studio monitors on a budget

[CapoFirstFret]

So I finally need to break down and get some studio monitors. I'm on a budget and I missed a hell of a deal on some Mackie 824's (monitors, cables, and stands for $850...sigh).

I'm looking at:

Behringer Truth series
KRK RP8's
Event TR8XL


Any others in this price range will also be considered. I'm trying to keep it under $600 total (so buying used is totally the way I'm looking at going). Any advice would be appreciated.

[Virtual Kevorkian]

Behringer Truths really are not that bad at all! KRK's lower-end stuff tends to hype the lows/highs a bit, and the Event's (I have the TR8s) can sound hyped in the top end, but it really depends a lot on your room.

I'd personally grab the KRK's out of that bunch. Is this more for listening or are you trying to get detailed for mixing? If it's the latter, check out the Yamaha HS50 or 80M's.

Hell, the Yamaha MSP5's are really, really solid in smaller rooms, too - might look into those!

[B2D]

I was thinking about this as well... are monitors a necessity even if you're on a budget or will a pair of really good headphones do about as well of a job?

[Vetteboy]

I was thinking about this as well... are monitors a necessity even if you're on a budget or will a pair of really good headphones do about as well of a job?

If you never audition your mix on a decent set of speakers before you print it - only headphones - there's a very good chance you'll get the bass wrong.

x2 on the Behringer Truths being not bad at all.

[ratherdashing]

If you never audition your mix on a decent set of speakers before you print it - only headphones - there's a very good chance you'll get the bass wrong.

x2 on the Behringer Truths being not bad at all.

I was going to say exactly this, except replace bass with mids. Unless you're talking about the 100 Hz and below bass, of course.

[innerdreamrecords.co]

I like mixing on 5" or 6" speakers, 8" have too much bass for my tastes. Out of those choices I lean towards the KRK because I had NS10's for over ten years and they are similar to my ears.

[millsart]

KRK's are the best sounding monitors for a budget I think

Though HR824s are in another league due to their passive radiator design in the back. They put out more bass than my Cerwin Vega double 15" home stereo speakers with a 300 watt receiver.

HR824s can just shake the house with subbass. Which honestly if your using them in a small and untreated room can be a sort of bad thing


Honestly though you should be able to find them for $850 or so for a pair pretty easy so you didnt really miss that great of deal. The mkII models go for a bit more these days but the originals are great

still, probably more than you really need

[supernosher]

I've heard the KRK RP8's, and some M-Audio Bx8's and the KRK's are kind of narrow, while the M-Audio's are very hyped in the bass and treb.

If I were buying budget monitors I would probably get the Yamahas. I've read good things and heard some good mixes done on them.

[StillLearnin']

Yamaha - you won't be disappointed.

Also, if you can find an old set of Auratones (Horrortones), they really help you find flaws in your mix.

[NecroPolo]

Yamaha monitors are warmly recommended. You can't go wrong with them. They are not perfect, not at all, but they act like everyday speakers yet still capable of revealing problems in the mix. After all, your goal is to make a balanced mix, regardless of the listening equipment. I prefer the HS80. I think, it's my favourite speaker I've ever worked with. Not because of its "perfectness" but of its real life response and 'straight to the point" sound. Real life clients mean real life audio equipment at their homes. If the mix sounds great in their home hi-fi and in the car, I win and they will return

Or, raise the bar a littlebit and get a small V series KRK. It's still not the Dynaudio or Genelec e.t.c. quality range (neither its friendly price), but they produce a rather neutral sound, working great with rock audio spectrum.

The aforementioned M-Audio monitor is great for disco, electro, drum and bass e.t.c. stuff. They have a somewhat simlar response to bass-boosted sound reinforcement systems.

For some reason I don't know, I've seen some rock/metal expert guys using budget Alesis M1 or EMU PM5 to make a juicy mix and set the sound spectrum, even if they have higher grade monitoring stuff for the mastering phase.

