Monitor Speaker Suggestions?
 

Doing a forum search, it seems that the Mackie hr824 hits the sweetspot of price and performance.

Do you agree? Any other suggestions? Looking to spend no more than ~$600, if possible. Also, the Makie's are amped, so if your suggestion isn't, please include a recommendation for that as well.

Thanks VERY MUCH. :)

I recently installed a pair of JBL Pro 4328p monitors that I'm very happy with. When I listened to the Mackies I found them muddy and not very well defined in the bass ehile the midrange lacked transparency - instruments got lost in the mix. The JBLs are very smooth and detailed over the entire range and their computerized room mode correction makes a very noticable difference in the tonality and detail in the bass.

Is your budget of $600 per speaker or total?
As the HR824 you mention goes for $500 each.

In my experience with the 824, they are an OK monitor for the money,
but I could not listen at level for extended periods as fatigue set in quickly.

I have the JBL 4328p now, and once they are broken-in they are a great monitor for someone wanting a good quality monitor on a limited budget,

I am also looking for a good set of monitors. How do the JBL 4326p monitors compare with the 4328p? Also, I see that the monitor has a USB connector. Is this just for calibration, or can sound output also be transfered to the monitors via usb?

Another vote for JBL. I have been the same pair of 4406 for about 15 years. They look and sound like the day I bought them. They are driven by a Hafler Pro1200. An awesome combo for a small production/editing room. I don't think you can go wrong with JBL.

I have a old pair of Yamaha NS-10S monitors. What are some thoughts on using them as monitors for an edit bay? What receiver would work well with them?

I don't mean to hijack the thread, just thought I'd ask...

Thanks,
Kevin

Back in the day, a sound studio control room would have a big pair of monitors mounted 8-12' away from the mixer, and a second pair of near-field monitors for reference mounted on the console.

The Yamaha NS-10 was the leading near-field monitor for this application... some used the Auratone 5. The big monitors were to hear what the program sounded like, the near-fields to hear what it would likely sound like at home.

These days, near-fields have been accepted as primary monitoring in small suites, and the NS-10 still stacks up very well. It does not have the low-end response to serve as a the only monitor for mixing music, but should do fine for most video editing applications.

For the less than $700 range I'd go for Tannoy REVEAL 8D.

You can control the monitors from the workstation computer with JBL's application software -select inputs, set levels, adjust equalization, etc and that's what the USB port is for. They do not accept sound signal directly through USB but they DO have both S/PDIF and AES/EBU digital inputs as well as analog so you can definitely send digital directly to them, just not through the USB.

The 26's have 6" woofers while the 28's have 8". The means the 28's have a bit lower bass, about 5 Hz lower. Other than that, the two are pretty near identical. I was originally going to go with the 6's just because of the small size of my work area but they were on backorder and I got a deal on the 8s, a pair of new condition demos used less than a week by JBL themselves in a loaner setup at one of a major studio's post production suites (and the studio liked 'em cause they sent these back to JBL along with an order for several full 5.1 setups) so I got the 8's with a full new system warranty for the price of the 6's.

dynaudio bm5a (or if you can afford it, bm6a) great bang for buck, under 1G a pair.

Richards's suggestion is a good own. The ADAM monitors are also very good.

Regards,

Ty Ford

Thanks for ALL the input guys!

Richard, would you agree that for a small room, the bm5a's should be comparable to the 6a's?

I have monitored with the bm15a and really liked them, but was disappointed with the bm5a.

Any thoughts on the bm5a's versus the ADAM A7's?

I really like the sound of the ones I've heard on the floor of various tech shows and in the demo rooms.

Were I in the market, they'd be a top contender.

Regards,

Ty Ford