Im about to buy a new pair of monitors and thought id see what you guys have to throw in the mix.

I have about £400 to spend on a pair and the KRK RP8's are looking like a winner so far.

hey!
i worked different monitors over the years.
im a ns10 guy, i work my monitors until i know them. dont want to much friendly colouring.
some people cant stand ns10s, i can understand their perspective, each to their own.

in that pricerange i d only consider yamaha as quality (although at home i work with some alesis m1 mkII (as second monitors opossed to a big rack as mains) , most people cant stand them too, no problem with them).

but as i said, if you want "clean" consider yamaha.

no fostex, no behringer (!), no maudio, no mackie (for me), no tannoy , krk are not so cheap and not so well distributed here so i cant say anything on them, perhaps samson robicon, and if you can shell out some more, go for adam .

I dont really like KRK's. The old expose's are the only ones which i've heard that i would consider using. The vtx4's would be handy for a small speaker reference, but definitely not as main monitors.

I dont know the prices in the UK or exactly what the exchange rate is but i think you'd be better off going for some bm5a mkII's. if you like a slightly more mid forward character you could check out the adams ax5/7.

I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with you, BIOS. The ns-10's are not very clean (or flat... i dont know why people think they are even close to flat), as they are really hyped/aggressive in the midrange. This is GREAT for radio type music as ns-10's can be great for getting a vocal to sit right, or to make guitars really bite. They lack bass and setting them up with a decent amp and sub will cost more than 400.


100% agreed with no fostex, behringer, maudio. mackie make some decent monitors, but i've always found that they are really bass heavy and a bit boomy.

I had a pair of KRK RP5's with the sub for a couple of years and they were ok but I really dont like mixing with a sub so want to go for a bigger monitor. I do really like the Adam A7's but they are a bit out of my price range at the moment and im not sure the A5's are gonna pack the punch i need. I need a good bass response as I pretty much only make bass music but I want an over exaggerated bottom end. Something thats truthful but has a bit of welly to it.

The bm5a mkII's seem a bit out of my price range as well. Im not really familiar with Dynaudios stuff but ill look into them for sure.

Im not really an ns10 kinda guy. great for reference but i wouldn't rock them as my main monitors.

I hadent considered the new Yamahas to be honest. Ill have to look into them! I remember a friend having some and they sounded pretty good.

Bheringer and the like are totally out of the question!

i've heard the new yamaha's and i wouldnt consider them...

the dynaudio's are great monitors, the mkII's have a bit better bass extension which is nice.
any pair of monitors under $1000 wont give you that low end punch unfortunately, shit, even my focal twin 6's dont give low end punch like a sub does, BUT they have a very defined low end.

Lots of monitors have present bass without being hyped, which can easily make people think that they have no bass (like an out of control sub in a small room, like most people are used to )

i didnt say they are flat (wasnt speaking about frequency response), i just stated they dont colour friendly (like i feel the mackies or genelecs do), what i meant with that is: they colour badly, you have to know them and set them up properly. and its just my personal (p)reference, as i said, each to their own. but the "clean" part was misleading, as i was speaking about the new series, sorry for that. i found from most yamaha gear that they have a ok price to quality ratio, just my opinion.
the ns-10 are just some aweful bookshelf, hifi speakers...i love mixing on hifi speakers from time to time...hehe, got a nice collection of them, so no offence taken. i respect all of your opinions, you know that!

to the op´s question: if youre talking monitors, you also have to talk room...just a thought,...you already got a fairly good system and youre room is making some trouble?

on monitors i think its hard to really make a big improvement in that pricerange...i would wait and gt the money on some (used?) bm5s, or adams, YES, that would be a major improvement in the critical listening chain (if your room is working well, that is).

IMHO, most cheap speakers exclusively made for "producas" (i.e. labeld "studio monitors") are pure crap. Especially the active ones.

Definitely check out the B&W DM602 S3. It's exactly your price range. The speakers translate extremely well and still make fun. Just don't forget a comparable amp, it makes a huge difference (go for NAD, it's fine at that range).

The speakers were listed at 300GBP (a pair!), you should have no problem to find them for ~200GBP at ebay. They have ten years warranty, so it might be still active, even with second hand.

You should spend the same amount for the amp. More is better.

BTW, B&W is a proud british company, so I guess you can even get better prices and easily demo B&W speakers (I guess you're from Britain). also, B&W is probably the standard speaker brand in high end mastering studios (the 800's series).

Here's an old SOS review about the speakers:
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/Jul02/a ... m602s3.asp

ahh i see what you're saying! my bad.
new series of ns-10? the hs?
mackie & genelec.... meh. unless its the 10xx series from gen...
the ns-10m is what you'd want, if you're going the ns-10 route. but then you're looking at a big chunk of change for a bryston 3b or something to power them nicely.

ANYWAY, pretty much everything b&w make is awesome. i've heard the 802's and instantly fell in love. keep in mind that their lower end stuff is aimed at audio enthusiasts and whatnot, so they might be exciting to listen to, but not as sterile as a dedicated studio monitor.

look at blue sky monitors as well, very very nice systems!

thanks for these suggestions. Some nice stuff here that I wasnt aware off! ill be checking all of these suggestions out for sure!

