Monitor Speaker Recommendations

You have to decided for yourself...and only you.

You have to decided for yourself...and only you.

Overall, it just comes down to your listening habits and what you feel is the best monitors you can get for your budget. I've heard many people listen to tannoy's, mackies, KRK's as well as the Genelec's. In fact, a friend of mine just got some ProAc as his speakers of choice. I use KRK V6's with V12 sub..But I also use my NS10's for cross reference purposes. As for music vs film purposes..I made a cd that composed of soundtracks and sound effects and used that as a reference to picking my speakers years ago.
 
Are those the super popular Yamahas? If so I think one of the main reasons why they were popular was not their fidelity but that they were a good representation of the average sound system... some love them but some hate them. I believe at some point every decent studio had a pair of them amongst their options. Not 100% sure if that is a good summary of the info out there, but I remember looking into them quite a bit when I was weighing my options.
 
I work full time as a recording engineer, both in my own small (but quite capable) studio and at much larger big-time studios here in NYC. At my place I have Genelec 1030a's with the matching subwoofer (I forget the number) and Yamaha NS10's. I use the Genelecs for everything, and the NS10s for mixing only. I start mixes on the Genelecs, then switch to the NS10s for critical balance work, then back and forth as needed until it sounds good on both. I've mixed hundreds of albums and feature films on this system.

Like lots of people, I don't like the way the NS10s sound. But IMPO they are *invaluable* as mixing tools. I know of no other speaker that provides as reliable a "picture" of relative levels in the critical midrange area as the NS10s. After starting a mix on the Genelecs, I *always* find I need to make substantial balance corrections upon switching to the NS10s, and about 90% of those hold up fine after switching back to the Genelecs. This tells me that A: the Genelecs can be deceptively "good" sounding, and B: in spite of sounding pretty unattractive (but not necessarily *because* of it) the Yamahas solve that. So the Genelecs are like a sonic magnifying glass, to hear all the nuances of tones, ambience, noises etc., as well as for the simple pleasure of listening to great sound. The Yamahas are the cruel taskmasters: you think you've got a great mix? Ha! Play it again on the NS10s, Sam...

A general point to make: knowledge of what your monitors actually sound like is easily the most important and most overlooked thing in most mixing environments. My old joke is that the three most important things in control room design are monitoring, monitoring, and monitoring. The answer is fairly simple though - listen to a wide variety of (sonically) known material, generally from your CD music collection, and look for trends: do too many of them sound a certain way? Bright? Dull? Bassy? Midrangey? If so, that's your clue - it's the speakers, not the sources. You *must fix this* or your mixes will tend to be the reverse - a bright monitor will cause you to mix dull, a bassy one will cause you to mix bass-light, etc. Do whatever it takes to adjust your monitors so your known sources sound as they should - reposition them (more or less proximity to walls and other surfaces will have a huge effect, especially on bass), use built in EQ (Gelenelc, Mackie, etc.) or external EQ...whatever.

Ok...lecture mode off now...

As it happens, just last evening I picked up a pair of M-Audio BX5a's which I plan to use as surround speakers. I am amazed at how good they sound for the $280 I paid. If someone wanted monitors on a shoestring budget I'd say look no further. They're not going to provide all the bass response you might want in an ideal situation, but considering their size, I think they're remarkable.

Hope all this was useful to someone : )
 
Last edited:
andrew00 said:
Does anyone have any opinions on the Yamaha HS 50 M's?
Click to expand...

I just listened to them last night. They reminded me of NS-10s, which is not necessarily a bad thing (see post above). But, like NS-10s, they're not all that wide-range. I ended up buying a pair of M-Audio BX5a's, which I vastly preferred for the application (surround).
 
I see, that presents something of a quandary for me because I can currently only afford 1 pair of speakers, so which one do I get?

Currently you can get Edirol MA15D's for £100 for a pair, the M-Audio you mentioned for £150, and the Yamaha's for £240.

Which would you recommend getting? Perhaps down the line I might be able to get a second pair like how you have the Genelecs and Yamaha's but it's not in the budget at the moment.
 
I'd recommend the M-Audio BX5a's (surprise!). The workaround for not having a second set of speakers in your studio is to listen to systems *that you know well* elsewhere. Like your living room, car, girlfriend's place, etc. You could also gain a lot of useful information by simply adding *any* half-decent playback system to your room - even a fairly cheap boombox. They'll all give you different perspectives on what you're doing, and again - listen for trends. If your mixes sound a certain way (bright, bassy, etc.) on all or most of them...there's your clue. The exception for the most part is headphones - they are generally very deceptive where mixes are concerned, aside from enhancing the ability to hear anomalies like noises and bad edits, for which a high quality, wide range pair are highly recommended.
 
Ted:

What do thos M-Audios sound like at very low working levels? Do they hold their soundstage and have separation of frequencies and detail resolution good enough for mixing? I have never heard a pair of anything from M-Audio that didn't have very colored sound.

This is what separates the men from the boys as far as audio monitors. The Genelecs, Haflers, Dynaudio Acoustic and Adams all hold their best characteristics at very low volumes. I am doing a final mix on my 1031s right now and even if I switch to my nearfield 1029s, even at very low volume levels, I can hear everything crystal clear.

Dan
 
puredrifting said:
Ted:

What do thos M-Audios sound like at very low working levels? Do they hold their soundstage and have separation of frequencies and detail resolution good enough for mixing? I have never heard a pair of anything from M-Audio that didn't have very colored sound.

