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Post by recordingengineer on Jan 27, 2023 14:12:07 GMT -6
Ok y’all. I’ve never-ever in my life had ANY monitors at home. I want to finally get some cheap smallish monitors to connect to the Mackie Big Knob Plus I bought and used a handful of times at people’s homes during the pandemic chaos.
The main goal is just to have something at home I can actually kinda/ somewhat judge quality and general mix elements, besides headphones; something I’ve never been able to get along with, because I’ve never really used headphones at all, all my life on a professional-level.
Can you also recommend some stands? I don’t care enough to even build anything even somewhat ok.
While on a professional-level, I’ve been spoiled monitor-wise and currently using ATC 150 and PMC TwoTwo 8 at the studio, I’m looking at super super duper cheap in comparison; to be used in my living room, at the computer desk right up against the wall and one of the speakers will even be close to a corner of the room.
I’ve been hoping to wait to find and pickup some good, really-high efficient passive coaxial speakers, but I’d really have to spend some money. I can’t seem to justify to myself spending even $1k on this right now given the acoustic situation and how often used.
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Post by kcatthedog on Jan 27, 2023 14:26:55 GMT -6
What about the very small gennie’s ?
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Post by tkaitkai on Jan 27, 2023 14:33:18 GMT -6
Super cheap = JBL 3 series or Yamaha HS series, 5" or 8" depending on preference. On-Stage monitor stands are dirt cheap. Use these in combination with Sonarworks and you can get seriously impressive results.
There are also some cheaper Kali, Focal, and Adam speakers that people rave about. I think even the newer KRKs are decent.
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Post by svart on Jan 27, 2023 14:36:50 GMT -6
If you can stretch to ~1200$ the KH120 seems to come up used between 1100 and 1300.
Perhaps even the KH80?
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ericn
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Post by ericn on Jan 27, 2023 14:43:25 GMT -6
Used Kahli’s with Sonnarworks would be my choice on the cheap
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Post by mcirish on Jan 28, 2023 15:47:42 GMT -6
I agree with Eric on this. Kali and sonarworks. Get the newer 2 series. They have quieter amps.
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Post by bgrotto on Jan 28, 2023 21:05:30 GMT -6
Jbl makes a small set (think it’s the aforementioned 3 series…305 maybe?) that have no business being as good as they are. I have a set myself, though they’re going on the for-sale block soon because I upgraded to some bigger adams for my home rig. Anywho, the jbls are like 350 or 400 a pair and don’t suck. Hmu if you’re keen…I’ll let them go cheap and you can score a good deal so long as shipping doesn’t end up being a great big to-do.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 28, 2023 21:40:24 GMT -6
JBL 305 mk II or Kali LP 6 mk II. Do not get the mk I of either. They kinda suck. The mk II are legit good and usable. The Kali is front ported and darker so is more forgiving of placement. There are much worse monitors to monitor and mix on. The Kali is newer speaker from the same design team that left JBL after Harman was purchased by Samsung. The bigger ones aren't great from either brand. The 305 II and LP 6 II are both better monitors than some very expensive ones with nice brand names but still garbage amps powering garbage inefficient rubber woofers that are always being soft clipped in normal use and garbage off brand metal tweeters that are underpowered and will cook eventually or hit a multiband limiter above 102 decibels that kills all the air! So transients distort and reduce detail to protect the crappy metal driver! At least cheap is cheap!
If you want some very small powered ones: FOSTEX 6301 whatever the current version is that fits your needs. THESE ARE AMAZING. THEY ARE TRUE. NO BASS AND NO AIR but they are very good. They are flatter than Auratones. Do not play them loud. You can clip the amp and blow the driver. Then you just get another driver. These are better monitors than many expensive 2 and 3 systems IME. The drivers in these are more pro than what's in a ton of stuff. If you work from stuff on 3 way mains or even decent two ways where they just play back a a tonal or instrument level balance that sounds fine... this will tell you you're dead wrong much of the time and it won't translate at all to a smaller speaker.
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Post by explorer on Jan 29, 2023 1:06:43 GMT -6
IK Multimedia iLouds are very compact and surprisingly good for mixing on.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 29, 2023 2:23:12 GMT -6
Beyer DT 700 Pro X's, I'm usually not a big fan of headphones for mixing but as I was saying to Dan they put up a good fight against monitors costing $5 - $6K. I can use them interchangeably with my mains and I wouldn't be afraid to do an album on one. Sure, you don't quite get the sense of physical bass or the spacial awareness that you get with big monitors but you don't really get that with cheap monitors either so?!
My new advice is if you can't afford to get into very high end monitoring use these instead.
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Post by forgotteng on Feb 3, 2023 15:01:54 GMT -6
I have been super happy with my focal alphas that I bought for a small rig.
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Post by recordingengineer on Feb 1, 2024 17:53:23 GMT -6
Thank you guys… I’m finally getting around to addressing this and moving-forward with something! Someone is selling a used pair these for a great price: www.emes.de/pageseng/products/eblack/eblack.htmlIf I don’t do that or if I get them and I don’t like them, then the Kali it will be! |
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Post by drumsound on Feb 1, 2024 18:33:40 GMT -6
If you can stretch to ~1200$ the KH120 seems to come up used between 1100 and 1300. Perhaps even the KH80? A former student and intern of mine has KH120s and I got to hear them for the first time recently. They are really nice sounding little boxes. |
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Post by reddirt on Feb 1, 2024 18:48:36 GMT -6
FWIW and no offence meant to ShadowK but I have Beyer 700 Pro x and I can't agree with his summation of their abilities - to me they've ended up being "fun" listens but realistically the bass is out of whack (their major drawback). I would trust the much cheaper AT M40 (not 50) before the Beyers.
