Choice Of Monitors?

DJ Gear & Hardware Hardware: Controllers, Mods and Gear
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Choice Of Monitors?

Hey guys,

I Spend alot of time on this forum from time to time looking for answers tips etc (Guest account) and i’ve finally decided to sign up lols..

I need some advice from you peeps, i’m stuck on getting new speakers/monitors, ATM i use 2.1 speakers ‘Philips spa 5300’ for production/DJ at home, switch between PC with fruity loops and also use them for mixing with my CDJS.
The speakers themselves have served me well and i do enjoy them however, lately they have started fading and the subwoofer itself has started to crackle alot so i’m looking for new speakers.

I’ve had my eye on KRK Rokit 5’s for a while now as they have a good reputation, i’m looking for monitors/speakers with a nice clean low Bass, the Philips have a nice bass with them having a separate Sub just for that, but i’ve never heard the KRK bass before so i’m stuck!
Here are the Specs, some advice would be awesome!

Philips -
Output power (RMS) 2 x 10 W + 30 W
Satellite speaker freq range 180 - 20,000 Hz
Subwoofer freq range 20-180 Hz

KRK -
LF Driver Power Amp 30W
HF Driver Power Amp 20W
Frequency Range 45Hz-35kHz
Volume which can be adjusted from -30 dB up to +6 dB.
Feature on the back is a third stepped knob for adjusting the low frequency: -2 / -1 dB / 0 / +2 dB.

2

What kind of a budget do you have?

I have rp5s, and they’ve served me well. They sound good for general use, but they’re neither flat enough nor clean enough for real production work. They’re loud and last well. And they have alright bass for a 5" woofer. You will notice a big difference losing the sub, though.

I would probably not buy the same speakers again, certainly not if I was going to produce with them. They will work and you can learn them, but they’re not great studio speakers.

3

Personally I’d avoid krk rp5’s, they go loud and have plenty off bass for their size, but they do not have a flat frequency response, they exaggerate the bass and they lack in mid and high’s. For playing music on yeah they are fine, for producing I wouldn’t buy them again, though if you learn them and how their flaws will affect how your mixes translate on to other systems they are fine.

I recently purchased some Adam A5x’s and have to say the mixes I did on the KRK’s did translate well onto the Adam’s.

But like has been said to make a suggestion we need to know budget.

4

Do not get the KRK’s. Get a pair of Mackie or Yamaha if you go with 5" monitors. Since you are using them for DJ rig as well, I would recommend picking up a pair of MAudio BX8’s. You can usually grab em used for around 200 a pair. Personally, I do not recommend using the same monitors for both. While dj’ing you want something that you dont mind overdriving a bit. With your studio monitors, constantly overdriving the drivers will weaken the cones and eventually kill the built in amp if you are using powered monitors. Get a set of yamaha or Mackie 5"s and a cheap set of 15 inch passive monitors with amp for dj’ing.

5

I disagree with the idea that DJ monitors should be okay with overdriving.

First, that damage happens to all speakers.

Second, they all sound bad overdriven.

Third, if we’re talking about practicing…overdriving most of these small monitors is too loud for a bedroom anyway.

Run your speakers right, whatever you use.

Also, I think I remember not being a fan of Mackie or m-audio monitors, at least not the 5" versions. But, the sets I demoed might have just had problems. If I didn’t know that they were too lazy to do it I’d suspect guitar center of processing their floor model monitors differently to try and sell things with bigger margins first.

Also…that’s why I got my krks. They were GC floor samples that hadn’t been wrecked yet…I still think they’re good speakers for half off GLP. But I wouldn’t have bought them at full price. At the time, I probably would have gone with Yamahas.

Fwiw, my next set is probably going to be JBL for not that much more than the krks were, except that I’m also getting a sub. That is…unless I decide to go crazy and get midfields for a lot more money.

6

Mackies are so underrated.

IMO, destroys the KRKs.

KRKs are just so muddy.

7

I have Mackies and love them - KRK are good for dj’ing with

8

I love jbl’s. Super good monitor for the money.

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Thanks for the reply guys, they will mainly be used for the CDJS for my weekly podcast etc, they won’t be cranked up a lot either so I won’t burn them out or anything..

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I own a pair of Audio Engine A5+'s which are pretty much book shelf speakers.
The good -

  • The high’s and mids are well defined and the detail is amazing you can hear everything in a track extremely well.
  • The bass is tight and punchy not boomy and over hyped.
  • Look great.

The bad -

  • No balanced input (Not that big of a deal with the short distances you would most likely be using them in.)
  • Uses speaker wire to connect the passive speaker only one has an amp. Good side of this is it will take up one less power point.
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I also have the Audio Engine A5’s and the KRK 5". The A5’s sound much better, especially in the mids and highs. I actually like the fact that there is only one amp. You only need one a/c outlet. There is no balance like Loopcat mention, but since you normally have them pointed right at your face, you don’t need to adjust the balance.