This is what separates the men from the boys as far as audio monitors. The Genelecs, Haflers, Dynaudio Acoustic and Adams all hold their best characteristics at very low volumes. I am doing a final mix on my 1031s right now and even if I switch to my nearfield 1029s, even at very low volume levels, I can hear everything crystal clear.

Dan
Click to expand...

I'll have to check that out, Dan. I just got them the other evening and have been up to my eyeballs in reconfiguring my control room for surround as well as several other related changes. I've worked on it every day since Friday!

Like I said, the BX5a's are going to be primarily for surround channels, so they certainly won't be as critical as the fronts. But I'm sure I'll also be using them as another stereo mix-check system (can't have too many!), so I'll give them a good test at varying levels. I will say that I find all monitors to reveal quite different mix perspectives at varying levels, which is why it's important to do just that. I don't expect the M-A's to be any different, but I'll listen for that in particular and report back.

I forget if I mentioned before that these are the BX5a Deluxes, not the previous model which had the same name minus the "deluxe". They're supposedly improved (never heard the others, so I can't say), but they did unfortunately remove the built-in room eq controls that the older ones had. That's regrettable...
 
Ah cool my local store doesn't have any of the BX's in, but hopefully they will so I can have a listen. I've also been checking out the KRK Rokit RP5 G2's which also seem to get good reviews.

In fact, they all seem to get good reviews...
 
So I ended up going with the Yamaha HS50M's. I tried them, the M-Audio and the KRK's i a store and warmed most to the Yamaha's. I liked the KRK's and felt they were especially clear at the bottom end but in comparison I felt they lacked it in the mid, and since my music tends towards rock and less dance I felt it was in the middle that I'd most benefit from the clarity!

One issue though is that I'm hearing interference in one of the speakers - the damn radio! I live not far from a big transmitter so I don't know if that's affected it - the other speaker is fine! Perhaps it's a fault?
 
Try plugging your speakers in different ac plugs that are not on the same line. If not then you may have to get a power line conditioner. Anyways, you should have power conditioners in your setup because, most electricity is pretty dirty, especially if you live in a multiplex or in a congested part of the city. I use both Tripplite and Furman line conditioners.
 
So far in my testing of the M-Audio BX5a Deluxes I'm slightly less thrilled with them, but still completely satisfied for the $279 I paid for the pair. I think they're a little hot at around 8K or so, and slightly lacking at around 500-800 Hz. I put some compensating EQ on their channels in my setup (from the Sony receiver that's doing the 5.1 decoding), and considering they are fundamentally going to be surround channels (and the occasional stereo mix-check), I'm happy with my choice. I wouldn't go back and take either the Yamahas or KRKs instead (or any other choices), and the M-A's are a perfect fit in the very limited space I have for them.

So... a mixed review I suppose, but like I said I'm content with my choice. I'll be doing some additional listening and tweaking of the overall system in the coming days as well...

An interesting side note (well, interesting to me, anyway) was my solution to the center channel speaker question. In my small control room there is very limited space between the front stereo speakers, and only a few inches below the edge of the computer display that's already between (and a few inches behind) them. The option of a matching speaker to the fronts (which would be either an NS10m or a Genelec 1030a) was out of the question, so I'd been looking for a compact home theater center channel speaker. The only one I could find that was small enough to fit was a Yamaha NS-C225 that frankly sounded like tin to me (at least in the store, which admittedly can be misleading).

Then I discovered the Audioengine 2A's ($200/pair). Holy crap! Have you guys heard these things? Wow... Check them out here:

http://www.audioengineusa.com/a2_home.php

They're 4x5x6" powered 2-way monitors (20w/ch), with Kevlar woofers and silk dome tweeters, and ported cabinets (like the Genelecs and BX5a's). Lying on their sides right against one another (top to top, woofers out) they're only 4' H x12" W...a perfect fit for my setup. They're even smaller overall than the little Yamaha 225, and WAY smaller than most dedicated center channel speakers, but they sound *huge*. Wired together as mono, with a bit of bandpass EQ to make them more center channel-friendly, they are absolutely smokin'...

If you have a minute, read this Stereophile magazine review:

http://www.stereophile.com/standloudspeakers/1207ae/

Here's an excerpt:

"I have never been more impressed with or more stunned by a component I've reviewed for Stereophile than I was with the Audioengine 2. The level of sound quality produced by this uncolored, detailed, articulate, and dynamic speaker, in all situations, was beyond reproach, and its ratio of value to cost borders on the criminal."

They're gonna make a nice set of micro-portables too, with on-set dialog playback certainly being one application. I'm *definitely* thrilled with these babies... : )
 
Been looking at power conditioners as the radio interference is annoying. Alas I live quite close to a BBC transmitter, built during the second world war so I get bloody Absolute Radio playing MOR 'hits' if I leave the speakers on!

I don't get it at other parts in the house but it's not feasible for me to shift everything around so need a solution. At least it means the speakers are working fine - although I'm surprised at the low level hiss they have when idle. Anyway.

Can't find a power conditioner that doesn't cost a large amount of cash.

Was going to check out a hifi shop and get an interference reducing cable, they're less costly so might be worth a pop if nothing else, before I have to spend the big bucks.
 
I'd tend to avoid Alesis monitors. Never liked 'em myself. The old Monitor1 speakers were as colored as a box of crayons. They're actually really nice for home theater, and cost less than some of the over-priced crap that "audiophiles" tend to swear by. But terrible for mix reference.
 
Try auctions like ebay....that is where i got my conditioners for cheap. Furman power conditioners are good thing to have. Also you might check to see if you house is grounded. Check on the web about 60 cycle humming and how to ground from radio frequencies. If you have florescent bulbs nearby, that my be the problem.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top