I am looking for any advice on the best active dj/monitor speakers in the£200- £400 budget range for use with NI’s S4. Bedroom use ideally. Not looking for something that’s going to annoy the neighbours but has the capability ! I play Techno/house so want a pair that pack a bass punch. I am thinking of doing a spot of producing too, so ideally I’m looking for all round audio honesty as well. Been looking at Yamaha HS 80/50 m’s as well as JBL 5’s. Any other models I should be considering/ what would you use? All advice welcome. Thank you in advance…
I use a pair of M-Audio Bx5as. They deliver FAR more volume than I could need for my small studio.
I had some Bx8as previously aswell and they were even more powerful, delivered a good clear sound over a whole range, but then Im not a major bass head.
Your question really is one of personal taste. My recommendation would be to take some tracks you know very well into a store and do some comparisons. Take your time, try to find the ‘sweet spot’ for each set (equilateral triangle with your ears in line with the tweeters) and don’t be shy to ask the store attendant to switch between monitors multiple times. Yes I am aware they will sound different in your home environment, but it is still an exercise worth undertaking in my opinion …
To reinforce the point of trusting your own judgement, I personally don’t like KRK Rokit or current release JBL monitors whereas many DJs and hip hop producers think the KRKs are great.
If you CNBF and are simply looking for internet opinion I have a pair of Yamaha MSP5’s and (don’t laugh) Behringer 2031As. FYI the Behringer’s were purchased after the Yamaha’s and, in my opinion, are ‘nice’ to listen to with electronic music and terrible for guitar driven music. As a rule of thumb with studio monitors, the ‘nicer’ they make things sound, the worse your mix/production will be.
Although the MSP5’s are only a mid-tier production unit I will never, ever sell them. In fact, if anything ever happened to them I would not consider replacing them with anything else. I find the sound from them so pleasing (when connected to a warm sounding preamp with well produced music) I have hooked them up to a A&H Xone 22 and use them in my living room for non-DJ purposes. If your mixing is sloppy, or the production is bad these monitors will let you know; they are absolutely brutal.
i use the jbl eons 515 xt. they sound awesome! everything sounds clean and havent had any complaints. they can be a bit costly but def worth the money spent.
