 Cheap monitors - is it worth it? |
Yawn 
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Im on the lookout for some monitors coz at the moment im producing with hi fi speakers 
(although they are fairly decent to be fair) but I have one major problem.....money. I literally have fuck all money so my budget doesnt stretch very far.
Ive seen these behringer Monitor 1C and spec wise they look ok... but are they really gonna benefit me? do you think they are going to better noticebly better than using hi-fi speakers?
any ideas?
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10-01-2006 12:19 |
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cynik
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10-01-2006 12:39 |
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thechronic
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That depends very much on the quality of your hifi speakers ofcourse. Hard to say whether they will be better or worse if you don't know the qualities of either 
Judging the size, build and price the Behringers will probably not be earth shattering, but they could well be a nice addition to your setup.
If I were you I would buy the Behringers and keep the hifi speakers too. If you have trouble scraping a budget together for something bigger then don't wait for ages saving cash to end up buying something which is just a little bit better.
Buy the Behringers now, use the hifi speakers as a reference pair, switch between them every 20 minutes. In the end you can make better mixes if you have two different sets of crappy speakers, than if you have one set of great speakers but no possibility to reference.
Next step would probably be to buy a nice pair of headphones, so you have three references 
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10-01-2006 12:41 |
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Surya
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I always work with 1 reference: my monitors 
But as mr chronic said: they might be of help indeed, eventhough they're extremely cheap!
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"In dnb you should make people jump not swim"
- Pieter Frenssen 2004
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10-01-2006 12:51 |
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Yawn
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cool cool, I'll probably get myself a pair of them - I know at £25 obviously they're not gonna be amazing but hopefully having two points of reference will help me improve my mixes.
cheers guys
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10-01-2006 15:28 |
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@1$-)
unregistered
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save your money.
buy something worth buying.....you might as well wait untilyou can afford something worth getting.the new active assist tannoys are nice....and if you dont want to spend that much keep an eye for some half decent jbls.....and then theres always e bay....
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10-01-2006 16:25 |
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Halph-Price
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| quote: |
Originally posted by crushfuck
Im on the lookout for some monitors coz at the moment im producing with hi fi speakers
(although they are fairly decent to be fair) but I have one major problem.....money. I literally have fuck all money so my budget doesnt stretch very far.
Ive seen these behringer Monitor 1C and spec wise they look ok... but are they really gonna benefit me? do you think they are going to better noticebly better than using hi-fi speakers?
any ideas? |
if you want an investment, for you money, don't get behringer. they make good looking stuff, but it's made in china. it's like the crap at the dollar store, and suckers you into buy it. you get what you pay for.
it's a german comapny, i know, they make good shit. it's constructed in china, for pennies. i have had sound guys 30 years in the business. one gentleman said it's not bad, but don't expect to be using them for a long time. if you can, save up, or you'll just end up having to get more monitors down the road.
there cheap in construction, that's for sure. and there inexpensive. get what you pay for. get them.
try calling up studios near by and ask if they have any monitors they have for sale. they might have a pair, and since there music studos, they get treated well. someone will. you don't see many musical exquipment just flaoting out on ebay from studios, it's all just them pimping it out. music is a tight community, word of mouth.
now here's some advice no fucking music magazine will tell ya. i think.
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This post has been edited 2 time(s), it was last edited by Halph-Price: 11-01-2006 02:12.
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11-01-2006 02:10 |
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short-wave
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I use behringer speakers, Truth B2030A and Truth B2092A. Together I spent less then $600 usd on the set up, including shipping costs and cables! The sub was B-stock, so it was my main point of saving in the system. I would have like to have gotten Mackie HR824andHRS120, but the cost of one speaker is way more than the whole set up I am running right now. It is obvious that the better product will sound better and last longer. I just think of all the gear I could buy with the savings! mixing board, software!!!! the list goes on forever.
Being in a handfull of "pro" studios over the years, sometimes the equipment they have is below average in quality, the music doesn't seem to reflect that at all though. It is up to the artist to make the music really stand out. I used to think all my favorite producers were on some of the best equipment ever, right from the get go. Wrong. Asking around, most producers that I have run into seem to have started from humble beginings. It takes years to build a high quality kit. Unless your rich...than you can have all the best equipment, and sound like shit still.
If it studio gear, it will be a upgrade from what you are using now.
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SLVG
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11-01-2006 05:38 |
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equipped
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Yeah im packin the "truth B2031's"....big sound with some great feature's on the back for gettin that sound you want,..got to aggree with Half-price on the whole Behringer bein cheep thing,...my mixer->{mx602a}--> has allready fucked up big time,...and when i went to plug a 3 prong into my Behringer monitor's,. the inlet itself poped into the speaker,...cheap ass Behringer! 
,...but i got's to say,. with a bit of ductape everything's workin fine..
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Space
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11-01-2006 06:08 |
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Halph-Price
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OHH, JOKES, too funny. oh snap. ROFL.
yea, save your money, don't settle for something' that cheap only if it's cheaper than to rent it for money. either that or get a good job. if not, learn to work the best with what you got. and just hope. if you want music deal, this is good, some labels will sign a talent if you're good and tour... but this is just a side note in general.
let's think, why do you want the monitors so bad you might invest unwisely like our german friend. you got everything you need.
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11-01-2006 07:25 |
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djfreemc
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Maybe you can also check the behringer MS16's. They're also very cheap and active, so you won't need an extra amp.