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That is not the balance he is talking about. You’re talking about L/R balance.

This is what LoopCat is talking about.
http://thehub.musiciansfriend.com/tech-tips/unbalanced-versus-balanced-i-o-and-how-to-work-with-them

13

Ha Ha. What the hell was I thinking. I missed the balance INPUT part. Either way, you still can’t adjust the L/R balance or have balance inputs on the A5’s, which is not that big a deal since they do sound great.

14

I might actually need some advice here…and this seems as good of a thread as any…

I had some spare time and went to my GC to play with their monitor walls. I hate shopping for speakers. That’s why I got my KRKs…I went in to talk to them, and one of the Managers from when I worked there offered me a pair of RP5s for like $180 total. I got my money’s worth out of them.

I want new/better speakers, and I was hoping that listening would confirm my research so I could put money aside for JBL LSR308s and an LSR310S and use the thanksgiving discount they sent me (~$800 total)…and they just didn’t sound right. They probably just had them under-driven like woah, but they were just…wrong.

To my ears, with one of my recorded DJ mixes, in that room…the differences in the ~$500/pr speakers were staggaring…but nothing stood out as “right”. The tannoys really seem hi-mid/hi focused but better than most of the others…The yamaha HS7 and HS8 were flatter but still a bit…off. The JBLs…sounded like they balanced right…but I had to turn the monitor controller up so loud that I could hear noise coming from basically everywhere, and they never did have any real presence.

Are they actually that quiet/boring, or did GC just have them set too low? And yes, I know what monitors are supposed to sound like.

And…are any of these actually enough of a step up from KRKs to worry about? Or is it just different flaws?

Now…the high-end wall was a significantly different experience. For more like $700-800 a speaker, there were some realy nice options for what I want, though I’d still want a sub (probably still that LSR310s) for when I can get away with it.

I didn’t listen to anything nicer because I didn’t want to fall in love with speakers that were $4000/pair. I really can’t justify that expense, but…

Genelc 8030s struck me as “flat” but not boring, like I knew they would. I’ve used them before, but never owned them.
Adam A7xs struck me as “crisp”, but maybe a bit tame for dance music.
Dynaudio BM5mk3s struck me as “nice”.
Neumann KH120s struck me as “woah!”. These are some sweet-sounding speakers…possibly too flattering for what I want. But still…woah.

And going back home and listening to the same thing on my KRKs, they strike me as “crap”.

Side note: if you have KRK Rokits, do yourself a favor and don’t directly compare them to good speakers unless your ears are shot.

So, yeah…any advice? Ideally around $1000 with a sub. $2000 if you think it’s worth it.

15

My main monitors are the Yamaha HS80M, so I can’t help you on high end monitors. I mainly use them for just practice, and for practice, my KRK 5 and Audioengine A5’s work fine. I don’t see the need, at least for me, to have super expensive monitors hooked up to my DJ rig, but I’m not a musician or producer, so my needs are different. For critical listening, I turn on my Mcintosh system, and listen to my Onix Mini Strata audiophile speakers, which are in the same room as my DJ rig. Maybe you should look into an audiophile system for listening to music, unless you need really nice monitors to Produce or something.

16

I’ve tried that, and I mean no disrespect, but…honestly…I’ve always been flabergasted at the prices people pay for what end up noisy, colored, loose, smear-y, “meh” systems.

Granted, this has always been in someone’s house. And you never really know if they set it up right or knew what they were doing. I’ve also never heard Mcintosh or Onix. The “best” I’ve heard was Carver preamp/amp and Acoustic Research AR5s. But, honestly, for what those things cost and how the owners raved about them, I just wasn’t impressed.

Anything I listened to today was more detailed, with the execption of the scooped mids of the KRKs.

I kinda feel the same about Audioengines. I just don’t see (hear?) what people like about them.

17

Did you check out Mackie HR 624 or 824? A mate who lived right next door to me had the 624s, in comparison to my HS80M I always found the hi-/mid-range quite similar, but with a better low-end. I quite liked them.

And you probably should check out the Adams so many people are raving about, but I have no first-hand experience to contribute there.

18

I’ve never really liked mackies.

The a7x are good speakers, but (like I mentioned) maybe a bit tame for dance music.

I didn’t really like their cheaper speakers.

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I mean, don’t go in with the mindset that you don’t like Mackies.

Try them out.

I thought they were gonna be like KRKs because they’re so cheap, but they sounded amazing. The Yamahas are good when supplemented with a sub.

Tannoys and JBLs didn’t sound too great IMO.

My favorites without regard of price were the Dynaudio and Genelec.

20

Yeah…I did. I still don’t like them.

If I decide to spend that much, I’m probably going with Neumann’s. After reading more about them, I’m convinced that what I was hearing wasn’t as much that they were flattering as that they most directly showed how crap the krks I’m used to are.