Good luck!


Miki

[kevlar3000]

I have been using JBL L100s for a couple years. I don't like anything else for rock music these days. If you got the space, you can get em pretty cheap. I found mine at a garage sale for 5.00!! Perfect shape other than the missing grills.

[34029324079]

$600 is alot! I need to hear some clips of what ur currently doing before I can render advice

[Virtual Kevorkian]

The other thing about headphones is that you don't get an accurate representation of the stereo image, so some levels and panning might be off when playing your mixes on speaker systems.

The best thing you can probably do with a smaller budget and untreated room is to get a pair of pretty good prosumer computer speakers (I had a pair of Harmon/Kardon's that were awesome until I replaced them with my Klipsch Promedia 2.1 set) that you're familiar with, and supplement them with a pair of nice headphones. Do your detailed eq/compression work with the headphones, and set levels by bouncing back and forth between the headphones and speakers.

[J Moose]

I know it sucks to hear but 'ya gotta get out there and listen to things yourself.

Every single time I've bought a set of monitors off blind recommendations I've been really disappointed & ultimately tossed real good money out the window. Didn't seem to matter if it was the big soffit mounted Urei 811's or the small stuff like horrortones.

The magic word is translation.

When it leaves the room does it sound 'right' or is it totally different?!

Monitors are really the LAST place you should cut money out of a budget... that and room treatment as a pair. Every single decision you make, from picking & placing mics & dialing EQ's through adjusting the reverb that one last time while printing that final mix with the revision of the edit of the final final 2nd revision, is based on what you HEAR through that system of room & monitors.

I've always got at least two sets of speakers connected, if not three... big ones and small ones. For a while I was & still am using Dynaudio BM15s, the passive ones as the 'A' set, which are like $1200 and the 'B' was a pair of small 5" things I got from Rat shack for maybe $30 or $40. I had those on a stand over in the corner, about 2 or 2.5 meters away so it hit me as mono & the bigs on stands in an equilateral triangle to the mix position.

That combo worked well! Stuff always translated... the big ones had a bunch of top & bottom... all the detail and stereo spread & the small ones had really focused mids, like a car stereo so all the holes were filled. It was really funny, in the corner I've got a set of speakers I bought on sale with beer money & then there's the megabuck marvels.

My overall favorite monitor though is the mono 5" speaker in the meter bridge of the Studer A80 2-track! Sounds really crappy but if somethings really whack with the blend I always catch it there. Like the snare drum is way too loud or that sorta thing...

Last pair of monitors I bought blind & still own are Tannoy PBM 6.5. Had a bunch of people recommend 'em, so I bought 'em and I never got along with 'em & still sorta don't. When stuff left the room it was always a guessing game... never really "off" but never true either. I had retired 'em to the stereo for a while, PS2 & DVD... that stuff but recently pulled 'em out & have 'em next to the Dyns.

I had 824's for a while and don't anymore but I still work on 'em a lot since they're everywhere. There's a lotta low end, almost too much but it can be dialed back with the rear switches which is what I usually do. They're good tools that SUCK to service. Had some problems with mine like a blown fuse that was soldered to the inside of a PC board that was under another PC board... cost$100 for a .25 fuse. Then I blew a woofer and smackie couldn't get me a replacement for about 6 months because they don't stock replacement parts, so I was sorta forced to replace 'em.

Went into NYC and listened to EVERYTHING from the $5k adam S3A's and B&W 803D's (like $10k) through $250 bookshelfs at J&R with the same set of music and ultimately bought the Dyns. Price no object, I liked 'em the best aside from one other audiophile pair which was like $6500 & would probably blow up the first time there's a good ZAP! from the bass player unplugging his DI or hot patching a live mic... or at least thats what the company that builds 'em told me.

A 'good' set of monitors is like a camera lens or a magnifying glass. Gives you more detail without being cloudy or full of artifacts.

Go listen to stuff!