# Best studio monitors for price/quality?



## sIR dORT (Feb 15, 2019)

Hey ya'll,

I'm looking for a pair of studio speakers right now, and I'm on a low budget (pretty dang low). I don't need premium speakers - they simply need to be giving me a clean signal, good enough to base my mixes on (along with some headphones).

Thanks,
David


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## whiskers (Feb 15, 2019)

JBL Lsr305 is a pretty solid bet. Sound great.


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## AlexRuger (Feb 15, 2019)

Was going to suggest JBL's as well. I've used LSR 2328p's for...honestly, way longer than I should. But I know them so well at this point, and for the price they're very clean and flat. I believe the LSR308's are the upgrade, but you can find 2328p's for dirt cheap, and I haven't noticed a meaningful difference between the two.


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## sIR dORT (Feb 15, 2019)

Well that's easy, thanks for help.


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## chillbot (Feb 15, 2019)

When I read the thread title, I thought well, JBLs for sure, but no reason to post because someone else has surely posted already. So anyway... glad to be correct and just another vote for JBLs. I think whatever your budget is, JBL tends to win that price range. The 305, 306 are great for the price, and we have a couple pairs of 308 that I think are fantastic.


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## gregh (Feb 15, 2019)

chillbot said:


> When I read the thread title, I thought well, JBLs for sure, but no reason to post because someone else has surely posted already. So anyway... glad to be correct and just another vote for JBLs. I think whatever your budget is, JBL tends to win that price range. The 305, 306 are great for the price, and we have a couple pairs of 308 that I think are fantastic.



I've used the 305s for an offsite art installation, they are great value, I would use them again


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## Fredeke (Feb 16, 2019)

Beware :

The Tannoy Reveal series have been encensed by reviewers for sounding great for their low price, but after having bought a pair, I wouldn't recommend them !

Well, perhaps the 802 are good, but in the 402 that I own (and I'd guess the 502 too, from what I read between reviewers' lines), Tannoy has artificially boosted the bass so much that is creates real problems like
- loud port noises (at a frequency corresponding to a low D, if I remember well)
- early clipping / saturation
- muddy basses that all sound the same

On the good side, the medium and high frequencies are pleasantly mellow. And the speakers are advertised as very sturdy, so they're the ones I take for location work.

On the worse side, they have a quality control issue: Of the three I bought, I had to return one because of coil misalignment, and another one has some defects in the finish.

I'm not gonna replace them (yet), but I wouldn't buy them again.


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## jadedsean (Feb 16, 2019)

You could also look at the Kali Audio, 6s or 8s depending on the size needed, quite cheap and getting a lot praise online.


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## Daniel (Feb 16, 2019)

Yamaha HS80m (with accoutic treatment). I don't know the newer version, but I think it is discontinue.


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## sIR dORT (Feb 16, 2019)

Would the JBLs fair well in a room with poor acoustics?


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## jbuhler (Feb 16, 2019)

Daniel said:


> Yamaha HS80m (with accoutic treatment). I don't know the newer version, but I think it is discontinue.


Yamaha now has HS5, HS7, and HS8. In my home studio, I have the HS5s with the HS8S subwoofer, and it works very well. My only complaint is that my HS5s can't sit too close to the iMac or there is interference.


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## NathanTiemeyer (Feb 16, 2019)

I swear by the JBL LSR 308's. I love them.


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## NameOfBand (Feb 16, 2019)

I'm pretty happy with my Yamaha HS8. Might be over budget but they come in smaller sizes as mentioned earlier.


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## novicecomposer (Feb 16, 2019)

Looks like they now have a newer model JBL 308P MkII. Are you guys talking about this one or older? Does anyone have experience with this MkII version? As I'm considering purchasing one of these based on the glorious reviews I wonder if the new ones will sound very different than the older model.


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## sIR dORT (Feb 20, 2019)

Update: I ended up getting the JBLs for a great price - thanks for the advice!


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## Nick Batzdorf (Feb 20, 2019)

sIR dORT said:


> Would the JBLs fair well in a room with poor acoustics?



