Need Speakers Recommendations

andyd2

andyd2

Member
I'm looking for a speaker system that is as precise as possible for a $100-$300 Price range. If anyone has experience or could point me in the right direction I would appreciate it. I am working on a MacBook Pro using FCS 2. I can't rely on headphones anymore.


Thanks,
Andy D.
 
There isn't really anything accurate in that price range. Sorry but that's life. You might save up a couple more hundred and invest in a very good set of headphones. This will take the room out of your monitoring equation and although they are not the best to monitor on, would probably be better then some dud speakers in an un-tuned room.
 
well, I need some speakers, so if anyone knows of anything good in this price range, I would appreciate it. I'm not looking to make a sound studio or home theater system, just for editing on a MacBook Pro.
 
I second Event speakers, but use the even cheaper Event Alp 5 which sound great (in a linear way...) and have gotten good reviews.
Anyway try to hear them first!
And don´t forget an USB/Firewire audio interface to bypass the weak onboard sound of the MBP!
 
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andyd2 said:
well, I need some speakers, so if anyone knows of anything good in this price range, I would appreciate it. I'm not looking to make a sound studio or home theater system, just for editing on a MacBook Pro.
Click to expand...

Sorry Andy,

Didn't mean to sound short. I agree with Barry, the Alesis M1 actives would be very good for your use as you are going to need a speaker that is self amplified. Also they might just turn into the ones you like to use for general music listening.

Chuck
 
Getting something in that range is a good stepping stone. I had KRK RP5s for a few years and they were miles better than trying to mix on "computer" speakers. I would look at the other suggestions and get the best you can. I would try to spend as much as humanly possible since your monitors are the lense which you see through when editing. I would say the tannoys got the best reviews in that price range.

Realize when you buy that nothing will replace the "real deal" and you will need to upgrade as soon as you can. You can save money in the long run by just buying something better now. The only problem is that means $1000. I just got the JBL 4326 after much deliberation and I love them. I can hear tons of things happening that I could never hear on the $300 krks and my old mixes make me cringe now. I admit not as bad as the stuff I mixed on bose computer speakers.

BTW, buying cheap monitors is the most common mistake that people make when starting out (guilty).
 
I would second the Even recommendation. Also Yorkville YSM-1's though the self powered version might be just out of your range. I also had good results with Audix Hothouse speakers. They are pretty small and are not high end monitors but I did a fair amount of work on them before moving up. I never had good luck with KRK speakers, but it might not be their fault. The Ranch had a bunch of them and they always sounded very muddy to me. But I think they were also under powered so ...

One very important thing to remember. All pro or close speakers (including the cheapey Audix ones) have removable front grills. TAKE them off. They are there for protection, not for use. Removing the grill will make a very noticeable improvement. It took me awhile to learn this I'm ashamed to say.
 
Hm,
seems like your going through mailorder and although you can get a clue about the performance of eg the HVX by watching webresolution clips, you can´t judge audio monitors without hearing them...
I did the following: I went to a big audio store and did A/B comparisons between speakers.
Since I was on a budget, I took the classic Yamaha NS10M (the one many people agree on to be good nearfields) and then switched to my choosen budget speakers during playback of the same songs (one from Toto, one from Queen, both songs I know in an out).
The one in my target pricerange comming nearest to what I would say was a clear and precise playback of the songs was the Alp 5 (I could have spent more, but the Alp 5 sounded best for my ears...).
Of course, for speakers that size bass was missing, but since most videoeditors are doing a lot of speech a clear reproduction of the midrange is what I was looking for.
Nevertheless, I aditionally check audio on my AKG K 271 headphones...
 
Two quibbles, NS-10 are commonly used but are not commonly liked. They are also not commonly used in audio post at least not in features. They are very bright and harsh and hard to listen to for any length of time. They are used in the music industry, though not so much any more, because they were considered a common denominator with many playback systems. Audio post is a bit of a different beast. It can be very misleading to judge a speaker by just listening to it. People like extra bass and treble, what that loudness switch does on many home stereos. In post monitors you don't want speakers that "sound good" you want speakers that give you an unbiased playback, and that translate well to your end destination. So for instance you can get away with smaller speakers by and large if you end destination is video, though that is less true today than it was. Also in a strictly to video market NS-10's might work OK. The Yorkville translate very well to the big screen, the expensive speakers are generally tune able, and the really nice expensive speakers mostly need a pretty big room. Meyers makes some fantastic speakers but they need a bigger room than I have. The Mackie speakers are also supposed to be pretty good but they are really more mid field monitors than near field. If your too close to big speakers all kinds of strange things happen with the image because. I don't know the speakers your talking about and they may be excellent, and I agree that buying speaker with out listening to them is not a great idea but if you go to a stereo store and listen to speakers you going to hear a lot of speakers with hyped low end and probably a hyped top end. They will sound good but they make lousy monitors for post.

Spartacus said:
Hm,
seems like your going through mailorder and although you can get a clue about the performance of eg the HVX by watching webresolution clips, you can´t judge audio monitors without hearing them...
I did the following: I went to a big audio store and did A/B comparisons between speakers.
Since I was on a budget, I took the classic Yamaha NS10M (the one many people agree on to be good nearfields) and then switched to my choosen budget speakers during playback of the same songs (one from Toto, one from Queen, both songs I know in an out).
The one in my target pricerange comming nearest to what I would say was a clear and precise playback of the songs was the Alp 5 (I could have spent more, but the Alp 5 sounded best for my ears...).
Of course, for speakers that size bass was missing, but since most videoeditors are doing a lot of speech a clear reproduction of the midrange is what I was looking for.
Nevertheless, I aditionally check audio on my AKG K 271 headphones...
Click to expand...
 
If at all possible find somewhere to audition the speakers. If not, I'd go for the Alesis M1.

andyd2 said:
I'm having trouble deciding between the Alesis M1 Active Mk2 and the Wharfedale Pro Diamond 8.1 Pro Active. Despite the fact that one is more expensive than the other, does anybody have an opinion on which would be more accurate/practical/worthwhile?

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/222306-REG/Alesis_M1ACTIVEMKII_M1_Active_Mk2_Monitors.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/359106-REG/Wharfedale_Pro_ADP81_Diamond_8_1_Pro_Active.html
Click to expand...
 
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