Monitor speakers, Any suggestions.

WayneSim · Post by **WayneSim** » Sun Mar 31, 2002 2:16 am

I'm looking for some good monitor speakers for my (home) studio. I've used the famous yamaha NS-10's in studio's. And found them to be ok, however I found that they aren't so good for bass. I would like the greatest freq. range on a budget. I would be recording and mixing a large amount of styles from soundtrack type stuff with bass rumble to high strings.

Should I go for powered monitors?

My budget was $1000-$1200 AU (roughly around $520-$620 US). Is that enough? I know, I know it's the most important thing in your studio. But look at the NS-10's, most people could afford these even on a budget. And they are still used widly. I'm not saying they are the best or anything like that. I know they are far from perfect. But in most cases close enough.

PLEASE ANY SUGGESTIONS WELCOME. WHAT MONITORS ARE YOU USING? HOW GOOD ARE THEY? HOW MUCH DID YOU PAY?

<Anyways, my (home) studio's budget is becoming very much over what I first thought. But heck I've gotta get it right!>
Thanks,
WayneSim

Fede · Post by **Fede** » Sun Mar 31, 2002 3:31 am

Before buying NS-10 that I personally love very much, have a look at my topic in the Tech Talk forum, cause it seems to be a very common problem with those speakers
btw they haven't the bass of a discotheque, but most depends also by the acoustics of your room, if it is quite balanced NS-10s do behave enough good also with low frequencies
Regards
StratF

borg · Post by **borg** » Sun Mar 31, 2002 3:34 am

some nice threads regarding the subject:

http://www.planetz.com/forums/viewtopic ... 59&forum=1
http://www.planetz.com/forums/viewtopic ... 2&forum=10 this one is a review of 10 sets

_________________
andy
 the lunatics are in the hall 

[ This Message was edited by: borg on 2002-03-31 03:36 ]

WayneSim · Post by **WayneSim** » Sun Mar 31, 2002 3:50 am

thanks guys for you help.

What monitors are everyone in these forums using? Cost?

Post by **hubird** » Sun Mar 31, 2002 6:34 am

I use the A.D.A.M. P11-A (see all tech information at www. adam.de).
This active nearfield box is even better than the famous Genelecs 1030APM.
I did a listening test in a known music store in Koeln/Germany, with all the known top nearfiels of today.
Both Genelec and A.D.A.M. sounded really perfect, but every time I switched from Genelec to A.D.A.M. it was as if the sky opened: so open, broad and 'deep', shocking unbelievable.
The tech guys in that listening studio looked at us and pulled up their shoulders while somehow helpless laughing. They agreed completely our experience, and obviously were totally impressed and stayed perplex by the results.
I now work with the A.D.A.M.'s for half a year, and all I can say is that they are absolutely crazy to work with.
Check out the big nearfield test made by the German Keyboards magazin, october2001, with Genelec and A.D.A.M. at the very top.
BTW, all adams you can get active and passive.
The active Adam nearfields mentioned here are about 1400,- € (per 2 boxes).
Hope someone of you can confirmate my findings on this.

Let There Be Music!

[ This Message was edited by: hubird on 2002-03-31 06:39 ]

Post by **Neil B** » Sun Mar 31, 2002 6:37 am

I'm quite happy with my SPirit Absolute 2's.
Good price, good enough sound for a small room

kimgr · Post by **kimgr** » Sun Mar 31, 2002 4:14 pm

Asking a worldwide public forum like this one about what monitors to buy, is much like asking a 1000 people around the world what you should eat for dinner tonight...

If you asked me 10-15 years ago I would proberly say go for NS10's, but buying them now would seem downright stupid to me, as there are 10 better sounding sets in your local Hi-Fi store. Much cheaper too...

Kim.

WayneSim · Post by **WayneSim** » Sun Mar 31, 2002 4:44 pm

On 2002-03-31 16:14, kimgr wrote:
Asking a worldwide public forum like this one about what monitors to buy, is much like asking a 1000 people around the world what you should eat for dinner tonight...

I totally agree. I really am trying to see what monitiors people are using on a budget in there studio's so I can futher my knowledge on the subject. If 100 people recommend a product and only 1 doesn't, then chances are I'd proabaly like it also. (provided the 100 people are doing simular things to me)..... I'm really trying to see past NS-10's. It's about time.

subhuman · Post by **subhuman** » Sun Mar 31, 2002 5:08 pm

For budget monitors I would really suggest the Event "PS" series. Very reasonable prices for monitors with good flat frequency response.

caleb · Post by **caleb** » Mon Apr 01, 2002 5:38 am

I just recently bought a pair of Yorkville YSM1Ps which are powered nearfields.

