lukeward2004 Posted June 13, 2007 Share Posted June 13, 2007 Hi Guys, Im in the process of setting myself up with a small home recording setup - purely for whacking down some simple tunes, not looking to get heavily into recording. I am currently using my Bass PODxt as a sound card and using headphones etc to monitor the sound, however I want to get myself a little set of monitors and a power amp I can run them off? Any recommendations for a fairly reasonably priced set? My mate uses a pair of ALesis Monitor One MK2's off a Marantz Power amp, but he runs this off an audiophile Delta 2429, whereas im going to be using my POD as a sound processor. Any Ideas for a low cost setup? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexclaber Posted June 13, 2007 Share Posted June 13, 2007 I have been astounded by the Tascam VL-X5 active monitors I bought a few months back. They are improbably good for the money! [url="http://www.tascam.com/Products/vlx5.html"]http://www.tascam.com/Products/vlx5.html[/url] [url="http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/page/shop/flypage/product_id/5628"]http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/page/shop/fl...product_id/5628[/url] [url="http://forums.frontendaudio.com/index.php?showtopic=312"]http://forums.frontendaudio.com/index.php?showtopic=312[/url] Alex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dood Posted June 13, 2007 Share Posted June 13, 2007 My guitarist recorded his whole album using the big Behringer active monitors. The record label left it as it was, save for a small amount of finalisation as far as I can tell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ped Posted June 13, 2007 Share Posted June 13, 2007 To be honest mate if its just for muckin about you might as well go jonesin' for some semi decent hifi speakers. There is a shop full of bits and bobs near me with some lovely pioneer boxes. You can always get big old decent speakers pretty cheap in the free ads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexclaber Posted June 13, 2007 Share Posted June 13, 2007 Ped's absolutely right, used hi-fi speakers are a great budget route. I always used to monitor on my hi-fi and have had good results because I know what it sounds like. The active monitors are very convenient because you don't need a separate amp, they are very honest sounding (and can be tweaked to the acoustic space), they go lower and louder (and I've always wanted a pair) and £130 seemed very reasonable to the £200+ you used to have to spend a few years back to get any kind of active monitor let alone good ones! Alex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi Posted June 13, 2007 Share Posted June 13, 2007 The only problem with hifi speakers is that they may not be shielded. I've also used a pair of Alesis M1 Active Mk2's and they've been very good if a little on the large side. I have a pair of Yamaha HS50's which have proven to be a total revelation - I can hear details that I've not been able to pick up even on my mp3 player. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slaphappygarry Posted June 13, 2007 Share Posted June 13, 2007 The Alesis ones are very good for the cash. You will not be dissapointed with tannoy's (the reveal range), teh Samson Resolv range. If it was me getting a set i would prob look at these: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/KRK-RP8-Powered-Studio-Monitor-Speakers-Pair_W0QQitemZ300119668136QQihZ020QQcategoryZ23786QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/KRK-RP8-Powered-Stud...1QQcmdZViewItem[/url] They do cheaper models too but the chat on the garpevine is that they are awesome. I would recomend getting active ones as its less to worry about (power amps etc...) and one less potential problem when trouble shooting. G Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ped Posted June 13, 2007 Share Posted June 13, 2007 I probably use my 'studio' for listening to music whilst I work as much as recording so a decent NAD amplifier and pair of Roberts speakers do the job extremely well. I certainly wouldn't consider shelling out for powered monitors when if I want to record anything serious I will do it at the proper studio where there are proper facilities to make sure what comes through them does not need 'dressing up' at all. I wonder if NAD will pass under the notorious swear filter!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dood Posted June 13, 2007 Share Posted June 13, 2007 Get some NS-10's!! (there's a myth attached to that, that circles the engineer fraternity.. right up there with beyer' DT100's) Actually, yes the obvious would be Hifi speakers! I have been monitoring on Mission floor standers for years and never realised! I'm just so used to the sound of them and compare recordings with CDs using them. a sort of psuedo mastering, if you will. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crez5150 Posted June 14, 2007 Share Posted June 14, 2007 (edited) Check out the Wharfedale powered Diamond series..... excellent for the money.... [url=http://www.soundcontrol.co.uk/mod_1/pages/mod_1.12/pages/mod_1.12.1/pages/index.php] Edited June 14, 2007 by crez5150 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShergoldSnickers Posted June 14, 2007 Share Posted June 14, 2007 [quote name='ped' post='17069' date='Jun 13 2007, 05:32 PM']To be honest mate if its just for muckin about you might as well go jonesin' for some semi decent hifi speakers. There is a shop full of bits and bobs near me with some lovely pioneer boxes. You can always get big old decent speakers pretty cheap in the free ads.