mixing. I do most of my mixdowns with a Sony 7506 headphone, and most of my mixes were terrible, as you might have guessed.

I dunno. I'm kind of in a tricky situation in that I don't have much left to spend (probably $400 max), and I don't want to listen loud so I don't know if I would be wasting my money on monitors that will just be louder. I would need to "sound proof" my room as much as I can, but I have no means or desire of doing that now. This is just a hobby to me.

Would the Beh Truth be my best bet? I've read bad things about Beh products so... Would the Event PS6 be at least decent for my kind of mixing (vocal)? The PS6 has a 6.5" woofer, I believe.
 
Massive Master is right! I know you don't want to hear that maybe, but he is! I think the Truths( even though I have't heard them) would be alright! You can get them at www.BPMmusic.com for $279 new! I think that is worth it! I am selling my Alesis M1 Actives on ebay soon to upgrade my monitors as well. Good luck....Lorde
 
The Behringers' are very good for the money. For what it's worth I just got a pair of KRK RP8's and love em. Best monitor I've heard for under a $1000.00. Now the Mackie Tapco's are very good too.
 
Okay, you guys talked me into it. I ended up getting the Beh Truths for $300. I almost, almost got the Event PS6. I hope the Beh Truths was the right choice.

Lorde, BPMmusic.com didn't have the Truths for $279. When I added it to my cart, it was $309.
 
You'll be very happy. Just cut the Highs by -2db on the back.
 
I sure hope so! Man, I sure am a compulsive buyer. I admit it. Whenever I like something, I buy it right away without thinking of what I can get for a better value. I'm not rich! :D I'm getting better at it though. This board helps.

Oh, and I'll tell you guys how I feel about the Truths once it arrives.
 
Just a thought for future reference. If I had it to do all over again I would set up my listening environment as follows and this for home mixing. In this order:

$500 for foam and bass traps to balance the room.
$1000 for really good AD/DA convertors ( mabe $600 for a Lynx stereo card)
$1000 for monitors. (possibly lower cost monitors with a sub woofer $600 minimum)

After this mics, preamps and compressors.

But as most newbies do, I dinked around for years recording things that just did not turn out right until I got my environment stable and predictable.
Recording and mixing for desired results is pointless if you can't hear the recording properly to make the correct adjustments. Now, it can be educational and fun up to a point, but happiness and confidence is a well tuned environment i.e. room control and monitor balance. :rolleyes:
 
thanks. point is I don't have the cash. SO I just have to sit on my ass till i find it? (don't mean to be agressive, probably looks that way, serious question though.) OR will getting the event TR-8 or M-audio's BX-8 and adding a sub when i have the money be anywhere near decent? And again; room treatment is not allowed where i live (but then again i will probably move soon anyway)... All that comes later.
 
Middleman said:
Now, it can be educational and fun up to a point, but happiness and confidence is a well tuned environment i.e. room control and monitor balance. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
I'm awared that acoustic treatment is vital. I record in the same room that my computer is in and the fan noise get into my recordings. That can be very frustrating. This is after I have the computer put in my new desk that have a supposedly "concealed" CPU storage. Also, I get a lot of unwanted ambience in my room. A lot of my vocal recordings I have to be real close to the mic rather than to back off 10 to 12 inches like most suggest. I would love to have a small vocal booth, but I think that would cost me at least 3k. Even if I could afford it, which I can't, I would have to order a customize vocal booth. I don't think those vocal booths you can order online fit a person in a wheelchair.:)
 
Joe-H said:
...I would love to have a small vocal booth, but I think that would cost me at least 3k...
Click to expand...

I get a half a booth by opening my wife's closet door, and placing the mic stand up against her clothes. Then, I sing facing the closet. The bedroom is kind of dead acoustically with the closets open and the bed doing good absorbing. There are no significant reflections coming back out of the closet since the sound is absorbed by the clothes, and there isn't much left to bounce around the room. You can hear the results by listening to the song in my signature line.
 
A closet with a $20 auralex foam pad, 2x4, on the back of a door can actually provide a very good vocal booth. It's hard to get the guitar in there, but for vocals, it works.

guhlenn,

Any 6 inch monitor requires a sub to hear bass and kick acurately. Some of the 8 inch monitors, if they port out the front can get around this. If they port out the back, in my experience, they provide a smeared bass response which can be tightened up with a sub.

You can learn to mix around bass definciency but why? Save yourself some time and frustration by getting something that reveals the whole sound spectrum, but in budget of course.
 
Hey Joe-H.....the truths were $279 for the 2031....you got the 2031A which are new! They are $309....Good luck with them! Behringer says they are better than the first....you tell us when you get them....there aren't any reviews out on them yet? :)
 
Hey Joe-H.....the truths were $279 for the 2031....you got the 2031A which are new! They are $309....Good luck with them! Behringer says they are better than the first....you tell us when you get them....there aren't any reviews out on them yet? :)
 
Hey Joe-H.....the truths were $279 for the 2031....you got the 2031A which are new! They are $309....Good luck with them! Behringer says they are better than the first....you tell us when you get them....there aren't any reviews out on them yet? :)
 
Middleman; fiar enough. point taken. I read somewhere you use 5" m-audio's and a sub... Wil getting 8" woofers in combination with a sub be a waste of money or is overall sound better too? Those BX-8 look sweet and have been getting good reviews, room tuning and lots of other neat things. But i could save 130,- if i get the BX-5... I could put that money in other stuff (lots on my list so no lack in "things i want")
 
Guhlenn, I use SP5B's (basically the same as BX5's) and added the SBX sub later, which made a world of difference. You can make perfectly good mixes on that setup. I dealt with the SP5B's without the sub for quite a while. Without the sub, they will cause serious bass envy.-Richie
 
thanks. the BX-8 are on sale nearby where i live (well, at least relatively nearby) for 499,- . BX-5 are 389,-... I guess that little extra money will be a good investment. right?
 
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