I make my music (passionate hobbiest) in about a 4 square-foot corner of my living room. I use headphones when playing/recording. When I get to mastering, I’m at the laptop in the middle my living room listening to decent-sized speakers.
Problem is, as I get older (hit 40 this year), ear fatigue gets worse. I need to give my ears a break from the headphones more often. So I’m looking for rather small but not awful monitors. They won’t be my main mixing tools, but I want them to be good enough that I can largely rely on them to be in the ballpark of an unadorned mix when I’m playing around, and then move to headphones when recording without much of a “shock.”
I was looking at the highly-regarded JBL305P MKIIs but I feel they might be overkill for what I need. There are a number of cheaper options around $200 CAD per pair that I know will not be perfect - just looking for something nice enough in a very small space. At most, speakers will be about 2-3 feet away from each other and me. Wondering even if a speaker will do the job.
Unfortunately with COVID, I don’t have it in me to risk going to places to test monitors out, so looking for what opinions I can get, if people have particular (good or bad) experiences with cheap monitors they’d like to share.
I had genelec 8010A small and portable and they are surprisingly good for the size
Good quality and easy to mix in a small space…
definitely can recommend them but they are a bit expensive but worth it…
seen them in quite a few studio pics on here also
I have a couple of pairs, but I got some of the Presonus Eris 3.5" speakers. I thought they would be near useless for audio work, but decent little laptop speakers. I wouldn’t use them judging low end, but for the prices you can get them for, I paid £66!, they are very good. I think rrp is £100 per pair, the amps are both in one speaker, so they’re very light.
I’m not going to hold them up as what I think is the best choice, just my opinion on them. Maybe the size up? I think they have every size up to 10" not sure, worth reading some reviews though.
Best option, if you’re lucky, you might be able to find a pair of Yamaha MSP5’s for £200 on ebay, not sure how that translates to CAD, they were the previous line to the Yamaha HS’s and a lot more expensive, £380 each was the original RRP, for the 5". Very very heavy and very good for mixing on. It seems audiphiles purchased a lot of them for whatever reason and they don’t tend to sell them for much.
Have only heard good things about these little guys. Sort of the same modus operandi as Genelecs but a fraction of the price. Fairly consistent frequency response considering their size and power rating.
Would stay away from the Presonus Eris line if I were you, not very transparent sound, not going to give you a very flat/accurate mix reference despite all the people that use them and like their sound. I read someone once call them “showroom speakers” because they sound good in the store with their low and high frequency bump.
^Great resource for looking up unbiased speaker/monitor reviews complete with charts and data.
Would stay away from the Presonus Eris line if I were you
yeah mixes done on mine have translated very well for a number of straightforward music productions, headphone pieces and art gallery audio playback. You pull a mix then go & compare it on other systems.
They are cheap, decent speakers - if/when I get a more permanent room and put up decent treatment I probably won’t be using these.
Earlier this year, due to being stuck in another country, I had a temporary requirement for speakers that would work on a desk, placed in the corner of a room, in conjunction with a synth.
As it was temporary I did not want to pay too much so, based on Thomann reviews, I went for the Presonus Eris E3.5.
As someone who owns quite high end audio reproduction equipment I was very surprised at how well these speakers performed so can heartily recommend them if funds are limited.
Just to prove my point. here’s this. I got a pair this morning for £100, which is a a laughable amount, considering original and current rrp. £258 each at lowest.
Yes have done a few. Haven’t checked on any big systems but translates nicely on hi-fi and car audio… often sounding better. Just be aware that any low fundamental frequencies below say 50-60hz you’ll need to keep an eye on in your analyzer (same as any small monitor).
I can vouch for IK monitors only if you are not doing bass heavy music. They just didn’t have the reach into the subs I needed so went to krk 5 - but for price and size. Can’t beat it.
