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5" Studio Monitors... Mackie, Fostex, M-Audio, or Yamaha
- Thread starter VirtualRain
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Focal Solo 6.
sadly, the a7's didn't work out (i went through 7 of them!!!!), each with various crackling and volume instability issues. these problems weren't unheard of with the a7, but based on a thread i put up at gearslutz, it seems most people had no problems with theirs.
then i had a pair of Adam p11's shipped to me, which i hated. funny, my studio partner didn't care for the a7's, but loved the p11's.
then i had the Focal's shipped to me and we both loved them. so i returned all 9 Adam monitors I had and kept the Focal's.
despite the issues, i'm a big fan of the a7. I would love to try out the s2.5 or s3 some day, or whatever they just released to replace them.
I'd say you need to start auditioning speakers. You can not buy based on online recommendations alone. I started with my Genelec 8240's and I am building up to the full twin sub for a stereo setup soon. I find that you spend less if you buy good stuff right off.
The Genelec 6010A are $267.00 they are about 100 dollars more over all. That is in the range of work another week and get the 100 bux kinda line of thinking.
Mackie MR5 ($360/pr)
Fostex PM0.5MKII ($300/pr)
M-Audio BX5a deluxe ($300/pr)
Yamaha HS50M ($400/pr)
That's why I liked the Genelecs. I didn't care for Adams but I generally work with instrumental music versus pop music. Not to say that I haven't had some excellent sound out fo them in the other side of work
I'm finally getting around to making a decision after a hiatus from this thread...
I'm getting serious now and considering KRK as well as all the previously mentioned monitors.
I heard a DJ at a retail store the other day spinning some tunes on a pair of Rokit 5's and they sounded mighty impressive. In addition, they seem to be highly regarded by a few folks at Gearslutz some of whom say they sound better than monitors much more costly.
I'm going to listen to them again today at the local music shop.
Anyone else have any experience with KRK?
Had another listen yesterday...
KRK Rokit5... Good balanced sound... could listen to these for hours
Mackie 5"... A bit more bass but I give the edge to KRK over the full spectrum and they have a narrower sweet spot than the KRK
Yamaha 5"... Just can't stand the sound from these... gives me a headache
Adam A5... Sound great but not worth their premium price to me... I couldn't really pick out enough difference from the KRK in a casual listening session
I really need to track down a listen to the Fostex. Although they didn't have them plugged in, the sales rep said the Fostex 0.4's were amazing for the price and he would love to hear the 0.5's for himself (which they carry but were out of stock).
LOL... Admittedly, but how the hell is one supposed to make a buying decision then? It's not like these guys are going to let me borrow half a dozen pairs of studio monitors to try in my room. I guess at some point you just make a choice and live with it or hope they have a reasonable return policy if you can't.
some places are better than others about letting you check things out at home. at guitar center, you have to buy it first, but most items are returnable.
I recently picked up a pair of Rokit 5 G2 monitors. I've been very happy with them. They're definitely an improvement over the cheaper M-Audio speakers I had been using before. They have a very nice sound that's great for mixing - I'm hearing stuff in old mixes that I had never heard before. They also have way more volume than I could ever need in my office.
However, I did notice that my workspace seems to have a lot of electrical noise (likely bad grounding; this is an old building), and my monitors picked up a lot of hum when I was using the unbalanced (RCA) audio connection with my Macbook. Balanced cables fixed that for me.
I've got a question (Sorry for going a little off topic):
How do you run monitors on your computers? Like, do (they) make a receiver to convert the red/black cables to a 3.5mm jack?
How do you run monitors on your computers? Like, do (they) make a receiver to convert the red/black cables to a 3.5mm jack?
You would most likely use a USB or Firewire audio interface that handles the A/D and D/A for your inputs and outputs... and connect the monitors to the outputs on this device.
