Nearfield monitors for a small room

[korpse pop]

I'd like to get suggestion which monitors I should look for. I now have Behringer 2031A and would like to upgrade. I need nearfield monitors that work well in a small room that is not acoustically perfect (yet ).
I'm really looking for NS-10s, but they seem to be awfully hard to find for a good price.
I don't care if you recommend active or passive, but I need suggestions for a power amp as well if I get passives.
Would it be good idea to keep the Behringers as a second set of monitors or should I sell them asap?

 

[Soundlurker]

Depends on your budget. Adam a5 should be pretty nice. Also Dynaudio BM5a compact or even K&H m52. Best bet would be to spend money on acoustic treatment, though.

 

[tgs]

I have a pair of Genelec 8020 in my smaller mixing suite and I think they're absolutely great. But you should really go have a listen to some different ones. Can be a bit tricky to know which ones will suit you though.

 

[Trevoire520]

I'd highly reccomend Yamaha's HS-50's. Basically a new, active version of the NS-10 and they sound much better to my ears. NS-10's seem to be missing a hell of alot of bass, whereas the HS's are more balanced.
I'm monitoring in a very small room and got onto these after not being happy with my Alesis M1MkII's as they had far too much low end for my room!

 

[korpse pop]

I'd highly reccomend Yamaha's HS-50's. Basically a new, active version of the NS-10 and they sound much better to my ears. NS-10's seem to be missing a hell of alot of bass, whereas the HS's are more balanced.
I'm monitoring in a very small room and got onto these after not being happy with my Alesis M1MkII's as they had far too much low end for my room!

Do you need a sub with those?

 

[korpse pop]

I narrowed my choices to these ones:

Genelec 8020 = 550 €
Yamaha HS50 = 310 €
Yamaha HS80M = 480 €
Yamaha NS10 = 300-500 € + needs a power amp

Should I also be getting a sub?
Good thing with Genes and NS10 is that they give a huge image boost, so I might be getting some more clients, but HS50 and HS80 probably are better and more affordable as well. Really hard to decide. Any pointers?

 

[JBroll]

NS10s and a sub if you need it. I'd avoid saying that the HS are better, they're continuations of that line but we'd see a lot more people 'upgrading' to them if they were better...

Jeff

 

[korpse pop]

How about Yamaha MSP5 ?? I found those used for sale for what seems to be a pretty nice price, how much should I pay for those? Or are they any good at all?

 

[Metaltastic]

Whoa, if you can afford 8020's, then you can afford ADAM A7's, which are the absolute winners for their price, hands down.

 

[LSD-Studio]

How about Yamaha MSP5 ?? I found those used for sale for what seems to be a pretty nice price, how much should I pay for those? Or are they any good at all?

How about Yamaha MSP5 ?? I found those used for sale for what seems to be a pretty nice price, how much should I pay for those? Or are they any good at all?

my favorites for a small room.
till a year ago I did 90% of my mixes on those

 

[korpse pop]

Whoa, if you can afford 8020's, then you can afford ADAM A7's, which are the absolute winners for their price, hands down.

Pair of ADAM A7 = 800 €, genes are ~550€. Hmm.. not that big price difference you are correct. But do Adams need a sub? If not, they win Genelec for sure.

LSD, your mixes rock, did you use a sub with MSP5? How much you think they are worth used? What monitors did you upgrade to ?

 

[Metaltastic]

The ADAMs definitely don't need a sub, they kick ass as-is. And Lasse upgraded to a pair of these, which something tells me are just a bit out of your (and my!) price range (that's $2200 each, by the way, not for the pair )

Also, I'm surprised the ADAMs and 8020's are the same price where you are; here, they're identically priced.

 

[Soundlurker]

Have in mind that dealing with subwoofers is quite tricky because you need to calibrate it correctly and acoustic treatment plays an even more important role. You might end up with an uneven response and an unbalanced mix.

 

[Keiffer]

my recommendation is to devote some time learning about the problems of small rooms.

Dimensions
Modes
Early Reflections

the best monitors won't overcome this issues.

 

[Tommy Gun]

NS10s and a sub if you need it. I'd avoid saying that the HS are better, they're continuations of that line but we'd see a lot more people 'upgrading' to them if they were better...

Jeff

+1

They are NOT better btw... I went and checked out HS80's and 50's... Hated them. The 80's, for their size should have had WAY better bass response. For the record, I checked out 13 different sets of nearfields, and I'm going with the Dynaudio BM5a's. Nothing else touched them. Granted, they didn't have any Genelec stuff. But the one's the Dynaudio DID blow away... M-Audio, Yamaha, KRK, Mackie, Tascam, and a couple others.

I loved NS10's, because if you can get a mix to sound good on those, it's going to sound good everywhere else. The HS series is not even close. However, Yamaha have released the new series designed by the man behind the NS10...

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/MSP7stu/

 

[Rupturemetal]

I dont understand the need for a sub. If you learn your monitors and you have a good reference CD and get somewhere close to a match, it should work,right?

 

[JBroll]

I dont understand the need for a sub. If you learn your monitors and you have a good reference CD and get somewhere close to a match, it should work,right?

No. You may have no earthly idea what's going on in the low end even with a reference CD to compare, so the reference CD would do very little good.

Jeff

 

[Tommy Gun]

I dont understand the need for a sub. If you learn your monitors and you have a good reference CD and get somewhere close to a match, it should work,right?

A good sub is essential, IMO, even if you don't hear it all the time. A GOOD sub can pick up on all those little low frequency "un-wanted's", so you can hear them and get them out. I don't really use a sub to "add" as much as I do to "remove".

 

[LSD-Studio]

LSD, your mixes rock, did you use a sub with MSP5? How much you think they are worth used? What monitors did you upgrade to ?

nope, just the speakers....was a small room though, they don't fit in my new room (sonically).
but yeah...perfect for small rooms

 

[Melodeath]

NS10s and a sub if you need it. I'd avoid saying that the HS are better, they're continuations of that line but we'd see a lot more people 'upgrading' to them if they were better...

Jeff

+1

They are NOT better btw... I went and checked out HS80's and 50's... Hated them. The 80's, for their size should have had WAY better bass response.

I disagree. The HS80Ms have an accurate amount of bass, IMO

And FWIW, my brother works at a pro audio shop in NY. He says the HS80Ms sell like hotcakes, to "real studio" owners. So maybe a lot of people are "upgrading" (?) - I haven't heard NS-10s tbh