Hello! First post here! Here goes:
A few years back I had a pair of KRK Rokit 5 G3’s and they were ok but I sold them when moving apts and started producing on headphones. But I’d like to get a set of monitors again.
I did some research over the past couple of days and finally ordered a pair of Dynaudio BM5 mkIII’s. I received them today but unfortunately they hiss way too loud for my liking. I mix at low volumes and can discern the hiss underneath the music. Also, whenever I turn the music off, the hiss is loud enough to be distracting. I tried a number of things to ensure that the hiss was not introduced by my environment and confirmed that the hiss comes from the speakers themselves. I am thinking of returning them. Not sure if I should because they do sound very good…
I am considering other candidates.
-
Yamaha HS 7- Very popular but when watching online comparisons I felt like they accentuate higher frequencies a lot. Is that true? There must be a reason for the popularity? The price is also really nice.
-
Focal Alpha 65 Evo- Huge footprint but I’ve heard only good things about Focals.
-
EVE Audio SC207- Expensive. Worth it? Not much talk about EVEs anywhere.
-
Adam T7V- Really don’t like what they look like but the price is right and the reviews are solid.
-
DAM Audio A4V- Brand spanking new model. Has a bunch of new tech built-in which makes me feel like it would be adding complexity. I want to avoid complexity and want to have predictability instead. Also, is the 4" woofer too small?
-
ADAM Audio A5X- Has an impressive frequency range on paper… Love the look and the size.
-
ADAM Audio A7X- A lot of people online say that the 7" is better for bass-heavy electronic music. I really like the look of the ADAM AnX series…
-
Neumann KH 80 DSP- Stellar reviews everywhere but expensive and 4" woofer.
-
Presonus R65 V2- Good price but I dislike the “cyclops” look. Cannot unsee it. But still considering it.
-
Genelec 8030C
- A lot of people praise Genelecs but they are expensive and this model, which is already stretching my budget, is a 5".
-
Dynaudio BM5 mkIII- And of course the original candidate. Should I suck it up and live with the hiss?
So yeah, I’d love your guys’ feedback. I am producing techno/downtempo in an untreated room at low volumes. Having clear bass is important. Having a lot of volume is not important. To summarize:
- Is it worth it to get monitors if producing in an untreated room or should I just continue with headphones?
- Are 4" monitors incompetent for techno? Is 5" enough? Is 7" enough?! I sure hope so because I do not have space for 8" and I do not want to use a sub.
- I really love the ADAM Audio A5X and A7X monitors. Are there better options from the list I wrote above? Any issues to know about? They are, at this point, 10-year-old models. Does it matter?
Thanks!
EDIT 1: Crossed out the eliminated candidates.
EDIT 2: Went with Neumann KH 120 A’s. The Genelec 8030C’s would be just as good for my use case.