Using the words..."good enough" infers that there is room for improvement. And while there probably is, the  two most important questions would be: 

How much would you need to spend to see a substantial improvement in the mixes? 

Would that expenditure of cash really be worth it? (aside from bragging rights)


IMHO.... if what you have now is giving you satisfactory results... there would be no need to upgrade the monitors. 

"Satisfactory" being defined as: broadcast quality mixes that compare well to the mix quality and sound of the stuff on the radio. Everything in balance, and sounding good on a variety of players. 


To me, that's "good enough" 

Thanks for the additional info on speakers/amps, Mike, interesting stuff. I kind of had a feeling that getting a separate amp is better if you know what you're doing, but I clearly don't, so am happy to use powered speakers! My brain tells me that the manufacturers also match the amps to their speakers (in powered monitors), but maybe I'm just telling myself that to make myself feel better?!

Anyway, thanks for the good advice everyone - it reinforced what I was thinking anyway. Hopefully this marks the end of the upgrade train for a good while 

So what do you think of the KRK sub, James? I was wondering how it sounds with the HS80m's purely for a listening enjoyment experience. I doubt I would mix with it on, but wondering if it adds much extra bass for fun times?!? Can you crank the bass a little more than you can with the HS80's?

mattplaysguitar


So what do you think of the KRK sub, James? I was wondering how it sounds with the HS80m's purely for a listening enjoyment experience. I doubt I would mix with it on, but wondering if it adds much extra bass for fun times?!? Can you crank the bass a little more than you can with the HS80's?

I use a Polk audio 10" sub which I picked up when it was on sale for $199 many years back. Using MR5's wasn't giving me the lower end of the music accurately. I reasoned that a home audio sub should work just fine...... unlike using home audio speakers to monitor the playback, it's coloration of the music would be minimal since it would only be working (primarily) in the very low end of the music.  It augments the music nicely. 

Hi Matt, sorry for the slow reply! Yeah the sub is OK, but as Danny has said, it is a bit flabby. I bought it because it was on sale - if it blows up, I'll be replacing it with something else.

But if you just want to have it for fun, then go for it! It definitely extends the response of the Yams, but it is a bit too 'wooly' for serious mastering...