Ableton Forum

Hey peps, im just getting into the production scene of electro-house and wanting to purchase some halfdecent monitor speakers for home use.

I have a reasonably decent computer setup with ableton and am lookin for some monitors that preferably dont cost a bomb (over $1000NZD). Im hoping to produce Dirty house along the lines of Klaas, Tonite only, Dirty south. That sorta stuff . Ive been round local stores in my area listening to lots of different brands and sizes ect and they all sound good to me. The thing Im finding hard to choose by is that all the salesmen are just trying to sell me their most expensive product. Fair enough it may be the best product, but i just feel i need more proof. Im feeling that I should stick to some of the M-audio ones as iv heard good things, but then again through magazines Iv seen most people have yamahaa's.

CAN ANY ONE PLEASE HELP!
iv been trying to find some comparason/reviews but non that iv found have been half decent. WHat should i do?!

Rozza,

I myself use the Tannoy Reveals, a pair of passive nearfield speakers, so you need an amplifier to connect them. The Reveals are also for sale as actives (no amp required, no sound colloration by that amp). The thing is that they must have a flat frequency response, so no boost in the low- or high range, like most Hi-Fi consumer speakers do. I heard they're not for sale anymore, but many engineers liked the Yamaha NS-10's, because their sound was not really flattering, so when your mix sounded good on them, it has to sound good at any home set. Somethin' like that. I think you know where i'm going..... Check the SoundonSound website, they've many nearfield speaker reviews. I tend to rely on their opinion. Hope this helps a bit...

Im not really sure how much 1000NZD is in terms of what it can get u in New Zealand but i recommend Genelec 8020 or 8030 if you could. Grate sounding speakers that dont really flatter the sound but what it does is it gives u total control of the stereo field....

if not i would reccoment a couple of tannoy as alot of ppl i know really like them.


ohh ohh ohh...and see if u could get a couple that are like second hand or something...grate deals to be made and if u get a couple of genelecs i dont think u´d be dissapointet...

I am in NZ - $NZ1000 will get you Behringer Active monitors - they are not too bad - Rock Shop have them for $700-ish - Behringer are bringing out some new models soon - the ones at Rock Shop I think are the older ones. I have heard them and for non-critical stuff they are very good.

Otherwise for the same kind of money - Tapco Active S5 or S8 are readily available and sound fine too.

Not sure about availability of the Tannoy stuff in NZ - ring around.

I'd favour the Tapco personally but either (for the money) are more then adequate for most people. It is hard to get to audition speakers in shops in NZ but both Tapco and Behringer are good choices IMNSHO.

Respect.

Yeah, for those in the US

1 000 New Zealand dollars = 764.8 U.S. dollars

krk rokit 5's have served me well. they were about 250 pounds new. only problem i have with them is they pick up interference from my external hard drive...but i think thats the case with most active monitors and its easy enough to just turn off the hard drive or move it away from the monitors

I second the KRK Rockit's - I have a pair of 8's and love them! I actually moved from Tannoy Reveals to the KRK's and personally think the KRK's give you a flatter overall response. So I think they've helped me in my overall production (or I keep telling myself that - LOL!)....

also worth looking around second hand, since monitors don't particularly degrade with age and speaker technology hasn't exactly made any major advances in the last couple of decades.

i picked up a pair of harbeth xpressions and a mass technology amp for 300 UKP from a studio that was going out of business.

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/1997_ar ... ndpm1.html

I've used lots of different monitors over the years and recently bought a pair of Yamaha HS80M. I paid $900 Australian new ( I didn't want to buy second hand)

I would say the Mackies are the best but out of my price range. These Yamahas do the same job the NS10s did - they let you hear exactly what your mix sounds like and if you can get it sounding good on these it will sound good on anything.

They have a nice bottom end without being flattering and you can add a sub for lower range stuff.

I've had a few pairs over the years, and I have to say I'm pretty happy with a pair of active Alesis Monitor Ones. Nice flat sound. Also held on to a pair of Active Behringer Truth's cos they go punchy and loud for when you want to have a bit of fun, but the Alesis are very reliable for a mixdown. Both should be well within your budget, but if you do come into some money go for Mackie's. They kick everything else into touch.

Personally I use an original pair of the NS-10s and find them great for fine tuning the detail in the mids; but this info won't necessarily help the original poster...

I'm not one to claim a lot of knowledge about the wide and varied range of monitors currently available, but I can tell you that after buying my monitors, the second best thing I ever did for my studio was to add a no-name brand sub into the equation.

The sub itself is cheap and nasty, but after a bit of playing around I've managed to balance it's output fairly evenly. It makes the world of difference in hearing what's going on at the low end, and personally, I'd recommend at least considering one for your setup when picking some monitors; especially if you are writing in a particularly sub-driven style.

Sorry I can't be a great deal more help on this one, and good luck with your purchase!

save a little more and get some ADAMS

http://www.kentsandvik.com/2007/10/28/r ... -monitors/

--Kent

What m-audio models get positive feedback?

Bluesky Mediadesk

full frequency response. Matched sub. Clear and clean mids and highs. Translates beautifully to a larger soundsystem. Outclasses anything else in this price range.