AS never fails to provide a laugh. OP comes in asking about real monitors and the first suggestions are Behringer/Mackie/Tannoy..

 

I love the 305, they're my goto recommendation for the most decent monitors on a budget.
And your upgrade route makes total sense too imho as neumann stuff has that soft not at all harsh airband that the jbls have. If only their subwoofers weren't so expensive. I stuck with my ancient ks-digital subwoofer when I upgraded.

 

Well accshually...... Tannoy is a brand with a huge heritage when it comes to monitors.
Yeah, sure the reveals.. but on the other hand my first pair of speakers one would consider a monitor were tannoys pbm 6.5 II. And given that it was the first half of the nineties and they were dirt cheap these weren't at all bad to work on.

 

Harmonic distortion is mostly negligible. For the other factors, there is no evidence for an actual existing, neither an evidence for an effect on sound.

However a way more important factor that wasn't mentioned here for some reason is directivity.

 

Last edited: May 4, 2025 at 2:58 PM

First suggestions were Neumann KH150, DynAudio, APS and PSI. After that Mackies for 2k, which I'm sure are just fine. I admit I was the first one to mention that I prefer average speakers in a great room over high end in a shitty room.

Agree on the Tannoy Reveals though, I tried them and they sucked

 

Last edited: May 4, 2025 at 3:58 PM

That looks like you've been round my place and stolen several 19" units off me...

...ok just checked, they're still there.

 

I use my ears, not my eyes
798€ for a pair + 649€ for subwoofer
movie and game soundtracks, voice/speech, and all kinds of music genres really,
I love their coaxial 3-way design I would never go for anything inferior anymore,
I don't like their idle hiss (which gets masked away once anything is playing though)
I would probably go for newer revision which supposedly is having lower noise floor of the hiss
-> Kali Audio IN-8 (+ WS-12 sub)

 

My somehow still white, Yamaha HS5, with the bit of strategically placed tape to stop the really bright Yamaha logo being really bright.

They cost something like £150 each, I've made lots of styles on them but I now produce mainly Drum & Bass.

They sound great, lacking a little bit on low end as they're only 5 inch cones, but I think 6 inch maybe too much bass for the room I'm in although I've not tested the theory. The only gripe I have is I had to send one back for repair (bare in mind I've had them about 10 years plus), and now I get a little bit of noise/feedback from the right one, but that can be fixed by jigging the power cable about a bit.

I would own some 6 inch cones in a better room for sure, (I'd be inclined to opt for the Black ones too in future, seems a bit easier to maintain) Yamaha are a great brand, but yes I am to upgrade as soon as I've bought all the other stuff (they're bottom of the list as it stands as these are still going strong)

These have seen many tracks produced on them but they've also been put through their paces at many a house party where I was djing, fun!

 

Last edited: May 4, 2025 at 6:26 PM

Like Lois, I also have the lowly Klasik 2020s.
No desire to upgrade (famous last words)

 

1.Just enter to google search: "great fiasco of expensive studio monitors",
and you'll find so many interesting things on the subject...
2. Most people will never listen to any music via studio speakers, but they are the music customers and listen to it mostly via earphones of their smartphones.
3. Yes, I have a couple of Behringer, so what? But I have a Pioneer home cinema as a reference source, and 3 couples of earphones, so I already have possiblity to compare all of them on my material and know how the customers hear my tracks

 

Yamaha MSP5's... I've had these roughly 15 years. Quite detailed for their size although it took me a while to get used to mixing on them. Before moving overseas I mixed on a pair of Mackie HR624 MK1s which were my favorite monitors but a bit too large for the space I worked in. Settled on these and just found them to be great workhorse monitors. I'm so used to them now I dont feel the need to upgrade. Theyve been rock solid since the day I purchased them... no frills and they just get the job done.

 

JBL 305P MKII and 306P MKII near field in two different not really well optimized rooms, but manually calibrated. It's a work around because I'm still rebuilding my main studio, but I'm very happy with them and can get reliable results. Much better than ATCs or Genelecs in a big beautiful looking but shitty sounding studio I worked for many years.

 

You've got great taste in studio monitors . I faux mocked the Klassiks only in regard to the stated budget of $6000. I'm super happy with them, and has been described by more than a few, they punch more than their weight of 1200 or so buckaroons. I'm not sure how they eeked out their goodly tone in a two way speaker but I'll just thank my lucky stars that they did and that I have them.

 

So time domain response has no effect on how we hear transients, reflex loading doesn’t result in phase and resistance in a voice coil doesn’t affect RMS and Peak value.

You don’t happen write for production expert do you?

 

No.
Time domain exists as reverb, "reflex loading"..., and peak values are represented in the frequency response because the frequency response shows the peak value for each frequency.
And because of the last it becomes obvious, that the vast majority of audible factors must be represented in the fr.

 

Last edited: May 4, 2025 at 11:27 PM

I personally have owned a bunch of different monitors through the years and have mixed extensively on a bunch more. I currently own two pairs: Sonics Aenimas and Focal Alpha Evo 65s. They're both really good for different things. I would've bought ATCs but I didn't have the money. But now there are some new speakers that have just come out and if I had the money I would buy them in a heartbeat! I personally listened to these in a studio near my house and they unbelieveably smoked my friend's pair of ATC 25s. I think they're going to be around $8500US and they're ridiculously good, especially considering that they're not huge! Check them out!

https://magicgardenpro.com/

 

I use Genelec ones and neumann with their room correction and subs - I had the Atc's here for a bit which are great but need subs and a great room - amphion one 15 also very good for mixing - telegrapher and ex machina do nice models too

 

Time domain is how quickly a speaker responds to changes to the input signal.

It’s the most important aspect of voice coil design because it affects clarity, transients, timbre and sound perception. Poor time domain creates distortion contributing to ear fatigue because the brain has to work harder to process the signal distortion effects.

Furthermore, heat increases resistance in the voice coil affecting its proficiency of peak and rms values.

I’m not going to hijack this thread further but I’d suggest reading more on voice coil design. Or write for production expert.

 

https://magicgardenpro.com/assets/video/break-in-01.mp4

That video of the speaker break-in looks like how my sphincter felt after Friday's Tandoori.

 

There is no evidence for such a behavior.