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I'm in the market for some studio reference monitors. I'm looking at (maybe)...... M-Audio - Studiophile 70W 2-Way Studio Reference Monitors (Pair) KRK Systems - RokitG2 6" 2-Way Powered Speaker Monitor JBL LSR 2328P 8 (might be too expensive for me) Behringer Truth B2031A Studio Monitor Any feedback on these or recommendations on others is appreciated. Probably in the $500.00 or less range. If the "JBL LSR 2328P 8" are that good I might bite the bullet and suffer a little buyer's remorse. 
"The desire for fame is the last infirmity cast off even by the wise."
Cornelius Tacitus
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I like the BX8a Studiophiles
But I know others really like the KRK for the $$.
And I also know a guy that has tons of monitors (including very high price ones) and he was impressed with the Truth's.
It is so hard to recommend monitors for someone else, there are so many variables from personal prefs to the setting being used.
Make your sound your own!
.. I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
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The Truths have been repleaced by the 3031A now and I think they are much better than the earlier model.
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Only way to go is test them yourself.
First question you need to ask yourself is: Is my room acoustic "clean" : Did you have any acoustic treatment in your room? If not, you don't need to buy top-range monitors 'cause they won't give you the extra bucks worth in sound due to the sonic behavior of the room.
Second you need to set your budget and select monitors within that price range. (no need to listen to monitors way out of your price range: they'll probably sound better and you won't like the ones in your budget anymore.)
Go to a store and have the salesperson set up the monitors you want to audition. Take a couple of CD's with you with music you really know. (originals, no MP3 or copied stuff)
Listen to each monitor carefully (ask the salesperson for a cup of coffee if he hadn't already offered you one: this testing may take some time!)
When auditioning the monitors don't go per se for the nicest sounding ones: monitors have a different purpose than hifi audio speakers. Hifi audio speakers are designed to give you a nice, "warm" and clear sound: designed to please the listener. Studio monitors are designed to give the "real" sound: a as flat as possible response.
A little "trick" I used to finally choose my monitors from the remaining two, was to find the one where I was best able to determine where each and every instrument on the virtual stage was and listen to that instrument
as a single sound-source.
No, I won't give you any advice on brands or types. I don't think you will find crappy units in the price-range you mentioned, so it all boils down to personal taste.
Good luck, have fun and trust your ears
Last edited by Mike sings; 03/15/10 12:56 PM.
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For what it's worth, I have the KRK Rockit 5s, and absolutely love them... they're super cheap, and built like a tank.
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Charlie,
I also have the Rokit RP5's. I have the originals, not the new G2s. The G2s are better. My biggest problem was that about 15 months after having bought them, I had a capacitor fail in one of the units. Fortunately, it wasn't a hard repair, and it is working perfectly now. The other one has never had an issue, so it's probably just 'one of those things.'
The M-Audio BX8 monitors are very nice, and if you can't afford them, the BX5's should work almost as nicely.
I would tend to agree with Mike about his approach to looking at monitors. The problem with Musicians' Friend, or Sweetwater, or such, is that you can't sit down and listen to different ones. You really do need to do somewhere that has a room set up for listening. Of course, the downside of that is that after they spend all that time with you, you don't want to go spend your money at one of the online stores. That salesman probably put some time and effort into helping you, and he/she most likely works on commission. It isn't nice, or fair, to go elsewhere.
I would recommend going to a place that has a good selection..Guitar Center, if you have one...and tell the person what it is exactly that you want to do, and they may very well have some nice suprises for you.
Gary
I'm blessed watching God do what He does best. I've had a few rough years, and I'm still not back to where I want to be, but I'm on the way and things are looking far better now than what they were!
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Charlie, You might also want to read this, as well. http://www.studio-central.com/studio_monitors.htmCheck out the link for the Wharfdales at the bottom, too. Wharfdales are nice speakers. Gary
I'm blessed watching God do what He does best. I've had a few rough years, and I'm still not back to where I want to be, but I'm on the way and things are looking far better now than what they were!
