need help finding the right studio-monitors

andi_gitarre · Post by **andi_gitarre** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 5:20 pm

hey

wanna buy some studio-monitors for homerecording. my budget is about 300 €. there are three monitors wich are interesting in my opinion:

yamaha hs-50
krk rp-5
event alp5

does somebody have expirience with one of these?? can you recommand one of these or some other?? tell me what you have in your project studio!

i'm not looking for monitors for a special genre. just need some good alround monitors for that budget.

yes i know that i can't expect great monitors for this price catagory but better cheap than none monitors.

thanks!

andi

Dr Dub · Post by **Dr Dub** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 6:00 pm

you could ad the Alesis M1 Active MK 2 to your list - same price and a bigger woofer - a bit more Boom.
They sound okay, i had the passive ones and used them some years, but they are not the most exact ones.

All three monitors you mentioned are ok i think and similar in quality, it s pretty much personal taste.

For my ears:
Yamaha: Quite exact and analytical, not very pleasant on the Ear, very little Bass

KRK: Quite good Bass (for the size), very pleasent on the Ear, but not very analytical - a bit like a HiFi-Speaker

Event: Would probably be my choice of the three, kind of in the middle. Sound quite beautiful and more exact than the KRKs

I was in the same situation as you, but after MUCH listening i decided that i have to invest more money on Monitors which are satisfying and a real step up.
I ended up with two favorites - Adam A7 and Genelec 8030 and ended up with the A7. BIG difference and my mixing defenetly increased.

Remember that you use your Monitors ALL the Time, much more than other Equipment, that it s the only part of your setup you actually HEAR and that quality monitors hold their value quite good

My 2Cents, defenetly try to hear them yourself before buying.

v00d00ppl · Post by **v00d00ppl** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 6:12 pm

i'm a bit biased at the event alp-5's. i use them religiously because those are ther only monitors i have had. it does an ok job with the bass, but excellent job on midrange. if you are a bass heavy person you will learn to work around it after mixing on it a few times. You have to do a little math in your head when estimatring the bass, but once you have a formula its all good.

those other monitors are also well made especially the yamaha. i was impressed with the yamaha 5 inch monitor with how clear many mixes came out.

krks are ok but for my ears.................no go...........it sounds waaay too harsh at times. i can't mix for the life of me on these monitors.

so if you make a choice go with the other too.

tha yamahas are slightly engineered/inspired from the ns10s on design

the events are actually a minature version of the studio precision 8's. The engineering idea came from doing the bass ports with a similar air path as the studio precision series (hence why they go down to 53hz).

eurose23 · Post by **eurose23** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 6:29 pm

For this price the best are: Fostex PM 0.5 MKII

woodwardjnr · Post by **woodwardjnr** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 6:43 pm

st got as pair of Tannoy Reveal 5a. really impressed with them

andi_gitarre · Post by **andi_gitarre** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 6:54 pm

@woodwardjnr

i had the tannoy's also in my selection but i found out that the have really less bass. the other three are going really deep. so dunno... what is your opinion about that?

@eurose23
yeah fostex is an option but never saw a studio report with them included. every other firm that was mentioned in this thread is used in prof. studios. but maybe its just a prejudice.did you a comparison to other monitors??

Sales Dude McBoob · Post by **Sales Dude McBoob** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 6:56 pm

Martyn · Post by **Martyn** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 7:19 pm

Sales Dude McBoob wrote:RP5

That's good advice.

For what it's worth, I have a set of Tannoy reveal actives and they ARE really bass light. I have to work in a really small room at fairly low volume levels because of neighbours so that's probably just as well but they drove me nuts for ages.

Every single report of KRK I've heard or read has been positive so I'd definately check them out for yourself, I'm certainly going to if I ever end up having a proper sized room to work in.

andi_gitarre · Post by **andi_gitarre** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 8:02 pm

i will try some monitor-speakers tomorrow. i hope that i can try all of them. i'll share my expirience in this thread so you will know what my impressions will be.

SubFunk · Post by **SubFunk** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 8:05 pm

Sales Dude McBoob wrote:RP5

dito, in that pricerange!! for shure.

cavern · Post by **cavern** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 1:46 pm

i have rp-5's and i love them. cant go wrong with krk.

sqook · Post by **sqook** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 2:19 pm

I can also recommend the KRK's... great sound, friendly yellow lights.

Best piece of advice someone once gave me when I asked them the same question -- burn a CD with your music (or music similar to what you are writing), or bring an iPod with you to a music store. Demo the monitors they have there, and judge for yourself. That experience will be far more informative than listening to a bunch of nutjobs on a message board (

) and then blindly buying a pair online.

aburgener · Post by **aburgener** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 2:43 pm

I have the KRKs as well and I've been really happy with them

andi_gitarre · Post by **andi_gitarre** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 6:41 pm

hey like i said i've tried some monitors today. here's the list:

fostex pm 0.5
yamaha hs-50
krk rp-5
event alp-5

i have now a favourite under these. the event's were definitly the best! why?

fostex: cool low end but really less highs. sounded a bit muddy
yamaha: very analytical and clear, really less low end, not my taste (anymore)
krk: second best, really good low end and highs but midrange is muddy if you listen to the events.

what i like about:

very clear definied sound
tight bass, not too much but more than enough
really great midrange!! stereo-imaging is fantastic

they will not beat adam a7's but for this price range it's the best in my opinion.

thanks for your help! now i own a pair

Sales Dude McBoob · Post by **Sales Dude McBoob** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 6:51 pm

I've used Event 20/20bas for the past five years. They have never let me down.