Need advice on monitors

Neurodancer

Neurodancer

Well-known member
You guys have been great. I have been listening to your advice and am coming up with a fine sound acquisition package.

My M-Audio ProjectMix is up and running. It integrated fairly smoothly with soundtrack pro. It is so cool to hit buttons and sliders instead of using a mouse.

Now I need a decent pair of monitors. They need to be relatively small, maybe 12"x10" face max.

I would be open to a sub/satellite system if there is a good one out there.

Are amplified speakers up to the task?

Budget is up to $600. Any great speakers anyone can recommend within this range?
 
I have some Behringer Truth B2031 Monitors and they sound awesome. I got them from a place online called www.zzounds.com and I think I paid under $300 for the pair. They may have been on sale...I can't remember.
 
I'm going to be buying some monitors a few months down the road so I've recently started doing a little research. My price range is in the same ballpark as yours. Tonight I've been reading some good things about Yorkville YSM1P's. Street price is around $450 for a pair. Here's a few links:

http://www.proaudioreview.com/june02/Yorkville_YSM1P.shtml

http://mixonline.com/products/review/audio_snapshot_product_reviews_2/
(bottom of page)

http://www.yorkville.com/products.asp?type=33&cat=20&id=118
 
I would put in a second vote for the Yorkvile's. I have a pair that I have been using for a few years. They translate to the big stage very well and they are not hyped up so there is very little ear fatigue. A composer friend was really impressed when we were on a marathon 3 (19hr) day mix session (to make a deadline for Sundance) that he didn't feel the exhaustion that he would have on his own system.
SK
 
Try to see if you can find a used set of Yamaha NS10's. If your mix sounds good on NS10's they will work anywhere.
 
The newer Alesis M1's are really surprisingly good (Model: M1 Active Mk2). I honestly don't think there's anything out there that sounds better for the price, and I auditioned a lot of monitors when shopping for this pair. The Truths have bigger woofers, and have that "it looks just like the mackie HR824s so it must sound as good" kinda marketing ploy going on. But I simply don't think they sound as quality as the M1 Active Mk2's.

I working in a couple recording studios for years, and have mixed on all sorts of more expensive set-ups like Genelecs and Ureis and the increasingly ubiquitous Mackies. And I had heard the previous generation of Alesis' M1s, and they were just awful, so I wasn't really giving these much consideration. But when I went to a couple local pro-sound shops and A/B'ed all the monitors, nothing cheaper than the Mackies was sounding as good as the Alesis.
 
I have the Samson Resolv 80a's. I like them, but I guess you can always do better. The NS10, as Yankee says, is sort of a legend with monitoring. For now, I like my Resolvs, even though they arent the best.

I guess when it comes to monitors, as long as you know what weaknesses they have, you can easily compensate. Fatigue is different I suppose.


Last - I prefer powered monitors. They are easier for video oriented people to hook up and maintain, and you always know the amp was built for the monitor.

Jay Roses advice on monitors is: the heavier, the better the quality.

Good luck... even not so great pro monitoring makes a big difference to your work.
 
The NS-10 are/were a standard but not because the sounded good or accurate. They are harsh and hard to listen to for any length of time. The logic was that nothing in someone's home was going to sound much worse. That logic is a bit flawed now days since most home systems are pretty decent and most video setups are pretty decent. Also in many studios the NS-10's were used to check the mix, not to work to. It is just to hard to listen to them for any length of time.

On the flip side you don't want home "rock & Roll" speakers. They are designed to hype parts of the spectrum and make things sound "good". Better that your speakers make things sound worse than what most people will hear than better.
SK
 
Hmmm. good info on the ns10s... didnt know that. Here in SA LOTS of audio people mix with them. but then again, compared to america, its still 1974 here.
 
I whole-heartedly second the motion for the Behringer Truth 2031A's.
Awesome speakers. I use Mackie high-end speakers at work, and these are on par at a fraction of he cost. I've also spoken with other professional audio engineers who use them a lot and like them. Really nice for the price. I have a pair at home in my edit system. They rock.

Jeff Patnaude:beer:
 
The other week when I was looking into the NS-10's I came across some newsgroup posts that made an interesting claim.

Yamaha supposedly gave a lot of free NS-10's to studios in order to market their monitors. This way, a lot of studios would have them and they'd be perceived as "industry standard."

Whether or not this is true, I don't know. It certainly is believable and would make sense from a marketing standpoint.

