Active Studio Monitor Speakers

Hope this is appropriate forum for this question.  I am looking at Active Studio Monitors.  Many vendors to choose from, M-Audio, Presonus, JBL, on and on and on.  My price range is $500 +/-,  Looking for recommendations.  I imagine this is subjective and/or biased, but some guidance would be helpful.  Thanks, in advance.

Recent hardware forum thread http://forum.cakewalk.com/fb.ashx?m=2704358

Don't forget to check into the second-hand market. People are always upgrading their monitors, so there is a steady supply of used units. They don't deprecate with age, so it's a good bang for the buck. Your 500 bucks might get some monitors that would otherwise run you a grand.

I realize you specified active monitors, but if you are open to passives, this is a potent combination, and it meets your price point.

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Monitor1mkII/

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Servo300/


Oddly, the Alesis power amp(RA150) that Sweetwater currently has on hand is a poor choice for these monitors. It is grossly underpowered for them.
The Samson Servo300 is a good match.
These monitors have plenty of low end, but they are rear ported, so placement is inportant. You don't want to set them too close to a wall.

I've had mine for a few years, and I still love 'em.

> Im retiring and have a pair of Yamaha Ns 10m studio monitors that won awards. there not active but..there the real mccoy msg me ..

DPTrainor


Hope this is appropriate forum for this question.  I am looking at Active Studio Monitors.  Many vendors to choose from, M-Audio, Presonus, JBL, on and on and on.  My price range is $500 +/-,  Looking for recommendations.  I imagine this is subjective and/or biased, but some guidance would be helpful.  Thanks, in advance.

What is your room setup like-Size, ceiling height, stuff in the room, etc....   This is stuff that will help with recommendations

I agree with Digi2ns

The best monitor for you is a mix of the monitor, your room and the type of music you record.  If you have a big room and are mixing hip hop or club stuff you will want to hear the deep bass, but if you have a small room and are recording acoustic stuff a 5" monitor may be better!

Andy

Lots to choose from in that price range per pair. 

I picked up a pair of Mackie MR-5's with 5" drivers. I believe I paid about $300 for the pair. I would recommend that if you get something in the 5" range to add a sub to the system. I grabbed a 10" 100w sub for around $250. 

That set up would put you slightly over the budget of $500 but, I didn't add the sub until about a year after I had the MR-5's.  I saved the money until I found a nice sub on sale and then I grabbed it.


E-bay may be a good place to start looking for a deal. It changes all the time so check there often until you find the right deal at the right price.....don't forget to calculate the shipping costs into your total price.....

I work with the  Yamaha hs 80 m here and it´s a gift for the money.
This monitor´s have a flaw, and this is the bass area under 200 Hz. 
It takes a long time to get a routine in mixing the bass area with this speaker. For me it´s OK, but I´m recording and mixing Rock aso with handmade bass .
If you are creating EDM or so, the HSM 80 are defiinitely to washy imo.

If I had the choice again,
I would buy the Yamaha MSP 5 or 7, which are overall much better   
monitor´s then the HSM´s imo. If you have the change to hear them,
  take the opportunity.   


Good luck
Pragi

DPTrainor


Yes, thanks guys.  Andy, I have a rather small room (5' x' 9') with high ceilings.  Its an office at entry way of my condo, with built-in desk and shelves in back.   Thats where I work on mixing. Its a tight fit, not ideal.  When band members come come for recording, we do it in living room.  Music is mostly "Americana"  with Acoustic/Electric Guitar, Vocals, Bass and Drums.  

Wow That is a small room.


One thing I would say is dont loose focus on what your doing.  Keep the mixing and the tracking seperate in your thought process.


Your concerns in this post are with monitor selection.  Im not sure anything to powerful would be a good choice in a room that small.  I would assume a 5" to 6 1/2" woofer would be plenty to keep from saturating the room with sound bouncing everywhere.


Are you able to add acoustic treatment to it?  Id think that would be very important in your situation at this time adding good monitors.

