Help choosing monitors and duet hook-up

[pghjeeper]

Hey all I'm a complete newbie when it comes to home recording and I plan to use my gear to record my family for fun, my son and nephew play guitar and I play bass.
I just pruchased an imac about 4 months ago and I picked up an apogee duet with break-out box used for a good price localy. I want to add some monitors now and and I have it narrowed down to the JBL LSR-305, Mackie MR6mkIII or the Yamaha HS7. I really like JBL products and I have had good luck with them in the past. I don't have a real big area as my music room is only 12x13.
Also I know the Duet has an unbalanced output and most of the speakers I'm looking at only have balanced inputs. Should I just hook them up using the 1/4 jacks of equal length, its a very short run and not worry or should I sell my breakout box and get the balanced version? Thanks

 

[silky smoove]

Grab a set of Equator D5's. Nothing, IMO, beats them in that price range.

 

[sadowskyguy]

^ +1
I have heard the Equators and I wish I had gotten them instead of what I currently have.

 

[pghjeeper]

Ya I chose those three because I can do a 4 payment plan with zzounds and the wife will never know....if I put them on the credit card she will see it lol

 

[silky smoove]

Won't she notice two large speakers in the house regardless of how they were funded?

 

[pghjeeper]

No it's my music room/need cave she stays out lol. I have it down to the jbl's and adam f5's. If I don't like them I'll sell them off over the summer and get the equators. I have a really high end set of headphones I can mix with these are going to be for mixing/playback for me and my son.

 

[silky smoove]

Out of those, I'd go with the Adams.

 

[pghjeeper]

Out of those, I'd go with the Adams.

Thanks if I go unbalanced 1/4 to balanced 1/4 over a short run what will be the negatives?

 

[silky smoove]

Is it a Duet, or a Duet2?

 

[pghjeeper]

Original Duet with break-out non balanced box

 

[silky smoove]

My second home recording setup was a Duet into a pair of KRK Rokit 5s. I always used a pair of TRS to XLR cables and never had any issues.

I've read reports of the original Duet not playing well with newer versions of OSX, so be careful when upgrading.

 

[Gideon352]

The JBL LSR-305's sound great! I'd get those without hesitation. The imaging is fantastic.

 

[pghjeeper]

Thanks just ordered the jbl's