I can't tell you how many pairs of NS-10 monitors I sold back in the 90's. It's a big reason I went with Yamaha for my current setup. Can't get the NS-10 nowadays because they don't make them anymore, but there are tons of them on Reverb. They aren't powered, though.
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Please Recommend Some Nearfield Monitors
- Thread starter mdlewis
- Start date
I'm very happy with my Focal Shapes (but these are probably too expensive for your budget), but I would also like to advise you to check out Sonarworks. It's speaker calibration software you put on your master bus while mixing, and turn off on exports. You measure your room (37 times in 20 minutes!) with a measurement mic, and SW calculates the eq changes that are needed to give you a more transparent sound. The result: no more counteracting on problems in your room (like cutting away a lot of low mids because these are abundant in small rooms) so...no more surprises when checking your mixes in the living room or car speakers. Proper room treatment helps a lot, but SW can it push it even more. Considering most of us are in little rooms not built for studio work, it's a game changer. It changed the way I mix forever, that's for sure. And less complaints from mastering engineers. 
I'm looking at replacing my KRK Rokit 6 monitors, so this is more than a little interesting to me. Where did you find the Rokits fall short, and where do the HS8s outclass them?
Roland GR 88
Commercial User
^^^^ this ^^^^
I spent $900.00 on a room treatment package and $100.00 on a used pair of Event 20/20’s.
the issues with the rockets was that the low end was not as accurate as I needed it to be, the speakers were ok I would just have to check my mix on different speakers to make sure, I used them for a few years.
Once I got my summing box and started to do analog summing the KRK were useless because I would need to hear exactly whats is coming back into my DAW.
The Rokits had an easily measurable dip in the upper bass and lower midrange. That’s a horrible spot to have poor frequency response. I’m told KRK rectified this in later models, but the company lost my trust in terms of making a good product.
I have a pair of HS8s too. They sound great with a bass preamp and compressor, except its a monitor so it will make all your mistakes more obvious (good for practice and recording) than if you use a dedicated bass amp.
The HS8s do get relatively loud, but they're not for playing with a drummer trying to win a noise contest.
ADAM A7X. I'm using them in professional studio since 2011. More than happy. Budget is very little above 1k.
I have A5X as well. For small rooms it could work. Obviously in the low end they have limits.
The new Presonus line sound very good for the prive and I tried the Kahli audio. Not bad at all, I little noisy and not enough punch in a professional environment, but should work more than great in an home studio.
I have A5X as well. For small rooms it could work. Obviously in the low end they have limits.
The new Presonus line sound very good for the prive and I tried the Kahli audio. Not bad at all, I little noisy and not enough punch in a professional environment, but should work more than great in an home studio.
I've been in monitor shopping hell for nearly a year now and one thing I can say is ultimately everything will rely on your room so you won't know what you like for your room until you try it out. If you have a brick and mortar store near you I suggest ordering from there in case you want to return them you can do it in-store.
The Focal Alphas are big and ugly but sound fantastic. Would definitely recommend checking those out if you could.
But honestly, I don't think you can go wrong with the Yamaha HS series. They're ubiquitous for a reason. I would go for 7s if you're in a smaller room or 8 if you're in a bigger room. If your room is really big a sub would make everything more fun. I'm currently on the lookout for a used pair of HS8s.
The Focal Alphas are big and ugly but sound fantastic. Would definitely recommend checking those out if you could.
But honestly, I don't think you can go wrong with the Yamaha HS series. They're ubiquitous for a reason. I would go for 7s if you're in a smaller room or 8 if you're in a bigger room. If your room is really big a sub would make everything more fun. I'm currently on the lookout for a used pair of HS8s.
My Kali IN8 monitors arrived last week, replacing the Rokits. They're very good, and I'll be surprised if I ever need to upgrade from them.
I was concerned about putting 8" drivers into a room that's already boomy with 6" ones, but this hasn't been a problem at all. Either there are some very precisely-placed nodes in here, or these monitors are doing something radically different. At a guess, the Rokits were over-emphasising the lows, and these are much more precise.
First thought was actually "where'd the bass go?" followed by the slowly-dawning realisation that I was hearing all of it for the first time. I'm actually still adjusting to the idea of hearing this much detail all the way down to a low E.
So I can affirm the comment by @Hiroler79 about the low-end not being as accurate as it could be on the Rokits. I withdraw my endorsement of those, now that I've heard how much better a monitor can sound.
Two things in particular impressed me about the approach of Kali's engineers. One was that these monitors are designed to go up to 85dB with some headroom for transient peaks, on the basis that only an idiot monitors louder than that.
The other was their response to my email asking whether these needed a breaking-in period. The Rokits definitely benefitted from it and this was stated in the manual, but the Kali manual said nothing either way. I got a concise but thorough explanation about their testing methodology, and that they'd seen no significant difference in response between the before-testing and after-testing frequency response.
I was concerned about putting 8" drivers into a room that's already boomy with 6" ones, but this hasn't been a problem at all. Either there are some very precisely-placed nodes in here, or these monitors are doing something radically different. At a guess, the Rokits were over-emphasising the lows, and these are much more precise.
First thought was actually "where'd the bass go?" followed by the slowly-dawning realisation that I was hearing all of it for the first time. I'm actually still adjusting to the idea of hearing this much detail all the way down to a low E.
So I can affirm the comment by @Hiroler79 about the low-end not being as accurate as it could be on the Rokits. I withdraw my endorsement of those, now that I've heard how much better a monitor can sound.
Two things in particular impressed me about the approach of Kali's engineers. One was that these monitors are designed to go up to 85dB with some headroom for transient peaks, on the basis that only an idiot monitors louder than that.
The other was their response to my email asking whether these needed a breaking-in period. The Rokits definitely benefitted from it and this was stated in the manual, but the Kali manual said nothing either way. I got a concise but thorough explanation about their testing methodology, and that they'd seen no significant difference in response between the before-testing and after-testing frequency response.
+1 to Yamaha HS7's - I upgraded from a pair of Alesis monitors that were too bass heavy. If you can get some room treatment, that would be good, too. I got a bass trap and a set of acoustic panels and filters - I bought a kit for like $500 or so and the trap for $500 or so. It was worth it as well as the Yamahas.
- Apr 20, 2009
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I bought a pair of Yamaha HS8s last month, and have been very pleased. I bought them used on Reverb, but new they're going for $740 from Sweetwater and others.
