Guys,
I think it may be the time for me to change to a nicer set of monitors for me....I've read the discussions between all you pros, but can somebody give me ideas on good monitors under..uuuhmm....two hundred bucks/pair??
Thanks

[This message has been edited by KN_Fan (edited 07-01-2003).]

Hello.

Sorry but you won’t get a “Quality” pair of Studio monitors for anything even close to 200 $ a pair. In saying that… you won’t get any Studio monitors for 200 $.

For $200 you could get a pair of quality headphones, like the Sennheiser HD 500

If you can stretch your budget, I would highly recommend you take a look at the Behringer Truth monitors. At a cost of $500, they are seriously great value, and very accurate.

If you look after them, they will be easily the single most greatest investment you ever made.

Regards.
James.


[This message has been edited by James Tubbritt (edited 07-01-2003).]

Woaaw!! That's expensive!

You can't SKIMP on sound quality. I would suggest you go to a few stores and A/B some Monitors and see the difference between them so you can make an informative decision.
Sound is very subjective, only YOU can make the right choice for yourself!

Good Luck

I think almost anything sounds better than my old Boston Acoustic speakers at this point.

I think I may have seen your a month old post Dn...it was about the same Behringer Truth monitor that James mentioned, but at a price of 399 I think.

Also I'd assume that getting a monitor only is not enough since I'll be using my Sony Stereo sytem as a preamp...(I know...this is ugly).

Hmm....where should I spend my money on?? New Monitors?? or A new set of couch for my living room...hmmm....

Kn,
Have a look at these: http://www.midiman.com/products/m-audio/studiophile.php

I bought a set of the BX 5's (actives) and they are incredible flat response monitors for $300. for the pair. Tossed my M1 actives aside for these and they are 100% better.
Terry

------------------
jam on,
Terry http://imjazzed.homestead.com/Index.html

[This message has been edited by trtjazz (edited 07-01-2003).]

[This message has been edited by trtjazz (edited 07-02-2003).]

I sell both the Behringer Truths and the Studiophile BX5s. The Behringers are only $100.00 more and sound as if these were $1000.00 monitors. I also sell the MA10D (digital) Edirols for $135.00, but you can't compare the sound or power with the other two.
George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, california
818-881-5566

[This message has been edited by George Kaye (edited 07-01-2003).]

Thanks George....

I'll go to the nearest GC to check how they sound. Then I'll look for a good deal from you

KN

Just by browsing music123.com

Here are some that I may be interesting in scoping out:

Samson Resolve65a
BX5
EventTR5
Truth B2031
Yamaha MSP5

I was thinking also: Alesis/Roland/Fostex..but I've never heard anybody uses that for Studio monitors.

By the way- I'm a truly amateur guy...that's why I didn't want to pursue the very very high quality speakers...as long as it's pretty true to the actual sound, good output, low noise, good clarity, I'm satisfied (I know..I'm not asking too much am I? )

Here is a question for you, and I have found a lot of people making this mistake. If you are looking for referenced speakers for recording, you need to pony up the big bucks and get a good flat response Referenced Studio Monitor Speaker. A common mistake is that these speakers sound better than cheaper speakers. A good reference speaker should be a flat response, honestly, some cheap speaker system should & could "sound better" than a referenced speaker. A Studio Monitor, generally thought of as a referenced speaker has no "color" to the speaker... This is a long winded way of saying, if you are just looking for a good speaker to listen to your instrument and aren't recording professionally, then you can get a lot of speaker/amp combo for 2 bills.

In my studio, I have several speakers set up, I have the referenced monitors while recording, and then I have everything from a single 10" speaker, to car stereo setup and then a home theater rig to do final mix down. (I know, extreme, but very helpful to hear what the final mix should be.)

This will slay all the pros with the 1k studio monitors when I tell you this, but you may want to look at some of those higher end computer speakers, some of them are very impressive with a sub and crystal clean highs, with more than acceptable mids, for under two hundred.

