Hifi speakers + amp. Look for speakers on eBay/Gumtree/Car Boots. I managed to get a pair of Mordaunt Short MS5.30s for a fiver from a charity shop; probably my best bargain ever.
There is almost a necessity for a seperate sub if you go with the common 5" class monitors. The 8" class is much more capable on the bottom end. Maintaining a balanced connection is always nice. I use active 12" PA monitors w/ an active 12" sub in my studio set-up.
There’s no real reason or need to go with studio monitors for DJing. I’m using some Wharfedale speakers here and they have decent bass, but any Hifi speakers at this size or larger should have good bass response.
If you want convenience, then get active monitors. If you want it to sound good, get an amp and speakers.
Personally, I’d choose better audio over convenience. I mean hell, it’s the only time while DJing that music is actually going to sound GOOD rather than just LOUD, so make the most of the experience and get some high quality speakers
I’d suggest active, you never know, you may want to try your hand at production in the future. You’ll still get a nice sound out of a set of studio monitors.
I do dabble in production, but I use headphones. I just want some speakers to run out of my mixer that sound nice - and I like the idea of not having a separate amp to find a home for…
A nearfield monitor should project a flat response audio image to the producer in the centre of the stereo field. Hi-fi speakers typically project the maker’s idea of what sounds good to all corners or the room. You decide!
Incorrect, if you want it to “sound good” then near-fields are the way to go. Supplement them with a decent sub and you simply cannot match the clarity of monitors.
Patch, how much are you wiling to spend for good sound?
If you want to know what exactly is going on in your mix, pick up monitors. Their amps are usually matched to the driver config and i much prefer an active xover before the amp than a passive one after it. If you want your music to sound… well… musical, then go for passives+amp, since hifi speakers are meant to color the sound to make it more pleasant.
Now, another important thing is placement. Will you be using them very near your listening position, or will they be placed in the corners of the room, far from you?
In the first case get monitors. They are more analytical than hofi speakers, but have a narrower sweet spot. On the other hand hifi speakers are meant to sound good in any location. Usually this means that in nearfield position they lack coheaion and imaging, abd probably won’t satisfy you.
Personally I’d just go with active monitors if I was in your position.. No need for an amp (Which can cost more than a set of decent monitors if you want a nice one) And don’t get too caught up with audio distribution, Hi-Fi EQ, nearfield, farfield etc. Most quality monitors will give you a really good sound if you just want to jump on your set-up and have a mix. And like I said before, gives you flexibility if you want to use them in the studio too.
I use my KRK’s in the studio and to record my mixes.. Sound.
And with most monitors being pretty flat you’ll be getting a pretty true representation of the tracks you’re spinnin’!
Incorrect. Speakers that aren’t near-field monitors do in fact exist, and they exist for a reason. You don’t want your ears stuck in a particular spot when moving around your setup.
Any decent speaker you buy will be flatter+better quality than a typical club environment, and studio monitors really aren’t necessary for mixing at home for fun. You can get a pair of much louder and nicer sounding Hifi speakers for a fraction of the price of an equivalent studio monitor.
These are going to be specifically for DJ’ing, and they’ll be placed on my expedit at the far left and right of my TT set-up.
I know I’d be perfectly happy with a hi-fi speaker and amp set-up. That is really the kind of sound that I’m after. But I really like the idea of a no amp set-up!
Volume is not a huge issue. I do not play too loud. But I do play a little louder than your usual listening volume.
I suppose my question is - will active monitors sound anywhere near as “nice” as hi-fi speakers? Will I be making a significant sacrifice in sound quality in order to get the convenience of a no amp set-up?
EDIT: I also like the ballpark price of the monitors I posted in my OP!