Fare.

My answer is generic: if possible, I'd suggest doing something to improve the acoustics. Can you describe your room and the issues?

There are simple things you can do to improve the situation - but bear in mind that you can also do more harm than good by listening to 99% of the advice you'll get on the Internet.


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## sIR dORT (Feb 20, 2019)

Nick Batzdorf said:


> Fare.
> 
> My answer is generic: if possible, I'd suggest doing something to improve the acoustics. Can you describe your room and the issues?
> 
> There are simple things you can do to improve the situation - but bear in mind that you can also do more harm than good by listening to 99% of the advice you'll get on the Internet.


It's a small bedroom with a window and a pretty low ceiling. Maybe it will *fare* ok, but I'm new to having monitors as I've only used headphones before, so I wouldn't know.

Agreed


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## Ryan (Feb 20, 2019)

PSI


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## Nick Batzdorf (Feb 20, 2019)

sIR dORT said:


> It's a small bedroom with a window and a pretty low ceiling. Maybe it will *fare* ok, but I'm new to having monitors as I've only used headphones before, so I wouldn't know.



Well, what doesn't sound right? Too much reverb, muddy... ?

(I'm a magazine editor by trade, so you'll have to excuse me.  )


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## sIR dORT (Feb 20, 2019)

Actually I have no clue how it will sound, I was just going out on a limb thinking that a small room like that would have poor acoustics. Like I said, I'm a newbie, and I'm kinda proud of it 

That would make sense


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## Fredeke (Feb 20, 2019)

sIR dORT said:


> It's a small bedroom with a window and a pretty low ceiling. Maybe it will *fare* ok, but I'm new to having monitors as I've only used headphones before, so I wouldn't know.
> 
> Agreed


You'll probably hear your room more than your mix in the low frequency range, so I wouldn't spend money on big-bottomed monitors.

How do you know when you're hearing the room ? Well, if all your kicks and basses sound the same no matter how you EQ or compress them, then you're not hearing them, but you're hearing the room's reaction to them (and the room will tend to sound always the same).


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## KMA (Feb 20, 2019)

Yamaha and JBL are solid choices in the lower price bracket.

But an untreated room is a dishonest room.


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## Fredeke (Feb 20, 2019)

Treating a small room to improve bass response is a challenge, because acoustic treatment for low frequencies tends to be bulky, hence not easy to fit in a small room. And adding absorbants for mid and high freqs may end up making the bass problem even more obvious. I would recommend following every advice better acousticians than me can give you. You might still need to alternate between monitors and headphones regularly.


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## sIR dORT (Feb 20, 2019)

Fredeke - So you're saying the drier/smaller the room, the better? And I'm planning on switching between them


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## Nick Batzdorf (Feb 20, 2019)

I'm going to try and say this calmly without raising my voice:

WHAT THE F...

Sorry, I shouted at several preceding posts. 

If you can't hear bass in a small room - and trying to is such a fool's errand that you have to buy shitty speakers that don't have bass - why can you hear the bass in a room the size of your ear canal (aka "headphones")? Answer: you'll probably hear bass better if you trap it, but it's not like it totally vanishes because the room is too small.

I say you're just adding another problem: shitty speakers with no bass!

Now, obviously UREI 813s - soffit-mounted big main speakers found in every commercial studio in the '80s - wouldn't be the first choice for a tiny room, because they're intended to be heard from a distance. But little speakers with some bass, or with a subwoofer, are fine in a closet.



sIR dORT said:


> So you're saying the drier/smaller the room, the better?



Nonstarter. No, not at all. No. No.

Enjoy your new speakers and please stop worrying about this.



KMA said:


> But an untreated room is a dishonest room.



I say a room with unspecified "room treatment" products nailed to your walls for no good reason other than that you think one should have them... is a sure sign that you had too much money. 

Look. If your room has problems, of course you want to deal with them. But just saying "room treatment"... well, what are you treating?

