Monitor shortlist

[JD01]

I have a small (tiny by USA standards) room. But I've got it fairly well treated. I think 7 or 8" drivers would be a waste of money in the space. So, mainly due to my budget and room size I'm limiting myself to 5" drivers.

Yamaha HS5s and Adam T5Vs both come in at about 130 quid each.

Bubba really rates the Yamahas for giving a good honest sound. Anyone else got a strong view on either of these two? Or any other similarly priced monitors.

Bubba also says that KRKs are very coloured. Anyone agree/disagree.

[Greg_L]

Bubba also says that KRKs are very coloured. Anyone agree/disagree.

KRKs can be colored. You can also tune them for the room. Well, mine can. I haven't looked at KRKs for about 15 years so I don't know how new ones compare. Mine are first gen 8s and still going strong. For me my old Rokit 8s do the job with one mix. One mix and it sounds good to me everywhere.

[JD01]

Hmmm.. Maybe Rokit 5s should stay on the list for now then.

[Greg_L]

Hmmm.. Maybe Rokit 5s should stay on the list for now then.

I think they're probably on par with other 5" speakers in that price range. I'm of the opinion that they're all the same in that you have to get used to any of them, no matter which ones you choose. Once you know your room and speakers you can make a good mix with pretty much anything.

[JD01]

Once you know your room and speakers you can make a good mix with pretty much anything.

Yeah, suppose that's true!

[Lt. Bob]

Hmmm.. Maybe Rokit 5s should stay on the list for now then.

I think they're probably on par with other 5" speakers in that price range. I'm of the opinion that they're all the same in that you have to get used to any of them, no matter which ones you choose. Once you know your room and speakers you can make a good mix with pretty much anything.

Yeah I totally agree.

One thing .... the word 'monitor' means absolutely nothing.
It's a marketing term.
The idea is that if it's called a monitor then it's flat and accurate.
So lots of time you see people say that regular stereo speakers aren't flat and are hyped in the bass or treble.
That's just not true.

As an audiophile I can tell you that ALL good stereo speakers meant for serious listening attempt to be accurate and flat every bit as much as 'monitors' ... probably moreso .... at least those meant for serious listeners.
that's why in a lot of mastering studios you might see stuff like B&W's.
It may be true that cheap crap or Bose Acoustimass crap might be hyped but the decent stuff attempts to be flat and accurate.

Problem is, it's really hard to design a truly flat speaker .... especially when you start looking at off-axis response and how it interacts with the room.
And it's hard whether it's a home stereo speaker or a 'monitor'.
Basically none of them are and all of them have their own colorations ..... ALL of them.

So they make a small speaker .... slap the word 'monitor' on it and bam .... everyone assumes it's flat ..... it's not.

So pick one you like and learn it.

personally I prefer good stereo speakers however they're almost always considerably more expensive than the 'monitors' we can get.
Also I prefer larger for the bass regardless of the size of the room.
I have a small room but I use a pair of JBL's with 8" woofers ...... don't need a sub.
I recently added a set of Polks as a second pair with 2x6 1/2" woofers ..... they sound even better.
And when I was living in Baton Rouge I had a pair of Klipsch corner horns with 18" woofers in a 10x12 room ...... OMG they sounded glorious!

[Greg_L]

Also I prefer larger for the bass regardless of the size of the room.
I have a small room but I use a pair of JBL's with 8" woofers ...... don't need a sub.

I agree with this. Subs....man we aren't making Star Wars sound effects. Nor are we listening to them. I'd rather have bigger speakers and no sub over small speakers "helped" with a sub. I have a friend that I go mix with sometimes. He has 5" speakers with a sub in a little room. The sub adds nothing but shit. He likes it. Sounds huge! But when he mixes with it, it just sounds like fat ass. I make a mix in the same room on the same setup with the sub turned off and my mix blows his away. Now, maybe my ears are better than his. Maybe my tastes are better. I don't know. I just know that a sub is not necessary for what we do. Use it if you want, but you can make a great mix without that low end headache.

[WhiskeyJack]

Hmmm.. Maybe Rokit 5s should stay on the list for now then.

I have Rokit 5's and as Greg stated they do have room for adjusting and tailoring ot a room a bit but i have left mine flat as it came from the factory. I am happy with them. And i would recommend them for small room applications such as yours and mine. i could probably get away with 6's or 7's truth be told.

I would chuck a nod at the yamahas as well. I haven't met anyone yet that has a bad thing to say about them.

Hard to say if i had to replace these if i would get more KRK's or not? the ones i have now were the pre Gibson buy out KRK monitors and i have read that when Gibson bought them out some of the quality was lost. That could just be shit talk from industry reviews and bitter sales people in stores??? I have no way of confirming it.

I don't know what is currently out there these days to go looking for if i had to replace my own.

[Lt. Bob]

Also I prefer larger for the bass regardless of the size of the room.
I have a small room but I use a pair of JBL's with 8" woofers ...... don't need a sub.

