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Reference Monitors for under $500?

Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2011 3:56 am
by ras3248
What would you get?
Or does anyone have experience with the m audio studiophile bx5a's?
Specifically I'd be using them for mostly electronic reference and drum stuff so I need some bass...

Re: Reference Monitors for under $500?

Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2011 4:14 am
by eddiex
i have the studiophile bx5a's....they sound pretty good....i think the frequency response is something like 56hz through 20khz....enough bass...for me anyways...i think they are pretty awesome for under 500 bones

Re: Reference Monitors for under $500?

Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2011 4:36 am
by Theo Void
I have the bx5a's also. have been producing on them for close to 3 years now. I would recommend them. They sound nice and haven't given me any problems.
Go for it bro!

Re: Reference Monitors for under $500?

Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2011 3:32 pm
by ras3248
thats what i wanted to hear! thanks, i think im going to make the purchase sometime this week

Re: Reference Monitors for under $500?

Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2011 6:20 pm
by McQ714
i have the bx5a monitors also and i thought they sounded so shitty that i bought a pair of jbl lsr2325 and 2310 sub.
in an a/b test, they are night and day. the JBLs sound so much clearer and freq range is much better even without the sub.

Re: Reference Monitors for under $500?

Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2011 11:03 pm
by Mage2k
You can get a pair of M-Audio's DSM2s for $500 a pair here: http://audiomidi.com/DSM2-Monitor-indiv ... 11907.aspx

Re: Reference Monitors for under $500?

Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 2:59 am
by ras3248
when i was researching the bx5a's i read really mixed reviews. some were super positive and loved them, and some people thought they sounded terrible...seems to be the same thing here.
any thoughts on why? i mean i guess personal preference comes into play but i'm skeptical it would be to such an extent. does quality control just suck at m-audio?

Re: Reference Monitors for under $500?

Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 3:12 am
by eddiex
ras3248 wrote:when i was researching the bx5a's i read really mixed reviews. some were super positive and loved them, and some people thought they sounded terrible...seems to be the same thing here.
any thoughts on why? i mean i guess personal preference comes into play but i'm skeptical it would be to such an extent. does quality control just suck at m-audio?
yeah man....all of this, production...equipment....music taste.....etc.....its all subjective....you should maybe try to go try them out somewhere?
i think you will be happy with the bx5's they are not quite the crap sandwich other people have said they are.

Re: Reference Monitors for under $500?

Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 4:48 am
by DubLifeSD
Forget the BX5s, get the CX5s from Sweetwater.com! They are going for dirt cheap now, like 300 a pair!?

Re: Reference Monitors for under $500?

Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 4:29 pm
by vrt
I have the BX5As. I listened to them at a Guitar Center alongside the 5 inch monitors from KRK, Yamaha, and JBL. To my ear, the BX5A's sounded the flatter than the others. As an added bonus, they were the least money of all by a big margin: on sale for $200. I went in thinking I'd wind up with the Yamahas since they get great reviews and I like the white drivers, but everything besides the BX5As sounded colored. The KRKs were very bassy.

You might want to listen to all of your monitor options in person....

Re: Reference Monitors for under $500?

Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 6:53 pm
by Serra

Re: Reference Monitors for under $500?

Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 7:03 pm
by Tone Deft
for budget monitors I'd buy used, go for Adam, Genelec, Blue Sky, nice Mackies, etc. I'm still kicking myself for sticking with crap monitors for so long. you'll get better at production must faster with good monitors. everything you do in Live will only sound as good as your monitors.

Re: Reference Monitors for under $500?

Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 7:24 pm
by McQ714
my problem with the BX5As, and I'm sure this could be tested but I haven't taken the time to actually do it, is that I think they don't actually have the freq range that they are supposed to have. I feel like I wasted my money on them.. and it was a total impulse buy at a GC list event. maybe mine are faulty in some manner, maybe others have had better luck, but how will you know which ones you are taking home with you?

go with something else. don't waste your time or money on these.

Re: Reference Monitors for under $500?

Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 7:39 pm
by Tone Deft
McQ714 wrote:my problem with the BX5As, and I'm sure this could be tested but I haven't taken the time to actually do it, is that I think they don't actually have the freq range that they are supposed to have. I feel like I wasted my money on them.. and it was a total impulse buy at a GC list event. maybe mine are faulty in some manner, maybe others have had better luck, but how will you know which ones you are taking home with you?

go with something else. don't waste your time or money on these.
problem with mediocre monitors is that you don't know they're mediocre until you've heard really good monitors. once you've heard a Quality system you're screwed.

funny how hearing is such an awful sense yet we love it.

Re: Reference Monitors for under $500?

Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 9:56 pm
by majicmonk
I hear the samson rubicon r5 and r8 are supposed to be good for the money.

I tried adams and was a bit put off by the odd bass fluttering at 80hz. Ended up getting a pair of pmc tb2saII's in the end, theyre awesome.