Studio Monitors

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docz

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So I've taken the plunge from working in our guest room with my guitars and headphones to building a little home studio in our basement. I worked part time in a pro studio in our town as a session musician, and I got to hear the engineer mix on his monitors. These were high end ridiculously expensive stuff - which is perfectly fine if you run a professional outfit and make a living from it. But anyways I clearly got why he uses monitors and not cans for mixing. It was easy to hear the problems in the mix.

So I've decided to get a pair of monitors for my home studio. So I started doing some research online and I started very entusiastic about a couple of models. But my enthusiasm has developed into a near depression after reading what people say about these "low end" "pro-sumer" monitors.

Is there really nothing under 1k bucks that can be used as good monitors for mixing? 1000 bucks is my whole budget for my studio, and I was hoping to get more gear than just monitors. I understand that it is an important piece of kit, but I'm not running a professional studio, where time is money and the more efficiently I can get mixes done the better. I was thinking to spend about 300 bucks on monitors. At first I thought a pair of Behringer MS40 would do the trick, but then someone told me that they make everything sound good because of their slightly scooped mid performance, and that they will not be good for identifying problems.

Cheap (<200$ a pair):
Behringer MS series: Are like hi-fi or PC speakers
Alesis M1 320: Like PC speakers, make anything sound good
M-Audio AV40: Not enough mid-range detail for mixing
Behringer Truth: Have a boosted low end
Roland MA1x: Are a joke accourding to what I've read

Fair (<400$ a pair)
Behringer Truths: Muddy
Yamaha HS50: Not good for mixing, great for listening to music
KRK RP5: To much low end
Mackie MR5: Garbage
Phonic P5A: Garbage

these are not my opinions, but the opinions I've gathered by reading this and other forums online. So I'm totally stumped. Hopefully someone here will offer some insight and experience with these and other monitors in my pricerange.

Everytime I find a model, someone tells me I can't use that. Surely it is a piece of personal preferance, but I don't want to spend money that will not serve my purpose, nor will I spend a shitload of cash resulting in divorce and financial ruin.

Since none of the stores where I live stock these products, I can't just listen to all of them and make a decission.

I play guitar, bass and keyboards, and I sing. I make music that I sell on gigs, as well as tracking a few guitar parts for clients once in a while.
Is there really nothing I can buy that will suit my purpose? Is tossing the wife and kids out the door, sell the house and the car and get me a set of 10k dynaudios?

Can anyone give any insight on this subject?

DocZ
 
Nothing is perfect, you might as well get over it now.

Just find some monitors with at least an okay reputation and learn their fauls. Your ears will get used to the monitors and you won't even have to think about it.

Like you said yourself, your not building a pro studio.
 
Id try to stay away from the sub $200, and if possible go for an 8" rather than 5" woofer....the KRKs get good press same with the truths...without listening to them yourself Id keep in mind the old saying that opinions are like arseholes..

Im going for a pair of RP8s this week....my 5" monitors are next to useless for any bass work....
 
You will find a lot of gear snobbery anywhere you go. People trying justify their uber expensive purchase by saying anything made by a certain manufacturer or at a certain price point is crap. This is not true.

The adage "you get what you pay for" is not an absolute truth. Economies of scale mean the manufacturing process has come down dramatically over the years, especially for the big companies. Boutique co's that claim to make their own will have high overheads.

I once mixed an EP on Truths ( after spending hours listening to various albums and songs to learn the speakers ) and had no trouble dialing in the right amount of bass and picking out faults in the recording.

Gear snobbery is bullshit.


It's important that you just listen to hours and hours of music on whatever system you choose. And at sensible volumes.


A smart move would be to have the same home entertainment system playback as your studio monitors ( deactivating all the eq presets of course ) so you are constantly hearing them. Ignore any audiofile who says "oh but different room acoustics blah blah" , honestly its not going to dramatically alter the sound in a way that impedes your learning.


The Behringer MS's arent HiFi btw. They are not flattering at all.
 
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the MS's are little more than PC monitors....youd be better of with phones :o
 
CFox said:
Garbage, those things move a lot of air when cranked. No wobble or flutter either. :cool:
Click to expand...

lol

The MS40s were my first monitors, complete rubbish..I ended up just using my AT phones, got far better results


the mids and bass are all mud and having the tweeters on the same side on both monitors really helps getting accurate HFs in the stereo field..I mean the woofers arent even 5"...good luck with any sub bass

like I said they are little better that PC speakers and even at that price range there is better...in fact old high end hifi speakers would provide better results and probably cost less
 
oh an i have plenty of behringer gear that I use daily before we go all gear snob on my ass :)

youd be better off buying a used pair of DT 770's than waste money on either of the MS range
 
Hm, a lot of good info here guys, thanks a lot for clearing things up.