Here's a link to one of the threads discussing the NS-10:

http://groups.google.com/group/rec....r+mix+free+yamaha+away&hl=en#0925e96ea502498f
 
sneaky sneaky yamaha. behringer truths? really?

man, i cant believe how hit and miss behringer can be sometimes. some of their stuff seems ok, other of their products just STINK. Hard to come to an opinion of them as a company...
 
KRK's V6

KRK's V6

I own a pair of KRK V6's that are very accurate but for your price range you might look into the ROKIT 8's or V4's... Best to demo them with your own music to see. But a lot of studios uses KRK's as their nearfield monitors.
 
event 20 20's

event 20 20's

There's a reason these speakers have been around for awhile. I bought a pair of powered 20 20's about 5 years ago and they've been good, not as good as the mackies, but pretty accurate. they are incredibly flat. and it's easy to hear all the uglies that can be hiding in the mix. about the behringers. I have to say that when I heard these speakers they sounded good, especially for the price. My concern was that they sounded a little colored. Kind of bass heavy and like there was a peak at about 6k. But hey if there working for some of these die hard fans maybe they'll work. the 20 20's go for about 400 street price for the powered ones. Good luck
 
Noiz2 said:
The NS-10 are/were a standard but not because the sounded good or accurate. They are harsh and hard to listen to for any length of time. The logic was that nothing in someone's home was going to sound much worse. That logic is a bit flawed now days since most home systems are pretty decent and most video setups are pretty decent. Also in many studios the NS-10's were used to check the mix, not to work to. It is just to hard to listen to them for any length of time.

On the flip side you don't want home "rock & Roll" speakers. They are designed to hype parts of the spectrum and make things sound "good". Better that your speakers make things sound worse than what most people will hear than better.
SK
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Agreed (for the most part). NS10's aren't the way to go. They're stupidly expensive for what they are. The money that you would have to spend on a set of NS10's + an amp could get you much much better quality speakers.

I liked the 20/20 speakers better than Mackie HR824's. I owned both. The Mackies sounded nice, but in an exaggerated way that was less about fidelity and more about putting on a show. I also used a set of Yorkville YSM-1's for a couple of years and I can say they're pretty good. I think they're called ART SLM-1's now if I'm not mistaken. If you go that route make sure you have really good amplification. Buy the most power hafler transnova amp you can strain to afford and you should be ok. I was running the the yorkies with a Bryston 4B.

Much like a preamp for a mic, the amplifier on a set of speakers will make all the difference. I don't trust active monitors. Only until you get into a very high bracket will actives perform like they're marketed. ATCs, Questeds, K&H, those active monitors are meticulously designed. Actives below the $2500 mark per pair I just don't trust. Not to say it's impossible. I haven't used everything. Price doesn't always equate quality (refer to the NS10 used market). At the same time, you get what you pay for.

Rule of thumb, spend as much money on your monitors as you did on your DVX and you'll be fine. :grin:
 
Noct,

thats true, but I think you're doing the active monitors a bit of an injustice. I reckon if you were to buy an amp and speakers for x dollars and then buy a set of actives for x dollars, the actives would probably win. Just because a good amp really does cost a lot of cash. If you only have so much money to spend, I'd reckon actives will put you closer to equalling the performance of the speakers than buying a separate amp.

That said, I do agree with you - you totally get what you pay for. But that doesnt mean there arent some great mid priced monitors on the market for people that arent trying to rival the local audio post facility.

I use 20/20s at work. really like them. And I have transferred surround mixes from them to the biggest final mix facility in Africa with absolutely PERFECT translation.

One last thing: also remember to think about mix conditions. Even the best monitors in the world dont work how they're meant to in an echoey room.
 
timapter said:
One last thing: also remember to think about mix conditions. Even the best monitors in the world dont work how they're meant to in an echoey room.
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Totally agreed. But this is something you will understand when you buy your first monitors and start to wonder why they don't sound so good as they could...:happy:

I have Genelecs monitors, 1029a + sub and 1032s. I can recommend Genelecs for anyone. I love 'em, of course they are from Finland, hehe! :cheesy: . I'm just starting to do some acoustic treatment for my room. :)

Hey, what are those 20/20s people are speaking of? Any links? :)
 
Ahh, Genelecs, now we are speaking my language. You can get a couple of 8030 for some pretty cheap nearfield monitors. Totally prefer these over my monster Mackies.

If you are going uber-cheap, I thought the Truths were pretty decent for the price. I pointed a couple of video editors to them and they have been quite happy with the results.

I will repeat the choir; you get what you pay for, there are no amazing K-mart blue light specials on good monitors.

(and yeah, you either need to treat your room or don't even waste your time with good monitors, it will all sound like crap).

Cheers
 
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