Affordable Monitor speakers

[Stevosimpson]

I'm wanting to start setting up my own home recording setup and I'm looking at monitor speakers. What would you guys recommend for an affordable monitor setup?

Thanks!

[ddnidd1]

What's affordable? $200 $2000

[Stevosimpson]

Preferably 300-500

[silky smoove]

Equator D5's get my recommendation.

[xray]

Hello Music - Rokits on sale now.

[xray]

and they have Yamaha HS80. And I think there's a weekend coupon.

[ddnidd1]

If you want a Near Field Monitoring System for a small room - Blue Sky eXo2 - $499 This system gets great reviews.

http://abluesky.com/products/exo2-new/

[lofreek]

I'm a speaker slut. I too recommend the Equator D5 as well as the Emotiva Airmotiv 6.

[superHEAVYfunk]

I use a pair of KRK Rokit 8's and get pretty good results, if I do say so myself. I got a sweet deal on them but I'm sure you can find a used set at a decent price point.

[kbr]

Another one for the Equator D5's. I bought them on a lark and they've relegated my JBL 4328s to my secondary reference monitors. I think the price just increased by $100 though.

[silky smoove]

It did increase by $100, but even at $400 they're a steal.

I bought mine on a whim. I read about them, then saw that the price increase was happening at midnight. It was 10:45, so I went for it. Great decision on my end in that my monitoring made a significant leap in quality.

[KrisHayes]

Really anxious to hear these D5's. Can anyone compare them to another set of monitors?

[silky smoove]

To me they're like an NS10 without all the weird frequency peaks through the upper midrange.

They don't produce a ton of true low end, but they have enough to do rock and pop mixes. If your room isn't properly treated you wouldn't likely notice the difference even if using more bottom heavy monitors.

[MetroBass]

I don't think I've ever read a bad thing about the Equator D5s: SOS, MusicTech, Gearslutz, homerecording. All good reviews. Everyone agrees they're light on the low end, but true otherwise. If you can move up to $1000 the Q8 are being featured now and they are considered world class studio monitors.

[silky smoove]

The Q8's apparently suffer from a self noise problem, and have what others have described as a "boxy" midrange character.

I've never heard them, but that seems to be a consensus among those who have. At the $1,000 price point there are a lot of very nice monitors available. At the $500 price point, it's hard to beat the D5's for a nearfield solution. I absolutely love mine. If Equator releases the matching sub they've been hinting at, I'll buy it right away.

[KrisHayes]

Originally Posted by silky smoove

To me they're like an NS10 without all the weird frequency peaks through the upper midrange.

They don't produce a ton of true low end, but they have enough to do rock and pop mixes. If your room isn't properly treated you wouldn't likely notice the difference even if using more bottom heavy monitors.

Sounds like a cool 2nd (or 3rd) reference pair! Awesome.

[MetroBass]

Originally Posted by silky smoove

The Q8's apparently suffer from a self noise problem, and have what others have described as a "boxy" midrange character.

I've never heard them, but that seems to be a consensus among those who have. At the $1,000 price point there are a lot of very nice monitors available. At the $500 price point, it's hard to beat the D5's for a nearfield solution. I absolutely love mine. If Equator releases the matching sub they've been hinting at, I'll buy it right away.

That's what I'm waiting for: where's the sub!!

[silky smoove]

Agreed. Now that I've fully treated my space, in dying to get a sub and really whip my bottom end into shape... That sounded more awkward than I had intended...