Audio monitoring speaker question. (beginner)

DJ Gear & Hardware Hardware: Controllers, Mods and Gear
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Audio monitoring speaker question. (beginner)

I am looking for a budget and reliable audio monitoring speaker (pair) for room sized DJing. I’d rather have good quality rather than loud voice. Since I won’t be able to put it loud anyway.

The Pioneer S-DJ series or M-Audio BX-5 seem to be a bit too expensive for me. What can I get for my budget around US$200 for a pair?

M-Audio AV 30 seems affordable at only 150bucks a pair., but is it realiable enough? Which should I get? I would be open to used mint condition speakers too.

Thanks!

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Depending on where you are, give Beatlab in Atlanta a call. They got a double shipment of Monkey Banana Turbos that should sound pretty decent for that price. They should be able to ship to you, but I’m not sure where you are or how far they ship. I’m also not sure what the actual price is because I just don’t remember.

Also, with it being near Christmas and all, you might be able to get a pair of JBL LSR305s or Tannoy 502s from Guitar Center for about that price if you actually go into the store and offer it to them.

I’d pick any of those over the AV40 just for the slightly-better bass extension.

3

How are your tinkering skills?

Paired with any reasonable stereo receiver, that will get you a lot of quality for the $$$. If you need a receiver, it does come slightly out of your price range, but beats any of the other options for sound quality by a mile.

4

well tbh, tinkering stuffs isn’t really my thing. i’d even prefer to bring it to the experts eitherway.

any decent receivers should be enough for me. it might only take place in my room though. is that dayton audio suitable for DJing purpose? since i haven’t once heard of it. price seems good though.

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I will be close to Anaheim, California. Any idea of good places where I can get reasonable price for a nice pair? Since this is my first experience getting a speaker, does it actually matter about the speaker? Should it be any particular for-DJing speaker, or any of them works? I heard that I will need an active stereo to work it on.

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As monitors for bedroom DJing they are well above average. The particle board enclosures would not survive mobile DJ use. For the occasional house party, they are somewhat lacking in overall sound level, but may be enough depending on expectations and the receiver used.

The included instructions are complete and detailed, there is some soldering required. There is a video at the link you can watch…that should be enough to convince you one way or the other.

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I don’t know anything about the Anaheim area, but beatlab should ship if you decide to go that way. I’m also pretty sure there’s a guitar center in anaheim somewhere.

The speaker matters for sound quality, but it depends on how much you care. Before I was gifted my first set of monitors, I used logitech computer speakers…and those worked fine…they just didn’t sound great. Fortunately, I hadn’t heard that many good sound systems at the time, so I didn’t know how bad they were.

AFAIK, there are no “DJing speakers”. Personally, I like powered studio monitors, since IME you get more for your money that way than going with computer speakers or hifi equipment. Obviously soundinmotiondj disagrees and thinks that on the very cheap end, you can get better sound with hifi speakers. I honestly don’t know who’s right or if the offerings are all that different.

One of the reasons I like powered studio monitors is that they’re simpler. Just plug your mixer into them and them into the wall (power)…no receiver or spearate amp to mess with.

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I have to agree that active monitors give easier access to better sound quality, I just don’t wanna end up buying additional or extras just to get the quality better.

Sorry for the silly question, but how do I differ the active and passive speakers? Can I have some examples?

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q[quote=“soundinmotiondj, post:6, topic:69301, username:soundinmotiondj”]
As monitors for bedroom DJing they are well above average. The particle board enclosures would not survive mobile DJ use. For the occasional house party, they are somewhat lacking in overall sound level, but may be enough depending on expectations and the receiver used.

The included instructions are complete and detailed, there is some soldering required. There is a video at the link you can watch…that should be enough to convince you one way or the other.
[/quote]

is it powered or does it require receiver and stuffs for better sound quality? tbh i prefer all in one package rather than buying extras separately.

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If you are going with M-Audios go with the AV40. TRUST ME

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active = powered
passive = unpowered

They’ll say very clearly in the product description. Everything I suggested is active. The vast majority of hifi/stereo speakers are passive except for the little powered boom box things and bluetooth speakers that aren’t worth throwing at your enemies.

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i know exactly. i wondered about how are they going to state which one is active or passive. but those speakers can’t work on bluetooth connection to my controller, right? The JBL LSR305 looks great though, but I am still considering M-Audio AV40 and BX-5, the KRK Rokit 5 or even the Pioneer SDJ 50X. They are all close-priced retail and should I just look for the best deals out there?