I use a pair of Behringer Truth monitors for my KN7000 and am very happy with them (hard to compare with anything else as I haven't tried anything else!) however I did find I needed a Mixer as some of the high sounds (trumpet etc) can come through a little strident, and I needed the equaliser controls on the mixer. Use a Behringer Eurorack UB802.
Keith

The UB802 is an 8 channel mixer with 2 mic pre amps and 3 stereo line input channels. It features 3 band EQ on each channel and sells for $79.00. There is now a UB502 mixer which has 1 mic pre amp and 2 stereo pair channels for only $49.00. Both are a great way of adding more inputs for whatever you might be putting into any pair of studio monitors you buy. The inputs on studio monitors are usually hot enough for decent volume, but using a mixer gives you the right amount of level to really make the monitors "sing".
George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California
818-881-5566

Hmmm....I'm chatting with my dad right now and he said to try Altec Lansing 621....good clarity, good power, cheap. (about 130 bux). The review I read somewhere said that while it's not a 'reference studio monitor' (d'oh!), its sound is pretty damn good that if you're just using it for 'home use' mixing- you should do just fine.

Terry- I read it somewhere you used to have this speaker?? Or anybody else??

Heck- If I get that, plus a new all-purpose/vocal mic (probably Shure SM58). I think I'll be allright.

Kn,
I do have a set of the 621's with sub, that is now attached to my X box and sounds great. I originally bought them to replace my Tyros speakers, that did not work out that well for me.

Here's the thing about all of this. It depends on what you are buying these monitors for. If you are looking for speakers/monitors to do your mixdowns to burn to cd, then what you want is the flatest response near field monitors you can buy. So that we understand what that means is...."flat response" means that the speakers essentially act the same towards all frequencies, it does not color the bass mids or highs.

If you want something to just listen to in the studio that sounds killer, then go by what your ears tell you. If you want them for mixdown to listen on any different set of soeakers.....as flat of a response as possible, you then have to dial in your sound to get it all to sound killer, but then that is what you will hear on all systems.

While there may be many monitors that sound killer when you play your mix through them, if they color the response by not being "flat response" monitors, then when you play them on any other speakers, it is going to sound a whole lot diffeerent and wrong to what you thought you were getting.

In all due respect to Pauls opinion, you do not have to spend big dollars to get them either. Again I would urge you to listen to the M Audio BX 5's.....$300. What I hear out of these speakers is what I get regardless of what system I have played my cd's on, i.e., too much bass on them = too much bass in the car or home system.

I have not heard the Behringer Truths but they are also supposed to be very good at this.

While some may disagree with this, an effective set of studio monitors should not sound neither good nor bad, what they should do is give you as accurate as possible representation of the mix and not a colored sound that sounds killer on the monitors but like crap on everything else.

I have a set of Alesis M1 actives that I was using for my mixes and everything I did with them, when I played on a different system the bass sounded way too thin. That was because the M1's colored the bass big time, so I kept cutting the bass to get it to sound right on them, but was then too thin for other speakers. They now are great speakers hooked up to my Tyros, just for playing it.
Terry

------------------
jam on,
Terry http://imjazzed.homestead.com/Index.html

[This message has been edited by trtjazz (edited 07-04-2003).]

Thanks guys for your response.

Terry- I have a few objectives for getting these new speakers. I want it to be multi purpose anything from listening to MP3s, play game, etc (which even a 30 bux speakers would do at this point), as far as the CD mixdown, yes- that's one of the major reason for me to do that. But I don't need a super duper quality for this. Just something acceptable is fine. As long as its clear, pretty 'flat' and doesn't have that 'boominess' when I test it in my car/home stereo i think i'll be okay. This is just mainly to burn a CD from my performance in my Triton Studio.

KN

KN, then I'm back to the BX 5's or the Berh. Truths. IMO.
Terry


------------------
jam on,
Terry http://imjazzed.homestead.com/Index.html

There is a guy asking $335. for two Behringer Truths on Harmony Central want ads. www.harmonycentral.com
DonM

[This message has been edited by DonM (edited 07-04-2003).]

[This message has been edited by DonM (edited 07-04-2003).]