[/quote] +1 A few years ago, I helped a friend set up a commercial recording studio, and did loads of research into monitors. The principles will probably still hold today. The first point is that the biggest asset you have is your ears. Your partner may disagree but that's another topic . Go listen to as many as you can using music you know inside out. We did, and found the usual studio suspects, the Tannoys, JBLs etc were exceptionally good at going loud but very little else. Resolution of fine detail and finesse were not strong points. You wouldn't try to monitor orchestral or choral works on 'em. Things may have changed since, dunno. After several weeks we settled on a pair of 'Hi-Fi' speakers made a by a company called Epos. Sadly, no longer in the hands of the bloke that set it up. We knew the quality of the sound was better than the other stuff we listened to (in our opinion), it just meant monitoring at sensible levels - a very, very good thing. Your situation means that high levels probably wouldn't be appropriate anyway. We were still a little unsure about the robustness of the drivers, so after explaining our situation to the speaker designer, he sent us a spare treble driver FOC, as we intended to test one to destruction just to see. As for the bass driver: "The only way you'll break that is by putting it across the mains". After crafting a drum track from hell using any part of the kit that gave off high frequencies, we did eventually manage to break the treble driver. It took wiring it directly across an amplifier output with no cross-over, at full whack on the desk and from the output stage of the amp. After 20 mins the aluminium dome shattered. The moral - the word monitor does not guarantee anything. The word Hi-fi doesn't preclude anything. Use your ears and don't fall for any clever marketing spiel. As a final quality check for minor tweaking I use a pair of Grado SR125 headphones. Grado make the most cost effective real quality 'phones out there, and are excrutiatingly revealing of mistakes and fluffs in a recording. As I know to my cost. Time to shut up now, I've prattled enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwbassman Posted June 14, 2007 Share Posted June 14, 2007 +1 on the Alesis I do a fair bit of 'home studio' recording and recently upgraded my kit from a hi-fi package to something a bit more suitable. I was using some Denon speakers with a Sony amp, which I though sounded pretty good... until I went for the passive M1's matched to an Alesis RA300 - and for the [url="http://www.decks.co.uk/products/pa_packages/alesis/ra150_m1"]total package cost of £235[/url] you'll struggle to do much better IMHO... There is a marked difference in the clarity and balance of the sound, glad I made the change but only wish I'd done it sooner, need to go back and remix quite a few tracks now, although I'm looking forward to it with my new setup Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chardbass Posted June 16, 2007 Share Posted June 16, 2007 These are a great all in one box solution and have come down in price recently- £270 for a pair. Great reviews etc- have used them for a few years. Great for monitoring/mixing and iTunes-ing. [url="http://www.turnkey.co.uk/web/productAction.do;jsessionid=896499476A67CA5A83F9BA6A8E706809?dispatch=showProduct&SKU=FOST-PM1S&context=WEB"]http://www.turnkey.co.uk/web/productAction...amp;context=WEB[/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Funk Posted June 21, 2007 Share Posted June 21, 2007 [quote name='dood' post='17295' date='Jun 14 2007, 12:13 AM']Get some NS-10's!! (there's a myth attached to that, that circles the engineer fraternity.. right up there with beyer' DT100's) Actually, yes the obvious would be Hifi speakers! I have been monitoring on Mission floor standers for years and never realised! I'm just so used to the sound of them and compare recordings with CDs using them. a sort of psuedo mastering, if you will.[/quote] I'd recommend [url="http://www.studiospares.com/Product.aspx?code=248000"]Studiospares Classic 10s[/url] which are a clone of the Yamaha NS-10s. I was looking at using some hi-fi speakers but it turned out these were cheaper. (I now have two sets - one for the control room and one for the live room). I power them off a [url="http://www.richersounds.com/showproduct.php?cda=showproduct&pid=MARA-PM4400-BLK"]Marantz stereo power amp[/url] (with two sets of speakers outs - one for the live room, one for the control room ). [quote name='dood' post='17056' date='Jun 13 2007, 05:15 PM']My guitarist recorded his whole album using the big Behringer active monitors. The record label left it as it was, save for a small amount of finalisation as far as I can tell.[/quote] The trouble with these (I have them) is that they're a bit bass heavy, so when you take your mix to another system it suddenly sounds thin and weak. They also work out at around the same price as the Marantz and the Classic 10s combined. They're still not bad though, especially if you've got a great pair of ears on you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slaphappygarry Posted June 21, 2007 Share Posted June 21, 2007 Those studio spares NS10 clones look cool. I thought the point of the NS10's was that they sounded pretty crap? Therefor for reference monitors they were perfect for comparing your mix between systems? G Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Funk Posted June 21, 2007 Share Posted June 21, 2007 [url="http://www.cdmasteringservices.com/ns10nearfieldmonitors.htm"]Interesting article about the NS10s here[/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slaphappygarry Posted June 21, 2007 Share Posted June 21, 2007 hmmmm cheers for that So, they sound crap and thats why they are ace . Cool. G Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Funk Posted June 21, 2007 Share Posted June 21, 2007 Exactly! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.