As I said, it's much easier to screw up a perfectly good room's response with bullshit all over the walls than it is to make a room workable. And it's not all that difficult to make a room workable.


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## sIR dORT (Feb 20, 2019)

I will enjoy them, they get here Friday


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## KMA (Feb 21, 2019)

Nick Batzdorf said:


> I say a room with unspecified "room treatment" products nailed to your walls for no good reason other than that you think one should have them... is a sure sign that you had too much money.
> 
> Look. If your room has problems, of course you want to deal with them. But just saying "room treatment"... well, what are you treating?
> 
> As I said, it's much easier to screw up a perfectly good room's response with bullshit all over the walls than it is to make a room workable. And it's not all that difficult to make a room workable.



My new room has some problematic frequencies, so I plan to address this with some calculations, a measurement mic, speaker/sub and mix position variations, bass traps, broadband absorptive panels, and scatter blocks.

If any of that fails, I will deploy the strategically placed velvet painting. You should see it - it’s total bullshit.


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## Fredeke (Feb 21, 2019)

sIR dORT said:


> Fredeke - So you're saying the drier/smaller the room, the better? And I'm planning on switching between them


No, on the contrary. I am saying the bigger the room the better. All other things considered equal, of course. But room size is an important factor.
As for the room being dry, yes it is better of course. I was just saying that if you prevent only the mid and high frequencies reflections (because that's the easiest thing to do), then you will be left with bass reflections really standing out.


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## Grégory Betton (Feb 21, 2019)

I'm using Yamaha's HS5 and am quite happy with them (except for a small white noise and sometimes a buzz, but may be the power cables).

When I have a good room for better monitors, I will certainly look at Prosodia's Boras. They're built by a small French company (founded by a 40years+ experienced acoustician and teacher) and sound just awesome. For the (not _that_ expensive) price, they're top quality.


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## jbuhler (Feb 21, 2019)

Grégory Betton said:


> I'm using Yamaha HS5 and am quite happy with them (except for a small white noise and sometimes a buzz, but may be the power cables).
> 
> When I have a good room for better monitors, I will certainly look at Prosodia's Boras. They're built by a small French company (founded by a 40years+ experienced acoustician and teacher) and sound just awesome. For the (not _that_ expensive) price, they're top quality.


I had a little squeal, white noise in my hs5s. Turned out to be interference from the iMac. It disappeared when I moved it far enough away from the machine.


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## KallumS (Feb 21, 2019)

Adam T5V. You can get a pair new for £250 if you shop around.


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## MHP (Feb 21, 2019)

KallumS said:


> Adam T5V. You can get a pair new for £250 if you shop around.



In my homestudio I work with a pair of Adam A5X and I am very happy with them. Combined with the Sub7 subwoofer the frequency range is pretty flat down to 30Hz and the stereo imaging is superb.

I had the luck to work with some high-end Geithains in a professional studio and to be honest the difference did not scale with the price factor...

So if the Adam T5V are similar or only slightly worse than the A5X they would really be a bargain.


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## Jeast (Feb 21, 2019)

Nick Batzdorf said:


> I say you're just adding another problem: shitty speakers with no bass!


Or you are seated in a shitty position. With bad acoustics the bass waves could be cancelling itself out. Try to walk around your room, see if the bass increases in different positions. Stay away from the corners though, this is where the bass is gathering.

For good payable monitors, also try to listen to a set of Equator D8's.

Cheers J


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## Dex (Feb 21, 2019)

MHP said:


> In my homestudio I work with a pair of Adam A5X and I am very happy with them. Combined with the Sub7 subwoofer the frequency range is pretty flat down to 30Hz and the stereo imaging is superb.
> 
> I had the luck to work with some high-end Geithains in a professional studio and to be honest the difference did not scale with the price factor...
> 
> So if the Adam T5V are similar or only slightly worse than the A5X they would really be a bargain.



Dunno about the 5’s, but the A7x’s are way better than the T7v’s. I’ve A/B’d them, and the T7v’s sound like toys in comparison.


