I’m tempted by a pair of tiny monitor speakers for my decks.
Has anyone used 4" speakers and are they any good? Specifically, Tannoy have bought out the 402B model, which at £105 each sounds like good value. Anyone tried these?
Looks like the other options are KRK VXT4 and Genelec 8020A, both much more pricey but favourable reviews.
I’m lucky to have a big pair of 8" monitors for my work but they’re at the other side of my room – totally the wrong position for mixing. So just looking for something to complement them at my decks. Either one or a pair, and they don’t have to be totally flat response or anything, just good speakers for a bit of a DJ mix.
So yeah, 4" monitors, or even 3" … any experiences? Thanks.
If the 8inch monitors are in the same room you can use just the small speakers as sound reinforcement or you could run a small sub to complement the 4inch speakers.
makar id beg to differ on the no bass from 4" drivers if anything if they are designed correctly the bass may not be totally accurate but it is present in any of the 4" driver based monitor speakers i have ever experienced (fostex pm0.4, focal cms40s)
I’ve had the Genelec 8020’s and was very happy with them, even knocking out 2dB of low end because of where I positioned them near a wall. Reasonably happy with the bass but before I was able to add the 7050 sub (which sounds amazing but very expensive) they were “unlawfully removed” from my house …
With my insurance payout I upgraded to 8030’s which sound essentially the same but have a little more depth in the low end. I have however changed again, now running (due to desk space, I had to downsize) 6010’s with the 5051 sub under the new desk, which is an extremely good sound, crisp tops and very solid bass! I would have loved to go with the 8020’s and 5051 sub but I didn’t even have space for them so settled on the 6010’s.
So in short, if it’s good sound you’re after in a small package (and your budget allows) then I can recommend the 8020’s.
Cool, thanks for the tips. I’m getting a good vibe about the 4" speakers.
Thinking I might take the plunge on one of the Tannoy 402B, I can order a second later if it might be beneficial. It’s a respectable name, and there’s plenty of competition at this end of the market. I’ve used the Tannoy 501A elsewhere and was happy. My use doesn’t really justify an upgrade to the Genelecs.
Still definitely interested to hear if anyone has tried these new Tannoy 402B.
Well I’m not proposing one monitor to try it out. But that one speaker might be ok for my needs – less clutter. And I can always buy a second if it’s not.
I’ve used radio studios where there are 3 monitors; where the the desk is L shaped with the DJ mixer sitting down the other side to the main mixing desk. Decent stereo speakers for the production, and an additional monitor for the DJ plugged into the ‘booth’ output but mono’d. My studio isn’t so much an L setup, so this may or may not be effective.
Besides, a lot of us have probably played in a club that only has one monitor speaker for the DJ at some point.