Thanks, as impatient as I am to get something now I can see how waiting a while may save me bucks later. You mention KRK and I have been looking at Rokit RP6 G3 which here in the UK sell for about £280 (about $432) I will try and find the equivalent in the JBL range.

andi
Thanks, as impatient as I am to get something now I can see how waiting a while may save me bucks later. You mention KRK and I have been looking at Rokit RP6 G3 which here in the UK sell for about £280 (about $432) I will try and find the equivalent in the JBL range.

My advice: don't go Rokit!  I regret the purchase, as I've experienced multiple failures in each speaker.  I still need to troubleshoot and fix the severe crackling and popping in both speakers.  I don't even care anymore really.  Most of my creating, mixing, and listening in done in a good pair headphones.  If I want to listen again, I play it in the car on the way to work.  I know this isn't the best of techniques, but I am just a hobbyist with a crappy pair of Rokit speakers!

^^^ Agreed. JBL over Rokits.
 
One more comment re acoustic treatments: spending more than $500 on speakers is a total waste of money if your room isn't treated. Lots of good information on Ethan Winer's site: http://realtraps.com/ He sells acoustic treatments, but is incredibly generous with free advice and he's an expert on the subject.

bitflipper
 
 
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.

 
I like my Reveal 5a's. Just had a quick look on EBay and there's a pair in 'as new' condition for £108.00.

 
KRK Rokit's are usually available at a very good price used.  If you do go the 'save-up' route, the Adam F-series are excellent speakers for the money.

Thank you thank you thank you for all your comments. I have two more questions that may seem a bit strange. For some reason it can work out cheaper to buy two single speakers than a pair. Do they have to be a matched pair or is it OK to buy two identical make/models.
 
The other question is frequency response. What range should I be looking at for monitor speakers. A pair I was looking at had a frequency response of 45hz - 56khz so I wondered what that meant.

For the most part, speakers aren't "matched." Any 2 of the same make and model should be fine, as long as their isn't a screwdriver through only one woofer.
 
The most important part on the chart is the + and - dBs.  Usually this will be 45 Hz + or - 3 dbs, which means at 45 Hz the relative volume produced will only be off 3 dBs to the actual signal.  IF there is nothing restricting the relative level, it is a meaningless statistic.  Like saying the speed limit is 100, but not knowing if you are talking mph or kilometers.  Makes a difference, esp. to the police.
 
@

andi
The other question is frequency response. What range should I be looking at for monitor speakers. A pair I was looking at had a frequency response of 45hz - 56khz so I wondered what that meant.

Those frequency response charts are almost useless, to the point where you can pretty much ignore them.
 
They are made in an unrealistic anechoic environment, only show on-axis response, and tell you nothing about how frequency response varies as they heat up. Furthermore, manufacturers regularly take liberties with the facts to make their products look better on paper, e.g. claiming 20-20k without including dB levels, or showing a graph with unrealistic Y-axis gradations of 10 or 20 dB. Better to just pay no mind to them lest you be misled.
 
Even cheap speakers have no problem reproducing frequencies up to 20 KHz, the limit of human hearing. The main differentiator is the low end, which is mainly determined by the physical size of the woofer and the enclosure it's in.
 
Ideally, you'll want to have speakers that are flat (-3dB) down to 40 Hz, but that usually means either 10" or 15" woofers or adding a subwoofer. On a budget, you'll be lucky to get a flat response down to 55 Hz, maybe 50 Hz with 8" woofers. Beware of ported speakers that use an acoustical trick to artificially boost the extreme low end, but cause unevenness in the process. 
 
One set  of published numbers you can (kind of) rely on are the enclosure's physical dimensions. As a general rule, the bigger the box the better. Of course, a cheap unit with a huge enclosure won't beat a high-end compact enclosure, but all other factors being equal, go with the larger box. Weight is significant, too. The better speakers are surprisingly heavy, due to their large magnets and the density of the material the enclosures are made from.

Thank you for all your help which was all taken into account when buying a pair of monitors. I now have a pair yipee. We went for rokit6 g3 that cost £210 as a b stock. Got them today but can not try them out as my laptop ins in the repair shop. They are bigger than I imagined and are very sturdy. I know KRK were not the first choice of everyone but we did a lot of research and looked at reviews and talked to owners and felt happy to go with them. One concern I have is that I incidently depressed the cone on the tweeter when picking it up and in went in but popped out again. 
 
One comment was that a 6 inch might be to bassy in a small room. These have high frequency and low frequency level adjustment from -2dB to 1db so can they be tweeted if it is a problem.
 
My question.....   balanced or not. What is the difference and which leads should I use. The M Audio interface has guitar type output and the speakers have a guitar type jack or a XLR. What would be best to hook up the speakers to the interface what would be best to hook up the speakers to the interface.
 
Thanks.

Without treatment your room is always going to be too bassy. Your room is an extension of your speakers and unless you take care of that you could have $5000 speakers and not improve your mixes. By that I mean that your mix will sound fine in your room but won't sound very good on other systems in other environments.