studio monitors vs stereo speakers for low budget

[adifrank]

hi.
first of all - i'd like to just say that this post really doesn't have anything to do with reaper. but i use reaper and like this forum, so i thought i'd ask for your opinion anyhow.

here's the thing - i've just moved to the US. so i have no studio monitors. i don't even have stereo speakers for that matter.

my budget is low. i can only afford to use around $400 for either monitors or speakers.

i've never really owned studio monitors before. recording music with my computer is just a hobby and i've been pretty satisfied using a good pair of rather flat stereo speakers and a pair of audio technica ath-m40/s headphones.

now that i'm shopping for monitors i have a sort of dilemma - monitors vs. stereo speakers. i realize that monitors would be best for recording. but i'm wondering if just listening to music for enjoyment will be a sad experience with studio monitors as opposed to speakers. with that said, if music for listening can be enjoyable through monitors, i'd be happy to get monitors and make use of them when recording my stuff.

as i've said, i really enjoy recording and editing my music (95% midi based), but i hardly have what you would call a studio-type environment. the room is not acoustically treated, not even a carpet. my audio interface is just an m-audio usb mobilepre. so i'm wondering what to do.

thanks!

[Cosmic]

Monitors sound great for any kind of music,well maybe not great..but..accurate.The better the music the better they sound.Plus,if you use them for recreation as well as making tunes..you will come to know them and that will help enormously in your production

Get the best monitors you can.And put this foolishness behind you!

[adifrank]

thanks cosmic : )
so if i say go for a pair of krk rokit 6 monitors - i'd be happy with listening to music as well as recording (for what 400 bucks can get you)
as opposed to getting for example a pair of paradigm atoms?

[Cosmic]

A pair of KRK Rokits would rock your fucking world my man.

I havent got them but I'd have no objection to them if I was getting speakers.

BUT..if I were you..I would..without HESITATION..get a pair of the Berhinger Truths.They are awesome speakers..and if I hadnt have bought my Yamahas second hand before I knew better..I woulda got them.

I listen to tunes on my monitors all the time.Its great!Way better than hifi..especially the kinda hifi 400 bucks will get ya.

[kindafishy]

Originally Posted by Cosmic

A pair of KRK Rokits would rock your fucking world my man.

I havent got them but I'd have no objection to them if I was getting speakers.

BUT..if I were you..I would..without HESITATION..get a pair of the Berhinger Truths.They are awesome speakers..and if I hadnt have bought my Yamahas second hand before I knew better..I woulda got them.

I listen to tunes on my monitors all the time.Its great!Way better than hifi..especially the kinda hifi 400 bucks will get ya.

What? You'd rather have the Truth's than the Yammies? Am I reading that right? Why is that?

[bluzkat]

I've got the Equator D5's and they are excellent and for the money I'm not sure you can beat them. ymmv

[Cosmic]

Originally Posted by kindafishy

What? You'd rather have the Truth's than the Yammies? Am I reading that right? Why is that?

For the simple fact that the bass is ALL THERE in the 'ringers.
I've worked on them and they sound cool..you'd get used to them just like any other speaker..but with the added bonus that they go SUPER LOUD and have great bass.

They even have them in a radio station I used to jock in.Sounded class there too.And that room was well treated.

Its a no brainer.Friend of mine who has them is mixing records left and right and he can't do the biz on my Yammies at all.But stick him in his boudouir with his truths and he's top class!

Plus you get a savage warranty offa Thomman so you just cant lose.


I'd even get a used pair if I was on a tight budget.

[richie43]

You may get many opposing opinions on this topic, but I think that for $400 you can definitely get some decent monitors that will actually be worth keeping a long time. I have some of the Rockit 8's, and once I got familiar with them and how they responded to my mixing room, they work out much better than I had imagined. But regardless what you buy, BUY MONITORS AND NOT STEREO SPEAKERS. Most stereo speakers have a more colored frequency response, and I would hate to mix that way. Good luck, and post back here when you buy something and let us know how things are working for you.

[adifrank]

thanks guys. yeah i didn't intend for this to become a 'which monitors should i buy' thread. i've actually gone through several of those and i think i know what the top few recommended monitors are for that price range. i'll just go with one of them. haven't yet found a place i can actually audition them, so i'll just go with my gut : )
thanks!

[hopi]

big suggestion from one who has used more than a few monitors...

right now you can still get the Equator Audio 5" {D5] monitors for exactly 400 bucks... and they have a 60 day money back, no questions, guarantee...

sadly until just recently they were only 300 for the pair, but ... times change.

