What kind of studio monitors for hobby production?

[Fzang]

As my birthday is coming up I've been thinking about getting some funding for some studio monitors. I'm not awesome at what I'm doing, and I still have a long way to go before I can go to sleep, thinking "now this is proper mixing".

I have a couple of Sennheiser HD 25s. Great headphones. Great at what they do. I just find it hard to listen with headphones the same way I do with speakers. The way the hi-hat flows into the room and doesn't drown in the mix contrary to the way the beat sounds when not pumped straight into your ear channels. It's also a lot more tiring to listen to for longer streaks. Music is just not the same in headphones.

So I would like some monitors that could possibly fit the following requirements:
- Fit for a smallish room. Some 25ish square meters methinks.
- I'm on a beginner's hobby budget here, so the speakers should be priced accordingly.
- Active/passive doesn't matter, as I already have an amp.
- I will be using them for trancey/housey stuff, where the thumping beat is an obvious core element.
- I would also like to use these speakers for casual music listening, and listen to music as it's supposed to sound. Not just a flat, clean "engineering sound" that can't actually be used to listen to music on.

Also, is a sound card a prerequisite? Am I capable of hearing a difference between a budget sound card and the 1/4 headphone output? Would something like this even be worth considering as a starting point? http://www.4sound.dk/shop/usb-lydkort/b ... ntrol.html (price is approx. 40 USD)

Thank you

[portunderground]

Hey....

Check out the Kurzweil KS-40A. Should be less than 100USD. Heard them at the music shop, pretty good for its price.

As for the connection, you can get rca to 1/8mm wires which will work for most speakers depending on the output jack type, and you can plug it into your computers 1/8mm headphone jack.

BTW, do you know where i can get the behringer that ships internationally?

[twisted-space]

If you already have an amp,

http://www.alesis.com/monitoronemkii

[Binman_UK]

yeah i've got the alesis m1 mk2 active and they're nice speakers. they've served me well for about 6 years now.
they're a little bass-heavy but you'll get used to whatever you mix on anyway.

[twisted-space]

yeah i've got the alesis m1 mk2 active and they're nice speakers. they've served me well for about 6 years now.
they're a little bass-heavy but you'll get used to whatever you mix on anyway.

Block up the bottom port. It's mentioned in the manual as a suitable way to reduce the bass response.