To be honest though, I don't think monitors in this price range will give you better sound if you already have decent hifi speakers. To me, my idea of getting cheap monitors would be spending about 300-500€.
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11-01-2006 12:51 |
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Yawn
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unfortunately though 300 - 500€ which is about £200 - £350 is way more than I can afford right now and possibly for a long while to come
I looked at the MS16's but spec wise I dont think they are as good as the 1C.
MS16
Power 8W
Frequency Response 80 - 2000 Hz
Impedance 4 ohm
Woofer 4"
Tweeter 1 1/2"
1C
Power 100W
Frequency Response 60 - 2300 Hz
Impedance 4 ohm
woofer 5 1/2"
Tweeter 1/2"
also my old technics amp has enough channels for two sets of speakers so I wont need another amp which is nice
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11-01-2006 18:02 |
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Surora23
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dont get cap monitors but its not like you hav eto get a set of KRK or blue skys or something...
cause there is a 90% chance that youre not gonna properly set up your room and monitors witht the right acoustics... i got a friend going to SAE and he says jsut as long as they have a pretty decent flat response youre allright cause the room is waht makes most of the difference... just buy anything thats pretty much affordable and has a flat response... youre not in a proffesional studoi so its not liek you neeed super pro materials
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Rinse it OUT!!!! 
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11-01-2006 20:29 |
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Halph-Price
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you need nearfields.
they reduce room acustics, and 80% of the sound you hear is direct form the monitors. this is why nearfield is desired. it doesn't elminate, it reduces though. still if you set a big space behind you to make the sound take long to reflect, and the bass not get resonants that high, it will help with them. the echo from the room will be ignored by the direct sound.
you can mix with anything though. just learn the sound of the speakers, burn songs to cd, listen to them everywhere, and decide how good it's done. i use headphones and my mixes seem tob e genreally good. ... the songs themself are anotehr issue...
the best advice i got from a old dnb producer here in the city was to use HEADPHONES!
unlike all speakrs, there's no latency with the mix. and drum and bass is going by in milliseconds. you cancel the entire room sounds too.
just again, listen on differnt mixes, until you get the sound form them good. bass is a little tricky, but it's not hard to get.
i suggest sony Studio Monitor MDR-V150 or 300. anything thee or up is use able, and they cost the price of like 2 and a half cd's.
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This post has been edited 1 time(s), it was last edited by Halph-Price: 13-01-2006 00:08.
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13-01-2006 00:05 |
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Raqun
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I have sony mdr - v300..and they are quite good but they boost low f and filter hi f so you still have to listen to it on speakers because otherwise you won't make a decent drum set.
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Rara
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25-01-2006 18:06 |
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cynik
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26-01-2006 11:28 |
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thechronic
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| quote: |
Originally posted by cynik
I'm thinking about these
M-Audio LX4 2.1
not expensive: 280$ new, 170$ used |
Relevant part of a PM reply to cynik:
| quote: |
There are so many factors which are important, not just the speakers but also the amplifier, the placement, the room acoustics etc.
Best is to ask if you can demo them and another similarly priced pair in your own mix room, that makes it easy to make a choice. Not sure if the shop will allow it though 
I'm not a big fan of the subwoofer + 2 mini speakers setup btw, gives worse results than two medium sized speakers without sub. OK you get a frequency response that is a few Hz extended at the low end, but much hassle in finding the right placement for the sub + I'm not convinced of the quality of the crossover which is embedded in low end subs.
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26-01-2006 17:12 |
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thechronic
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| quote: |
Originally posted by cynik
those are real cheap! youre gonna need an amplifier for them, don't forget.. |
You do need a good amp to do your speakers justice, go for a AA-class hifi amp, they are not really cheap (between 400-800 euro) but they have the best price-quality ratio and they last for 20 years or more.
Pro amps are really too expensive for a home studio. Cheap amps on the other hand are useless, you can hook the best sounding speakers in the world up to a shitty amp and it will sound like crap.
If you don't have a good amp already or can't afford one it is better to go for cheap powered speakers instead of passive ones. They will be smaller for the same price, but the end quality will be better.
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26-01-2006 17:15 |
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thechronic
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For the people that advise crushfuck to wait: consider his very low budget, if he has to think twice to spend 25 pounds on speakers it will probably take him months to save up for anything bigger and will be stuck with his current setup for ages.
IMO if crush buys the cheap Behringers now, he can increase his monitoring quality immediately. He'll have a nicer production environment for many months to come and can in the meantime save up for something better.
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26-01-2006 17:29 |
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thechronic
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| quote: |
Originally posted by crushfuck
MS16
Power 8W
Frequency Response 80 - 2000 Hz
Impedance 4 ohm
Woofer 4"
Tweeter 1 1/2"
1C
Power 100W
Frequency Response 60 - 2300 Hz
Impedance 4 ohm
woofer 5 1/2"
Tweeter 1/2"
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Rule 1: ignore anything that has the word 'Watt' in it because it is completely meaningless
Loudness is measured in dB(A)@1m. 8W speakers of brand A can very well sound better and louder than 800W speakers of brand B.
Rule 2: frequency response statistics are worthless without corresponding graphs and details about how they were measured. The minimum requirement is at least some additional details on the deviation across the spectrum (ie 60Hz-18000Hz +0/-3dB). Every self respecting speaker manufacturer will give proper frequency graphs with their products.
And I hope you forgot a 0 in the frequency ranges, 2000 / 2300 Hz is a bit low
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26-01-2006 17:38 |
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