Hey all,
 
First of all I hope Santa's been good to you all. And if you speak to him, get him to send some snow to Scotland
 
Secondly, I'm looking for some opinions on budget monitors for my small room ( about 12ft x 9 Ft ).
 
I have limited space due to my budget triple monitor setup & stands, so I've narrowed it down to the Reveal 402's, pm0.4's, and the new iLoud Micro's ( which would push my budget out a bit )
 
I'm not going to be attempting any mastering as my room isn't treated. I'm just after decent sound quality that could make a mastering engineers' life a bit easier if it came to that.
 
My desk sits about 1ft from the wall, so the speakers will have about 2ft of clear air behind them to the back wall.
 
I am edging towards the Reveal 402's, mainly as there's more reviews out there for them, but was hoping for some opinions if I'd notice the difference over the Foster pm0.4's, which are slightly cheaper.
 
Or should I just go all out & grab the iLoud Micro's as the improvement in sound would be worth the extra cost?
 
Any advice would be appreciated.
 

Another in the $150 each range to consider is the JBL LSR305's.  I see a lot of positive posts about these monitors.

The JBL's are just a bit too big for the space I have unfortunately.

Be warned the iLouds are really just computer speakers. They don't use balanced inputs. JUst a mini jack :( 
So I don't care how good the sound, they are just cheap plastic computer speakers being marketed to home studio's. 
 
Is there a way for you to go listen to them? 
Or be able to return them? 
Reviews are only a starting point but a good one. 
 
http://www.sweetwater.com/insync/studio-monitors-buying-guide/
 
I know without looking too hard what I would buy.
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/HS5
 
But the JBL mentioned by Fireberd are the most popular and a great price point. 
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/LSR305
 
 

boy, if i couldn't put anything larger than a pair of 5" jbl Lsr's in my space,
i'd forget about monitors,
and focus on some good high end headphones,
and find some where else to check final mixes on monitors..
monitoring on something that small (ilouds and the like) are not going to do you any mix favors.
 

I agree with the others, the JBL are very good for the price. From your list I would choose the Reveals.

when I was looking for monitors years ago, the reveals were on the list, and well I discounted them. can't really speak for them now though.
 
I do need some nearfields, but obviously NS10's are made any more.. I'd probably go with yamaha's or krk or genelec I guess.
 
don't be in a hurry to buy monitors ,  if you can wait , save up some more. it also depends on the music you make to what is a good choice. e.g. if it's bass heavy.
 
if you can go to a shop with a cd of something you know how it should sound.. then thats a good indicator.. there is at least 1 shop in glasgow that does pro-audio.. not sure about where you are though.
 

Thanks all for the replies.
 
There's is GuitarGuitar in Glasgow, which is a 15min drive, so I could demo them beforehand.
Just a pity they're usually 10% more expensive than everywhere else. At least if I bought them online & they didn't suit my room then they'd be easier to return.
 
Musically, I'm mainly doing Deep House / House, so the low end is important.
I figured all 3 would at least be a better option than the current speakers I use on my pc - a set of 2nd hand Logitech x540 5.1's.
 
For headphone I have a set of open backed Sennheiser HD-558's, which sound decent enough so far (not had them long & un-modded at the moment)
 
Currently being drawn towards the Reveal 402's, mainly because they're down to £69 each atm in one uk shop!