New active studio monitors

[notonlybutalso]

So i am looking to upgrade guys

I need some very accurate, colourless monitors to analyse mixes on. Budget is around ?600, smaller the footprint the better frankly and of course with the widest frequency range possible!

Does anyone have any suggestions that might fit the spec? or even better, first hand experience with anything they would recommend for the job?

[JWL]

Lots of options in that price range. If it were me I'd audition speakers from Equator, Presonus, and JBL. If you have leftover budget put it toward room treatment, which will make any speaker sound better.

[IDQ]

Where are you located? If you have a good pro audio shop around, there is no substitute for going and listening, especially if the shop has someone knowledgeable (ie not Guitar Center - although if they're all you've got, it's still valuable to listen to the monitors, if you can ignore the employees). Bring your own source material, stuff you know well.

Tons of companies have released new lower-budget actives since I last shopped, so I can't speak to those. Go back through some previous TOMB threads for more info.

That said, I think the Equators do a very good job at their price point, though I'd avoid them if you're heavily doing hip-hop, house/dance, or anything real bass heavy. Most people find them pretty trustworthy, though they do have a few detractors out there (like Beck said, you can't please everybody). I preferred them to the JBLs, KRKs, event audio, M-audio, and newer Mackie models that I was able to listen to. In fact, I prefer their midrange to my Mackie HR824 (which I still like, though I know many hate them).

+1 on room treatment, though I have failed to do it myself because I keep F'ing moving.

[JWL]

+1 on room treatment, though I have failed to do it myself because I keep F'ing moving.

[treatment nazi]
NO EXCUSE! Just use traps that age and travel well, and take your treatments with you to your next room, along with the rest of your gear.
[/treatment nazi]

[Magnetic Services]

You could afford more than one set of these within your price range (if I did the ? to $ conversion right), but I've been totally happy with my M-Audio Cx8's for the 4-5 years I've had them. Big enough to not need a sub, good speakers all around, but the real handy thing about them is the 4 switches on the back that engage various shelves, peaks, and cuts so you can adapt them to your room's basic characteristics, and then fine tune from there with treatment and calibration!

Plus they have KEVLAR cones and SILK-dome tweeters to impress your clients!

[tjcasey1]

As has been said, you've got a lot of choices. I personally use KRKs, and I was able to get a surround setup (2-8" and 3-6") for around $1200, so if you're just doing stereo, you'll definitely have enough left over for treatment.

Having switches to boost or cut the highs (or even the mids and lows) is a bonus, depending on your room, but I usually leave them flat.

The differences between your choices probably boil down to personal taste, and unless you've compared a bunch and something didn't jive about one of the choices, you're going to be happy with whatever you buy. I haven't heard of any clunkers on the market.

But buy SOMETHING - real studio monitors are a necessity. They allow you to hear stuff you'd miss otherwise, because studio monitors aren't designed to make everything sound sweet - they're designed to make you notice the problems.

[Jim Williams]

Get high quality headphones. Those will let you hear everything without room effects. They are good for determining stereo spread and width as most rooms have an effect. Low level details are heard with a great amp.

Since most of the kiddies use earbuds, why not check a mix on what the end device will be?

I haven't seen a 12" 3-way speaker system in a home in over 20 years.