I have the Alesis M1 active monitors which I've always been pretty happy with, but having comparatively little experience of such things and nothing else to compare them with it's hard to say if they're better than this or that make. I did a fair bit of research of what was within my budget when I bought them and the guy at my local store was happy for me to buy them....I know that sounds a bit silly, but they supply all makes and he would have told me if he thought I should have been buying something else. They were on backorder from the factory at the time and he couldn't get them, so I ended up buying them elsewhere. He could have easily talked me into another brand, as he is a good guy whose advice I have learned to trust, but what he in fact did was tell me of a rival store who he knew had some in stock. It was that more than anything that made me decide that they really were the ones I should be getting and he even gave me a lower price quote that I could take to them as they had a price matching policy, so I got them cheaper than I would have if I had been able to buy them from him. So, I guess although he was losing a potential sale, he managed to screw them a bit too. ;)
 
 

<old fart mode>

In the old days decisions like this were somewhat easier because you could visit other studios, and you could even borrow monitors from the local music store and audition them in your studio - by far and away the best test.

So you can't do that anymore, or rather it is a lot more difficult anyway.

I think the best bet these days is to listen to demos and find people who produce music that is similar to what you want to produce. Then ask them what they use. It'll give you a starting point.

</old fart mode>

There are probably some choices that are categorically bad, but it has been my experience that it is far more important that you learn what your monitors do, and learn to work with them.

There are also, most likely, some choices that are better. But the only way to figure this out is to audition different monitors in your space. And the old fart above explained why that has become more difficult<G>. The final choice is dependent on your room and the music you produce... it's just a big fat messy questions<G>!

Some random thoughts...

I would not choose anything with a driver smaller than 6.5 inches, and probably 8 inches. You can get low end from the smaller drivers, but it requires some voodoo, and frankly, no one does that stuff really well yet, you will hear artifacts.

Stay away from anything that claims to magically correct for room problems. Basic physics rules are pretty strict, and you can not solve time domain problems in the frequency domain. Put another way, you can't equalize reflections!

Powered monitors offer a LOT of advantages - the amplifier and driver are well matched, the connection between the amplifier and driver is as short as possible, and you don't need an external amplifier. But there are a couple of disadvantages - if you lose an amplifier channel you lose a monitor. If a more suitable amplifier appears on the market you can't just swap them out.

FWIW, and that's almost nothing, I use a pair of Yorkville YSMs driven by a Crown PS-400 as my near field monitors, and a pair of UREI 809s, driven by a variety of amplifiers, including an old Heathkit stereo tube amp, as mid-field monitors. When the new control room is built these will be built into the walls, and act as mains. As of yet I have not found a sub-woofer that I like.


Believe it or not, these two very different loudspeakers are similar enough, and different enough, to be very helpful. 


I also have a pair of Polk Model 5s, and Toa cubes (similar to the old Auratones) that I'll plug in from time to time.

If I didn't have other priorities I'd add a pair of Haffler TRM-8s to the collection, but for now I'm pretty happy with what I have.

The music I record ranges from simple solo guitar to singer/songwriter to horn based pop to orchestral.

Buying monitors is one of the most difficult tasks when building a studio... good luck, and sorry I didn't have a pat answer!

Paul, 5x9 foot space, with 4 ft of this length (opposite of built-in desk) in open area leading to entry way/door to outside.  So, when I open my front door, I am literally in my small office space which is now my "mini-studio". ceilings 10 ft high.   

Thats GREAT, you have the right outlook on it.  It is what it is and work with it.

I know we can waste a lot of money playing trying to find what works and thats why I brought up the room and area thing.

I think you will find a much better response from the pros in here as to your particular needs.

Wish you the best in getting it set up.  Im slowly getting my head around all the room stuff myself. You can get the greatest equipment but if the room isnt right it doesnt do any good.  Your on the right track now  

A milion ideas out there, but I have been very happy with KRK Rokit 6s.  About $200 each ($400/pair) at Sweetwater and other places.  I think I bought mine at Guitar Center.  This would be right in your price range and are plenty loud enough for nearfields. 

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Rokit6G2