Personally, I would recommend not getting anything by Behringer...

I've used the older Mackie 824s for the last 5 years, and they work for me. The lower mids are a little hyped, but over the years I have learned to get good translation with these monitors. Whatever monitors you get, it's very important to have good room treatment, good converters, and to really learn how mixes translate by playing on a variety of systems as well as checking with well produced and mastered reference material.

In the future I would like to pick up a pair of e Genelec 8040s or Focal Twin 6.

Whilst I don't have a pair of Behringers myself, I think people are a bit stuck in the old ways.

My friend bought some Behringer Truths (don't know which model, I think they were 6") and they actually sounded really nice and clean when we ran some reference mixes through them.

Their new stuff is actually sounding pretty nice.

I don't think you should write off an entire brand before you listen to them.

From my experience, the old saying about behringer still holds. . .

'as long as you're not running audio through it, you should be fine.'

I've got no problems with behringer equipment. There new DJ Mixer is actually really nice. What you lose with Behringer is quality control, so be sure to give their products a thorough test before field use and always keep any warranty information and so forth.

As far as monitors go, if you are not in a dedicated room and don't have any acoustic treatment I wouldn't spend more than $500 on monitors. Get something you like the sound of and that doesn't fatigue your ears and you should be fine. Break new monitors in and take time to learn how they translate, and you should be able to get a balanced mix.

On that note, if I were you I'd probably but the samson resolv 8s, then spend the 200 - $300 left over on a couple of bass traps.

Great suggestions here! Thanks!

In the end I managed to pick up a pair of next to new KRK RP8's are a stupidly good price. I was gonna hold out for the Adam's but it would have been another couple of months and I cant wait that long! Room treatment is the next thing on the list.

I dont think ill ever buy a pair of behringer or samson monitors for any serious use. they just scream cheapness and bad quality. Great set of speakers for a practice setup when at home but not for production work.

Future Music magazine rates Samson Rubicon's in their top 5 gear picks.

Sound on Sound say they love the new Behringer Truths and recommend them over any other monitor at that price point.

As I said, I don't use either of these brands, but I think people are being a little close minded to just completely write them off because of other things they've heard about the brand and because the brands are better priced.

Weird brand snobbery...

Agreed, and from listening to the sub $1000 a pair monitors and looking at the spec sheets, the differences tend to be pretty negligible.

I been hearing really good things about the new Truths, And I remember Tweak from Tweak Headz Guide talking up the old passive Truths.

Glad you found something that will work for ya! I just wanted to add as I think this is a great thread.
I use Yamaha MSP10s which I have had for years and I am very accustomed to them, has a similar mid band bump like the passive NS10s, but it is a larger driver which I feels represent the low end a bit better (for me), but a lot of my friends dont like them.

Adam, Genelec, Yamaha, some(very few) KRK, Dynaudio (and many more) are all good stuff.

I personally would rather jab a screwdriver in my ears than listen to a mix on Alessis M1s, Behringer anything, or any of the low end crap at Guitar Center....glorified PC speakers IMO.

I think the bottom line is: Use and know what you have...people that learn the sound of 20Hz to 20kHz learn to adjust their ears to the characteristics and nuances of there room/speakers/ears sensitivity. Marketing and Spec sheets have conditioned people to think that flat is better, or somehow more true and correct....this is very rarely the case. Most speakers are tested with Sine Wave test that sweep from 20Hz to 20kHz and are never exposed to real world tests for the consumer to see. For example: when looking at speaker spec sheets keep in mind that most companies use EIA compliant testing which shoots a very narrow sine wave (which will not resemble music playback AT ALL) to sweep all bands. The reason is that they can legally advertise a higher dB output and broader frequency response than other tests, such as ones that the Audio Engineering Society have adopted. If all loudspeakers really hit 115 dB, we'd all be deaf.

Pay attention to what your ears tell you, and learn what sounds best in the mix...you can use anything if you know what to look for (well almost, that may be a stretch)

This is a good thread for those wanting to know more, those looking, and those who have knowledge of what they have and use.

I've got a set of ADAM A7's in the post right now, so i'll give a low down on my initial thoughts on them.

I think the biggest lesson i've learned, and the underlying truth that everyone speaks when they get on this topic, is that its SUBJECTIVE... Everyone is different, you write different music, hear differently, have different spaces you work in... Thats just the beginning...

But the more you read before a purchase, the more you can piece together and narrow down what you are looking for in a set of monitors...

Peace y'all, happy sound manipulating

ShifteQ, nice choice on the A7s, you wont be dissapointed.

did you get a Adam sub 8 as well?

Been loving these babies..

No sub.... Don't have a space that needs it yet...
Should be here monday/tuesday... Also just have my MOTU Ultralite mk3 to add to that...

Com'on on MONDAY <<< rare to find yourself saying that

OK, so obviously my A7's arrived and got my attention, because i forgot to come back here.

Clean, flat sound, not fatiguing at all, nice size. And front ported makes a big difference. Really brought my production up several notches. Referencing between these and my AKG headphones lets me find all the stray frequencies and weird overlaps.

Highly recommend these (adamA7's) home studio monitors...

Peace