R
Rockfish
New member
Need some monitors. Don't have a fortune. What do you guys (and gals) think of Alesis Monitor Ones? Thanks.
T
The Green Hornet
New member
Yo Fish Among the Rocks:
Alesis Monitor I = mediocre. I say that because I had a pair. They worked but as I grew better ears, they did not work very well. Kind of like the Alesis keyboards -- look at any one of them and they all sport a screen size designed for 19 year olds with 20/20 vision -- lousy monitor screens -- and, I had one of those too.
For a very modest price, you can get Yorkville passives, for a bit more the actives, and you will have a decent pair of monitors to serve you until you decide to go to the higher priced spread. And, then, it's subjective and directive to your needs.
I must say that my Alesis reverb unit, Midi3 is a good one. But, with my DAW and it's built in Yam reverb, well, the Alesis decorates my studio. But, I'd still use it if the situation fit.
Green Hornet
Alesis Monitor I = mediocre. I say that because I had a pair. They worked but as I grew better ears, they did not work very well. Kind of like the Alesis keyboards -- look at any one of them and they all sport a screen size designed for 19 year olds with 20/20 vision -- lousy monitor screens -- and, I had one of those too.
For a very modest price, you can get Yorkville passives, for a bit more the actives, and you will have a decent pair of monitors to serve you until you decide to go to the higher priced spread. And, then, it's subjective and directive to your needs.
I must say that my Alesis reverb unit, Midi3 is a good one. But, with my DAW and it's built in Yam reverb, well, the Alesis decorates my studio. But, I'd still use it if the situation fit.
Green Hornet
Massive Master
www.massivemastering.com
Rockfish said:
I try not to.
Agreed - Go with the Yorkies. I'm not too crazy about them either, but for the bucks, they're quite nice.
John Scrip - www.massivemastering.com
leavings
Member
I just bought a pair of the mk2 actives, and I'm pretty happy with them. Though I must admit I'm not as experienced as many.
L
Lawrence Bulloc
New member
Just purchased a pair of the Alesis 1s. I'll let you know when I hook them up.
The way I figure it, since I mixed my last four CDs on headphones (yes, I hear the collective scream going up from every quarter of the BB and I agree. I was poor, etc. By the way, to hear some really interesting mixing, go to www.geocities.com.lcbullock, click on "Online Store" and listen for free to what you get if you mix through headphones) I wanted to go the legit way.
Good luck.
The way I figure it, since I mixed my last four CDs on headphones (yes, I hear the collective scream going up from every quarter of the BB and I agree. I was poor, etc. By the way, to hear some really interesting mixing, go to www.geocities.com.lcbullock, click on "Online Store" and listen for free to what you get if you mix through headphones) I wanted to go the legit way.
Good luck.
A
Aloha
New member
We are currently using them in our studio right now. They are not that bad for the money. But you have to remember that with monitors your room greatly affects how they sound. You could have great monitors but in a bad room they will sound terible. On the other hand you can have bad monitors but your room may complement them and they could sound good. Ours sound not to bad in our room. Recently we got to compare them to a set of event 20/20 monitors and the short commings of the alesis m1's became very apparent. They have a harsh top end and unrealistic bass response. However for your first set they should do the trick but I would have to warn you that you may out grow them fairly quick. Do your homework and things will work out.
Track Rat
Just Your Average Sized Member
I've used the Alesis monitors a few times and I have a VERY low opinion of them. The Yorkies are an order of magnitude better in my not so humble opinion.
Garry Sharp
Lost Cause
I am SO happy that I have sold mine (although they were the active ones - I believe the passives are better).
jake-owa
Banned
The passives are slightly better. It's all true, everything they say about them....I miss my old JBL 4310s.
I need to move into the realm of serious monitors...maybe I'll build some.
I need to move into the realm of serious monitors...maybe I'll build some.
Blue Bear Sound
New member
I've got both Event PS6 and KRK V8s for sale, in case anyone's interested in upgrading....