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If you are going to spend that much on monitors, I apologize to most of the other replies on this thread but I would go with MikeSing's post as the place you should start. Set aside budget to either DIY some acoustic treatment, or purchase from Primacoustics or Auralex. Perhaps 1/3 of your monitor speaker budget. Take it out of that monitor budget. The sum total quality of the monitors you purchase and the acoustic treatment you apply will be better than spending the whole wad on any of the monitors in your list.
At minimum, put absorptive acoustic treatment on any wall or ceiling location where you can see your monitors in a mirror on that wall. Rather than re-type a bunch of resource material on the topic, there are excellent guides to this in many places on the internet; Auralex has some good resources as does Ethan Winer's articles and forum posts. Ethan's posts guide one more to DIY solutions, Auralex towards their own products. In either case, managing reflections is a key acoustic issue to concern yourself with before spending a wad on monitors.
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Hi Charlie, Lots of really good suggestions here already but I figured I might as well toss in my 2 cents worth also. lol First: Don't treat your room. Why? Because you gave a budget that's way too low to include that. Instead, just keep in mind that you cannot trust your mix until you play it on several different systems. That can be a bother, but unless you treat your room, there's no way around it. And if you don't have several hundred dollars my advice is don'teventhinkaboutit. lol. Second: Get a subwoofer. I use a KRK like this one. http://cgi.ebay.com/KRK-10s-Powered-Stud...=item35a7bcc99cWhy a sub? Several reasons, tied into how we perceive sound as shown by the Fletcher-Munson equal-loudness curve, and also tied into reducing ear fatigue. Anyways, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. ymmv and all that. :>) Later, Jim
I'd be completely happy if I had just one more guitar.
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I have the Behringer B2031A. They are magnificent. I have them mounted on 40-inch speaker stands.
A couple of friends paid more for smaller, but nominally "better," speakers and later wished they had gotten the Behries, too.
R.
"My primary musical instrument is the personal computer."
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Well I'll add $.02 to this.
If you are looking for "nearfield" monitors, & that's what you should be getting first, You will set them up for near field. Typically the monitors are 6 ft apart with your ears 6 ft from the boxes. The volume should be LOW not screaming. As long as your not right up against walls acoustic treatment should not be necessary. Your trying to achieve a nice mix and proper imaging. If your monitors are loud you'll blow your ears out the first minute.
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I will say, treating a room without the monitors is a little silly. How will you know what kind of response you are getting? And without a little knowledge you could just ugly up the room. Yes I treat my main room, but the treatment changed when I made the monitor switch.
I previously used a setup with a subwoofer and two satellites. I like the new nearfields much better.
As Silvertones said, you *should* be using low volumes anyway. Nearfields have their purpose and use.
Also a word of warning, if you go with the M-Audio's, remember to set the volume at around 15-20% when you first turn them on for your initial listen. If you have them at 50% you will need to be standing back a bit; they are capable of being very loud. I have never even approached the 50% mark with those monitors.
Make your sound your own!
.. I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
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Tho I agree with most of the views here, I will add this.... If you are working in a "typical home studio setup", where you are up against a wall, don't get a speaker with rear-firing bass ports, like the M-Audio's. You will have NO end to frustration with your bass levels. If you can have your system pulled out at least 3 feet from the nearest wall, then you would be OK..... And at this moment I am saving up for the Behringer TRUTH B3031A. I have heard these beside the most recommended ones out on the net at GC & at various home studios, and have found them to stand up well. I decided to go with the 8" woofer to get around the phase issues I have with the Ms16 Monitors & sub. And on a side note, I have had great luck with all the Berry stuff I own, AND with their support. Is Berry top of the line? No, but fully serviceable.... Room treatment IS important, but learning your speakers is more important IMHO.....use what ya have & learn it inside & out before tossing $$ at it....and as usual, this is all IMHO, YMMV, yada yada.... 
