Hello!

Currently I have the Focal Alpha 65 (6,5") they are good but have a huge footprint! Even most 7" monitors are smaller. I want speakers that are a bit smaller and are "professional", like one or two steps up in quality at least, don't want to worry about new monitors for a long time. Studio is in my appartement, treatment and REW done by myself, monitors will be close to the front wall. I've been producing electronic music for 10 years on and off and I play gigs sometimes. I do my mixdowns myself. Sub bass check on headphones, no sub planed.

I finally want a step up in quality and something that translates well to other systems, especially club/festival PAs.

The more I read the more confused I am. Price range is up to 1500€. I also buy used monitors.

Neumann KH120a so far seems like the only one that doesn't have negative comments online.

Adam a7x, a7v, Dynaudio bm5a MK3, genelec 8030c. Whatever it is, there's always so many negative reviews that they "don't translate" and so on. Wether is be hiss, tiring highs, huge dips due to bad port design, no transparency and so on. Some also have great reviews but are to big (klassik 2020) or they just have little bass (Neumann KH80dsp) or have 50/50 bad reviews (genelec 8030c).
I know there's no one fits all but if I'm spending that kind of money I want at least something that is considered good to get the job done.

I saw on equipboard that the A7x is very popular with my genre but has bad reviews compared to genelec/Neumann everywhere.
What do you guys use? What is good enough for professional productions and mixdown in that price range to 1500€?

 

What is good enough for professional productions and mixdown is completely different question from what is good enough for 1500 euro...
People seem to make great music on intro levels KRKs (these are considered unrealistic usually), JBL etc.
Smaller speakers mean less bass. There is a reason why some producers have gigantic built-in the wall monitors. You want to produce for festivals and clubs - go bigger, not smaller, idk why you want to go more compact.

I would say KH80 + KH750 is the perfect combination you can get for the money in a home studio (after messing with the dsp to tune it to your room), but it would be like 2500 euro, not 1500.


Do you think that this guy needed the best monitors to produce the most streamed EDM song in the last 10 years?

 

I don't know who that is but those speakers sure don't look like studio monitors at all.

I hesitate to get a sub, my neighbors also won't approve I'm afraid. So far I've had good success with checking the lows on headphones. The alphas go down surprisingly low as well.

What do you think about splurging on the new KH120 MK2? Should be as low as the Alpha 65 but a lot better in general? If only I'd could use a calibrated third party mic to use the Neumann correction, such a rip-off!

 

This guy is Imanbek, popularized slap house with his remix of a rap song a few years ago.
All Neumann's speakers are considered good, I don't know where are you from, but in EU you can return them (in 30 days for example from Thomann), if you don't like how they sound, so test different monitor pairs from different brands, if you can, If you want to upgrade from your Focal. Upgrading to 120 or 80 may be questionable, actually, they are better for critical pop music mixing, but are they better for the money for EDM genres - if you are into trap, dubstep and dnb, I would think twice about not using a sub or bigger speakers (so, Neumann KH310 instead of smaller models).

 

It is advisable to check objective tests then.

JBL 308P Mark ii are still the best in this price range as long as you want a frequency range til below 50Hz.

 

I have now 6,5" and am looking up to 7". I done want to downsize, I want to upgrade quality and maybe also driver size.

 

Neumann KH120 II is better.

https://www.neumann.com/en-en/products/monitors/kh-120-ii/

 

I would ignore any review by someone who is doing a review; rather than working with them for long enough to know them well.

Dynaudio can be expensive for what you get. If someone tells you they cannot work on the Adams, or the Genelecs; they should buy a set of them and use them. Half the time, bad reviews come from people who are explaining why they haven't bought a pair, or justifying the purchase of whatever they are using instead. If they cannot work on Genelec 8030's or Adam 7's; it's because they suck at mixing.

If I could not use a sub, I would consider getting a Subpac.

 

You should always take into consideration who is actually reviewing and what his opinion is based on, some folks have higher standards and pretty much their good enough sometimes means amazing, someone else's good enough means nothing, some folks are payed to sing praises, some are justifying their purchases, some are just fanboys of the brand, there's lot of motives.

By your writing, think you should check out these, probably you stumbled upon some GS crowd that swears on them, thing is they don't have distributors, you can't hear them anywhere, in my case they don't even ship to my country, but personally this is what I would consider in situation like yours.
http://www.dmaxaudio.com/en/sc5

 

Unfortunately they are also too big for my space. I never tried JBL do you think they outperform all other monitors up to 1500€ new or used? They are really cheap.

 

Yes. If the monitors shall cost up to 1500€ a pair, then the JBL are the best. The Neumann kh 120 mk II are probably better, but they are not in this price range as far as I know. If you meant 1500€ for one speaker, then the kh 150 are the best.

Price is only very vaguely indicative for audio performance of audio devices because of several reasons.

 

Kali audio's stuff supposedly improves upon JBL tech, still measures worse than KH, if you seek linearity.

But if you want to achieve big following, you should be more concerned about sounding great on a cheap models JBL portable speakers and whatever earbuds are popular atm.

 

Presonus Sceptre S6 or better for a little more S8 .

 

I'll pass on the JBL 308P Mark ii, despite much bigger drivers it measures only to 45 Hz +-3db instead of 40 Hz at +-3 with the 6,5" Focals I currently have.

Thanks for all the suggestions I'll try to find reliable measurements now.

The KH120a, Genelec 8030c or Adam a7x would all fit the budget. My thought is now to buy some of those and later down the road, when I have a bigger studio, add a sub or just keep them as second reference. But for now they need to work without sub, no question about that.

 

Would only against Adam A7X, those are far from being two step ups from Focals, if you are really into AMT/Ribbon stuff, look at EVE and HEDD.

 

I would go with the 8030's. If the main difference from A's-C is a only sleep feature, I wouldn't mind to save a few hundred dollars. I would see what sort of deals you can find. Genelecs are built like a lead tank, so I would not be very concerned even getting them used since you mentioned that possibility.

This reviewer is so thorough, it may be a form of OCD.
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...ds/genelec-8030c-studio-monitor-review.14795/

 

Hi there. I have the Neumann 120a here in my home studio. I can tell you if you set up the monitors correctly, you will be amazed how great they sound. You can hear the music open in the stereo field. The bass is great too. The trick is mixing at low level and reference your tracks. I just put them in my desk with an angle down to my ears with pads and 25 degree inward to form the triangle.

 

You can also first eq what you already have: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...evo-review-studio-monitor.28832/#post-1004150

Reliable measurements can be found here: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?pages/Reviews/

 

Last edited: May 29, 2023

for me Neumann/Genelec.

 

If you can, try find yourself a set of used HEDD Type07 MK1. Probably the best sub €1500 monitors you can buy on the used market today.