Has anyone tried the AVANTONE MIXCUBES?

[ThatGuitarGuy]

I was reading about these things recently and how they sound TERRIBLE. It's extremely revealing and gives you a feel for "real world" scenarios of iPod headphones, car radios, etc. It's essentially a secondary monitoring system to check your mixes from your A monitors which have the potential to hide some problems.

These things apparently won't let you hide behind nice speakers.

Have any of you tried them/heard of them before? Are they all their hyped up to be in terms of revealing problem areas? They seem fairly cheap so it may not be a bad thing to give them a shot ($240 passive, $460 active).

Check it out

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/MixCubesAct/

 

[Scott C.]

I just snagged a pair off craigslist friday for $100. I'm not used to them yet so I'll have to keep you posted on how they work out. but right off the bat they kinda reminded me of ns10's with that really harsh forward midrange. I jammed some cds through them that had good mixes and everything sounded well balanced. then compared that to some mixes I felt were lacking and you could hear some of the prob areas right away (i.e. kick to loud,bass too quiet etc..)
I think once I get used to them they will be very helpful

 

[abt]

I've got a pair. They're basically a horrid vile grotbox. Yes, quiet useful. Don't spend a long time trying to fix what you hear, just have a quick check and adjust accordingly. Great for checking levels I find especially if somethings too loud that's all you hear. Using one in mono is probably all you need.

 

[ThatGuitarGuy]

Wow, $100 isn't too bad. I'm assuming you purchased the passive versions, right? I have a feeling that they're going to be MISERABLE to listen to, but ever so helpful. It seems like a good investment for so little money.

 

[abt]

Miserable is an understatement, they're absolutely vile. $100 is a good deal.

 

[ThatGuitarGuy]

I never would have imagined that I would want to purchase something because it's vile...us audio engineers are weird people...

 

[Sloan]

WHY?
Find a shitty boombox at a thrift store for $2, or find one in rich folk's trash. No need to spend hundreds of dollars.

 

[ThatGuitarGuy]

These are flat in the midrange. It would probably translate to more systems with these than the boom box honestly. That and they're way smaller than a boom box.

 

[~BURNY~]

I've tried the original Auratone, believe me they suck ass and aren't that useful. You'd get a better result by using regular monitors with a band pass filter.

 

[Scott C.]

Wow, $100 isn't too bad. I'm assuming you purchased the passive versions, right? I have a feeling that they're going to be MISERABLE to listen to, but ever so helpful. It seems like a good investment for so little money.

yeah they are the passive ones. and one had a dent in the dust cover of the cone that the guy had pulled out. but it sounds exactly as shitty as the other one lol
I had been tossing around the idea of getting a pair for a while and the cheap price just made it a easy decision.

 

[arv_foh]

I'd rather just walk out to my car and listen than spend a couple hundred bones on mixcubes

 

[ThatGuitarGuy]

Sometimes the convenience is nice. That and my car has a decent sound system.

 

[Clockwork]

I got a cheap $20 speaker that looks like a tiny guitar amp at an urban outfitters awhile ago. Does the same thing, sounds like shit but lets me know if something is blatantly out of balance in the mix and it just sits in between my monitors. Get something like that, no need to shell out cash for something that sounds terrible when you could get something cheap that serves the same utility.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

I would never pay more than $100 for a pair honestly.

And no way in hell I would ever mix on them (check my mixes only).

 

[sawtooth]

You could also get a pair of those small crap computer speakers and place them directly next to each other. Almost everyone has a pair of those.

 

[Strachan of D]

havent behringer came out with a copy of them

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

havent behringer came out with a copy of them

Yes, and even they are ridiculously overpriced for what they are.

Guess Behringer forgot they are supposed to make cheap, crap, blatant ripoffs and started making expensive, crap, blatant ripoffs

 

[Sloan]

I have one of these, it sucks.