Monitors

[Anders IsbergParticipant]

What monitors are you using in your home / project studios, and what do you like about them? I'm on a hunt for new monitors and at the moment I'm leaning towards the Focal CMS 65, but there seems to be aweful lot to choose from in that low to medium prize range. Unfortunately I don't have a way of doing any comparative testing before buying.

Cheers
Anders

[timmymacParticipant]

I have Neumann kh120 running through a SPL 2Control monitor controller. They are very detailed and allow me to get my mixes balanced quickly. The low end is quite good for having only 5" speakers but it rolls off quickly at 50Hz. Will probably add a sub.

[Warren HuartKeymaster]

Hi Anders, I have the usual LA combo of the Genelecs 1031s and 1032s, which of course aren;t that cheap, with Yamaha NS10s. I have seen a lot of my contemporaries using the new Yamaha Powered speakers, my gut is to use the larger driver, but it's going to depend on the size of your room. The Focal's get great reviews! Have a marvellous time recording and mixing, many thanks Warren

[timmymacParticipant]

@warren Do you ever use a subwoofer??

[Anders IsbergParticipant]

Thanks for the input timmymac and Warren! I've got a medium sized room, so I might take up on the advice to go with the larger drivers.

[timmymacParticipant]

Makes sense. I wouldn't mind some larger speakers too! ?
It's best to try monitors in your own room. If you buy from Vintage King you can always return them within I think 30 days if you don't like them.

[Nick D.Participant]

I use JBL 6328 and Yamaha HS7 with a JBL 10" sub. I have used the Presonus Eris 8, which sounded better than i expected but too similar to the JBLs to get a contrast. before settling with the 6328s i had the Trident HG3s.

I rarely use the sub for mixing, its more of a checking tool and client wower, but it is nice to have.

• This reply was modified 7 years ago by Nick D..

[Victor CiampiniParticipant]

Yamaha HS8's. I started with KRK Rokit 5's. When my mixes sounded nice and thick and juicy on those, they sounded thin and brittle everywhere else. Some of it was room I'm sure, but with the Yamaha's the first thing I noticed was the stuff I mixed on the KRK's sounded the same in the Yamaha's (bad!) as everywhere else. My mixes translate much better now.

[Richard TorrieParticipant]

I have a set of KRK Rokit 5 G3's, only really been using them for the last two weeks. Bought them at the end of November but one had a blow resistor, would start hissing then result in a loud pop. Took weeks to get them fixed but I think they sound really good. I only have a small attic type room and fitted my budget else I would have got a set of Genelec's instead.

Regards,
Rich

[Steve AParticipant]

Yamaha HS8s here as well, at their price point I think they are really good, and for the most part avoid 'hyped' frequencies etc. I think the 7s or 5s would sound better in a smaller room, or you can always roll some material up and block the ports, (I'm serious).
I was looking for monitors that would sound terrible with a terrible recording, and great with a great one, and that's what these do fairly well.. or as the saying goes, garbage in=garbage out..

If at all possible, for anyone shopping monitors, I would suggest taking lots and lots of recordings you know very well (including bad ones!), take them to the merchant with you and try as many sets of monitors that you can and pick the ones that sound truest to the source, NOT the ones that sound good on everything..
Just my .02 usd

[Magnus JohanssonParticipant]

This seem crazy at first but I doubt anybody will buy krk after viewing this. There are many comparison movies and from their soundcloud account you can download lossless wav prints of all speakers and headphones tested. As you will listen through your current setup this is only for comparison but you all get that. 5inch I find the jbls most interesting. 8inch I think the Yamaha's seem the best choice.

https://youtu.be/9oFwIyxSKjY

[Andrew MckenzieParticipant]

I use a pair of Rokit 8 G3's and they are not too bad, but I also use some AKG 271 cans as well and mix between the two. I find the Rokit's are really flat across the board and take some getting used to, personally I have bumped up the LF and HF levels a notch each but that's probably compensating for my crappy room 🙂

Cheers....Andrew

[Author]

Posts