i5 3.20GHz, 32gb RAM, 1tb SSD OS, 12tb HDD, 4gb gForce vid card, 32" monitor, Audient id44, Win10 x64, BiaB/RB 2023, Reaper 6,IK Multimedia Total Studio 3.5 MAX, Waves 10
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Thanks for all your replies. You've given me a lot to think about. At present I have a couple of Bose computer speakers that sound fairly well( $100 from BestBuy). I mix with those and AKG K240 Studio headphones. I always listen at my computer and in my car. If I mix/master and get both locations (desktop & car) to sound pretty good I usually settle for that. After reading all your posts and others on the Internet I'm now wondering if the monitors I would buy would make any difference? I have a spare bedroom that I use as my studio/computer room. And I haven't done anything to it for sound and actually don't intend to. So I would hate to spend $300-$500 and not realize any difference in the sound I'm hearing. So I'm undecided and still pondering what to do... Thanks again. Addendum: This may sound trivial and make you think I'm not a dedicated musician (which is up in the air  ) but the powered amps using electricity and being on all the time has me a little concerned as well. If I could find a great pair of headphones that were economically priced (and better than what I have) I might go that route. As a few of you have stated, it's knowing your instrument and being able to compensate with it's strong and weak points that is the main thing. So as you can tell.... total ambivalence. 
Last edited by Charlie McG; 03/16/10 09:36 AM.
"The desire for fame is the last infirmity cast off even by the wise."
Cornelius Tacitus
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With nearfields you can't listen to them with the same ears as you listen to your stereo. They are for reference. The first time I tried a pair it was "huh it doesn't sound like the music is coming out of the speakers" that's the whole idea to have a set of speakers that reproduce the frequecies the way they were recorded and to be able to hear ( and in the '60's see ) were the instruments are located in the sound field.
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Charlie,
I don't remember the last time I turned my speakers off. Months ago when I had to move some stuff around, running wires and such. They stay on all the time. No problem.
Gary
I'm blessed watching God do what He does best. I've had a few rough years, and I'm still not back to where I want to be, but I'm on the way and things are looking far better now than what they were!
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On the other hand: I turn my monitors off whenever I don't need need them. That goes for all the equipment I don't use. At the end of the day (night) I also switch off the power to all equipment. In fact, even in the living room the TV, DVD etc. is turned off by a power switch. The only thing left on standby is the sat-receiver.
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I turn mine off when not in use also. No sense draining the power..
Make your sound your own!
.. I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
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There are obviously some disagreements here.
Let me summarize my point because I think it was mistaken by a couple folks here. As you budget for monitors, you should also budget for acoustic treatment - whether it's DIY or purchased off the shelf. No matter what levels you use your nearfields (nearfield varies by the acoustic pattern off of monitors - just look at the waveguides on any tweeters of nearfields and you'll find a host of disagreement amongst manufacturers as to what constitutes the near-field), you will have reflections that need management.
I know all about what near field, far field, evanescent field, and so forth mean. I could bore you with equations and graphs for hours on end on the topic.
-Scott
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Mike, I sure could have used your expertise a couple of years ago. Unfortunately, I no longer live in a part of the country where I can stop by a store and listen let alone have somone offer coffee to boot! In my present situation my store was online and the only coffee offered was the cup I brewed.
All kidding aside, I have a pair of near field monitors from Alesis. I bought them at the recomendation of a friend. A purchase, ears unheard, being used to the "listener" speakers I was truly disappointed that it did not have the fidelity I was expecting. Your input of explaining the purpose of the audio monitor versus a "listener" speaker would have been well heeded then.
I want to encourage anyone if they are in the research for a studio monitor transitioning from a home stereo system to begin with the comments Mike shared and DO YOUR HOMEWORK!!! And bring your own coffee.
Thanks,
RickeG
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