They seem great so far. Anyone else heard of or used these? I have a feeling they're fairly new on the scene.

coc999 · Post by **coc999** » Mon Apr 01, 2002 9:47 am

yamaha msp5-that's what i use i pay them around 1000 eurozz both ( if i remember well ).if some 60w speakers correspond to your research lesson them.
Consider that i'm not a professional producer or musician

he he.

remixme · Post by **remixme** » Mon Apr 01, 2002 1:53 pm

K-roks according to sound on sound, sound as good as monitors twice the price.

JoeKa · Post by **JoeKa** » Mon Apr 01, 2002 9:57 pm

My personal favourites come from Quested.
I use a pair of F11 with one VS1112 Sub, but really the best monitors I heard in the stores so far are the bigger Quested VS2108, ass-kicking sound, crisp and powerful!
They beat by far most of the other monitors around with comparable specs. But as Quested is a very small and quite exclusive manufacturer, they´re not so often seen.
Check them out, if you can.

[ This Message was edited by: JoeKa on 2002-04-01 22:03 ]

WayneSim · Post by **WayneSim** » Tue Apr 02, 2002 3:07 am

Thanks for the input guys.

Yes I have heard of Yorkvile. Also the PS series looks good Sub.

Anyways I should be able to hear many monitors tomorrow cause I'm taking a drive into the city to pick up my Pulsar 2 and gigastudio I just bought. YEAH!!!!! I got a sweet deal!!! Anyways I'll hopefully test a few monitors tommorrow.

caleb · Post by **caleb** » Tue Apr 02, 2002 5:21 am

Sounds great.

GigaStudio seems to be a beast.

I keep getting the hard sell on that one myself. If I had taken some different options - yeah, would've been good.

But for better or worse I decided against it.

Hope the set up works well.

WayneSim · Post by **WayneSim** » Wed Apr 03, 2002 3:20 am

Ok, I picked up my Pulsar 2 and GIGASTUDIO today. SWEET!!!!

Anyways I listened to a couple of monitor speakers today. And I must say the quailty totally stunded me. However I could only hear the Genelec 26A and the Mackie 824. Both are good, but the Mackie 824 was amazing! For the price the Genelec 29A in my opinion were very basic. They had a tin type sound with not much bass. Mainly topy top end. Where as the Mackie controled every sound I thru at it. Including classical music mainly strings with top end. And also bass rumble soundtrack stuff and also even rock music. All I will say I wish I could afford the Mackie 824 monitors. They played every type of music I played through them perfectly. I feel a little dazed at the price of the Mackie 824's cause it's like double what I wanted to pay.

Anyway I will have to test more monitors soon. But out of all the speakers I've heard the Mackie 824 is defintly among the best.
Anyways anymore comment's, anyone?

w_ellis · Post by **w_ellis** » Wed Apr 03, 2002 5:08 am

I've got KRK K-Roks, which I'm very pleased with. They're particularly good for clear bass response. I found that a lot of other monitor speakers I tried didn't cover enough range. Although I'm into bass-heavy music, which you might not be!

Cheers,
Will

caleb · Post by **caleb** » Wed Apr 03, 2002 5:57 am

Just out of curiosity WayneSim. Where do you live in Australia??

WayneSim · Post by **WayneSim** » Thu Apr 04, 2002 2:52 am

On 2002-04-03 05:57, caleb wrote:

Just out of curiosity WayneSim. Where do you live in Australia??

S.E suburbs Melbourne. And u?

EDIT: I just updated my profile so now everyone will know where i'm from.
Thanks caleb

[ This Message was edited by: WayneSim on 2002-04-04 02:55 ]

astroman · Post by **astroman** » Thu Apr 04, 2002 3:48 am

as you may have seen in the cross refed thread above it's not that important how good a monitor sounds. It has to sound 'reliable' so that you can imagine your music on an estimated destination system, like club speakers, car radio or whatever.
On your further check outs try to take some really bad mixes with you and see if the speaker reveals those weaknesses or smoothes them. Compare your impression on the monitors with playback on various consumer systems from lofi to high end.