I agree with this. Subs....man we aren't making Star Wars sound effects. Nor are we listening to them. I'd rather have bigger speakers and no sub over small speakers "helped" with a sub. I have a friend that I go mix with sometimes. He has 5" speakers with a sub in a little room. The sub adds nothing but shit. He likes it. Sounds huge! But when he mixes with it, it just sounds like fat ass. I make a mix in the same room on the same setup with the sub turned off and my mix blows his away. Now, maybe my ears are better than his. Maybe my tastes are better. I don't know. I just know that a sub is not necessary for what we do. Use it if you want, but you can make a great mix without that low end headache.

totally agree ..... I sorta hate subs.
For my living room system I have a pair of Kipsch R-28's with two 8" woofers.
I do have a tiny sub like you get with a cheap surround system hooked up to a small, $40 20 watt class T amp.
On some stuff I'll turn that on but even with that tiny low powered amp I'll have it barely on just to add a tiny bit to the bottom.
but mostly I don't even turn it on.

And for mixing subs are a nightmare AFAIC.
I don't even usually like them for live work .... the only time I think they're useful is if you have music that wants to pound a beat deep into your soul and get the booties shaking.
They're good for that .... but for anything that involves actually listening, I feel they just murk everything up

[JD01]

Summary: get whatever I can afford that doesn't actually have a bad reputation.

[Tadpui]

I don't think you can go wrong with any of the options mentioned so far. The T5V get very good reviews, the HS5 are a modern classic, and the latest series from KRK (the G4) has made major strides in tightening up the low end compared to their older versions. I also hear great things about Kali in this range of budget-minded monitors.

As for subs, they're a bit complicated to get set up to where they do more good than harm. Placement is key, but most of our rooms don't have many options for placement. So the sub has to sit in a spot where it's nowhere near ideal. For instance, mine sits in the cavity underneath my desk where it has a concrete floor, a drywall wall, and the MDF surface of the desk and sidecars that form a little resonant chamber and skews its frequency output pretty terribly. I really only use it for recreational listening because it skews the low end so much.

At least with monitors, you can use stands or mopads to adjust the height and angle, distance from the wall, distance from each other, etc to get closer to an "ideal" placement for your room. I love my sub, but I also admit that it doesn't result in a "flat" low end for me.

[JD01]

Oh, also
We have a few wetsuits to chuck out. Shall I make monitor pads out of them?

[WhiskeyJack]

Oh, also
We have a few wetsuits to chuck out. Shall I make monitor pads out of them?

yes.

[Bubba]

Hmmm.. Maybe Rokit 5s should stay on the list for now then.

I've been looking at the recent lists and the Rokit 5s get a really hefty recommendation on most of them. The later iterations of most small monitors seem to have attenuation switches to help you tune to the room, so you now have a wide choice of good options.

I liked the Yammy HS5s because they produced good mixes for me that sounded great in the van, but they are somewhat depressing to mix on because you think nothing sounds good, until you play it on something else! If you're happy with that idea then great, but I upgraded to the HS8s eventually because I was mostly guessing the bottom end and that can't be a good thing.

[WhiskeyJack]

Hmmm.. Maybe Rokit 5s should stay on the list for now then.

I've been looking at the recent lists and the Rokit 5s get a really hefty recommendation on most of them.

Yea so i stand to eat crow [mention]JD01[/mention]

It looks like the newest generation of KRK's have both High and Low frequency room tuners along with the gain stage. I have the G2 5's and only have the gain staging and high frequency tuners. I think my room would really benefit from those low frequency tuners!!! As that still seesm to be a woffy problem most of my refernce mixes have.

Maybe i want a pair of classic 5's now.

I also noticed i have the gain stage on my 5's are cranked at +30 Can't help but wonder what that could be doing to my mixes. hmmmm.

[Armistice]

Hmmm.. Maybe Rokit 5s should stay on the list for now then.

but they are somewhat depressing to mix on because you think nothing sounds good, until you play it on something else!

I have this issue... Except sometimes it doesn't sound good on something else. Damn monitors... Because it couldn't be me, right?

I'd go higher than 5s for the low end - you don't have to crank them to appreciate it.

[CeeBee]

I had a pair of Behringer B2031A Truth in my last appartment and really liked them. Thomann has them for 250 quid a pair.

[JD01]

Cheers Ceebee. I'll check them out.

This looks like a tidy deal too
https://www.thediscdjstore.com/krk-roki ... undle.html

Re: tuning monitors to the room. I'm assuming this just means putting on a few reference mixes that I like and then toggling the knobs and switches until they sound how I like.

[ocnor]

I use a pair of JBL 305 monitors. They are clear sounding and get plenty loud. I was surprised by the amount of bass produced by the 5" woofer.

[JD01]

I use a pair of JBL 305 monitors. They are clear sounding and get plenty loud. I was surprised by the amount of bass produced by the 5" woofer.

These things?
https://www.andertons.co.uk/jbl-305p-mk ... or-jbl1853

Cheers Ocnor