# What Monitors to buy (Specific)



## Tanuj Tiku (Jul 21, 2013)

Hi!

I have been using Dynaudio BM6A's for a long time. I have enjoyed using them and at the time I got them, I did not know much about speakers at all.

I had KRK Rokit 8 before that. Not a huge fan of that.

Now, my speakers are dying I believe and may be its time to get a new set.

In most countries, most brands are easily available. Over here in Mumbai, here is a list of speakers that I can demo easily and I thought it will be nice to have a vote of the best speakers you have used from a list that I will provide. I do not want to buy something I cannot test myself. It is a huge investment after all!

I am looking for speakers which are slightly bigger than BM 6A - 7 Inch woofer and above - no more than 8 inch. I do not have that kind of space. These are meant to be near/mid field at best. Not a main monitoring set up. 

So here is a list of speakers I can demo in Mumbai and buy from:

1. Anything from Genelec

2. Anything from Dynaudio

3. Quested (some models)

4. Focal - Easily available

5. Anything from Sonodyne

6. Tannoy (some models)

7. Anything from Yamaha

8. Mackie (most models)

9. Adam

10. Eve Audio (just out - select stuff)

11. ATC - Select models


Other suggestions are welcome but it may be difficult to find them - but if you feel strongly about a certain monitor, do let me know! I can always find out, I dont know every monitor system out there or all the dealers.


I work in a semi-treated room and do not have a studio. I will however be doing up a studio in the near future. So, I am not looking to buy very cheap monitors. Sound is important to me and I have to be able to get a decent response of what I am doing. I am not relying on my speakers for everything because I am not sitting in a pro studio. But, I work between my headphones and speakers as well.

But most importantly, at some point next year, these speakers will be going into a proper studio space. These will not be my main monitors - nearfields.


Thanks.

Tanuj.


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## jamwerks (Jul 21, 2013)

Hi Tanuj,

There are several quality brands there on your list. Just a couple general suggestions:

1) monitors are generally a "once every ten years" type of item, so don't hesitate to spend a relatively high amount (10 hours a day x 10 years of pleasure!)

2) Big stores that have a special room for listening to monitors can be fun and informative. Thak in some favorite CD's, and A/B several brands all in a few minutes. If your city doesn't have such a dealer, it might be worth the trip to a city that does.

Happy shopping !!


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## FriFlo (Jul 21, 2013)

Tanuj, I recently bought new speakers. My first advice would be to get 3-way speakers, good ones, if you can afford them.
My final choice was between the new Neumann 310 A (the new Klein und Hummel o300) and the Adam S3X (vertical or horizontal). I finally went with Adam S3X-V. Here is why:
I compared them next to each other and couldn't really pick a favorite. The Adam has more low end. The o300 sounds a little bit more focused on voice. Etc, etc ... both are excellent speakers IMO. The only reason why I went with the Adams were:
- I have been using Adam before and know its special tweeter design (some hate it other love it)
- the adam sounded slightly better to me on orchestral stuff
- the Adams have EQ and amp control on the front face, which is excellent for me, as I will flush mount them later
- I could get a used pair (barely used over one year) for the price of one speaker new

IMO, the differences between high end speakers are there, but there is al lot of exaggeration going on about which one is the best, as there is none - it's a personal choice! Don't even start reading stuff about speakers on gearslutz. When I finally heard them everything I read before was basically a joke to me. I would need at least half a year with two pairs in my studio to pick my favourite! That is not possible, when you also want to make a good deal price wise ...
Conclusion: Don't spend too much time on the speaker choice. For some people it seems to be quite like a religion. In the end, it will make way more difference, how your room is treated, which costs way more money and/or time. That's why I would go with whatever you like and can afford, if possible 3-way design, test that in your room and spend way more time afterwards in measuring and treating your room, if you haven't done so already.
Hope that helps ...


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## Dan Mott (Jul 21, 2013)

IMO.

If you liked the Dyns, then you will love these even more

http://www.eve-audio.com/index.php?page=SC305

I was going to choose the dyns, but I thought these excelled a lot better in the mid range


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## ghostnote (Jul 21, 2013)

Had some time to compare a bunch of monitors in the shops a while ago, here's my conclusion:

Adams: Very good spatial image, very detailed highs (too much for my taste)
Ganelec and Neumann: incredible sound, even the smaller ones, but pricy...
Esi UniK 08: Not the best but a very good allrounder
Yamaha HS 05/08: Overrated. 05 Not enough bass
Mackie: My personal choice, BUT more on the hi-fi side: good bass, recessed highs

I'm absolutely no pro and that this is just my subjective opinion.


