Help me out

[mot666]

So I've bought all this new gear recently... guitar, amp, cab, laptop, bed... :Smug:

...and now, to celebrate my return to guitar, I'm going to get a Presonus Audiobox bundled with Studio One (unless theres something better) and some nice speakers... Looking to spend 200-500(australian) Should I get monitors or a hifi setup?

I'm new to home recording, the only monitors I've ever had were ancient relics from the 80s and I've often been let down by poor sound quality hifi setups. Muddy, boomy and/or harsh when listening to metal. There isnt that great a range locally(one store has all logitech the other has about 50 TVs going at once plus music and other electrical devices) hence I cant compare stuff with other stuff.

I'm sick of trolling through contradictory reviews on the net and I've read/seen enough to make me start to think bad things about consumers and the internet. uke:

Help a bruva out?

 

[Jind]

Not sure of the pricing in Australia, but Tannoy recently released a new line of their Reveal series of active monitors - the 501a and 601a. While I have no experience with them, lots of folks around here use other Tannoy monitors and swear by them. These are suprisingly very affordable and Tannoy has a great track record. Might be worth looking into.

Tannoy Reveal 501a

Tannoy Reveal 601a

Little writeup at Sound on Sound Magazine

 

[mot666]

Cheers man, I'll look into Tannoy. Thats one name I haven't seen come up on a search engine yet.

So a little further down the track I find that the Audiobox dosnt have a digital input, but the Firebox does. that sucks coz I really like the look of Studio One.

But I wanna record with my brand new Vetta's digital outs...

So looking at other USB interfaces now... digital onesrolleyes. I like the look of the Edirol UA 101, although it is much more expensive it does have more INs. Whats Cakewalk like? My dad rekons I can do better than Cakewalk.

And theres the Maudio Fast Track Pro... a lot of the reviews said it was a lazy arse piece of shit, I mean latency ridden.

What about other Digital USB Interfaces? Anyone use a digital interface they can recommend?

 

[DevilJaw]

id stay away from the presonus audiobox usb it was a poo, it clipped no matter what type of guitar i plugged into the di input, even after 2 exchanges. i eventually got the Line 6 POD Studio UX1 with POD Farm, it works awesome for what i wanted to use it for, which was mobile scratch tracks.

but id personally get the M-Audio ProFire 610 for a small setup, even though its firewire and not usb.

 

[mot666]

I just got an email from Presonus recommending I use a DI box with my setup. He also said the Firestudio was a better option. anyway...

 

[Trevoire520]

For monitors I think Yamaha HS50/80 are awesome (50's are better for smaller rooms)
Alot of folks on here also swear by Adam A7's.