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I’ve owned KRK Rokit 5s for several years, and I would not buy them again. They don’t do anything better than the other speakers you’ve listed and do several things worse.

I don’t have anything bad to say about the BX-5s. I’ve heard them, and they’re decent, but I’ve never looked seriously at them because they’re not that much of a step up from KRKs, but they are a step up.

I’ve never heard Pioneer’s DJ speakers, and I don’t really care to because of my own personal bias against all things Pioneer. Give them a listen if you can.

The JBLs are generally regarded as the best speakers in that class by people on gearslutz, and my ears mostly agree with that when I’ve heard them, at least after I fixed Guitar Center’s setup (they were set too quiet compared to the other speakers in the room for a real comparison).

If I were buying in that price range today, it’d either be JBL LSRs or Tannoy Reveals. I think I like the Tannoys better, but your ears may be different.

If you can’t go listen to them in person, Here are well-recorded comparisons. Depending on how detailed you want to get, you can use something like this to do blind comparisons between them.

The way I’d do it would be to download samples for the speakers you’re considering as well as one or two of the “nicer” (read: expensive) ones. IIRC, the Event Opal recording was a bit hot, so it’s worth checking to make sure they’re actually at the same level (that will influence your decisions)…make sure you can reliably hear the differences and then “rank” them…and base your decision on price & ranking.

When I did it, the Event Opals ($3000/set) came out very clearly on top followed by the 8" Tannoys, which surprised the heck out of me…if those tests are accurate, the Tannoys represent a great bargain (though some people have complained about amplifier noise). The JBLs are no slouch either…I think I just prefer the voicing of the Tannoys.

I hope that helps…

Also, keep in mind that their room almost inarguably sounds better than yours…so the speakers will probably sound better in those recordings than they will in your room. Still…having speakers is better than not having them, and if you have to spend the money, you might as well have something that will work well and that you don’t have to re-buy as soon as (and if) you decide a nice sounding room is important to you.

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The Dayton monitors are passive (powered). The receiver makes no particular difference, but is necessary as an “amp.” Receivers are a convenient way to connect the sound interface outputs to the speakers.

The advantage of the monitors is that the kit is about “half” the price of similar pre-assembled monitors with similar performance. The Dayton monitors are reasonably flat across the typical pass band.

Assuming any reasonable monitor, the odds are good that the room acoustics will be the limiting factor in sound quality.

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On this, we agree completely.

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This.

I hope there’s a nice discount for the JBL LSR305 pair. Any idea to where should I get it? (best deals)

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Interested in this kit, not so much in the $ 100+ shipping fees and duties. Anyone know about a European place that sells it?

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Can you recommend any kits for bigger monitors, something that can be used not just for production/DJ’ing but for a ocassional home party?

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This is tricky.

Monitors are designed to be “flat” across the typical passband for music production (call it 35-ish Hz to 20k-ish Hz). This is in a single two-way speaker box, and at “moderate” sound levels. Monitors are designed to be “near field” meaning that you are sitting in the “direct path” of the sound within 4 to 6 ft of the monitors. This is not to say that the sound magically disappears at 8ft…but at that point the secondary response from the room starts to color the sound in significant ways.

To put some numbers on it…my listening position is at about 5ft from the monitors. The room is 12ft x 14ft with 8ft ceilings. My Dayton monitors will reach SPL of about 93-95dB RMS (C-weighted, fast response), with peaks 10-ish dB higher than that. That is “way too loud” for me over an extended session working with music. Typically, I listen, produce, practice about 10dB less than that. If you can translate those SPL numbers into your room…then you have a reasonable idea of what these monitors are capable of.

Nothing says that you can’t use these monitors for house parties. Depending on your expectations, they may not be loud enough. Having 4 of these boxes, mounted in the corners of the room, 7-8ft off the floor, and pointed down at about 20 deg angle would likely be OK. Subject to expectations.

The moment that you want to scale up much beyond bedroom monitors, a “tops and subs” system makes a TON more sense acoustically.

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About these Dayton kits, they seem pretty cool but cost over $100,- to ship to our side of the ocean (Netherlands). Did some googling, but can’t seem to find a European seller.

Any alternatives that are as nicely explained as these Daytons, but also available here?