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## mark812 (Jul 21, 2013)

If you want translation, get Yamahas. If you want detail, get Focals or Adams.


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## wst3 (Jul 21, 2013)

Rain-on-Parade Mode ON:

There is really only one person that can make this choice - YOU - and I think you already know that!

In fact, if I were list differences between two different loudspeakers my list would be different than yours.

I"m really sorry there is no shortcut here, but there simply isn't.

Things are probably slightly better in my neck of the woods, but in fact it has become quite difficult to audition loudspeakers everywhere.

While the big box stores carry more brands than my favorite family owned shop (which has long since gone out of business - a separate rant), the listening rooms, at least around me, are falt out horrid!

So the only way to know for certain that you made the right choice is to use the monitors in your space. This is becoming increasingly difficult!

The good news is that it is also becoming increasingly difficult to choose a really bad set of monitors! There are still some really bad designs on the market, but there are only a couple on your list - and keep in mind that just because I think they are drek does not mean you will (although Nick B will confirm I am always right about these things<G>).

Since you did ask for specific:
Genelec - I am not a fan, they tend to be fatiguing to my ears

Dynaudio - Great monitors, very honest, the smaller models are a little light on low end (pesky laws of physics?)

Quested - have yet to hear a pair I did not like

Focal - mixed experiences, but I'm quite certain it was more about the rooms than the monitors, I'd definitely audition them again.

Sonodyne - the one pair I heard were quite nice, almost too nice, if that makes sense.

Tannoy - their individual drivers are amazing, and I really like their monitors as well. They can have a tendency towards fatiguing for me.

Yamaha - I do not like them, they are too hyped.
Mackie - I like these even less than Yamaha, but a friend uses them in a smaller room for prog-rock and his mixes translate really well.

Adam - another of my favorites

Eve Audio - I've not heard these yet

ATC - amazing surround monitors, I've not heard them in a straight up stereo config though. I suspect they might be a little bit tiring.

You did not mention Klein and Hummel (now Neumann) - I've only auditioned a pair once (courtesy of a local rep) but I was really happy with them, they remind me of the Bowes & Wilkens monitors that are popular amongst the classical music set. They might be a bit focused on mid-range for some folks.

And you did not mention the new Presonus monitors that were designed with Fulcrum Audio's David Guinness. I have yet to hear these, but I am familiar with his large space designs, and really want to hear these!!!

Finally, to put things into some perspective, my personal favorites right now are the Urei 809 and the Haffler TRM8...

I don't know if any of this will help...


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## Tanuj Tiku (Jul 21, 2013)

Thanks for replying guys.

When I bought my monitors when I started out professionally about 5 years ago, a few friends and online reviews convinced me that Dynaudio was good. It was also being used in many studios. So, I just went ahead with it. 

Its been really nice to me and I enjoyed working on them.

I do need a slightly big set to sometimes, crank it up and feel the low end a little bit more. In short, the speakers get strained on louder volumes and I wanted to change it since sometime.

The recent problems with it have only motivated me more to change my monitoring and buy slightly bigger ones.

Now, whenever I have heard BM 15A, I have not liked them that much. This could be because of the rooms. But, on 2-3 occasions, I did not like the sound very much and felt it was not consistent with the BM 6A sound that I have come to understand. 

I do not like Genelec - too much high frequency stuff going on. I have however heard them come out quite nice in a good studio but this is the only time. I have heard them in many other studios and not really liked the sound.

I hate Yamaha. My first set were Yamaha (the small ones, I am forgetting the name). That was in University but that is all I could afford at the time. I do not like working on them. 

Mackie - I have had bad experiences. It was in a studio I was working a lot in for about a year or two and I found them not transparent at all. May be it was the room once again but they did not make sense to me.

Focal has nice highs and very pronounced mids - I am not sure if this is something I am not hearing right in my Dynas or that they are hyped in it. 

Quested - the one time I heard it, was really good.

ATC is OFF the list because its too expensive for me right now. I just checked the prices.

