Hi
ace.
I hope some kind soul might point me in the direction of a pair of studio monitor speakers. I have about £120 to spend so it is really the budget end of the range I have no technical knowledge except they have to be active speakers and a pair. I have to connect to my interface so I can not use a USB type connector.
 
I have been looking at a pair of Mackie CR4 which fall into my price range but I wonder if any one had any other makes/models I should look for.
 
Thanks

i would suggest,
not buying now,
but saving your money up for a while,
and investing in a nicer set of monitors...
 
the really cheap ones are not going to do you any favors.
 

 I'm in the same boat but space is a problem for me.  I got a small pair of Alesis monitors for under $100. 

batsbrew
i would suggest,
not buying now,
but saving your money up for a while,
and investing in a nicer set of monitors...
 
the really cheap ones are not going to do you any favors.
 

Agreed. Save for a while and get a more worthy pair. You'll be glad if you do that.

Thanks for the advice, what sort of price would a good set of entry level speakers go for. If this helps the room size is about 12ft x 12ft and we are using Music Creator 6 to produce indie rock type music usually recording audio tracks and mixing them.
What sort of thing should I look for. If there are any other questions that may help please ask.
 
While I am here does anyone have any experience of M Audio speakers.
 
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm...k%2Fitm%2F181651320162
 

Don't forget the second-hand option. Used studio monitors are typically in like-new condition because they've been sitting in the same spot for years and not abused. Used studio monitors are also plentiful, at least at the entry-level end of the scale, because most users eventually want to upgrade from whatever they started with.
 
Being in the UK, watch eBay for a pair of Tannoys to show up. They're decent speakers for the price - especially the entry-level Reveal line. Try to save up for the ones with the 8" woofer. You should be able to get a pair second-hand for less than £250.
 
Another option would be to invest in some high-quality headphones while you're saving up for speakers. You've already got enough money for some pretty good AKG, Sennheiser or Beyerdynamic cans.

good news is, for about double what you were going to spend (still considered 'cheap'), there are a plethora of available models.....
 
do not go too big on your woofer size (i use 5" JBL LSR305's, but my room is only 12'x9.5'),
and look into room treatment as well....

Thanks bitflippe for the advice. We do trawl the auction sites looking for secondhand kit but monitor speakers really do seem to hold their price. We do have a fair pair of headphones and the interface has two headphone outs so we can both listen which is nice.
 
Bats brew, why do you suggest not to go two big on the woofers? I thought that bigger the better and what do you recommend for room treatments.
 
Thanks

Here's my experience with this. I bought some monitors a few years ago. They sounded great. They weren't expensive and I can't even find any reference that the brand ever existed, but they just quit working.
 
So, instead of buying new ones, and avoiding the lower end of things, I bought good studio headphones. They sound great and the mixes sound good through them, but through anything else it sounds horrible.
 
So, I've decided to buy new monitors. It came down to either KRK or JBL. After reading tons of reviews the JBL's seem to have the best positive reviews.
 
At $500USD for a pair for 8" woofers it seems like a good deal.
 
I would definitely hold out and buy a good quality pair instead of rushing into it and if at all possible , buy an extended warranty. Buy something cheap to have it right now just may leave you with nothing a few months down the road.

Andi,
 
8-inch woofers and such do replicate the lower (longer) bass waves better - that 32 on organs and minimoogs is the length of the wave itself, which is hard to unfold in a 12 ft. room. ;-)  A smaller woofer produces a smaller bass wave, which doesn't bounce around so much in a smaller room.  For listening it doesn't matter so much, but for critical mixing it is like trying to work under muddy water.
 
Room treatments range from having rugs (that you can take up) on wooden floors to a bed in the mix room.  A 12 X 12 room is going to have a lot of reflections - both bass and top end.  Top end is easier to dull w/ rugs and heavier curtains, etc.  A bed or any big soft object is going to absorb both high and some low end.  Think how a room sounds w/o furniture in it.  The cheapest method of low end absorption is to get rock wool (here in the US you can get Home Depot or any such store to order sheets of it), wrap it in fabric  and hang it in corners .  For <$100 you can get enough to help balance a smaller room, esp. with curtains and such (there is more to it than that but not necessarily much more).  There is lots of info on how to home studio building on the internet.
 
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