Hello again, I'm in the market for a set of high end studio monitors and want your feedback. Lets set the bar at $3k up to $10k (being the tippy top take out a loan monthly payment maximum for me). Please only reply if you actually own/use the speakers you're posting about. Ideally with:

• Images taken by you
• Price you paid
• Genres you mainly work with
• Likes/dislikes about them
• Would you buy them again or are you looking to upgrade/change them out ASAP?

Thank you in advance for sharing everybody!


***Edit: I changed the thread title and comment because almost all results are random and without user photos or other requested information, which is fine so as long as you own/use them, all answers are good, but bonuses awarded for high end speakers with user photos!

 

Last edited: May 3, 2025 at 10:21 PM

I own the KH150 among others. They are very good.

https://www.spinorama.org/?quality=high&page=1&power=active&sort=score
There is a list of the best active speakers available right now - with evidence based data.

 

Last edited: May 3, 2025 at 10:55 AM

The Dynaudio LYD48 pair is in my studio (~$2400/pair). A nice affordable 3-way nearfield. Flat sounding and revealing. Using them for metal, rock, indie, electronic misc. I wish they had digital in. If I upgraded, I'd get 3-way with digital & xlr in option. In your price range, try researching Barefoot or Amphion. So many options are out there. Have fun ! :-D

 

I only have lowly APS Klassik monitors which probably won't be on your radar, but about a month ago I got a chance to give a listen to pair of PSI AudioActive 21 M. I very impressed, and if I was actively doing commercial work would consider investing in these. Imaging, detail and depth were a definite rung up from what I'm using now.

 

Mackie HR824 MKI (MDF Wood)
since approx. 20 Years
Price: +/- 1800 CHf.

Music Genre: all style of Electronic Music

what I like most:
the sound (of course)
Auto Standby Mode

What I don't like:
nothing

I have no intention of replacing them

 

JBL 305 mk1.

Paid about ~100€. Everything is great, nothing to complain about. Great deal. High end speakers don't make better music. (Not very helpful I know) I sold my nice focals because the JBL are more than enough for production. Average speaker in a good room over high end speaker in bad room any day.

If I'd update I would add another pair with more bass extensions, probably Neumann's with a Neumann sub.

 

Last edited: May 3, 2025 at 4:43 PM

i have tannoy reveal monitors. pretty good bought them in 2017.. however alot of bass in them.. sometimes i have turn bass down

 

Same here. I worked on various JBLs for 40 years I love 'em, I know 'em... given an unlimited budget, no these might not have been my first choice but short of jumping up to 4 figures I wouldn't discount these just because they're budget.
Given that op actually has a rather good budget I would say in addition to looking at more high end monitors (those Dynaudios would absolutely be on my list) don't forget about maybe setting some of that aside for room treatment which may make more difference than the speakers you choose.

 

it might be your listening room. some rooms accentuate some frequencies, I have trouble with treble in the lower "A" realm on mine.

know its the room and the setup, just use headphones when I need to work around it.

 

I'm looking for another, cheaper pair of monitors for checkup and everyday work (I have Dyn BM12As) and I got the list down to Tannoy Reveals or Yamaha HSs, ideally 6.5" or 7" drivers. Both great workhorse speakers.

 

I'd recommend to read this article before buying monitors:
https://www.production-expert.com/production-expert-1/do-you-need-expensive-monitors-to-mix-well
As for me, I have Behringer MS40 and
see the advantage of them in my set up: you can switch on 2 different sound card/PCs at the same time and listen to them like A/B comparison...
they have digital, optical and 2 analogue inputs

 

Last edited: May 4, 2025 at 7:55 AM

Thanks for the answers! Its interesting to see what you guys are using and hear about your experiences. I am doing some research on the speakers mentioned. How about PMC or ATC, does anyone use these?

Anyway, keep em coming, more photos please!

 

B2031A and I quite like them. They could overpower my son playing an acoustic kit as hard as he could play it too. We did a battle once.

 

Mains are JBL 4411's - had em 35+ years. Just had the L-PAD's replaced an the x-overs rebuilt ~ a year ago...Driving them is a Crown XLS1002 2-channel power amp. The foam in the low-freq elements was replaced ~ 10 years ago.


The surround system is a BlueSky MediaDesk 5.1.

 

Last edited: May 3, 2025 at 10:58 PM

Excellent 5.1 monitors.The best in its pricerange and beyond. I once considered buying them. When compared to a Dynaudio 5.1 system with BM6As (mkII or older) as (5) monitors and a Dyn sub, this thing rocks both with great sound and price. Really good for the price and film studios in CA like them a lot. People who produce music for films and are on the budget should look no further. I'm so glad you mentioned these.

I wonder how do you like them for producing music? They are pretty linear on paper. Should be really good. Sealed monitors+sub. :thumbs up: If your room is not 2m x 2m, of course. More like 5m x 10m.

Oh, I was thinking of SystemOne, but MediaDesk speakers are also really nice. For watching movies it must be awesome!

 

Last edited: May 4, 2025 at 12:06 AM

The Behringer B2031A is the Genelec 1031A clone!

 

Got these bad boys (atc scm50) to replace my barefoot footprint 01. They are amazing but I also got a scs70 sub to go with them. Very expensive though lol

 

Last edited: May 4, 2025 at 3:38 AM

Regarding the BlueSky MediaDesk 5.1's - for audio production I use them as a 2.1 check alternate to the JBL's. For surround audio and audio for video projects there's nothing like them - truly as they have been out of production for quite some time. As for my JBL 4411's - there would have to be a nuclear holocaust or planetary collision to get me to part with em...