Why did I put some of the brands that I do not like on the list? Because, I have heard them in compromised spaces a lot of the times and I did not always know what to listen to back then - I wasn't always carrying my favourite recording CD with me!

Actually, Yamaha and Mackie are off the list I suppose. I have heard them enough times to not like anything really.


There are no demo rooms set up nicely in Mumbai. I can get some of these speakers in for demos in to my space. Thatis not a problem and this is the only way I was going to do it anyway. Dealers are ok with this in Mumbai because they d not have a good space to demo them as real estate is very high here and its not everyday people are buying high-end speakers. 



Tanuj.


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## muk (Jul 21, 2013)

Might be a bit of a long shot, but if you can find a distributor in India I'd take a serious look into Geithain monitors!
Another monitor in high regard is the Spendor SA1. I checked the distributors, and they have one in India, in Pune. I'm not sure how far it is from Mumbai, but I think if they really catch your interest, it will be worth the travel.


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## Tanuj Tiku (Jul 21, 2013)

muk,


Pune is an enjoyable three hour drive from Mumbai. I will check it out. Thanks for the heads up!


Tanuj.


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## yikes (Jul 21, 2013)

http://sphotos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-frc1/1003277_10151475014391884_1374097021_n.jpg

Dubai recently got a Genelec demo room. I haven't checked it yet. But I'm sure its good. 

And Dubai is not really far away, only if you are too busy at the moment.


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## Arbee (Jul 21, 2013)

+1 for Adam - in my experience they do not sound their best when new, but once bedded in they are great.

.


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## rgames (Jul 21, 2013)

I got the Adam A7X's a year or two ago. They definitely have more high-end detail than the Mackies they replaced.

However, I do find that they produce distortion on material that produces a lot of higher harmonic interaction such as this: http://www.rgamesmusic.com/clients/Temp/CelesteDistortion.wav (http://www.rgamesmusic.com/clients/Temp ... ortion.wav)

When I play that through my Adam's at moderate volume I get a lot of high-end distortion, especially the last chord. It's not near as bad (and basically negligible) on my other speakers and my headphones.

So I guess that's the fundamental trade: more detail helps when you need it and hurts when you don't. That's also my fundamental issue with monitors in general: I'll agree that they sound "different" but "better" is impossible for me to quantify. That .wav sounds "better" on the $100 pieces of crap I use as "bad" reference monitors than it does on my expensive Adam monitors.

rgames


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## Tanuj Tiku (Jul 21, 2013)

thanks guys, I will check out Adams. 


Yikes:

I have had the opportunity to hear Genelecs in many professional studios. Cant say that I love them. They sounded good, oddly in one Andy Munro room which was a real shocker because he only uses Dynaudio. Must be on the request of the composer.

I even worked with Genelecs in university for three years. They are not bad but I just prefer Dynas over them.

I am waiting for a clearance from the local government on an office space which was supposed to be my studio. Unfortunately, it ran into trouble because of an illegal activity by the builder.

He has since paid the penalty and says that within a couple of months, the building may finally get a certificate to allow owners to start moving in.

At that point, I am going to get my studio designed by Philip Newell and will be going for the Reflexion Arts 239 which he highly recommends. 

These near fields are going to be just that, sitting as a second reference up against the big boys.

However, I have heard stories where composers usually turn to near fields over time and do not end up using the big speakers as much. 

Mr. Zimmer has the big Quested speakers in the distant front wall but he once again seems to be using the near fields for the bulk of his composing - of course there is no way to tell for sure unless he replies himself.

Obviously for the sake of investment and audio clarity, I do not want to buy just any other pair. I will be having larger and hopefully better speakers in a really good room designed by a master. 

Usually it is recommended to get a different set of second reference speakers. 

In the end, a lot of the music I will work on may be mixed by an engineer in my studio so that I can have control and easily be present for the mixing - save money as well 


Tanuj.


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## Peter Alexander (Jul 21, 2013)

Another consideration is to look at the Hz range of the orchestra, from lowest pitch to highest (see Spectrotone Chart if you have one), then compare the range of the monitors you're contemplating to the range of the orchestra. I would then compare both CD's and your own mixes with the monitors you're considering.


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## Nick Batzdorf (Jul 21, 2013)

The difference between Bill and me is that Bill isn't embarrassed to admit that he loves his UREI 809s.

