Which monitors do you use?

Yamaha MSP5’s, ah they are great. When they’re loud, the air that comes out of the bass ports can make a small room colder.

I got a pair for £65, they’re not bad at all for that price. If you got a new pair of monitors for that price ten years ago they’d have been as good as useless.

Oh yeah. Well, good sound overall. Much more depth and clearer bass than my yamaha hs 8 and less annoying to my ears during longer mixing sessions. But… And that’s the reason for me send them back! So loud noise/hiss, if we can call that hiss. More like a distance crackling thunder. Almost sounds like rainy mood meditation :smiley: That’s a shame because I think the sound is really good but for me to hear every little quiet details while patching synths (sound design) and trying to ignore that hiss, is too hard and makes no sense. Even if you’re not into sound design and came from let’s say Yamaha’s hs series, the hiss from the Kalis will annoy you I think.

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Interesting, I have a pair of the LP-6s, but the hiss isn’t all that bad. I had a first set though where the amps where not working properly (and it gave a crackling and hissing sound throughout), but I wrote Kali Audio and they replaced the set within 2-3 days. Really nice customer service, at least my experience was :slight_smile:

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Hm, maybe I grabbed a broken pair. Now I want to know exactly, because I like the sound of the Kali’s. I ordered the monitors from MusicStore (Germany) but they also have a very good service. Then I think I’ll swap the monitors again. Although there are many comments about too loud noise/hiss from the Kali’s :grimacing:

I ended up buying a pair of eris 3.5bt from Thomann for £111. They came yesterday and I set them up today and honestly I’m blown away with the sound out of them. Perfect for my small room

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how do they compare? Im torn between the e5, hs5 and the 305 mk2. planning to put them in an untreated room

Hello!
I’ve had a pair of used yamaha hs5’s for about 4 years, and I am ready to invest in some speakers that let me hear what I am making accurately.
The speakers I have now must have a faulty transformer or something, because they are constantly emitting a high whine that I have put up with for a long time.
I’m ready to not be constantly fatigued by this or by inaccurate bass monitoring.

I am wondering if anyone has a recommendation for where to get started.
I am willing to do some diy acoustic treatment.

I work at one end of a roughly 10’x20’ room. I don’t have the ability to mix in the middle of the room.

I’m wondering
What are a detailed pair of monitors that I could purchase ($700 for the pair hopefully)
What room treatment and speaker placement rules are essential to follow
should I even bother, and just start using headphones until I live somewhere where I can invest in a whole room.

The specific problem I am having, other than the constant whine, is that I am almost always turning my bass frequencies up in order to hear them clearly.
My speakers are set up at about head level, at an equilateral triangle to where I sit, and I have rear ported speakers.

thank you in advance for any advice you may offer. :v:t2: :heart:

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Hello, I had approximatively the same feeling as you with my pair of Yamaha HS80M.
I made some research and the Genelec 8020 sounded like the best option for 800€ the pair.
But, it’s still quite expensive and I think the bass are not much present on this monitor size. During my researchs I saw people making good music on not so good monitors.
Then I understand someting: if you want your track sound really good, you have to pay someone that know how to do it.
If you don’t have a very clean setup in a clean room with correct spacing and acoustic treatment you wont get the full benefit of high quality monitors.
So, for my experience, I kept my HS80M, and started to listen carefully references tracks I love to catch how my track should sound. It’s not perfect but I improved my mix skills just by taking more attentions to what I have instead of what I want.
Or, you have the Genelec.
Hope that help.

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Thank you for the advice.
In your opinion, I should repair or replace my monitors with the same hs5’s, and then use reference tracks to help my understanding of how to mix on them?
I need to replace them, the whine from the speakers is very tiring.

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Right now, this moment I have here Presonus Eris 3.5’s, which, hmmmm, not that great, but not terrible for what they are. I don’t even use them when I’m making music tbh, they’re good for listening to stuff on though.

I have MSP5’s also, but not here. I miss them, they’re some of the dullest looking monitors you’ve ever seen, they weight the best part of 10kg each, for 4.5" cones…but they just work, if what you’re doing is shit, you’re going to know about it, big time…

Still going round in circles deciding what to buy when I move, Adam a5x + Sub, Neumann KH120, Focal Shape 50, Neumann KH310, even those Monkey Banana Turbos are tempting but I don’t like rear ported.

I’m sure they’re all amazing, but each has it’s own benefit none of the others has… The shapes are none ported, so that’s really tempting me. The Adams are a great reference for Techno, the KH120’s have DSP and are meant to be even more accurate than adams. The KH310, I’d never need to buy another pair, plus they’re 3 way KH120’s…

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Focal CMS65 and i don’t see myself ever needing to buy monitors again and if I do they’ll prooooobably be Focals :slight_smile: These magic boxes have turned me into a lifer!

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KH310’s all the way for me. Had mine for a little over 2 years and haven’t looked back. No need for a sub if you have a small enough room. I had Eve SC208’s before and I thought they were great until I got the Neumann’s. Different class.
I heard the HEDD Type 20 are in a similar class, although they are of course ported. Cheers

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This might be unpopular but I think it is more important to get to know the headphones or speakers you are using. You can do great mixes on cheap stuff.
It is A different story probably if you’re doing bass heavy club tracks

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Oh yes, I forget your speaker are broken. So yeah, you can change them or get the same if you are used to work on it.
If I have to change my monitor for something not too expensive, I will choose Eris line. Maybe E44.

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Of course, this always correct. I see a lot of people claiming, excellent, speakers don’t translate well. I think this is often because they’re trying to impose another sound on top of the speaker, instead of learning the sound.

I tend to use my monitors and headphones for everything, always, when I get new ones I’ll listen over and over to certain tunes I’ve heard a million times or more. The 1st three on any new gear are always Icicle-Dreadnaught, to check out the subs, BCUK - The Nine to check out dynamics and the highs on those rides, then David Bowie - Space Oddity for stereo and just general clarity.

Speaker control to Major Tom!

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Mixing against a similar reference track should always be what you are doing. Unless you are very, very, veeeeeeery experienced and know exactly how it should sound…

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The iLouds are my favorite budget-priced monitors I’ve ever owned. Scary good in the midrange.

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So they seem to be accurate?