K
kylen
New member
I've had a set of Alesis powered M1's and used them constantly for about a year.
They got me thru setting up a digital studio on my home PC - getting my apps in order (Sonar3) - auditioning mastering and mixing plugins - learning and setting up room acoustics (for near field monitoring) - learning about re-balancing and mastering for stereo mixes.
I think I have my room acoustics and monitor placement combination set up as good as possible but I can hear past the monitors now. Time for an upgrade.
I'm packing them away for a move. Hehe when I unpack I think out will come [at least] a set of Mackie 824's now that I've decided to roll up my sleeves and get in to this a bit more seriously.
They got me thru setting up a digital studio on my home PC - getting my apps in order (Sonar3) - auditioning mastering and mixing plugins - learning and setting up room acoustics (for near field monitoring) - learning about re-balancing and mastering for stereo mixes.
I think I have my room acoustics and monitor placement combination set up as good as possible but I can hear past the monitors now. Time for an upgrade.
I'm packing them away for a move. Hehe when I unpack I think out will come [at least] a set of Mackie 824's now that I've decided to roll up my sleeves and get in to this a bit more seriously.
T
tonyA
New member
STRANGE
All those professional engineers that did a review available online with test equipments that reviewed Alesis Monitor One's among others in a shoot out gave Alesis M1 a better grade that we did.
Now, I wonder what we members of this forum know that they didn't?
All those professional engineers that did a review available online with test equipments that reviewed Alesis Monitor One's among others in a shoot out gave Alesis M1 a better grade that we did.
Now, I wonder what we members of this forum know that they didn't?
K
kylen
New member
tonyA - can you point me to the review ? I'm seriously considering the Mackie 824's and want to compare available reading material before I have my sales guy set up a comparison for me (hehe sales guys need something to do sometimes too!). In other words I'll A/B what I have (M1) to my target (Mackie). Now that I think of it I reckon I could do that at home myself - would probably make more sense to my ears. thanx
Garry Sharp
Lost Cause
Tony in the one I saw the passive Alesis did much better than the actives, sorry there's no chance of me finding the link!!
T
tonyA
New member
kylen said:
Remember, I didn't say excellent, I said "good". As far as Mackie is concerned, it ranked number 1 for best sound, but last for value due to its's price. However, Behringer Truths (here comes the Behringer bashers) ranked number 2 for sound but number 1 for value. Nevertheles, it did better than the Roland DS90's, M Audio Studiophiles, Tannoy Reveals. On value, Alesis monitors were second only to Behringer Truths, and of course, Mackie ranked last.
The link is: http://soundwave.com/2002/10_oct/reviews/monitor_shootout.htm
That link is not the original link I read the review from. I couldn't find it now.
There are other places where you would find Alesis M1 fared better. Gary Sharp is right, the Alesis passives came out better that the actives. Remember, the reason Alesis ranked not as well as they should is because of their bass response, which is purely a subjective taste. As a matter of fact, the slightly exagerated bass response on these monitors were intentional and were designed to have a better response on the low end. Other than that, it is considered flat and natural, which a studio near-field monitor should be.
__________________
"For God so love the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him, shall not perish, but have everlasting life"
K
kylen
New member
thanx tonyA...
I'm gonna try something tonight on my powered M1s and that is to plug one of the ports and see if that helps the bass accuracy - due to the boosted bass response from having dual ports I think, even though there is plenty of bass, it isn't giving me an accurate picture if you follow my drift.
Anyway I'll give that a shot because i'd like to get a more accurate picture of the bass and lo mids and that physical adjustment might help. If I need more actual bass power then I can always 'hype' the speakers a bit - they don't have eq switches so I'd have to use a digital eq I have and throw a bit of a shelf or something in there if necessary.
ED: Thanx again for the shootout link - I read that one yesterday oddly enough. Personally I would disagree with the idea that MackieHR824 isn't a good value monitor - if I were to add up all the time I put in fighting to get a good sound when I could be doing something else I would say it's well worth it. We'll see if I actually go that route !