I liked the Hafler speakers when I heard them too, but that was a long time ago and I don't remember what they sounded like. However, I have a Hafler amp powering my 809As, and it's just great.

Anyway, the UREIs haven't been made for years and Hafler has been out of business for years.


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## wst3 (Jul 21, 2013)

Nick Batzdorf @ Sun Jul 21 said:


> The difference between Bill and me is that Bill isn't embarrassed to admit that he loves his UREI 809s.



Indeed, that is the only difference!


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## yikes (Jul 22, 2013)

vibrato @ Mon 22 Jul said:


> At that point, I am going to get my studio designed by Philip Newell and will be going for the Reflexion Arts 239 which he highly recommends.



Thats great news. Is it gonna be your personal studio ? or you will be having more guys around ?


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## Simplesly (Jul 22, 2013)

Hafler 9505 or a Bryston 4bsst and some westlake bbsm6's and you're set!


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## ed buller (Jul 22, 2013)

I've been mixing on ADAM for years and love them. The AD77X are a total bargain. You'd have to spend twice as much to beat them in my opinion 

e


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## Bunford (Jul 22, 2013)

I use a small home project studio to do any audio work. I've just invested in some monitors after a lot of research and I absolutely love them! 

I bought the RCF Ayra 5 monitors. There are also a 6 and 8" version too as well as a 10" sub you can buy.

I'd definitely recommend these!


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## Madrigal (Jul 22, 2013)

I don't know why everyone complains about the Yamahas. Yes, they aren't enjoyable to listen to but they translate very very well! They're also more than affordable. I don't _love_ mine, but they're certainly useful. 

I find that mixing on monitors that sound too good always leaves me disappointed when I get the mix onto other listening systems. It never matches the listening pleasure. 

Now back on topic, if you can try a pair of Neumann KH-120, I would definitely add them to the list of monitors to test out, someone mentioned them before. They're beautiful and about as clear and detailed as you will get in that price range.


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## Nick Batzdorf (Jul 22, 2013)

> Hafler 9505 or a Bryston 4bsst and some westlake bbsm6's and you're set!



The 9505 is the one I have. It's freaking great.

And there's something to be said for Glenn Phoenix' (Westlake designer's) "nothing new under the sun" philosophy of speakers: just focus on getting them right rather than on flashy technology. That's sort of what the UREIs are too, never mind that point source coherence was once a new idea.

Of course, there's also a lot to be said for rethinking the whole thing:

http://www.bang-olufsen.com/en-US/sound/loudspeakers/beolab-5 (http://www.bang-olufsen.com/en-US/sound ... s/beolab-5)


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## Beat Kaufmann (Jul 22, 2013)

Hi Tanui
Let me tell about my way of finding new monitors last year. I know that you work with samples as well. So your monitors should be tools which are able... 
A) ...to position all the instruments either in the depth or 
B) from right to left as precisely as possible.
C) ...to help you finding frequencies in a mix which are missing or "overstressed".
D) ...to help you "judging" a mix - also in the low frequencies. So the monitors should be able to reproduce the lowest frequencies in an Orchestra which are around 30Hz (C=33Hz of the Double Bass). 

So prepare an audio file for A) to D) and take it with you into the music store.
As examples...
A) Let play a Bassoon, an Oboe and a Piccolo in several depths (always a bit deeper in the room) 
Question: Which speaker can show this movement into the depth in the best way? 

B) Let play the 3 instruments (mono) as well from left to the right - always in very little pan steps.
Question: Which speaker can show these movements in the best way?

C) Listen to a mix which you know very well and which is known as an audio reference.
Specially: Listen to the speakers also in a room next door.
Question: Which speaker doesn't sound as a speaker in the room next door?
(You will make out a lot of differences > from cheese to pot)

D) Play some chords with different instruments, always with the low C 
(Woodwinds with Contra Bassoon, Brass with Tuba, Strings with...)
Question: Which speaker can really show the bottom? loud and quiet?

_About my selection: _
I wanted to buy the monitors XXX because I know that lot's of studios has them as their reference. 
OK, I compared some other speakers with my favourite. 
Soon it was clear: The XXXs will not make the race. They had a nice and airy sound when I listened in front of them. But...
A) XXX clearly failed, compared to the new preference YYY
B) While the new preference YYY could show the positions "razor-sharp" the XXX where not that clear.
C) While in front of the speakers both sounded OK it turned in the room next door. The YYY sounded more natural than XXX.
D) The YYY sounded clearly lower.

