Small, simple, cheap monitors.

[gutsofgold]

I'm not looking for anything mind-blowing or extremely flat. I recently moved into a small apartment and need something to do real simple, fairly quick mixes on. The room is obviously small and untreated and I guess at this point anything is better than the bookshelf speakers I have been mixing on, along with the headphones I've also tried.

I'm going to go ahead and say $400 a pair is a safe assumption as to what I will spend. Is there any shining star in this price range that I should look at first?

[Max]

When I've read small, simple, cheap my first thought was JBL Control One, but I don't know if you want to go for anything that cheap. For the money they are really nice.
I've used mine with a Bryston 3B recently and they sounded good.

[vibesof20hz]

Check out the Event TR 6. They are right at your price-mark with excellent quality, they are powered, they are simple and they sound great.

[inverseroom]

I have, and like, the Tapco S5's. They are a step up from my minimus 7's!

[joel hamilton]

I have been amazed at how good the small, older tannoys are... like the PBM series, and also the smaller KRK's... I have been looking into getting some small KRK's for my apartment.. simple, powered, small... but quality...

A pal of mine had a pair of those smaller KRK's in his studio as a "C" monitor, and they were always surprisingly great, even with dunaudios and other good stuff sitting right next to them.

[Euan]

tascam vlx-5's

[jonnymo]

I have been amazed at how good the small, older tannoys are... like the PBM series, and also the smaller KRK's... I have been looking into getting some small KRK's for my apartment.. simple, powered, small... but quality...

A pal of mine had a pair of those smaller KRK's in his studio as a "C" monitor, and they were always surprisingly great, even with dunaudios and other good stuff sitting right next to them.

Joel are you referring to older KRK's or the newer ones? I traded in my NS-10s for RP-5s because I couldn't deal with the lack of low frequencies.

Now I look at "world-class" studio pictures and they all have NS-10s and I wonder if I made a mistake...but like everyone here says, it's more about knowing how your setup will translate in the real world, WHATEVER that setup may be, rather than having an amazing setup. But I suppose everyone has a different definition of "good enough."

[Jeff White]

I traded in my NS-10s for RP-5s because I couldn't deal with the lack of low frequencies.

Now I look at "world-class" studio pictures and they all have NS-10s and I wonder if I made a mistake...but like everyone here says, it's more about knowing how your setup will translate in the real world, WHATEVER that setup may be, rather than having an amazing setup. But I suppose everyone has a different definition of "good enough."

Naaaahhh, you definitely made a mistake.

[jonnymo]

I traded in my NS-10s for RP-5s because I couldn't deal with the lack of low frequencies.

Now I look at "world-class" studio pictures and they all have NS-10s and I wonder if I made a mistake...but like everyone here says, it's more about knowing how your setup will translate in the real world, WHATEVER that setup may be, rather than having an amazing setup. But I suppose everyone has a different definition of "good enough."

Naaaahhh, you definitely made a mistake.

lol

Well I definitely feel less l33t since I now have one less discontinued piece of gear...I mean, the more stuff you have that can't be found in a catalog, the better you are.

[Jeff White]

I traded in my NS-10s for RP-5s because I couldn't deal with the lack of low frequencies.

Now I look at "world-class" studio pictures and they all have NS-10s and I wonder if I made a mistake...but like everyone here says, it's more about knowing how your setup will translate in the real world, WHATEVER that setup may be, rather than having an amazing setup. But I suppose everyone has a different definition of "good enough."

Naaaahhh, you definitely made a mistake.

lol

Well I definitely feel less l33t since I now have one less discontinued piece of gear...I mean, the more stuff you have that can't be found in a catalog, the better you are.

I have been looking at picking up a pair of NS-10s for the better part of three years now, but I always see them going for $500-$700 and I say "No f'ing way am I paying that much for a pair of NS-10s!!!"

I hope that you got good money for yours, though I do wish that you made someone's day as well.

Jeff

[BradG]

Future Music did a blind monitor shoot out last year where they got together a half dozen engineers and producers. They used a few different music styles, like Rock, Hip Hop, Classical, etc. and the monitors were set up in such a way that there was no way to see which ones were playing. They had three categories, by size.

The smallest Yamahas (MSP3's?) not only won in the first category but beat everything in the second category, (which was larger, 5-6" woofers) for truest playback.

Never heard 'em myself, just remembered that article.

[gutsofgold]

thanks for all the suggestions. i'm guessing there isn't really a stand out, all hailed pair of monitors in this price range and the few mentioned all seem great. those yamaha msp3's would be great because of there small size. however, the tapco's look cool. i think i will see what i can come up with on ebay for a fair price out of the ones you guys mentioned.

[xhavepatiencex]

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl ... er=300-642

I use these, I dont know if it gets much cheaper, I've had them so long I feel I know them very well which I suppose is all you can really ever ask for because no speaker is perfect. either way I dont think these are really hyped one way or another, its for sure not hyped in the lows.

[jonnymo]

I traded in my NS-10s for RP-5s because I couldn't deal with the lack of low frequencies.

Now I look at "world-class" studio pictures and they all have NS-10s and I wonder if I made a mistake...but like everyone here says, it's more about knowing how your setup will translate in the real world, WHATEVER that setup may be, rather than having an amazing setup. But I suppose everyone has a different definition of "good enough."

Naaaahhh, you definitely made a mistake.

lol

Well I definitely feel less l33t since I now have one less discontinued piece of gear...I mean, the more stuff you have that can't be found in a catalog, the better you are.

I have been looking at picking up a pair of NS-10s for the better part of three years now, but I always see them going for $500-$700 and I say "No f'ing way am I paying that much for a pair of NS-10s!!!"

I hope that you got good money for yours, though I do wish that you made someone's day as well.

Jeff

I got them before they were discontinued out of a catalog...I guess for me I always felt like I was "supposed" to have them, which made me dislike them more and more over time. I also know I'm not supposed to "like" listening to stuff on them, but it's almost like it's been impeding my creativity to keep listening to music as I work on it through unflattering monitors.

[terryb]

the M-Audio BX5a are cheap and sound really great.
Check out a pair of those. They're $300 new for a pair at Guitar Center.