I'm gonna try something tonight on my powered M1s and that is to plug one of the ports and see if that helps the bass accuracy - due to the boosted bass response from having dual ports I think, even though there is plenty of bass, it isn't giving me an accurate picture if you follow my drift.
Anyway I'll give that a shot because i'd like to get a more accurate picture of the bass and lo mids and that physical adjustment might help. If I need more actual bass power then I can always 'hype' the speakers a bit - they don't have eq switches so I'd have to use a digital eq I have and throw a bit of a shelf or something in there if necessary.
ED: Thanx again for the shootout link - I read that one yesterday oddly enough. Personally I would disagree with the idea that MackieHR824 isn't a good value monitor - if I were to add up all the time I put in fighting to get a good sound when I could be doing something else I would say it's well worth it. We'll see if I actually go that route !
K
kylen
New member
Well plugging one of the ports with a sock and putting loosely rolled up corrugated cardboard in the other port sounds better to me so far (doesn't the new car always run better after a wash - hehe).
Anyway the bass is out of the way of the mids now so we'll see if I can make anything translate quicker...socks & cardboard - poor mans eq! Actually socks are mentioned in the Alesis manual - so the engineersforesaw this eventuality...egads
Anyway the bass is out of the way of the mids now so we'll see if I can make anything translate quicker...socks & cardboard - poor mans eq! Actually socks are mentioned in the Alesis manual - so the engineersforesaw this eventuality...egads
T
tonyA
New member
AMAZING!
That is exactly how those people testing M1 solve it's exagerated low end - with a sock!
That is exactly how those people testing M1 solve it's exagerated low end - with a sock!
C
chessrock
Banned
Re: STRANGE
Hmmm. Interesting. Here's a quote from the link you provided:
"I can't afford $1,300 for a set of monitors and I don't produce "studio-mastered" quality songs anyway. If I had clients or was being paid for mixing/mastering, I would absorb the cost of these wholeheartedly."
"Keep in mind that this was in one store's sound room"
. . . so some guy and his buddy test out a bunch of monitors at the local Guitar Center and write a review for digitalprosound, and this is supposed to qualify as expert opinion?
tonyA said:
Hmmm. Interesting. Here's a quote from the link you provided:
"I can't afford $1,300 for a set of monitors and I don't produce "studio-mastered" quality songs anyway. If I had clients or was being paid for mixing/mastering, I would absorb the cost of these wholeheartedly."
"Keep in mind that this was in one store's sound room"
. . . so some guy and his buddy test out a bunch of monitors at the local Guitar Center and write a review for digitalprosound, and this is supposed to qualify as expert opinion?
T
tonyA
New member
Chessrock, it was a similar review. I thought I said I could not find the original review link. Did I forget to write that? The ones with engineers used RANE Real time Spectrum Analysers, with occiliscopes and FFT and all. If you really need to read it, try Monitor One and Monitor 1 for your searches. But short of spending an arm and two legs, I believe Alesis would more that suffice a homebased project studio. Let us get real - MACKIE HR824 - lists for $1628, BEHRINGER TRUTHS - $599 - Alesis Monitor One passives $199, and their sound rating on that review you read was in that order too. Hey, if you got the money, go for it. Maybe, even buy the most expensive and top of the line Genelec. As you see, we must keep things in perspective. I agree with you, if I have a client that would pay, heck, I would spring for the Mackie and if the client gets a platinum record and stays with me, I might even be able to afford a Genelec. The Mackies, at Guitar Center, (find a friend) could be had for less than $1,200 a pair. By the way, Alesis Monitor One is the winner of the prestigious TEC award. That is more than what I could say with the others. Remember, I didn't say it was number one, I said they rate it better that our forum does, and "we must know something that they don't". I wunder.....But you know this board...if it is cheap, it must not be good, "lets bash it"....the arrogance, against all tests ..... and specs....
Last edited:
