Studio Monitor:usblaster

okantah · Post by **okantah** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 9:09 am

Studio Monitor:usblaster.
please compare above monitors to alexes,spirit or mackies.
i want to know the level it's quality.
cheers

capacitor · Post by **capacitor** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 10:00 am

Hope this helps: http://www.studio-central.com/phpbb/viewforum.php?f=15&

okantah · Post by **okantah** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 10:05 am

Hi capacitor thanx,but i need experience about the usblaster ?

capacitor · Post by **capacitor** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 10:10 am

the usblaster is a studio monitor ? I can't find anything related to Scope

Neutron · Post by **Neutron** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 10:25 am

Thats does not look like serious stuff.
looks like they just go through the chinese catalogs and stick there name on the most gaudy items they can find

look at those

http://www.usblaster.com/Products/Car%20Audio/Boomboxes

okantah · Post by **okantah** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 12:15 pm

Neutron thanx,
your guess was my suspision, thou i saw in a shop they looks very attractive

astroman · Post by **astroman** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 12:57 pm

may I add that I recently heard a (not so) small Phonics full range PA Box that had the amazing one sound fits all feature built in ?

in case you wonder - whatever pickup selection I made on my bass, there was absolutely no change in bass response the box produced.

The sound stayed identical regardless if single-coil bridge or both pickups parallel was choosen on the instruments.
Really stunning - I'd never expect something like this would be possible at all.
(for the non-guitar players: it's the most extreme change in sound you can dial in - from dry-to-the-bone to almost ooomphy)
Needless to mention the thingies were dead cheap...

cheers, Tom

Tau · Post by **Tau** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 1:42 pm

astroman wrote:may I add that I recently heard a (not so) small Phonics full range PA Box that had the amazing one sound fits all feature built in ?
in case you wonder - whatever pickup selection I made on my bass, there was absolutely no change in bass response the box produced.
The sound stayed identical regardless if single-coil bridge or both pickups parallel was choosen on the instruments.

valis · Post by **valis** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 10:51 pm

Neutron wrote:Thats does not look like serious stuff.
looks like they just go through the chinese catalogs and stick there name on the most gaudy items they can find
look at those
http://www.usblaster.com/Products/Car%20Audio/Boomboxes

Here's the monitors they have on their site:
http://www.usblaster.com/Products/DJ%20 ... %20Monitor

I'd say skip this stuff at all costs, even m-audio speakers would be preferable imo, and I think those are pretty damn crappy for most users as well.

Post by **garyb** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 12:20 am

pollux · Post by **pollux** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 12:39 am

us blaster review meet music magazine wrote:At 399 Euros a pair SRP, including VAT, you will not regret these monitors.

For 375 euro including VAT you can buy a pair of Tapco by Mackie S8.
For 383 euro including VAT you can buy a pair of TASCAM VL-A8.

I didn't hear the us blasters, but I'd rather buy a pair of studio monitors from a company dedicated to professional / semi pro audio rather than a consumer car audio company widening the product range.

us blaster review meet music magazine wrote:For this price you will
have two monitors which will stop you from blowing up your Hi-Fi speakers.

us blaster review meet music magazine wrote:I am not too sure about the low frequencies,
which lack some precision, and sound a little ‘boomy’

Doesn't surprise me at all since they mostly make products for "I listen techno at 150 db" car audio and DJ products.

chriskorff · Post by **chriskorff** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 8:14 am

Agreed — I suspect they're a load of toss.

Get some decent cans, and if you've got a hi-fi that you know well, use that as a 'real world' reference.

There are plenty of people using high-end hi-fis as monitors (B&W speakers seem to be pretty good for this, as their design ethic leans towards accuracy rather than flattery, and they're mostly unported/front-ported designs) What's important is that you know how they sound, and how your own mixes will translate to other systems having heard them on your own.

eg. I use a budget pair of active Tannoys, but I listen to absolutely everything on them (my 250+ CD collection of all my favourite albums — the ones I know like the back of my hand). It's a good habit to get into! Also, cheap monitors in an acoustically treated room will be better for mixing than expensive monitors in an untreated room (on the whole).

