Audio monitor for Mac Pro on tight budget?

These look very weak. The woofer is 4" and they have 20 watts of power. If you are working without a sub woofer you should be using monitors with an 8" woofer. 150.00 for a pair is just way too little to spend. These are basically glorified computer speakers.

Really you should be at the 600.00 level for real work. But you probably don't have that. So here are some decent monitors at 239.00 with a 6.5" woofer, and bi amped. It's best if you are bi-amped, meaning you have a separate amp for the woofer, and tweeter.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/222306-REG/Alesis_M1ACTIVE_MKII_PAIR.html

If you can stretch a little further these Mackies with 8" woofers will sound nice for about 420.00 a pair: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/539528-REG/Mackie_MR8_MR8_150W_8_Active.html


But if you are very serious about sound I would try to go for something like these: 700.00 a pair/ with high watts and bi amped. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/607690-REG/JBL_LSR2328P_LSR2328P_165W_8_Active.html

The amount of watts isn't important for loudness as much as for accuracy. If you have a lot of watts, the speaker can sound good at lower levels.

And if you want to go crazy and get some of the best monitors out there (just for fun) try these JBL LSR-4328PPAK with self calibrating software built in to adjust the bass level to the room you are in for really accurate mixes even in project studio sized rooms: $1,539.00 http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/410506-REG/JBL_LSR4328P_PAK_LSR_4328PPAK_Pair_of.html

Remember that all your work will go through your monitors, so you don't want to skimp and get something that will not give you an accurate representation of your sound. If your monitors are bad, then everything you mix will sound bad.

Cheers.
 
Yes those are nice, especially if you have a quality sub to take over where the nearfields 4" woofer stop reproducing the low end. These have a freq response at 66Hz - 20kHz . One wants 20Hz - 20kHz whether it's by the stereo speakers, or with a combo of the sub too. If you don't have the lows covered you will miss a lot of rumble and handling noise that will get into the final product.
 
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ustein said:
What about the M-Audio Studiophile AV 40 Powered Reference Speaker ?
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Hi Uwe,

What do you intend to use the monitors for? Is your room treated acoustically? Are you planning on plugging them into an audio interface or right into your Mac Pro's 3.5mm TRS output (the stereo line out)?
 
Petros has a good point. What are you doing with these speakers? If it's real sound work then you also need some kind of interface because the mini plug out of the Mac isn't going to cut it. If this is just a rough system for picture editing and you not going to do sound work on it then even the M-Audio's might be OK.

I'm personally a fan of Yorkville speakers. For a smaller system (if they are still made) Audix made some "hot house" small monitors that were quite decent for the size.
My editing experience has been the Gelelec's seem overly bright and a bit harsh and JBL's have been a bit dull. BUT I suspect that has more to do with how they were set up in the rooms that the speakers since both are highly regarded.
 
I'm a big fan of Genelecs as well. The Mackie HR824 speakers are also pretty good, though they need a little more tweaking than the Genelecs.

The problem with monitors like the AV40s and the Alesis M1s is that they are as colored as a box of crayons, and for critical audio monitoring that's not good. They really amount to glorified home-entertainment speakers marketed to musicians as monitors. I played around with the AV40s a few months ago, and may still pick up a pair... but what I need is a cheap pair of consumer or "end-user" speakers. My mixing is done on a Genelec system.

The other issues have already been mentioned by Petros and Noiz2. If you are looking for something for critical mixing, you have two major considerations: computer interface and room acoustics. As Noiz2 said, your computer's speaker output isn't going to do what you need it to do. As for room acoustics, the best speakers in the world are going to sound terribly inaccurate in a room that isn't balanced. You'll need to start working on a budget for acoustic treatment. There are some lower-budget solutions from Auralex that will get you in a good spot (look at Roominators kits), but treatment is one of those things that can easily cost thousands.
 
The OP had 150.00 speakers in the post, so I was trying to give him stuff close to that in price. But really I don't like anything under 500.00 (pair) at all.
 
>What do you intend to use the monitors for?

Getting a bit better sound from my Mac Pro.

Is your room treated acoustically?

No, just my office


Are you planning on plugging them into an audio interface or right into your Mac Pro's 3.5mm TRS output (the stereo line out)?

Yes.

I don't plan to use them for serious audio work just try to be better than cheapo PC speakers.
 
Oh....

Then the speakers you mentioned will be fine. I should have asked what you wanted them for before doing all that work.
 
A significant improvement will come if you drive them (monitors) with something besides the Mac line out. But that is another thread.

Grant
 
Genelic, Adam, and Mackie are good choices. I had M-Audio 8" speakers and they sounded like crap, so if I were you I'd stay away from M-Audio speakers. I recently spent a lot of time auditioning speakers at a store that had dozes to compare and I went home with a pair of KRK Rokit. They sounded significantly better (= more accurate) than any other speakers in the same price range.

Next, you will have to think about the audio interface and how to acoustically treat your room.
 
I used those ADAM speakers back in my TV sound design days. Good stuff. My personal favs or the JBL LSR's, but they are SPENDY.

The thing I've found with picking out speakers, even cheap ones, is that every person has their own taste, and I bet if we all felt like it, we could debate for a week on which ones are the best, and everyone would be right.

The thing I did when I was picking out powered speakers for my pro tools rig was go to a dealer (I went to West L.A. music at the time), and go into their speaker room, and really push the speakers. A respectable dealer should have something like this set up, where you can run audio through different speakers and see which ones you like the best. Granted, it's not an optimal way to test, since it's just a big room with speakers all over the place, but unless you are an academy award winning sound designer, you aren't going to get the manufacturer to come to your place and let you demo a setup for a month like some guys I know.
 
I auditioned a number of different monitors when trying to put together a low cost monitor solution where my mix would translate well to the sound of a professional sound stage. I ended up buying the JBL LSR4328 and added a sub to fill out the bottom end.

Good Luck with your quest!

Dave
 
SAny opinion about the Cakewalk MA-15D ?

I got the M-Audio AV-40. The sound is ok but they get hot.
 
This is a good example of the "all the parts count" principal. When I first heard KRK speakers (non powered) they sounded super muddy. I thought they were awful. Then I found out that the ones I had heard were being driven by a 20 watt/ side home stereo receiver ..... So I really have no idea how they really sound because they were very under powered. Others have really liked them.

I think a certain part of the reactions to speakers (above a certain quality point) has a lot to do with how they were set up when you heard them.

But this guy isn't looking for a system, or room, to do sound work in he wants something decent that is better than computer speakers and that will plug into the mini jack.

So we are talking powered speakers that can take an unbalanced line in under say $200 - $300.

I would vote for These.

I used them before I could afford some bigger and better speakers. When your using them you should take the grills off. They just slide off, the rubbery frame come off with the grill.

Something that doesn't get said often but should is that the Grills on good speakers are there to protect the cones when your handling them (and if you have some small kids around) but should come off when your actually listening to them. If you haven't pop your grills off and the speakers will open up a LOT.

Home stereo speakers often don't have removable grills.
Giganova said:
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I recently spent a lot of time auditioning speakers at a store that had dozes to compare and I went home with a pair of KRK Rokit. They sounded significantly better (= more accurate) than any other speakers in the same price range.

Next, you will have to think about the audio interface and how to acoustically treat your room.
Click to expand...
 
The strange thing is that I was earlier in high-end stereo: Klipsch horns and different tube amps. But we did not manage to set it up in our new house and I work 10-12 hours on my Mac Pro.

Background: Pro Photographer and doing now some video (AF100).

http://www.outbackphoto.com/index_news.html

You are right this was just a move from total crap to not great but bearable.
 
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