Suggestions for nearfield monitors

[Taxidermy]

I am about to move from an apartment that leaks sound to all the surrounding neighbors to one that is composed of concrete and should be relatively soundproof. I have decided that my next investment is going to be some decent nearfield monitors. I used to own a pair of edirol monitors. I didn't like them very much, and ended up selling them when I moved into this place.

I have been using Sennheiser HD515 headphones for making music with. While they aren't the most amazing, I am still reasonably happy with them. I am looking at a $500-$1000 range. I want to avoid the KRK rokit monitors; a friend of mine has them, and they are way too bass rich.

What would you guys suggest?

[Stab Frenzy]

I've personally been pretty impressed by Yamaha MSP5s, MSP7s, Adam A7s and Dynaudio BM6s. I also quite like the Genelecs, but there's something about them that just doesn't do it for me, at least at the price they go for.

[Hair]

The Yamaha MSPs are cool for sure, I actually ended up going with the HS80s after doing extensive testing in the store with all available speakers and some dense mixes and mastered songs I knew pretty well. I'd recommend plowing through the 3508305935 monitor threads on gearslutz and seeing what you lean towards, then try and test out the ones you're interested in at your local Guitar Center or whatever.

I make a lot of dance type music so having a lot of accurate bass on tap is a must. Even though I'm in a pretty small basement room (6'x14") with a concrete floor, two concrete walls, two drywall.. walls and a wooden ceiling, I've treated it with homemade superchunk bass traps + some acoustic panels from ATS acoustics at the first reflection points, and the HS80s are pretty accurate and revealing even down low, plus they don't grate on you like the NS10s to which they're aesthetically similar.

Of course a small room like that is real hard to tame and the bass response changes a bit from the speaker side to the far side of the room, but I know where to stand to check the bass accurately xD - higher frequencies are no problem for me.

[prophei]

get the m-audio dsm-1's. they tested better than everything in the range including the adam's. don't let the brand fool you, they were designed by digidesign. you can not find a better nearfield for the price. period.

[Ashe37]

Just as a note, most current m-audio products are designed by digidesign. when Avid bought m-audio they moved most of the engineers in with the digidesign crew and let quite a few go.

On Topic question: do y'all not like Alesis Monitor One/Monitor Twos?

[prophei]

Just as a note, most current m-audio products are designed by digidesign. when Avid bought m-audio they moved most of the engineers in with the digidesign crew and let quite a few go.

actually, this isn't exactly true. m-audio developers didn't go to digidesign, though more collaboration happened within avid in general.

[Ashe37]

Just as a note, most current m-audio products are designed by digidesign. when Avid bought m-audio they moved most of the engineers in with the digidesign crew and let quite a few go.

actually, this isn't exactly true. m-audio developers didn't go to digidesign, though more collaboration happened within avid in general.

Well, the person I knew at M-Audio went there

[Stab Frenzy]

get the m-audio dsm-1's. they tested better than everything in the range including the adam's. don't let the brand fool you, they were designed by digidesign. you can not find a better nearfield for the price. period.

Double side note - Most (if not all) of the digidesign hardware below HD prices is c**p. I say this as a long time PT user, had an MBox, have recorded a couple of albums on a 002, would rather use pretty much anything in the price range as far as an interface goes. Saying M-Audio stuff was designed by Digidesign isn't really commending it.

Anyway, when digi wanted some good quality monitors made they got PMC to design them and just put the digi name on them.

[prophei]

Just as a note, most current m-audio products are designed by digidesign. when Avid bought m-audio they moved most of the engineers in with the digidesign crew and let quite a few go.

actually, this isn't exactly true. m-audio developers didn't go to digidesign, though more collaboration happened within avid in general.

Well, the person I knew at M-Audio went there

who was that? if i may ask

[prophei]

get the m-audio dsm-1's. they tested better than everything in the range including the adam's. don't let the brand fool you, they were designed by digidesign. you can not find a better nearfield for the price. period.

Double side note - Most (if not all) of the digidesign hardware below HD prices is c**p. I say this as a long time PT user, had an MBox, have recorded a couple of albums on a 002, would rather use pretty much anything in the price range as far as an interface goes. Saying M-Audio stuff was designed by Digidesign isn't really commending it.

Anyway, when digi wanted some good quality monitors made they got PMC to design them and just put the digi name on them.

digi was involved with those monitors because avid wanted them to be top of the line. regardless of your impressions of the lower end gear, it might be fair to suspect that those things were made to fit a price range and customer. clearly, digidesign knows what good gear is!

all that aside, the dsm-1's are an AMAZING monitor in that price range.... even compared to things higher.

[Robonaut]

I just picked up a used pair of Genelec 8030As off of ebay for $800 (and I've seen them go for less).

I think they sound fantastic--way better than the KRK Rockits I was using. I used to own a pair of Mackie HR824s, and they seem to sound better than those, as well.

I also auditioned the Adam A7s, which sounded great, but they seemed to make EVERYTHING sound great--even recordings with flaws. The Genelecs seem to do a much better job at highlighting the flaws.

I'm using the Genelecs with my old KRK subwoofer--I think pretty much any nearfield requires a sub if you're doing EDM (not sure if that's the type of music you're doing, though).

[Taxidermy]

So far there seem to be a lot of good suggestions in this thread. Kind of lined up with other things I had researched off the internet. A couple of notes;

I also auditioned the Adam A7s, which sounded great, but they seemed to make EVERYTHING sound great--even recordings with flaws. The Genelecs seem to do a much better job at highlighting the flaws.

As much as I understand monitors are primarily for highlighting flaws, I want something that can be used for casual listening as well. Granted, I know a $200 stereo is probably a better fit for casual listening, so I may just end up buying a $200 stereo.

get the m-audio dsm-1's. they tested better than everything in the range including the adam's. don't let the brand fool you, they were designed by digidesign. you can not find a better nearfield for the price. period.

It doesn't matter how good something made by m-audio is. I have been burnt by their equipment one to many times. Its almost the principle of the matter. They sacrifice quality to have something in the stores that is $20 less than the competition. Not only does this cause more users to get burnt by m-audio gear, it also forces their competition to do the same just so they can compete. This makes things worse for everyone in the long run.

I've personally been pretty impressed by Yamaha MSP5s, MSP7s, Adam A7s and Dynaudio BM6s. I also quite like the Genelecs, but there's something about them that just doesn't do it for me, at least at the price they go for.

I think I am going to look at one of your Yamaha suggestions. The price leaves room in by budget for something else, and they seem to be very well regarded by a lot of people. I would love to buy a pair of Dynaudio monitors, but for me to get them in canada, it would cost nearly $1500, which is well outside of my budget.