Noob Alert: Good Starter Studio Monitors?

[Nateispro]

Hey guys, so i'm trying to get myself back into recording again, but i have just some crappy altec lansing speakers that are probably the worst for recording and mixing. Ive been Looking at the Presonus Eris E5, Equator D5, ADAM F5's (they're the most expensive i'd go for now). Are there any other options you guys like more? I'm open to any suggestions Thanks!

[Cirrus]

Of the budget monitors I've tried, the Fostex PM1s and Tannoy Reveals (passive, paired with a half decent amp) are the ones I've had best results with. At this end of the market any speaker you get will have flaws that you need to be aware of, but I've been able to work effectively with both of these.

What's your mixing room like? You'll likely massively increase your ability to hear your mixes with a little investment in your room acoustics (can be very cheap if you DIY - rockwool, wooden frame, fabric cover will do a lot!)

[Reverse Entropy]

I would suggest listening to the JBL LSR305. My big peeve is ear fatigue, and I get none of that with these, even after a few hours listening a bit to loud for 'comfort.' I'll defer my opinion on how accurate they are (I like them), but they are well worth a listening test.

[SenatorClayDavis]

Of the budget monitors I've tried, the Fostex PM1s and Tannoy Reveals (passive, paired with a half decent amp) are the ones I've had best results with. At this end of the market any speaker you get will have flaws that you need to be aware of, but I've been able to work effectively with both of these.

What's your mixing room like? You'll likely massively increase your ability to hear your mixes with a little investment in your room acoustics (can be very cheap if you DIY - rockwool, wooden frame, fabric cover will do a lot!)

I'll just say +1 on Fostex (I have a couple PM0.5s and I like them a lot) and on room treatment. Some foam panels and some bass traps in the right spots will do a lot. Good speakers in a room full of reflections are not going to give you as good results as mediocre speakers in a well-treated room.

[newholland]

I would suggest listening to the JBL LSR305. My big peeve is ear fatigue, and I get none of that with these, even after a few hours listening a bit to loud for 'comfort.' I'll defer my opinion on how accurate they are (I like them), but they are well worth a listening test.

just came in to say that.. these seem like serious bets for a 3 bill pair.

[Nateispro]

So the room i'll probably be in the most is my bedroom, plain square bedroom. I'll have to look into some DIY sound treatment.. Any good places to start looking? I'll also look into those fostex monitors!

[Reverse Entropy]

What sort of furnishings are in the room now ? Carpet or hard floors ? Any heavy drapes across a bunch of windows or anything like that ?

Most rooms need some bass traps in corners. Google "DIY Bass traps" and you'll see a bunch of possibilities.

[Nateispro]

What sort of furnishings are in the room now ? Carpet or hard floors ? Any heavy drapes across a bunch of windows or anything like that ?

Most rooms need some bass traps in corners. Google "DIY Bass traps" and you'll see a bunch of possibilities.

Thanks! It has carpeted floors, one medium window to the left and up from my desk, and no draps or anything, a lot of posters but I doubt they help and for furniture there is my desk, a dresser, a nightstand and a small table with my tv

[nakedzen]

So the room i'll probably be in the most is my bedroom, plain square bedroom. I'll have to look into some DIY sound treatment.. Any good places to start looking? I'll also look into those fostex monitors!

A square room is the worst in terms of reflections unfortunately. I use book shelfs as diffusers, and bass traps in all of the corners, and a big mid freq absorber behind my head. Not yet optimal but getting there.

One thing of note is when I was researching into acoustic treatment a sales rep from an insulation company told me that the most important place, the place you should first look into treating, is the ceiling, not the walls or corners. Unfortunately I can't do it on my own apartment since I'm renting the place.

Also you need to keep in mind that proper low end acoustic treatment can only done by a huge volume. The formula for calculating the needed thickness of your panel is 1/4 x wavelength if you have an air gap behind the panel that is also 1/4 wavelength of wanted frequency. The point behind this is that the sound bouncing back from the wall at the panel will be in opposite phase and they'll cancel each other out. For 70Hz that would mean a thickness of 4 feet plus the air gap, 8 feet in total.

Thankfully you can use this formula to calculate the thickness of a panel that you'd need to treat known problem frequencies in the midrange and highs, that will need to be much less thick. A good idea is to play a frequency sweep through your monitors and listen for peaks. (Optimally you'd use a measurement microphone for this instead your ears). Obviously moving your head/microphone and/or your monitors half a feet will change your results, so this will also give you an idea of where the best speaker placement will be.

You can also find things about the room by using a test tone generator playing a certain frequency, let's say 100Hz, as you walk around the room and listen for spots where the volume goes down and where it goes up. Bass traps should be put where the test tone volume goes up (usually the corners).

[colejustesen]

On that list I would probably do the equator set. I own the Yamaha HS50M monitors and I really like their performance! I tried listening to a mixture of monitors when I bought mine and the Presonus set you are looking were a part of the test. They sound decent, but I preferred the Yamaha set. I have heard nothing but awesome about the equator monitors.

Cole

[darkintension]

To OP

I picked up a set of the Adam F5's this past week, and I'm extremely happy with them for what they are. They are very well balanced and are translating well. Can hold some bass to it without getting woofy as well. I only have the Dynaudio BM5a's to otherwise reference to but for the price, the F5's are really nice. Look on the bay. Picked mine up for about $300 for the whole set!

But again, acoustic treatment will be the biggest improvement in mixing accurate sounds. A sound diffuser on the wall behind you listening position does wonders as well. I haven't personally used them, but Diffuser City has sound cheap natural ones that actually look like they would get the job done to try it out for starters. As mentioned, rock wool, wooden frames, and a cloth wrap would go a long way as a DIY solution for making bass traps.

Bobby