Topic: Help With Monitors

Viewing 7 posts - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
  • #2869
    alex
    Participant

    Hi!

    I’m gonna be away from home for six months. Since there’s no way I’d take my NS 10’s with me, I need an alternative (cheap and small). Now, it’s not that I don’t know what I’m after – I’ve already used M audio bx8 and I must say I think they’re good for the price (but they’re too big in this case). I have found 5″, new, for about 70% of the regular price. The problem is – I can’t try them. So, does anyone use them?

    Tnx in advance

    #22657
    The Telenator
    Participant

    The Myth: really expensive and/or over-hyped name brands always sound better and are flatter response.

    As a sort of skewed comparison, I buy every brand of cheap ($20-$40) headphones I find, and I listen and I mix and I master using a bunch of those and maybe 3 different sets of fairly cheap near-field monitors.

    WHY? Because I don’t produce music for rich rock stars and rich producers to take home and listen to through their $5000-each monitors. No. I make music for people who work in factories and drive home playing my disks through their half-blown car speakers or on their 10-year-old rent-to-own system in the livingroom — you know, the system they have been vowing to replace for 10 years. I don’t mix for audiophiles, that o.ooooooo1% of the population. I make music for regular people who can only afford maybe $400 at very most for a set of speaker, if that.

    There, rant over. One of the last issues from last year I needed to unload. Okay, here you go. Lot’s of other ones just as good, just as cheap and sturdy::

    http://www.sweetwater.com/store/manufacturer/KRK?utm_source=MSN&utm_medium=PPC&utm_campaign=recording&utm_term=krk_rokit

    http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/AV40/?utm_source=MSN&utm_medium=PPC&utm_campaign=recording&utm_term=m_audio_studiophile_av_40

    [edit: Just an afterthought — hope yous ain’ta goin’ to de big howse! Nah, they no gonna let you bring your tunes wid you in there, jah?]

    #22660
    alex
    Participant

    Tnx for your answer!

    I only need a pair of small budget self powered monitors (anything that goes flat down to 50/55 cycles would be fine). What could also do it are KRK Rokits (5″). Same problem, again – I could use vxt6 and 8 a couple of times and they’re good and way above my budget. And even Rokits (which I again never used) are more expensive than M audio bx5.

    Now, about NS 10’s (I guess you though of them when you said:”The Myth…” (or not, maybe I’m wrong)). I know a lot of people hate them and a lot of them love them. I happen to love them. Do they really sound like crap? Might be (reference monitors are not supposed to sound good, anyway). One thing for sure – if one can squeeze a good mix out of them it will translate.

    Cons? Lots of them. For sure not a good pair of monitors for people who didn’t use to mix on them or good first pair of monitors for a newb. Anyway, it’s already hard to find a pair in the good condition. Sooner or later everybody will blow the tweeters out (believe it or not), and the replacement parts might be a little tricky to find in the future. I really enjoyed reading this:

    http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/sep08/articles/yamahans10.htm

    Cheers, Alex

    #22661
    German Fafian
    Participant

    One the best sounding monitor set I have ever listened to are made by Kurzweil.
    I do think like Tele.
    The fire test for any of my mixes (not that they are any good) is playing the tune in the car stereo and in my cellphone mp3 player.
    Look up for Kurzweil monitors and headphones. Good quality (as anything done by Kurzweil) and decent pricing.

    #22670
    adimatis
    Participant

    I use a pair of ESI nEar 05. Very happy with them. Reccomended. I cannot comment on M-Aadio monitors though.

    #22674
    The Telenator
    Participant

    Although I’m seeing this rule broken an awful lot lately, particularly in the low-mid to mid-priced range of monitors, it is supposed to go like this: Monitors are supposed to sound TRUE, not GOOD. If they begin to sound good, it will only be because the music being fed through them sounds good.

    Theory aside, few of even the best monitors are completely flat. We don’t sit around partying to a 1kHz pure sine waves. We don’t check our nominal levels between each song in the queue when trying to enjoy music for music’s sake.

    I think the biggest factor in searching for a new set of monitors is that I would have to know what set(s) you have been using steadily for a while. The lower in price we go, the more every model has a distinctive ‘voice’. Some believe these various voices fall into types or groups. I tend to agree.

    For the record, I have no issues with the Yamahas but then I’m biased to much of their product line (with the exception of Steinberg). Many years ago, a Yamaha rep saved my band from losing a few important gigs. I’m not entirely keen on Yamaha’s guitar amp line, but I was that week! More important, I approve of their business ethic and the hard work they throw into it. I’ve seen that they have started cleaning house at Steinberg, and I believe you can expect more improvements there. Their whole approach to the public has changed there.

    Getting off-topic here, but they do make lots of great musical stuff with integrity. I linked an M-Audio pair and the Rokkits. Everybody is talking about every model of the Rokkits, and the M-Audios are just an example of ‘affordable sturdy.’

    I don’t know who is running Kurzweil anymore or what they make. I did know its namesake sold out and went off to be a genius inventor somewhere else.

    Finally, someone has admitted mixing/recording with nEars and has given a thumbs up to them. Still, some will always consider that sacrilege!

    Sure are an awful lot of choices in lower price point speakers these days!

    #22743
    alex
    Participant

    Changed my mind and took a ride to the city with a good equipped music store (didn’t want to buy anything before I try it). So, I checked M-audio BX5, KRK ROKIT 5 and YAMAHA HS50m (I had a couple of my mixes with me). M audios were out of the game immediately (but they’re the cheapest pair and not really bad or something). Actually, it was easy for me to make a choice (not because of the white cones or because I’m biased towards Yamaha speakers :mrgreen: ). KRKs are good and this was really a matter of personal preference (they have too much bottom end somehow and that’s what I didn’t like, but maybe it’s just me – NS10’s have low frequency drop).

    I’m posting just to say that I’m really happy with them, so if you’re looking for a cheap pair of monitors you maybe want to check hs50’s (recommended).

    Cheers, Alex

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