[LAU] Recommend inexpensive monitors and headphones

S. Massy lists at wolfdream.ca
Fri Oct 21 18:19:31 UTC 2011


On Fri, Oct 21, 2011 at 04:39:16PM +0400, Artem Vakhitov wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> can you recommend me some inexpensive but good small monitors and
> headphones for home recording? No high aspirations yet, just for
> doing various demos on my laptop. Admittedly, I don't know how to
> define "good" here, I just need them to be perceptibly better than
> your average desktop speakers and earbuds :) Similarly, I don't
> really know what "inexpensive" is referring to the above, but as a
> wild guess, let's start from $100. I prefer plain audio solutions,
As others have pointed out, in the world of monitors, you usually get
what you pay for. You can pay anywhere from $200 to $2000 for a pair of
small monitors. Generally, they tend to cluster around certain price
points, like $400, $800, and $1200 a pair, so it's a good idea to choose
your price point and do comparison listening on the models falling into
it. Some things to consider are the kind of music you're going to mix
(is it bass heavy, does it have a lot of dynamics or next to none, is it
complex or simple), the size of the room you're going to use and, most
importantly, what works for your ears. At entry level prices, people
have some great things to say About Alesis and Fostex monitors; most of
the entry level m-audio stuff, I don't think I would trust very much,
but I've auditioned the CX5 and was pleasantly surprised. Gabbe Nord
mentioned Adam which is what I use and swear by, but YMMV. For phones I
use Audio-Technica ATHM40FS and am very happy with them: apart from
slightly weak low mids, they are as good as it gets for that price, but
once again YMMV.

I would say the best thing you can do is choose a set of reference
tracks you're comfortable with and let your ears decide.

Finally, you might want to refer to a similar thread I started several
months ago when I was myself looking to buy monitors.
http://www.linuxaudio.org/mailarchive/lau/2011/4/15/180654

Good luck
S.M.


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