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## Hans-Peter (Feb 21, 2019)

PreSonus Sceptre S8 - coactual design compares favorably to 50 other high grade studio monitors I have tested (incl. 3500 EUR/piece Genelecs). No wonder - in order to have a strong start into the market, PreSonus licensed tech and design from boutique speaker manufacturer Fulcrum acoustics (read mindblowing, but if you must ask for the price, you can’t afford it).

They are the best speakers I’ve ever used. Period.


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## Nick Batzdorf (Feb 21, 2019)

Fredeke said:


> No, on the contrary. I am saying the bigger the room the better. All other things considered equal, of course. But room size is an important factor.
> As for the room being dry, yes it is better of course. I was just saying that if you prevent only the mid and high frequencies reflections (because that's the easiest thing to do), then you will be left with bass reflections really standing out.



Well, if you *like* a dry room then it's better. I prefer a room that sounds like a room. Reflections aren't necessary bad in my view, just the ones coming from the front (the same angle as the speakers) - although diffusion is often good in lots of places.

Now, those rooms that leave only lower freqs - the ones in which your voice sounds weird - are exactly what I mean by creating more problems with absorbent junk thrown up arbitrarily.

As to bigger = better, okay, a room that's big enough to produce low freqs without them folding has advantages. And I guess you could argue for walls far enough away so the reflections are heard separately from the speakers, which would be about 23' (the Haas integration zone is 45ms, depending on freq). But there's a reason we don't mix outdoors: the room is a good thing!


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## Nick Batzdorf (Feb 21, 2019)

KMA said:


> If any of that fails, I will deploy the strategically placed velvet painting. You should see it - it’s total bullshit.



Sounds like my kind of room:


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## jmauz (Feb 21, 2019)

I like my macbook speakers. Honest and non-hyped. Lots of midrange.


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## jamwerks (Feb 21, 2019)

You should consider factoring in the cost of Sonarworks or similar. Worth it even in good rooms and good monitors, but even more so when dealing with untreated spaces & cheaper monitors.


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## Jeremy Spencer (Feb 21, 2019)

NameOfBand said:


> I'm pretty happy with my Yamaha HS8. Might be over budget but they come in smaller sizes as mentioned earlier.



I have those too, love them.


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## Nick Batzdorf (Feb 21, 2019)

jamwerks said:


> You should consider factoring in the cost of Sonarworks or similar. Worth it even in good rooms and good monitors, but even more so when dealing with untreated spaces & cheaper monitors.



A friend uses it and likes it a lot. My only objection is that it means you're locked into a small sweet spot - especially in his room with his speakers.

But it does make his speakers sound good.


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## Ben H (Feb 21, 2019)

I have the smaller Sceptre S6s and they are a GREAT pair of monitors.



Hans-Peter said:


> PreSonus Sceptre S8 - coactual design compares favorably to 50 other high grade studio monitors I have tested (incl. 3500 EUR/piece Genelecs). No wonder - in order to have a strong start into the market, PreSonus licensed tech and design from boutique speaker manufacturer Fulcrum acoustics (read mindblowing, but if you must ask for the price, you can’t afford it).
> 
> They are the best speakers I’ve ever used. Period.


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## sIR dORT (Feb 21, 2019)

Can I connect the JBL 305's to my Apollo twin duo using an XLR cable? It looks like there's on the back of the speaker.


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## Dex (Feb 21, 2019)

Yes


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## LinusW (Feb 21, 2019)

ADAM T5V or T7V.
I compared just months ago and T7V sounded much better than Yamaha HS7, Focal Alpha 50, JBL LSR etc. to me. Still so cheap I bought a pair to put in the living room. 

(I use A7 or A7X in my studios.)


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## Fredeke (Feb 22, 2019)

jmauz said:


> I like my macbook speakers. Honest and non-hyped. Lots of midrange.


The late Macbook 17'' had tremendous speakers


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## Fredeke (Feb 22, 2019)

I love my Eve SC208.
I've also owned a pair of SC205 which sounded great too but weren't punchy enough for my EDM (maybe a sub might have helped ?).
Eve speakers sound a lot like Adam ones, because they are designed by the same engineer.