IMHO, for that money, you will not do better ....

ah here's a link:

http://www.equatoraudio.com/D5-Studi...nit-p/d5-s.htm

and yes... monitors not 'speakers'.... it's not really a question

[darthmorphling]

I have the rocket 5s and they play music very well.

[DVDdoug]

Originally Posted by adifrank

but i'm wondering if just listening to music for enjoyment will be a sad experience with studio monitors as opposed to speakers.

Actually, there's a benefit to that! It's very important that you "learn your monitors", and listening to lots of professionally-produced music on your monitors will help you to learn how your mixes should sound on your chosen monitors.

The downside is that you won't have handy "regular home stereo speakers" to double-check your mix on. (Pros check their mix on home stereos, car stereos, headphones, ear buds, and just about everything they can get their hands on.)

Also, active (powered) monitors aren't designed to hook-up to a normal stereo receiver's speaker outputs. If you wanted to do that, it might require some sort of work-around.

They are a bit above your budget, but I've also heard good things about the Behringer Truth's, although I have not actualy heard the speakers. Besides all of the positive reviews, they have an woofer slightly larger than 8-inches, which is somewhat rare in lower-priced monitors. Physics says you can't get good strong-deep bass out of a small woofer,* and if you expect to "monitor" bass, you have to hear it accurately!


* The size of the woofer isn't the only factor and a bigger woofer doesn't always mean more bass, or more accurate bass.

[Cosmic]

I give my balls for a pair of 6 grand monitors.

No shit.

Who wants my balls?

[Lawrence]

Originally Posted by Cosmic

Who wants my balls?

Kim Kardashian? She doesn't turn away many.

But then again, le' balls may need some kind of silver spoon attached.

[tspring]

Originally Posted by Cosmic

I give my balls for a pair of 6 grand monitors.

No shit.

Who wants my balls?

I'd hold on to them I were you.

No doubt I could recognize the sucky-ness of my music better through $6000 monitors, although I can hear it just fine with my ear buds.

I only wish that monitors were limiting to me in any way, even if for just one day.

T

[thequietroom]

mackie mr5's (older style) were about 300 a pair.. I love listening to music on them. In fact, I enjoy it better than the cars or homs stereos.. which are pretty nice systems..

I used to mix on a panasonic bookshelf stereo system.. it even had a EQ with a "flat" mode that was supposed to be pretty..well... flat..

There is no comparison... you can get a nice monitoring setup that will sound great for music on your budget

[MidiDreamer]

I have been using a pair of Roland DS-90s for over 10 years now.

Digital or analog connection.

I have been using them exclusively for my listening, keyboards, AND guitar...not a problem. Also, drum programming from an SPD-30 Octopad. I absolutely SLAM these speakers, and not a hickup in over 10 years.

Digital connection covers all the grounding hum probs I used to deal with with analog. But you have the choice of either dig or analog.

There is a set on eBay now for $220, Free shipping. This is a fantastic deal.

Many more deals like that if you don't need brand new.

I DO use a subwoofer to cover the bottom when just listening for pleasure and/or jamming.

I use them for EVERYTHING, including my Media Center Computer, watching TV, movies, etc.

Ditched my stereo about the time I got these, never looked back!!!

[ARP]

I would go for the D5's, now, I haven't heard these, but they do seem like good value for money, and the reason I'm recommending them even though I haven't heard them, is because.......they are dual concentric, and there aren't that many DC monitors out there at this price. The benefits are stereo imaging that is way beyond a two or three way design, DC's have always scored in this respect, and are always very impressive to listen to, you wonder what happened to your stereo when you go back to a more conventional design. I think the others here that have recommended them to you seem like cool guys, they now what they are talking about, and if you have a 60 day cool-off then what have you got to loose ?

ARP.

[Evan]

Originally Posted by adifrank

i'm wondering if just listening to music for enjoyment will be a sad experience with studio monitors as opposed to speakers. with that said, if music for listening can be enjoyable through monitors, i'd be happy to get monitors and make use of them when recording my stuff.

I think you might find that music through monitors will sound more... 'flat/sterile' compared to hifi speakers. You will also, probably, find that the bass is lacking in the monitors.

Studio monitors attempt to sound flat and clear (that is their true purpose), without exaggerating any frequencies or pretending to go low in the bass with faux bass ports. Studio monitors also 'appreciate' proper placement, proper listening position, and room treatment, to reach their potential. They are not made for casual music listening, although you can do that too.

Monitors in these price ranges usually have limited bass response and don't sound very impressive in music listening (esp. for bass heavy music).

[imispgh]

Originally Posted by Evan

I think you might find that music through monitors will sound more... 'flat/sterile' compared to hifi speakers. You will also, probably, find that the bass is lacking in the monitors.

