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Cheap Sutdio Monitors

#21
Just posted this in another thread as well. Take a look at the Fostex PM0.5's. I demoed them against the Edirol, the Rokits and a couple of others that Sam Ash had at the time and the Fostex wons hands down. The critical difference for me was how much more natural and uncolored the Fostex sounded, particularly in terms of the reproduction of vocals. After about a year, I ended up adding the optional subwoofer to them to make my mixes more accurate in terms of the bass. If there is any criticism I can level at these little dynamos, it is that they lack the ability to reproduce all the bass frequencies you need to nail the mix without some trial and error, but that is going to be the case with any nearfield monitor with a 5" driver in this price class. However, I am very happy with the 0.5's and think they are a great value, with or without the subwoofer.
 
#22
I actually looked at those, I just didn't post it here. They are great sounding speakers. The thing that I didn't like is that they are XLR input only. I only have 1/8" and Toslink out of my soundcard. So I didn't really want to play the adapter game.

Honestly... I'm very pleased with the Behringers. For the money I paid... I can not complain. They are heads and shoulders above mixing on computer speakers. A buddy of mine has a home studio and he uses Alesis monitors. He said he actually thinks mine sound more natural. Less volume and fullness, but more natural. For anyone looking for an inexpensive starter set I would recommend them.
 
#26
I have set up the ultimate cheap studio monitors:

Old Kenwood Trio S-60, they are nothing special, from the 80's i think, but damn they sound great... CRAZY ! I have them hooked up to an old toshiba stereo amplifier, equally cheap, in fact i found it in someone's rubbish :hiding: I have this system hooked up to my laptop and am using Sonar 6, i get NO unwanted noise!

Anyway, i may invest in a subwoofer at some point, the kenwood's can't really get the LOW end as well as i would like
 
#27
hansfranz said:
Right now MF has a bundle that includes the Fostex PM0.4's and the PM0.5 subwoofer for $279, free shipping. Whenever my graduation money starts to roll in I might pick them up. Would be worlds better than the crackly PC speakers I've been using...
Click to expand...

I looked at that package... but be careful on the jacks. The subwoofer is XLR in/out and the nearfields are 1/4" only. You'll have to play adapter games. Not that it can't work... but make sure you budget for all the necessary adapter/cables.
 
#32
Great subject!

I was over at GC recently and began "shooting the Sh%^" with the manager. More to the point, Monitors....

He turned me on to a pair of KRK 5s for $225 for a pair. I figured, "what the hell..." and hooked them up to my Yamaha AW16 and WHOOAAAA!!!! They absolutely BLEW me away!!!


Are there better monitors out there? Of course! But for $225....I think I got a pretty good deal (and I hate to say this, because I've never been a big fan of GC) but, just goes to show you....learn something new everyday!!

Anyway, I highly recommend these monitors for anyone on a fairly tight budget (me, for example!!)
 
#33
This comes from a good friend of mine who runs his own studio from his home: "shi**ty monitors probably attribute to more sh**ty sounding records than anything".

And his reasoning was that what comes out of the monitors is how you perceive the actual sound, so you want the monitors to be as clear and transparent as possible. I'd be inclined to agree although spending $2K on some audiophilic (is that even a word?) sound system for recording seems a bit stupid if you ask me.
 
#34
NKUSigEp said:
This comes from a good friend of mine who runs his own studio from his home: "shi**ty monitors probably attribute to more sh**ty sounding records than anything".

And his reasoning was that what comes out of the monitors is how you perceive the actual sound, so you want the monitors to be as clear and transparent as possible. I'd be inclined to agree although spending $2K on some audiophilic (is that even a word?) sound system for recording seems a bit stupid if you ask me.
Click to expand...

If I had the money, I'd get as high quality monitors as possible. My mixes have been far better (and quicker) when mixing on Genelecs rather than 8" KRKs. Especially the lowend. My mixes on Genelecs have turned out to be less muddy and translate across systems well.

As an amateur audio engineer, I've noticed a significant difference between a $700-800 monitoring setup and a $2000 monitoring setup.

Although you can probably get used to almost any set of speakers and get to know their weaknesses.
 
#38
However, while the MSP3 will suffice for some as a monitor speaker in very low-budget project studio environments, more accurate and neutral speakers capable of greater resolution and bandwidth would make the task of mixing rather easier.
 
#40
I picked up a pair of used JBL nearfield monitors (I don't know the model offhand but they have a 6" woofer and tweeter) for $120 and they sound a heck of a lot better than anything I could buy new for under $250. I mix with them every week and get consistently good results. When I mix I also switch back and forth between the speakers and my Sennheiser HD280 phones. Clean and accurate is what you want for mixing.

There's always somebody getting rid of good used equipment at a cheap price because they've upgraded to something more expensive or they just don't have room for it, and the person who's in the right place at the right time with the cash wins. :cool:
 

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