But if you're on a budget, you may find those brands too expensive. JBL, Yamaha or Tannoy are about twice cheaper.
(But I don't recommend the Tannoy Reveal series because they have muddy bass and a serious quality control issue.)

Entry-level KRKs are even cheaper and still quite decent. I haven't paid attention to the brand in a while but when the brand was young I remember every model had a completely different sound. I don't know if that's still true.


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## Nick Batzdorf (Feb 22, 2019)

You know, I'm *so* glad I have a subwoofer in my small room.

I was working with my big speakers while writing, sort of mixing as I went along, and everything sounded great. They're old-school UREI 809As, with a listed response down to 50Hz (although there's a lot of useful stuff well below that).

Then I switched to my Blue Sky System Ones (6.5" sats + 12" sub), my primary mixing speakers.

Whoa! Thumps in an Omnisphere processed guitar patch that I simply didn't hear on the big speakers.

Good catch. Not a big deal, I just rolled it off.

But it made me think of this thread. When I was at Recording magazine, we used to get readers' tapes in with vocal pops all the time. The little speakers people were using (usually Yamaha NS-10s at the time) stop at 60Hz, and mics usually pop around 55Hz. Now with synths and samples we have to worry about stuff a lot lower than that.


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## sIR dORT (Feb 22, 2019)

Update: Got and tested the JBLs today, they sound great. Maybe a hair too much bass, but I'm nitpicking a bit. Again, thanks for all the help guys!


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## AllanH (Feb 23, 2019)

sIR dORT said:


> Update: Got and tested the JBLs today, they sound great. Maybe a hair too much bass, but I'm nitpicking a bit. Again, thanks for all the help guys!



In tiny bit of advice regarding the 305s: They are rear-ported, so if you they are too close a wall or other reflective surface, it will affect the sound. If you at all hear a bit of "rumbling" or "muddiness" in the lower frequencies, I'd suggest moving a bit away from the wall or hanging some absorbent material on the wall (real treatment can come later).


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## MisteR (Feb 23, 2019)

Ben H said:


> I have the smaller Sceptre S6s and they are a GREAT pair of monitors.


 Ditto.


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## ReelToLogic (Mar 1, 2019)

Just stumbled across a sale at Musicians Friend. JBL 305s for $109, regularly $149.
https://www.musiciansfriend.com/pro...00000?pfm=item_page.rr1|ClickCP#productDetail


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## constaneum (Jun 12, 2019)

NameOfBand said:


> I'm pretty happy with my Yamaha HS8. Might be over budget but they come in smaller sizes as mentioned earlier.



I have a rather small room. I've read HS8 not suitable for small room. Is it true. Should I get HS5 or HS7 instead?


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## Denkii (Jun 12, 2019)

IMHO: If you really only have a small room, don't bother with 8". Yes, you will lack some lower frequencies when you go smaller (esp. going with h7/h5) but you won't be able to turn them over 6 anyway before your room is filled with bass and everything is humming, even if it's somewhat treated. And if you're in an apartment, you'll have fun with your neighbors but not while listening to your music.

If the room is small, go for adequate speakers.

I once bought Alpha80s because I thought "I will be moving into a bigger room eventually so might as well buy these now and keep them for when I can make use of them" only to end up filtering the bass and driving them half assed which lead to horrible frustration while trying to master.

Buy small speakers, check low frequencies with good headphones and/or visually and listen to the mix on bigger speakers somewhere else if you can.


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## Reid Rosefelt (Jun 12, 2019)

After a lot of research, and much consideration of JBLs, I went for the Kali Audio LP-6. I highly recommend them. It's a new company founded by people who left JBL in 2018. More information from the founders HERE and there are a lot of great reviews you can find online. In a very short time, they have become very popular. I'm sure there are better monitors, but not at a $149 price point.