Cheers,

Chris

okantah · Post by **okantah** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 9:18 am

Thanx all of you for all of your opinion.
cheers

Shroomz~> · Post by **Shroomz~>** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 9:37 am

With speakers it seems you really do get what you pay for, so buy to your budget if possible. Sharc & I use budget active Tannoys like chriskorff, but we're happy with them after 2 years, so they aren't bad at all for the price. For a bit more I could've bought Events but after a lengthy showroom demo I didn't think they were worth the extra hit on my pocket even although I had enough cash at the time.

I've spent several hours with genelecs & Mackie HR824s & if you can afford them, they're really worth the money, although the lower-priced genelecs I've heard didn't have a great frequency response spec & the HR824s need to be driven really hard to get any bass response at all. Nice to have around if you want uncoloured monitoring available, but I'd need other monitors as well if I used 824s. If your studio's at home & home is a flat or apartment with nearby neighbours a set of Mackies might not be ideal unless you don't mind having an angry neighbours at your door. You just can't monitor bass on them at low listening levels. That's the complete opposite of the active Tannoy response; the Tannoys are bass heavy, which is essentially a week point as you're getting a coloured sound, but if you want to monitor bass at relatively low listening levels, it's actually a plus point. (at least for me)

valis · Post by **valis** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 3:00 pm

Btw for someone considering the Tapcos, I might recommend they check the new MR8's from Mackie. Definately budget monitors but I think they're pretty good for that pricepoint.

Personally I've got HR824's and I know why there's some backlash against them in the community, you HAVE to deal with your room to use them. The passive radiator gives the bass quite a bit of extension into the lower octaves, which can cause serious issues in smaller untreated environments, obscuring the midrange and making the tweeters seem very 'hyped' (they're already quite forward for someone used to a soft-dome as they're titanium). Thankfully I bought mine before they moved production to China. And for those who might be considering the HR MkII series, you can be comfortable in knowing that Mackie has moved most manufacturing & production back to the US due to too much variance in Chinese manufacturing.

Now if I could only find a way to justify a pair of Dynaudios or p22a's to my wife...

Shroomz~> · Post by **Shroomz~>** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 10:45 am

Yeah, Dynaudios or Adams would be great.

There's also people on this forum using PMC's who can't see past them, so they must be stunning too.

I must admit, I really did like the 824's a LOT. I tested a lot of heavyweight vintage synth gear in a nearby studio thru those & they're really nice. I think you've hit the nail on the head regarding room treatment as well, because this particular studio was of the home variety & was still being built = untreated. So please disregard my comments about the bass response of Mackie HR824s.

pollux · Post by **pollux** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 12:02 pm

valis wrote:Btw for someone considering the Tapcos, I might recommend they check the new MR8's from Mackie. Definately budget monitors but I think they're pretty good for that pricepoint.

The Mackie MR5 and MR8 look surprisingly a lot to the Tapco S5 and S8, which are also made by Mackie but cost 25% less

Same shape, same size, same back panel, same inputs, same knobs and switches.. just the front panel is slightly different

Fluxpod · Post by **Fluxpod** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 12:56 pm

P22a here.Have em for 2 weeks now,after breaking em in i ...well they are just awsome.I use s3a at work pretty often.Cant go wrong with adam,the a7 are also very nice but you would prolly need a sub.

bassdude · Post by **bassdude** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 3:14 pm

<~Shroomz~> wrote: ....So please disregard my comments about the bass response of Mackie HR824s.

I was quite surprised when you said this too as I found the Hr824's to have stacks of bass (in a treated room).

But my ears always found the bottom end a little muddy in the hr824's and I blame the passive radiator design for this.

valis · Post by **valis** » Thu Apr 24, 2008 5:08 am

pollux wrote:The Mackie MR5 and MR8 look surprisingly a lot to the Tapco S5 and S8, which are also made by Mackie but cost 25% less

Same shape, same size, same back panel, same inputs, same knobs and switches.. just the front panel is slightly different

But the MR series has the mackie logo!

They do look very similar I agree. However compare the rear layout of the Tapco S8 with it's radiator, and the overall construction of the Tapco S8 with its inner fiberfill versus the slightly more lightweight but more powerful MR8, which has acoustic foam, a different front bevel & rear amp arrangement...etc. They use the same cones and a similar layout, same crossover even, but different amps. The Tapco even claims to have more low end, but comparing them my ears preferred the MR8's. Not that the difference is large enough that I'd say you're completely losing out with the Tapcos. They're budget monitors either way really.