Another Monitor Recommendation Thread: Replacing Truths with something ~$1000

Hi all,
 
I had the great privilege of recording my son's 7 piece band all day today and having a friend of mine that is a pro sound engineer  helping with the entire ordeal (I'm just a hobbiest). Things went really well and I'm happy with how the studio and Sonar held up (one crash - mixing not tracking fortunately). I also learned a TON working with my friend - man I love watching pros work. :)
 
I use IK's ARC and my friend was stunned to hear the difference when I turned ARC off. We're going to try a few tests tomorrow taking everything we can out of the signal path, but I really think it's time to move up in monitors. I'm in new territory here. I can justify up to $1000 and it seems there are a ton of options compared to when I bought the Truths (some 5 or more years ago).
 
I plan to head out to Guitar Center for a listen tomorrow, but I'm hoping that my fellow Sonar-ites can offer some advice. I hear good things about the Adams and the A7x is in my price range. So is the Mackie HR924mk2 and the KRK VCT 8. I'm dragging my buddy along for his ears and opinions, but I'm trying to do my homework ahead of time...
 
thanks to any that have an opinion...
 
EDIT: I want to add that the room is heavily treated based on recommendations from Auralex. :) 

It's too confusing.
 
$1000 budget and questions about $1400 speakers.
 
Auralex and room treatment mentioned in the same sentence.
 
Behringer Truth and IK Arc; at least that makes sense.
 
 
 
 
It's a difficult question to answer. What size is the listening room? When you are sitting in it are you listening to the speakers or the room?
 
More importantly what-the-frequency is all that Auralex doing to your impression of the sound? Is it working effectively on the bass resonance? Is it squelching the upper mid range? In other words, does the room sound clean and articulate in the low frequencies or does it just sound sterile and dead in the upper mid and hi frequencies? 
 
My gut feeling is that the Mackies you mentioned will give you the most "good" for the money... but in my personal opinion, you'll get  a better speaker value by buying better speakers than any mentioned yet.
 
 
The thing is, the room may or may not be worth putting great speakers in it. You may find that your current combination is approaching a best case scenario, and throwing $1000 to $1400 at it may leave you wondering why you did so.
 
I think the best advice at this point would be for you to bring home something like the Mackies as demo units (or something in that range) and test them in your room. Beware of having a wow factor reaction and try to imagine how you'll feel 6 months from now. I'd suggest being 100% transparent with the guys at your local store. Tell them you need to take them home and test them before you commit to keeping them. Throw down a deposit and try them out. Try out a few different pairs and see if the speakers really make a difference in your room or if the ARC/Truth combo is working nearly as good for $1400 less.
 
Good luck!!!
 
best regards,
mike
 

Love my Adam A7X's!!!

Thank you all for your thoughts!
 
The room is actually a great sounding room - at least from a live playing perspective. The walls are double-layers of drywall hung on channel strips with all seams caulked. I was able to pull off a double-wall on one side of the room. I know this is for sound containment, but I wanted to illustrate the efforts I've put into getting this right.
 
I used Auralex products for all acoustic treatment, and Auralex did all the room analysis for me. I've got a mixture of panels, bass traps, and diffusion. The drum riser is 4x6 construction, ported and filled with insulation, and sits on Auralex U-boats. Doing so really tightened up the kick and kept it in the room. I don't have much more I can do to the room, but I do think I can get more performance out of it as the ARC has shown me.
 
ARC is showing me three problems. I'm getting an artificial boost in the low-mids (around 200 - I'm going by memory here), and a boost in the upper mids. Also the bass just disappears the ARC is fully compensation by boosting a lot of the lower bass frequencies that are just missing in the original plot. Also, and perhaps the biggest concern, my friend pointed out the non-linearity of the speakers. When he would drop the volume, the mix would change. That was his biggest concern and point of consternation.
 
So, I hadn't thought about the idea that perhaps the ARC with the Truths is taking me places where a $1000 pair won't get me out of and that's a concern. However, even I got similar results to the Truth/ARC pair but got more consistent across volumes that would probably be a big help.
 
Again, I appreciate all of the input and I hope this additional information helps (should have included it all in the original post, but I was tired). :)
 

Hi James,
 I hope you enjoy your new speakers!!!
 
