Studio Monitors, Which One To Buy? Edifire, MAudio or Behringer

[ZealFied]

Hello,
So, as the title tells the tale, i'm looking for studio monitors for my Home Studio, i have my heart and mind set for Edifier R2730DB, why because it is a 3 way tri-amp, for lows, mids & highs. it features a 6 & half inch bass unit, 4inch mid ranger & a 19mm tweeter. its connectivity is RCA, Optical/Coaxial & BT Connectivity also comes with a IR remote. Total RMS 136Watts 40W Bass Unit, 14W Mid Ranger & 14W Tweeter.
In same price im getting MAudio AV42 & Behringer 40USB. Both these have 4inch speaker and a tweeter. These two are slightly expensive than Edifire, What do you guys think which one should i get?

 

[gecko zzed]

No doubt others will chime in with their suggestions, but I would go for the Behringer. This is not because of some magical quality it possesses, but simply because it is the only one with balanced inputs (as well as RCA inputs), and that could be very handy if yo discover you can hear system noise through them.

 

[dwillis45]

It's pretty hard to recommend monitors from the comfort of a sub forum dedicated to studio construction and acoustic treatment. Some would argue that your choice doesn't matter unless your room is treated. Others will suggest that, depending on your room, you should be spending half your time and half your money on decent headphones. And still others would hesitate to recommend anything without knowing the kind of music you plan to record and mix. Those monitors are fairly small and at least one of them is only rated down to 75hz (which means more like 80hz). If you are making acoustic music, they might work but I would hesitate to use them for anything heavy and low. They really seem more like multimedia or computer speakers rather than monitors.

 

[mjbphotos]

What are you using for an audio interface?

Quite honestly, none of your choices are more than glorified computer speakers. Where are you located? Maybe the UK? as the only for-sale info I could find on the Edifier was Amazon-UK @ 199 pounds for the pair, that seems much more expensive than the M-Audios (which are discontinued apparently, but sold for US$99) or the Behrs which are US$119.

 

[ZealFied]

Hey, thanks for the response guys, i am making music as a hobby, but i want to take it to next level, whenever i make music no matter what i do, it just sounds too dull, i have tried izotope ozone 5 & also tried mixing manually by EQing with fruity parametric EQ. but when every i play music on other peoples speakers it just doesn't sound right. im on budget and looking for a half decent studio monitors which will at least put my music in professional category. i dont really like headphones, i like to hear music from a little far... please help me get a studio monitor.
Thanks.

 

[ZealFied]

What are you using for an audio interface?

im going to buy behringer euphoria um-2 and im not from UK, but everything in my country is expensive. i mean all these 3 speakers are almost same in price, but edifier is officially here and provide 1 year warranty, all others are import re sellers and don't provide warranty. i thought these edifier speakers were good, thats why i thought i would get them. im turning my small study room into studio, its very small room, ill send its dimensions later, with pics, i just need to build my home studio, and i want my music to sound professional....

 

[ZealFied]

My room dimensions are 67" x 71" or 5ft 7inch x 5ft 11inches only, i cant post pics because of restriction.

 

[miroslav]

Oh man...not to make fun or anything, but that really IS a small "room". Is that more like a converted closet/storage space...?

TBH...I wouldn't worry too much about minor differences with the speakers, and just get the ones you think are the best deal for you...but maybe don't get nayn at all....read below.

So what kind of music are you doing?
I know you say you want them to sound professional...but in all honesty, that size space is not going to be of much help getting you there.
I hate to even say this...but you might be better off spending the money on some high-end headphones, and just always use them...and then put up some decent computer/bookshelf speaker so that you can take a break from the headphones and listen on them...but that room size makes speaker monitoring a real challenge, to say the least.

I'm not even sure how you would fit a desk for your audio gear, and a chair to sit on in there without being up against the walls, not to mention any kind of instrument or microphone...etc...???
If you are just doing electronic/EDM kind of music and working entirely in the computer, with synths and samples, etc...then you might just fit in there, and again, go with good quality headphones for mixing/monitoring duties.

