Monitor Speakers
What active monitor speakers would you recommend that do not cost the earth?
I do not need loud but want quality on a budget. This is just for home/studio use.
I have been looking at Audioengine A2’s, Creative Gigaworks T40 Series ll, and M-Audio Studiophile AV 40s.
Best quality speakers usually cost $400 each. Hmm, any chance you could save some money or look for a set of used Event monitors via craigslist? KRKs are what people use, they are ok but sound wise me thinks not excellent sound quality. Ok quality.
I like KRKs a lot. They’re not for audiophiles perhaps but you’re not going to find anything in that price range that is. The only complaint I’ve heard about KRKs is that they don’t reproduce lows in the 20-60Hz range but again, you won’t find any monitors in that price range that will. If you’re all about sub-low, get a subwoofer or spend a lot more (and get yourself speakers with a separate amp if you want audiophile quality, or perhaps something like the Focals or B+Ws). If you want absolutely neutral monitors go for the industry standard yamahas or their updated HS80Ms. Or, again, be ready to part with ridiculous amounts of cash. But for decent quality on a reasonable budget you probably can’t do better than KRKs, specifically the Rokit 5 or 6 (I got my 6s for $90 apiece on sale; you might not do that well but deals are pretty frequent on these). The Pioneer monitors sound pretty good as do the Stanton ATMs. I’d go for any of these before the M-Audios but if you want to save money, M-Audios give pretty good bang for the buck too.
Good reference monitors could actually go down to 35Hz, especially with 8" cones. 6" not. And KRKs not. Much better than a sub-woofer in the studio that me thinks goes overboard with the low end. Yes club system and hip-hop cars have sub-woofers but that’s it.
Or let’s phrase it this way. You get cheaper reference monitors and a sub-woofer and the total cost is most likely the same as getting a deal on slightly used good reference monitors.
holycrap where!??? I almost bought a pair of 5’s last weekend. (140 each on sale).
I was recently in the same market, but while researching I realized I would also need to buy a USB audio interface, so now i’m thinking i’d rather spend the money on VSTs.
I dont need loud, and I’m sure my neighbors don’t want lots of Bass. I was seriously considering Alesis USB 520’s (170 shipped on ebay for the set), because they have the Audion Interface built in. their freq response is similar to the KRK’s.
I have a pair of KRK RP6’s and love them. For DJ monitors and at the price, nothing better IMO
Can you suggest reference monitors in the same price range as the KRKs that actually reproduce down to 35Hz? And yeah I mentioned 5 + 6" speakers because the poster is not looking to spend a lot of money – of course you’ll do better with bigger cones (and I’m sure the KRK 8s give you a lot more in the low end than my 6s too for example).
[quote=“xyloft”]
holycrap where!??? I almost bought a pair of 5’s last weekend. (140 each on sale).
[/quote]Guitar Center 
They had the ferrari red ones on sale a while ago; I actually heard about the sale on DJTT 
I’m an Event guy myself and I know most of their offerings go down to 35Hz. My TR8s seem to never break down, otherwise I would invest in the new Event 20/20BAS reissue models that you could get a pair below $1k. I saw that the better M-Audio models like EX66 go down to 37Hz as well.
Anyway, these kinds of models are mostly useful for anyone producing music and checking the low-end. If DJ:ing is all that is needed, any KRK or even other cheap self-powered monitors are just fine.
PS: Plus if the acoustic environment of the speakers is bad, no expensive speakers will fix that without some rudimentary acoustic treatment.
I just picked up some M-Audio BX5a’s and they bang and are only 200 bucks from Guitar Center…
+1
I have the M-Audio BX5as… they served me well but they’re in a box now as I like the KRKs a LOT better, particularly in the low end. Again part of the issue is just that size does matter – the extra inch on the KRK 6s give me more bang than the BX5s. In general I’m not a big fan of M-Audio products in terms of sound quality though, at least compared to alternatives.
As for the Events - yes indeed those are excellent monitors but they’ve always been out of my price range. However I’m looking right now and if you’re willing to get used monitors, Guitar Center has some 6" Events for a stellar price (239 for the pair). I would jump on those before KRKs or M-Audios for sure. But I’m still very happy with my KRKs
Either way you’re better off if you can listen to your speakers before you buy them. Specs alone are worthless; they may say they go to 35Hz but you can’t know that for sure until you listen to them. I didn’t listen to my KRKs before I bought them but I had heard them before in other setups and I was only spending $180 on the pair so I figured what the hell. But if you’re going to spend a thousand bucks on monitors you ought to hear them first.
If you have nothing, or are coming from just headphones or computer speakers, just start with the RP6s. You will immediately be happy, and won’t break most budgets with them.
6 months no interest at Best Buy!
GC is a good place as you could take home a set, listen in your environment and system. If you don’t like it, you take it back.
I took home a set everyone said had a perfect linear reference, was so boring listening to them so I took them back, got a set of Events and been an Event customer since then. Lesson learned is that it’s good a reference monitor has some slight colorization as you will use them for hours and listening to a clinical monitor, or even worse, an NS-10, is not fun. And fun is important when producing and DJ:ing.
k r k!!!