About Behringer gear, some of it is good, some of it is not so good. I use B212As and B214As for my live PA rig, they work great! I used to have a pair of SRM350s, but this rig costs less than two of those, and I get a lot more music out there and can play larger venues. They been through the works with heavy gigging for years, and have never let me down. On the other hand, I used to have a Eurolive mixer, that one got killed after one gig. So I replaced that with a Yamaha MG, the MG sounds worse, but it has been a trusty road mate for many years now.

I think I'll check those Phonics, or Truths out, I can get a good deal on those from my local music store. Better start there, and fork out more cash later on when (or if) I feel I need an upgrade.

I aggree that there a several gear snobs, being a guitarist I can really relate. A lot of guys spend thousands on high end guitars, while they are nice instruments, there is really no rational reasons other than "Man I really want that guitar" to buy them. An Epi Les Paul, or Mex Strat doesn't feel (or sound) lightyears away from their more pricy bigger brothers. Once you have them stringed, properly set up and plugged into your amp they should get the job done. Hell I still gig with my first guitar, a Squire Strat, it still feels great to play, and it sounds good.

Thanks again guys,

DocZ
 
docz said:
Hm, a lot of good info here guys, thanks a lot for clearing things up.

About Behringer gear, some of it is good, some of it is not so good. I use B212As and B214As for my live PA rig, they work great! I used to have a pair of SRM350s, but this rig costs less than two of those, and I get a lot more music out there and can play larger venues. They been through the works with heavy gigging for years, and have never let me down. On the other hand, I used to have a Eurolive mixer, that one got killed after one gig. So I replaced that with a Yamaha MG, the MG sounds worse, but it has been a trusty road mate for many years now.

I think I'll check those Phonics, or Truths out, I can get a good deal on those from my local music store. Better start there, and fork out more cash later on when (or if) I feel I need an upgrade.

I aggree that there a several gear snobs, being a guitarist I can really relate. A lot of guys spend thousands on high end guitars, while they are nice instruments, there is really no rational reasons other than "Man I really want that guitar" to buy them. An Epi Les Paul, or Mex Strat doesn't feel (or sound) lightyears away from their more pricy bigger brothers. Once you have them stringed, properly set up and plugged into your amp they should get the job done. Hell I still gig with my first guitar, a Squire Strat, it still feels great to play, and it sounds good.

Thanks again guys,

DocZ
Click to expand...


im no guitarist but i own five or six, my favourite is a squire that i modded...sound the mutts nuts now :)


I only started recording a year ago and there is a distinct difference in my mixes as time goes on obviously. But you can hear the jump in quality when i improved my monitoring chain..there are other reasons but that alone was the biggest factor..spend wisely :)
 
If I were you, I'd go for the KRKs. I find it interesting that you say they have too much low end! I've always heard the bass lacked a little in the 5's, but I've got KRK 6s, and they're just dandy!

$.02

Good luck! :)
 
whats your limit?

a set of krk pr8's first gen went on ebay for $177 last week....granted buying new monitors is always best but thats some serious kit for $177
 
Yeah, I wish I lived in the states, then Ebay would be a solution :)

I live in Norway, so I'm pretty limited to what I can buy here. If I buy on Ebay, anything over $30 in value are prone to some serious import tax duties.

DocZ
 
You don't have to rely on name brands, you can solve all your problems by looking at the spec sheets, you want to get monitors that are flat as possible, Look at a graph if there is one available for the speakers and make sure the response is flat as possible, if there is no graph usually they have the frequency response numbers. if you have a frequency response of 40hz-20khz and it has a +/-0 db after it, those speakers are considered flat, if you have +/- 2 db after it, it means the are off by + or - 2 db throughout the spectrum, that is allowable, anything more than 2 db +/- you should stay away from if you want accurate mixes.

I settled for KRK Rokit rp5's I wanted 8's but the frequency response was so close I couldn't see paying the extra hundred for a 6 or 7 frequency difference.

I thought about the Behringer's since I didn't have alot of cash but I'd heard that the monitors had power amp problems and some of them ended up fried after a short time of use.
 
i think a problem, with some of the behringer models is that they are sealed units so if you need to replace anything you basically have to replace the entire unit :(
 
Why don't you go to your local music store and test out some of the options you have listed? It is always best to test before you buy, especially when you're buying monitors.
 
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