 

[Mickster]

Seriously........unless you expect your room size situation to change anytime soon.........it could easily be a waste of money to buy ANY kind of decent (or even cheap) monitors. As Miro has said.......get a good pair of headphones........get to know them well........and use them for now. I know you've said you don't like headphones.............but they're your realistic way to go. You could decide to pursue monitors.........but lord......it's doubtful that they'd be useful AT ALL really. Just my opinion of course.

 

[ZealFied]

Lol, yeah man its small room, it was a study room, there is a computer table with chair already there from the start, i play games there and been making music in this small room for about 4 years now, i usually make Trance, trap and chillout music, i record vocals but just small words in my chillout music or some time record rap verses, and i do it with cheap mic, it turns out decent. but i use software to remove noise, you can check my music on soundcloud ~ zealfied. i wish i could post pics of this room. you guys think any of mentioned studio monitors aren't good for making professional quality music, i should stick to headphones?

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

 

[ZealFied]

I'm going to upgrade the table once i get all the equipment, than ill custom build one table according to my needs... this is the only spare room in my house, i cant get a bigger room, unless i move into my bedroom, which i don't wanna do. im thinking about using acoustic foam on all the walls for soundproofing.

 

[dwillis45]

Wow! That is tight. I'm not even sure that you have room for monitors.

My two cents: Unless you can find a new room, spend your money on a good set of open back headphones for mixing. Then experiment with a few wall panels to see if it helps vocal tracking. Small rooms are pretty bad for mixing on monitors. Small square rooms are even worse. And small, square rooms, without any acoustic treatment is nearly a perfect trifecta for poor outcomes. Add a little external noise and some questionable talent and you're finished.

 

[ZealFied]

LOL, man come on. i cant have a room. final thoughts, you guys recommend me get a good quality headphones for mixing my music, but i cant have headphones on all the time, so i already have edifier 2.1 multimedia speakers which ill use while making music, but while mixing my music i will use headphones. that will give me professional audio? Right? i will get a Behringer Uphoria UM-2 audio interface hook it up to headphones and it will work well with condenser mics as it has phantom power, it will provide professional quality audio, am i right? so i should just buy audio interface and headphones.

 

[mjbphotos]

'Professional audio' is a lot more than an interface and headphones.

 

[dwillis45]

LOL, man come on. i cant have a room. final thoughts, you guys recommend me get a good quality headphones for mixing my music, but i cant have headphones on all the time, so i already have edifier 2.1 multimedia speakers which ill use while making music, but while mixing my music i will use headphones. that will give me professional audio? Right? i will get a Behringer Uphoria UM-2 audio interface hook it up to headphones and it will work well with condenser mics as it has phantom power, it will provide professional quality audio, am i right? so i should just buy audio interface and headphones.

A good pair of open back headphones will give you a fighting chance of making music which sounds good and makes you happy. The term "professional quality" is not well defined and not easy to target. It takes a whole series of steps to get there. The journey starts, however, with a good sized room which is well treated.

 

[RFR]

Wow! That room is TINY! You'd be better off mixing with a laptop and monitoring via bluetooth in your car. ( hey at least you'd have a real world listening experience )

But you got what you got. A lousy room. Seriously, as others had mentioned a good set of headphones is your ticket.


Ps. You may think I'm joking, but I've known of a few who got great results with car stereo mixing.
It's probably the audio system many know best.

 

[kevin6string]

YEP HEADPHONES... GOOD ONES! money well spent...if you MUST in your opinion get monitors...look at Mackie MR5's they have balanced in and RCA in as well as TRS in...they also have low and high boost or cut...so if you need some extra low end to help mixing boost the low frequency +2 or +4 ...might want to boost higs +2 as they do tend ( depending on room ) to be a little hot on the high end when transfering to say a car stereo ...i always check mixes on a car stereo as well as a stereo system ... if you had a 10x10 room you could go MR8's or Yamaha HS8...however Yamaha being higher priced. the MR5's are 119.99 at Sweetwater.com Behringers are ok but are basically Mackie copies... they also carry JBL 305P MkII 5" @ 109.00 US dollars each...however that is a tiny tiny space so i would opt for a good head phone that "doesn't color" the mix