As the title says, are there any compact monitor speakers out there that would be good and usable and worth buying for music production and mixing in a home studio setup?

I currently have a pair of M-Audio BX5a speakers but am trying to condense my setup to a smaller, more uncluttered and in the box solution. One of my goals is the whole uncluttered space = uncluttered mind ethos, but also the smaller the setup, the more portable too so I can use with my desktop PC in my home studio or with my laptop when travelling.

 

Last edited: Apr 20, 2023

IK Multimedia iLoud

 

Kali audio in-unf? Haven't tried them personally but i've heard good things about them

 

If you can put iLouds on desk, you can pretty much put anything on table stand, it doesn't take much space than that, don't really see the point on using micro monitors in home setup, on the go, sure, I'm having Fluid FX8 on table stand in front of me and they are huge, their space can take any other monitor, pretty much it's irrelevant because what's taking the space is actual table stand.

https://www.thomann.de/gb/fluid_audio_ds_5.htm
https://www.thomann.de/gb/fluid_audio_ds_8.htm

 

I use the Genelec 8010a's for this purpose. They are very nice for checking translation to smaller speakers.

 

I really like the JBL 305P MKII for a small setup, bought mine some yeasrs ago for 119,- Euros each.

 

Kinda get what you are saying, but you are really sacrificing the joy of actually working on techno music with these micro solutions, just in case if one day you decide to go somewhere with laptop. I use laptop, I have small setup, I use headphones for that, I never managed to find a place where I could put speakers and work remotely, sometimes I would even work on laptop speakers, mix when I get back or put on headphones and just use Realphones, wouldn't trust anything else really, especially throwing laptop and speakers somewhere and doing anything remotely serious.

I have 5" and 8" speakers and I can tell you sincerely, would pick 8" ones any day for techno music production, mixing on other hand, yeah, smaller speakers, headphones with Realphones, but actually working on music and getting excited, personally, no.

Right now, as I see it, you are shoehorning yourself with that notion, amount of actually really great speakers that are small falls down to Neumann and Genelec, for that kind of money you can get proper sized speakers and iLouds, limiting yourself only to iLouds is maybe little pointless, as you take in account that you are probably not gonna be able to work on them optimally anywhere on the go, better just to find trusty headphones and learn one of those virtual studio solutions.

My advice is to not even think about speakers on the go, get at least something worth of upgrade to those BX5's, Focal's maybe, Alpha's for example, those are really nice and affordable, than you got Tannoy Gold's and plethora of actually similar sized speakers that can give you something usable to work with and be an upgrade to what you have now. Just get something that have some low end, believe me, been there, done that, making techno or EDM in general with lowendless speakers is buzz killer, likes of Adam A3X, HS5 and smaller.

Maybe find a middle ground, between 5" and 8", like those Presonus R65's for example, there's so many stuff out there and just pick home ones to be at home and enjoy in making music having some low end excitement without sacrificing much.

Seems like I'm on most of your post's lately and formed opinion that you are trying to squeeze some inspiration with minimalism, but think you are going in different direction with this one, smaller speakers just don't add anything to that approach, they are probably going to give you even less inspiration, every time I worked on music that is supposed to blast on floors on these little things rendered my experience just awful, than I get excited with just kick drum on something that actually moves some air, so I don't add bunch of unnecessary things because I don't realize how driving my track really is. Especially working on Adam A3X with just awfully clicky everything without low end, pure misery.

 

Last edited: Apr 20, 2023

M Audio Av42/43
Theyre very compact, budget monitors mind you, but i use em

 

bigger (box, not speaker) sounds better, there's no way around it,
Genelec 8331 and Kali Audio IN-5 would give you best sound in a small form factor,
if you want something more compact and portable for mixing, such thing is called headphones

 

I do most of my production using headphones anyway to be honest, even at home, using my Audio Technica ATH-M50X, which I've got to know really well in terms of their signature. I guess using them on the go is a solution, and perhaps you are right that investing in something to get inspired and excited by for home may be the way to go!

Is Realphones a Sonarworks competitor and similar idea then I presume? Only briefly heard of it some time a while ago!