Virtualrain's idea is what I do when I need the highest quality sound, as my interface (Presonus Firepod) has balanced outputs. This helps to eliminate audio issues such as hum or having your cables pick up radio signals. I've been fighting a bit with using the regular 1/8" stereo output on my Mac. I get some odd audio artifacts every now and then, but these are eliminated when I use the balanced outputs on my Firepod.
In a pinch, however, I've made an adapter cable that connects my Mac's 1/8" output jack to two pseudo-balanced 1/4" TRS cables. If you are interested in building your own, see wiring diagram "2.1" on the top of page 2 in this document: http://www.jensentransformers.com/an/an003.pdf
Music stores should also have proper adapter cables on hand (and probably of higher quality than the quick one I made!).
That solution does reduce radio frequency interference, but I still get weird artifacts (especially humming) at different times, usually depending on what else is plugged into nearby electrical outlets. My house's electrical system obviously has some minor grounding issues. My cell phone charger in particular is pretty bad if I plug it into a certain electrical outlet... I hear tons of hum with that thing plugged into a nearby outlet and my speakers plugged into my Mac. If I was just using my Mac's audio out jack (instead of my Presonus interface) and wanted to eliminate all the hum, I'd need to pick up a couple of audio transformers and wire them in (or use special direct input (DI) boxes that you can buy for this purpose).
In short, if you are using your Mac's output and you are getting hum or other audio artifacts (I've even picked up AM radio signals with a bad cable!), you might need to get an adapter cable or some transformers / DI boxes, or on an audio interface. These things can be really really difficult to diagnose, unfortunately.
Hopefully you won't have any of these issues with a simple adapter cable and can completely ignore most of this post!
(And now I've gone way off topic.. heh... umm, so, yeah... the KRKs are awesome speakers!)
I think that the KRKs are hard to beat in the low dollar range. If you can, grab the old model V-series on the cheap.
While on vacation in LA, I went to the Hollywood Guitar Center and listened to a bunch of 5-6" monitors across a spectrum of price points... Yamaha, KRK, Adam, Mackie, Dynaudio and Blue Sky.
I would put the KRK and Mackie in a group that sounds good but has a less defined top end despite the much better bottom end. Both provide great value for the money with the edge going to the KRK in my opinion. A listening test with the KRK's and matching sub was just too much bass. The KRK's actually offer amazing bottom-end without a sub!
The Adam and Dynaudio had the best top end and very clear mid range with respectable bottom end for their size. Definitely the better monitors.
The Yamaha's continue to give me a headache every time I hear them.
Amazingly, the Blue Sky Pro Desk 2.1 had the best of all worlds (not surprisingly I suppose given it's 2.1 capability vs. the 2.0 configuration of the other setups). The Pro Desk Sat 5's could hang with the Adam's and Dynaudio's for the top end and mid-range while the sub added anything that was missing down low.
Normally the Adam's, Dynaudio's and the Blue Sky Pro Desk would be way out of my price range, but I was able to get the Blue Sky Pro Desk 2.1 on sale at the Hollywood Guitar Center for just $700 (about half price!) and couldn't refuse.
I'll post a full review on them later. Thanks to all who contributed to this thread even though in the end, I seriously violated my own contraints by buying something nearly twice as expensive as I set out to do.
I would put the KRK and Mackie in a group that sounds good but has a less defined top end despite the much better bottom end. Both provide great value for the money with the edge going to the KRK in my opinion. A listening test with the KRK's and matching sub was just too much bass. The KRK's actually offer amazing bottom-end without a sub!
The Adam and Dynaudio had the best top end and very clear mid range with respectable bottom end for their size. Definitely the better monitors.
The Yamaha's continue to give me a headache every time I hear them.
Amazingly, the Blue Sky Pro Desk 2.1 had the best of all worlds (not surprisingly I suppose given it's 2.1 capability vs. the 2.0 configuration of the other setups). The Pro Desk Sat 5's could hang with the Adam's and Dynaudio's for the top end and mid-range while the sub added anything that was missing down low.