My final advice is, don't listen to me but listen for yourself first. - shows how we all hear differently I think.
Cheers, Ross
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Post by mattbroiler on Feb 1, 2024 21:48:11 GMT -6
Got a pair of the 12" tall DR Pro speaker stands I'd sell for cheap if those possibly fit with your existing space
They need to sit on a table or such as opposed to the 36" tall ones that are floor standing
Feel free to dm me if interested cheers
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ericn
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Post by ericn on Feb 1, 2024 22:24:15 GMT -6
FWIW and no offence meant to ShadowK but I have Beyer 700 Pro x and I can't agree with his summation of their abilities - to me they've ended up being "fun" listens but realistically the bass is out of whack (their major drawback). I would trust the much cheaper AT M40 (not 50) before the Beyers. My final advice is, don't listen to me but listen for yourself first. - shows how we all hear differently I think. Cheers, Ross Not trying to sound bitchy but headphones exhibit some fairly complex loads, especially in the lowend so ones impression of something like the Beyer’s LF response has as much to do with the headphone amp as the headphones. This one of about 100 reasons the very easy to drive Sony MDR7506’s live in my go bag, they work with almost any headphone amp. Now with the right amp the Beyer’s kick their ass, but not knowing what’s driving them the Sonys rule. |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 1, 2024 23:03:13 GMT -6
FWIW and no offence meant to ShadowK but I have Beyer 700 Pro x and I can't agree with his summation of their abilities - to me they've ended up being "fun" listens but realistically the bass is out of whack (their major drawback). I would trust the much cheaper AT M40 (not 50) before the Beyers. My final advice is, don't listen to me but listen for yourself first. - shows how we all hear differently I think. Cheers, Ross I'm super cool with your opinion and no offence ever taken, although for me I can pretty much get them to match a "profile" equivalent to ATC's and my Dyn's through the right amp. The SSL is okay, the Carbon has an absolutely stunning master grade headphone amp and my PC for games well.. Hmm, sounds rubbish but you don't really care when you're going pew, pew, pew.. It's pretty much what ericn is saying, it's all about the confidence or amp..
Monitors especially at this level are obviously always going to be better, always.. There's no real sense of vibration or impact and the clarity isn't on excatly on par, they are closed backs after all and a pair of ATC 110's or Core 59's will kick you in the chest like an elephant, the thing I've found is I can go upstairs, put on some headphones with a laptop and not be afraid to make changes that will work on my main's the next day.. Don't know about you but that's pure gold to me.
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Post by ragan on Feb 1, 2024 23:58:37 GMT -6
I still like my Dynaudio BM5a (MKII if it matters, prob not). I keep them at my in-laws or at my cabin, for getting in some music time while on holiday.
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Post by kcatthedog on Feb 2, 2024 4:17:52 GMT -6
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Post by doubledog on Feb 2, 2024 8:58:19 GMT -6
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Post by subspace on Feb 2, 2024 13:14:03 GMT -6
Ok y’all. I’ve never-ever in my life had ANY monitors at home. I want to finally get some cheap smallish monitors to connect to the Mackie Big Knob Plus I bought and used a handful of times at people’s homes during the pandemic chaos. The main goal is just to have something at home I can actually kinda/ somewhat judge quality and general mix elements, besides headphones; something I’ve never been able to get along with, because I’ve never really used headphones at all, all my life on a professional-level. Can you also recommend some stands? I don’t care enough to even build anything even somewhat ok. While on a professional-level, I’ve been spoiled monitor-wise and currently using ATC 150 and PMC TwoTwo 8 at the studio, I’m looking at super super duper cheap in comparison; to be used in my living room, at the computer desk right up against the wall and one of the speakers will even be close to a corner of the room. I’ve been hoping to wait to find and pickup some good, really-high efficient passive coaxial speakers, but I’d really have to spend some money. I can’t seem to justify to myself spending even $1k on this right now given the acoustic situation and how often used. I bought a little home rig to set-up in a spare room this past year, for when I want to roll out of bed to work on something rather than walk next door and put the key in the studio door. Started with a little Audient Sono interface for monitoring on phones or speakers, driving either a pair of Massdrop HD 6XX or Kali Audio IN-8 V2s. The Kalis were $737 for the pair and are pretty impressive 3-ways with concentric mid-highs. I'm looking at adding another pair to the studio now that I've gotten used to their translation, may end up buying 7.2 total to use with the Carbon's Atmos monitor config. |
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Post by andersmv on Feb 2, 2024 13:25:51 GMT -6
I'll be another voice for Kali. Great for the money, I've recommended them to a lot of people and they're all very happy.
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Post by recordingengineer on Apr 10, 2024 1:55:01 GMT -6
Well I did end-up picking-up that used EMES pair for $500. I like them! Definitely not as bright and open or as big-sounding as I’m used-to with monitors; being small coaxials, I’m not surprised. Here’s the first “non-serious” thing I did on them, at home, in-the-box in PT: Mixed these simple music-cue-loops for a VO slideshow training video. DI’d guitar (that I tracked, but didn’t play) and super-cheaply-canned and dry everything-else. Spent about an hour in total. Not something I really ever do, but a very-long-time music recording-client turned friend has got me into it, exclusively for him. No need to go to the studio for these little kinds of things. drive.google.com/file/d/1CFJwhsvuhZXK7IvAG6UPS9VDgOcA1kST/view?usp=drivesdkdrive.google.com/file/d/12ZfvRLQfeEGFq8d6jY68VxpQStn1aLiW/view?usp=drivesdk |
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Post by linas on Apr 10, 2024 9:04:47 GMT -6
I'm liking A5X's in our small room. Of course, it's tuned and the room is somewhat exceptional... YMMV
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