Studio monitors attempt to sound flat and clear (that is their true purpose), without exaggerating any frequencies or pretending to go low in the bass with faux bass ports. Studio monitors also 'appreciate' proper placement, proper listening position, and room treatment, to reach their potential. They are not made for casual music listening, although you can do that too.

Monitors in these price ranges usually have limited bass response and don't sound very impressive in music listening (esp. for bass heavy music).

If I could find you I would hug you right now

Seriously though I would like to make a plug for using a high end stereo system.

My listening room is my mixing room. I have a vacuum tube amp with Triangle Celius speakers and a Paradigm sub. I use a DSP to get the bass flat to my listening position. I use absorption on all first order reflection points which includes the ceiling and behind my head. I also have absorption along the ceiling/wall joint and in the ceiling corners to kill echo flutter. If done right I think one can kill two birds with one stone and not necessarily use "monitors". Good high end speakers and systems are supposed to reproduce the music true to the original. Same mission as good monitors. (And "monitors" that are designed for near field listening can do something high end speakers are not designed to do). I augment this system with Sennheiser HD-280s and the VRM Box

[moonfiremusic]

Originally Posted by imispgh

If I could find you I would hug you right now

Seriously though I would like to make a plug for using a high end stereo system.

My listening room is my mixing room. I have a vacuum tube amp with Triangle Celius speakers and a Paradigm sub. I use a DSP to get the bass flat to my listening position. I use absorption on all first order reflection points which includes the ceiling and behind my head. I also have absorption along the ceiling/wall joint and in the ceiling corners to kill echo flutter. If done right I think one can kill two birds with one stone and not necessarily use "monitors". Good high end speakers and systems are supposed to reproduce the music true to the original. Same mission as good monitors. (And "monitors" that are designed for near field listening can do something high end speakers are not designed to do). I augment this system with Sennheiser HD-280s and the VRM Box

I once read that since you can't achieve a perfectly flat speaker anyway, the tolerance when it comes to frequency response is +-3db, so if you have peaks or drops larger than 3db caused by the speakers or the room, you can correct them. Of course, you'll need a proper mic for this.
I think that when it comes to speakers/monitors, the bigger the price, the greater the illusion of sounding "better".

[headcase915]

Ive been doing in home studio stuff for awhile myself and im curious if it is ok to use a stereo receiver to stereo speakers to mix with? obviously studio monitors would be better but for what i have i was wondering that if i should keep the EQ on the stereo receiver flat or if i should balance the eq to where all my listening music sounds great so that i am mixing to that standard and tone??? PLease IF ANYONE CAN HELP I NEED IT...

[G-Sun]

Originally Posted by headcase915

Ive been doing in home studio stuff for awhile myself and im curious if it is ok to use a stereo receiver to stereo speakers to mix with? obviously studio monitors would be better but for what i have i was wondering that if i should keep the EQ on the stereo receiver flat or if i should balance the eq to where all my listening music sounds great so that i am mixing to that standard and tone??? PLease IF ANYONE CAN HELP I NEED IT...

You can mix on anything,
yet you cannot mix good on everything.

A studio monitor setup is ideally:
- A well designed and treated room, balanced in fq response.
- Good flat speaker and amp-system, matched and tuned (this is what studio-monitors are)
- Decoupled speaker-stands
- Ideal placement of speakers and listening-position

So, with that ideal, you make the best out of it

[paulheu]

Biggest difference between 'normal' speakers and 'studio monitors' is that the monitors project much more accurately and are designed to project accurately up to a specific distance, often much shorter than 'normal' speakers, which is why you can sit much closer to them. Monitors also have a very distinct 'sweet spot' as far as listening goes. This will generally be the apex of an equilateral triangle between the center of the bass cones and your listening position.

That said it is always good to mix on different speakers, I have a pair of HS5 monitors as main speakers, but also compare with a set of cheap Logitech PC speakers and built a small 3inch mono box which I also listen with. My mix should sound OK an all three but obviously will mostly sound best on the Yamaha monitors (and my living room stereo).

I also find it is a great test to, when mixing, walk away from the desk and into the hallway. The mix should still hold up when you are away and it also gives you a good perspective on what you are doing (or not doing).

[fladd]

In that price range, check the Tannoy Reveal.

[PitchSlap]

I bought a used pair of Behringer Truth's (8") for only ~$200, so there are definitely deals out there. It would probably be better to get cheap monitors than stereo speakers.

Unless your budget is *extremely* tight, or you don't care so much about how the end product sounds, skimp other places, but not on monitors.

But there's also no point getting expensive monitors if the room will just screw them up.

I use IK ARC2 as a monitor/room correction too and I highly recommend it as a cost effective way to get the most out of less than ideal monitors in a less than ideal room.