Normally the Adam's, Dynaudio's and the Blue Sky Pro Desk would be way out of my price range, but I was able to get the Blue Sky Pro Desk 2.1 on sale at the Hollywood Guitar Center for just $700 (about half price!) and couldn't refuse.
I'll post a full review on them later. Thanks to all who contributed to this thread even though in the end, I seriously violated my own contraints by buying something nearly twice as expensive as I set out to do.
Since im a DJ, USB to a NI Audio 8 DJ. Then the outputs to a mixer then mixer to my speakers.
just thought i'd chime in on this one.
after being in the same position as the OP for about 2 months i've decided to go with the KRK rokit 5 g2's. i managed to find them, in a apple mac premium seller of all places, to test them out and i was thoroughly impressed. the only other stuff i've been able to find and try out is the edirol stuff in a local music store and some tannoy reveals at uni (my uni has alot more speakers in the studios, but most cost way out of my rice range) i was also impressed with the price, £115 each. i'm about to go and blow the rest of my student loan on them in the next couple of days.
after being in the same position as the OP for about 2 months i've decided to go with the KRK rokit 5 g2's. i managed to find them, in a apple mac premium seller of all places, to test them out and i was thoroughly impressed. the only other stuff i've been able to find and try out is the edirol stuff in a local music store and some tannoy reveals at uni (my uni has alot more speakers in the studios, but most cost way out of my rice range) i was also impressed with the price, £115 each. i'm about to go and blow the rest of my student loan on them in the next couple of days.
I recently bought the KRK Rokit 5 and am very happy with them. They are in the same budget range
After initial setup and listening to the Blue Sky ProDesk 2.1 all I can say is... HOLY ****!!! These speakers absolutely rock!
The whole spectrum is so clear, I'm now listening to all my favorite music over again just to hear what I've been missing.
The sub transitions so smoothly with the 5" monitors that you truly can't tell there's a sub in the system... it sounds like the bass is coming from the satellite monitors.
Everything sounds absolutely stunning... rock, acoustic, rap and pop... I'm just getting started though... Just ***** amazing is all I can say at this point. More to come.
These speakers absolutely rock! The whole spectrum is so clear, I'm now listening to all my favorite music over again just to hear what I've been missing.
The sub transitions so smoothly with the 5" monitors that you truly can't tell there's a sub in the system... it sounds like the bass is coming from the satellite monitors.
Everything sounds absolutely stunning... rock, acoustic, rap and pop... I'm just getting started though... Just ***** amazing is all I can say at this point. More to come.
I have the Focal CSM65. There is also a CMS50 for around the same price as the Adam A7.
The Focal CSM65 exceeds all my expectations. After auditioning them in the store I was very impressed, but at home they sound even better. Wonderful solid build and outstanding finish. The CMS50 is similarly well-made, though I consider the extra spent on the CMS65 to be well worthwhile. The A7 and CMS50 are very close in performance, though I'd go for the CMS50 for the far superior build.
These Focal monitors work beautifully with the Apogee Duet. I couldn't be happier with these CMS65 speakers. Indeed, I prefer their immediacy of sound and sparkle to my B&W805 speakers with Musical Fidelity A5 amplifier and very expensive Nordost biwire cables.
http://www.focalprofessional.com/
The Focal CSM65 exceeds all my expectations. After auditioning them in the store I was very impressed, but at home they sound even better. Wonderful solid build and outstanding finish. The CMS50 is similarly well-made, though I consider the extra spent on the CMS65 to be well worthwhile. The A7 and CMS50 are very close in performance, though I'd go for the CMS50 for the far superior build.
These Focal monitors work beautifully with the Apogee Duet. I couldn't be happier with these CMS65 speakers. Indeed, I prefer their immediacy of sound and sparkle to my B&W805 speakers with Musical Fidelity A5 amplifier and very expensive Nordost biwire cables.
http://www.focalprofessional.com/
You can pick up a USB or Firewire interface fairly cheap (say $100, or do the other suggested method.
+1 love my V8 Series 1 and V88s