What's really great about these is the way you can set them up using dipswitches in the back to match the way you have placed them in your studio.

I love the way they sound. Very "neutral," as they say. And I also think the white version (they have a black one too) is beautiful. Looking forward to mixing with these.


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## X-Bassist (Jun 12, 2019)

TigerTheFrog said:


> After a lot of research, and much consideration of JBLs, I went for the Kali Audio LP-6. I highly recommend them. It's a new company founded by people who left JBL in 20018. More information from the founders HERE and there are a lot of great reviews you can find online. In a very short time, they have become very popular. I'm sure there are better monitors, but not at a $149 price point.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I like the illustrations on the back, no words needed!  Let us know how they work out for you.

At that price point it will be a matter of how solid the low end it and how flat the highs are. Neutral and flat is great. I still have 2 pair of equators (got a backup pair before they went out of business) and they also are very flat and neutral, great for mixing. At this price, a backup pair is not unthinkable, considering these small companies don’t always stay afloat, even with a great product.


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## constaneum (Jun 12, 2019)

Denkii said:


> IMHO: If you really only have a small room, don't bother with 8". Yes, you will lack some lower frequencies when you go smaller (esp. going with h7/h5) but you won't be able to turn them over 6 anyway before your room is filled with bass and everything is humming, even if it's somewhat treated. And if you're in an apartment, you'll have fun with your neighbors but not while listening to your music.
> 
> If the room is small, go for adequate speakers.
> 
> ...



So what would you recommend as adequate speakers ? Hmm...


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## Denkii (Jun 12, 2019)

Depends on the size of your room but honestly the former mentioned JBLs and the Kali LP-6 offer supreme bang for your buck.
An alternative would be Yamaha HS7. Comparing those three is probably your best bet. Adams still get a lot of hype in a lot of places. When talking about budget speakers I still like the Focal Alphas... The list could continue.

But choosing monitors is a very personal thing. Some people will tell you "it has to be (insert brand and/or model name here)" and I simply disagree with that. If you can manage to listen to some monitors you are interested in, take advantage of that and form your own opinion. You WILL find some of them preferable over some others just based on how they sound.
For example: aiming for as much neutrality as you can may sound nice in theory but some people find themselves not being able to enjoy working with them (especially for long sessions). I don't know if you are on that page and if you don't know it yourself, you should try and find out whether that is something you would enjoy.

Find something you like and you can see yourself working with for years. Only if you know your speakers well, you'll be able to get used to what music should sound on those speakers. And remember: most people don't have audiophile uber neutral high end speakers at home so they won't even hear it like you did anyway. That's why it's not only "ok" but makes it almost mandatory to check your mix on as many 'normal' speakers as you can.

What music are you writing mostly? Are you writing for film? Where does this music get played mostly then: shitty TV speakers / sound bar / 5.1 home cinema?
Or is it EDM? You get my point...I would choose my main monitors partly based on what my main audience will probably consume my content on, for as long as it's within the reach of what I deem enjoyable to work with. That's a question only your own ears can answer.

Edit: especially try to listen to the JBLs and Kalis before buying, if you don't know what horn speakers sound like. Some love it, some hate it. It's not a conventional horn but still...it's definitely different from standard hifi and/or usual domes.

As for the Yamahas in particular: many people seem to suffer from ear fatigue quite fast with those if you believe what you can read online and I can see where that's coming from so if you can, it's also wise to check them out first. Personally I wouldn't recommend the HS 5 without a sub...they simply lack the oomph that I need 
But then again a sub comes with so many problems of it's own - especially in a small room. So I'd say check the HS 7.


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## whiskers (Jun 12, 2019)

TigerTheFrog said:


> After a lot of research, and much consideration of JBLs, I went for the Kali Audio LP-6. I highly recommend them. It's a new company founded by people who left JBL in 2018. More information from the founders HERE and there are a lot of great reviews you can find online. In a very short time, they have become very popular. I'm sure there are better monitors, but not at a $149 price point.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


had I known about these when I got my LSR305s I would have had a tough time deciding


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