4:0... bye bye XXX ,buying YYY

I went at home with speakers knowing that I bought the best monitors for the money and that they will help me to produce good mixes either with samples or with my live recordings.


_So, listening_ 
is the best way to get speakers. Tests and recommendations can help to enclose the circle of possible speakers. 

By the way, I really love my monitors. Disadvantage: I also recognize with them how lots of mixes - specially with samples - are bad, not mastered... also examples of mine.

Hope that helped a bit.

Beat


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## Tanuj Tiku (Jul 28, 2013)

Thanks guys!

Really appreciate all the advice! I will of course, test the monitors myself in my environment and the music I know well.

Hopefully, now I can make an informed decision.


Tanuj.


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## KayoticMusic (Jul 28, 2013)

Good questions & good discussion, just reading you guys responses to the topic gave me a lot of insight. I currently have the Yamaha HS80M's and even though I know they are not the best they do seem to translate good. I was thinking about a upgrade but didn't want to jump out there and waste money on some monitors that would not be that much better. I seen a few monitor suggestions in this post I might look into in the future, thanks everyone.




https://twitter.com/KayoticMusic


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## Marius Masalar (Jul 28, 2013)

rgames @ Sun Jul 21 said:


> I got the Adam A7X's a year or two ago. They definitely have more high-end detail than the Mackies they replaced.
> 
> However, I do find that they produce distortion on material that produces a lot of higher harmonic interaction such as this: http://www.rgamesmusic.com/clients/Temp/CelesteDistortion.wav (http://www.rgamesmusic.com/clients/Temp ... ortion.wav)
> 
> ...


Not to derail the thread, but this is interesting, Richard — I have a pair of A7Xs myself (and adore them) and I'm not hearing the distortion you describe. Certainly nothing on the last chord. There does seem to be something of a build-up of room noise, but that's a sample thing, not any sort of distortion.

I have mine dialed to about the 4th volume line, with a moderate signal level coming out of my Duet 2. I wonder if I'm not hearing it because I'm not listening for the right thing or if there's some discrepancy between the speakers/listening environments...?


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## lumcas (Jul 28, 2013)

Whatever you happen to choose, just learn your new monitors and how they interact with your room and translate to other speakers. Some of my friends have (let's put it politely) less then stellar working environment but their mixes sound great, because they know their tools and rooms inside out. 

Nevertheless, BIG +1 for Klein and Hummel (Neumann) from me - the least ear-fatigueing (here goes my "sorry for my English, not my native language" quote) speaker I have ever encountered. The other brand I know relatively well is Genelec and they just never did it for me (too harsh).


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## Steve Steele (Jul 30, 2013)

What about the Event Opals? Just out of curiosity.


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## tmm (Jul 31, 2013)

Had the opportunity to demo some Tannoys, Adam A7Xs, and a couple Mackies side by side this evening. The Mackies were surprisingly nice and detailed in the highs, but the Adams smoked the other two in the mids and were noticeably more clear and deep sounding. I liked the Tannoys least of the bunch. They were clearer than the Yamahas that were playing when I walked in the room, but sounded somewhat dull and scooped compared with the Mackies and especially the Adams.


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## gsilbers (Jul 31, 2013)

get the focals or adams. 
and if you can afford... barefoot 3mm


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## Arbee (Jul 31, 2013)

tmm @ Thu Aug 01 said:


> Had the opportunity to demo some Tannoys, Adam A7Xs, and a couple Mackies side by side this evening. The Mackies were surprisingly nice and detailed in the highs, but the Adams smoked the other two in the mids and were noticeably more clear and deep sounding. I liked the Tannoys least of the bunch. They were clearer than the Yamahas that were playing when I walked in the room, but sounded somewhat dull and scooped compared with the Mackies and especially the Adams.


It's a great luxury to be able to do side by side demos like this isn't it. I had a similar experience, spent hours in the store with many of my favourite reference tracks, and came to the same conclusions as you almost immediately (including being pleasantly surprised by the Mackies). The Adam A7X rocks my world anyway :D 

.


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