 Happy New Year. :-)
 
 best regards,
mike

Will be eager to hear impressions after a couple of hours.

James -
 
Thanks for the posts on this.  I'm even more motivated now to upgrade my monitors.  I'm saving for a pair of KRK VXT8s which is around the original price range you gave.  It's going to take me a while to set aside the funds so I'm monitoring the dialogs on monitors.

 
Hi James,
 
If you find you're not happy with the F7s, check out Equator. I have their D5s and am very happy. I have no idea how they compare to the Adams, but I know they sound WAY better than the Haflers that I also have.

Hi bitflipper,
 
There is definitely a trade-off of quality to dollars here for me. While I can justify $2000 for a guitar (or a LOT more for a vintage strat) I can't justify a huge expense in monitors. I noticed the $1000 budget is a weird amount - it seems that most things are either in the $600-$800 range or $1400 on up. While I liked the X series from Adam, my abused ears couldn't hear an $800 difference.
 
I did some mixing yesterday and some critical listening as well and these monitors just make me smile. We compared them to all they had at GC and I liked nothing more in the store (other than the pricier Adams) and I think my purchase has been justified. I'm stunned at what I am hearing even from Pandora streaming.
 
These speakers provide a number of things I was missing before. First, I now have real low end, and not something the Arc had to force for me. Bass lines are very distinct, and nothing ever gets tubby. If I crank up some new or old school reggae, they are happy to get thumping while staying very clear. The highs are AMAZING. Silky smooth and defined. I'm hearing reverb in songs that I've listened to for years and never noticed before and loving comparing hi hats across different reference songs as I can hear them so well. Mixes are staying consistent throughout volume changes in the monitors - that was a big problem with the Truths and things would come and go in the mix depending on listening volume. Finally, everything is present and clearly defined in it's sonic and 3d space. When I listed to the KRKs, some frequencies seemed to "sit back" while others moved forward. The Adams seem to place everything where I would expect them.
 
So, while I'm sure they're not perfect, I saved $400 off my budget (thanks in part to the $200 sale) and got something light years beyond what I was using.
 
I'm a happy camper here in 7 degree weather in Nebraska! :)
 
If the honeymoon fades, I'll be sure to post a follow-up and check out some of the other brands you all mentioned such as Equator.

Wow, just down the road indeed! My offices are on 73/75 just about a half mile north of Cornhusker in Bellevue. You were literally about 12 minutes down the road...
 
Hope you are someplace warm. It's pretty nasty here at the moment.
 
Good time to stay inside and record! :)

TJ, try going the second-hand route. All those other people who've drunk the upgrade kool-aid have to unload their previous purchases, and studio speakers don't degrade over time. It's not like buying, say, a used PA system that might have fallen out the back of the van at some time.

Thanks TremoJem! Not sure about "deserve" but I'm going to enjoy the heck out of them! :)
 
I think Bitflippe is on to something. I tend to try and buy used when I know what I'm shopping for. In this case, I didn't really and I wanted to get something in here while I'm on vacation. If you have the time, find what you want and let eBay be your friend...

bitflipper
TJ, try going the second-hand route. All those other people who've drunk the upgrade kool-aid have to unload their previous purchases, and studio speakers don't degrade over time. It's not like buying, say, a used PA system that might have fallen out the back of the van at some time.

I've got a pair of dinosaur JBL 4311 that I bought over 30 years ago.  I've thought about upgrading, but these are like old buddies now.  But they're definitely still pumping after all these years.

Check these out...there are two separate listing for the right and left.
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/M...mp;hash=item23341f749f
 
and
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/M-Audio-M3-8-Active-220-Watt-Studio-Nearfield-Monitor-Speaker-Pair-/111248198878?pt=US_Pro_Audio_Speakers_Monitors&hash=item19e6e8ccde
 
I don't know anything about M-Audio. I just know that I want something completely different than what I have, which are the Mackie  mrkII.
 
I am looking at JBL, Yamaha mostly.
 
I want something bigger and completely different for comparison mixing/mastering.
 
 

The Event 20/20BAS or the JBL LSR2328P (discontinued) or the new JBL LSR4328P might be considerations.