 

that's more of a philosophical question,
you'll hear "different" with ATH-M50X that I would, using correction EQ curve presets like Sonarworks, Morphit etc... will give you kind of "second set of ears" but can't reliably emulate anything,
another option, which can give you "another set of ears" by emulating virtual speakers in your headphones, such as NovoNotes HPL2 is interesting approach, but again you get no more "correct" listening conditions, just different,
in the end you still want referencing, frankly most people think using references when mixing should guide you to match your mix, obsessed with A/B-ing and other nonsense, while in fact they should serve as "resets for your ears", nothing else really

 

Think you are better off opening new thread for that if you are interested, there's whole plethora of offerings on that idea, some correct cans, some emulate spaces and speakers, some do both. Realphones does both, work with plenty of cans and offers enough control of different aspects, I kinda shoehorned myself into default options like I got particular speakers and never bothered to actually tweak any of those starting points, but spent enough time to really get to know how all of them sound with commercial music and what I can expect to hear from all of them, like one would need to do with Slate VSX or actual physical speakers and conditions, in nutshell, getting same and reliable reference point. I do my own "mastering" exclusively with Realphones, have few settings I know that work and how commercial masters sound on them, so it became my second nature without second guessing at this point, I can work anywhere like that and that's the selling point for me in all of those virtual studio solutions, that you can take space you know with you anywhere. There's even Club emulation that I really find fantastic, not just for checking low end, but for actually enjoyable music making and listening.

Worth pointing out, I didn't got it with notion that I'm getting something that sound real or anything, but something I can learn and rely on, no matter how real that all really is, I used some stuff for even less, some cans I had before were good at exposing one particular thing and knowing that I used them in my favor, with Realphones I got number of those things, that's pretty much it.

 

Last edited: Apr 20, 2023

Look at the top rated PreSonus Eris series. They are low price and have great sound

 

Their top rating comes from number of sales because they are cheap, if we are talking about Thomann rating, that is just based on their sales, not saying they are not good, but their thing was cheaper price than competition, especially in Presonus land where you have likes of R series and even Sceptres, who for some reason aren't that popular, but deserve every bit of it too. Hype around some things sometimes is more about brand and price than anything else, this is true even for other price ranges. I never understood how old AX series of Adam still hold their hype all this years, people on forums keep reinforcing that same choice because they don't know about anything else and in one point they were something actually affordable and usable, but game changed. Not saying those are bad either, but have issues on their own and really don't justify high price anymore, seeing people selling 10 year old used ones losing 25% of that price, which is ridiculous, every description is just "Known studio legend bla bla bla", than you get 10 year old overpriced rattling boxes thinking you got yourself best speakers ever made in that price range. Yamaha HS series isn't any better, not bad either, but over hyped because it's white cone NS10's looking Yamaha, than you have their MSP series which actually is deserving all of it and it's sort of insider tip and initially had higher price, but have lower second hand price, anyone selling HS series is just trying to squeeze too much money for them relying on hype that is build around them.

Seems like mine preach mode is on, but I feel the need to give back something genuine to whole community, my sincerest findings and experience, in hope to spare someone at least some of it, give them nudge in that direction, choice of considering alternatives or discovering something bigger, I can just name drop stuff, but I just can't do that knowing that solution isn't just in me name dropping some of the gear, this would spare me lot off time writing and explaining, but that's just not my ultimate goal of writing.

 

Last edited: Apr 21, 2023

I would agree with a lot of this, and as you say, the same happens across the entire price range of items, not just speakers. Some items just have good marketing, which includes the hype, branding, and pricing, that results in enormous sales. Once people invest in something, it introduces a bias in most who want to justify their purchase and their hard earned money spent, and so this bias will creep in to justify the item's awesomeness, which is ultimatley what then lead to the hype, and then the crazy preowned prices for the item. As you say @Melodic Reality it's more about good, solid marketing than the product's quality in probably most cases where there is hype. The obvious ones that jump to my mind are the KRK speakers, which are nowhere near flat, super bass heavy in terms of colouration of the sound, and can hold their price well when sold used.....all because of the bass and EDM hype, the yellow cones, and the lit up logo on the front, rather than anything to do with how true your sound is, how flat their response is, and ultimately their sound quality that helps you be a better producer.

 

the 8010 is not 8" woofer, the entire thing is that tall. 3" woofer and a 3/4" tweeter, they are $700 a pair new, not 4000. They are very clean, but easily loud enough where you can work with them only, but a sub really helps because they have little low end. But I wanted to mention, They are 4 pounds each, like they have a lead brick in them; so they are not what i consider "portable". i would not worry about buying them used for realistic price.

if you need/want to work with nearfield monitors, no-one would even blink at spending more for a pair of headphones. The only thing not to like is the price.