Which studio monitors to choose?

Christmas is coming closer and besides a studio mixer i’m gonna buy myself a pair of nearfield studio monitors. The range is huge and the choice is tough. I narrowed it a little by reading reviews and opinions. My favourites so far are:

Adam A7X
Dynaudio BM5A MKII
Mackie HR824 MK2
Neumann KH 120 A
Yamaha MSP 7 Studio

My studio room is about 3x2m and there are shelves all around except before the door and a window. So refelxions shouldn’t be that much of an issue. The monitors will be placed 0,5m away from everything.
So, what do you think which monitors would fit? What are your experiences in small rooms, with monitors close to the walls? What else would you recommend (absorbers,…)?

Any help would be appreciated.

I splashed out on some Yamaha HS80s and am very very pleased with them. To me it was splashing out but they’re not more expensive then the others on your list. I have a subwoofer to go with them for pleasure listening but mix with it off, so my mixes don’t sound thin. They’re discontinued but presumably you can still get hold of some. Sure any on the list would be ok once you get to know how they sound & translate.

What about the KRK Rokits?

I’ve listened to some RP8 once and found them to be very bassy. Others on the internet may have experienced that too. Also i don’t like their catchy look.

HS80’s here and they are great for the money…

Yeah, the HS8 were in my closer choice before but then i came to the conclusion that the bass vents on the back could be a problem if they were too close to a wall.

Edit: Oh, i joust found out the Dynaudios have this too.

I’ve owned the Mackies and the Dyns and one of my close friends uses the Adams.
Have no idea idea about the Yamaha’s.

Of the monitors on this list that I’ve heard, the Neumann KH 120 As are the best by a mile, in my opinion.
I went from the Mackies to the Dyns to the Nuemanns after solidly testing the Adam’s, Focal Solo’s, Spiral Groove Studio Ones, and sE Electronics’ Munro Egg 150s.

They’re built quite literally like a tank, forward ported for decent bass for this size (I paired them with a sub though), and are shockingly accurate.
Using these as As and my Avantone Mixcubes as Bs I couldn’t be happier and, more importantly, I don’t have to use as many optional test speakers for mixing.

Monitors are very subjective though.
Go to a store and test some of your songs and favorite artists’ songs on them and decide what works best for your music.

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Thanks for your reply, it helps me insofar as i was already tending to the Neumanns, concerning the overly positive reviews. Still, they are the most expensive ones on my list, so i want to be sure about it.
The problem is, my two retailers are 5-6hrs away and i don’t really enjoy long car travels, but if it’s for something worth i’ll conquer that.

Truthfully, any of these monitors would work.
Once you learn them you’ll be able to make sound judgments (no pun intended) regardless of the monitor.
The Neumanns are just rock solid and much nicer in the upper and mid frequencies.
Great listening speakers and accurate enough for extremely critical listening.

The Dyn’s are smooth as well if you want something cheaper, but the Neumann’s are as good and then some.

If you don’t want to drive all that way the Nuemanns will not disappoint.
Worth the price without question and, to my knowledge, one of the only products Sound On Sound has reviewed with no cons.

Head over to Gearslutz, pages of info there.

I have just gone through the monitor upgrade maze, and expect my new Sonodyne SM 100Ak to be delivered next week.

I’ve had to buy them blind ( or should that be deaf!) so fingers crossed!

Good luck with you choice.

careful with gearslutz though, slight loss of reality sometimes, you don’t need really expensive ones, ie after reading there, don’t move up a price level - no need.

i have the hs8 (yamaha) and they are Fking amazing .

Personally I love my Focal CMS65s, agree that KRKs tend to sound hyped.

if this appeals to anyone, yamaha hs8 are up on massdrop for 249/free ship in US.

(sorry if this is against forum rules but i checked and couldn’t find any…)

Anyone here tried the equator D5 - D8s? Surprised they’ve not been mentioned as it seems people are loving them? Maybe not tho.

A7X here, no real complaints apart from there pretty bright and kick a bit too much for my room after moving, so ive been considering some smaller monitors and the D5s seem a bargain.

Cheers

I use Wharfedale Diamonnd 8.2 Active with a Linn [font=Arial, Helvetica, ‘Microsoft YaHei’, 微软雅黑, STXihei, 华文细黑, sans-serif]Majik 126, RME FF-400.
[font=Arial, Helvetica, ‘Microsoft YaHei’, 微软雅黑, STXihei, 华文细黑, sans-serif]That have pressure, neutral i like it :wink:
[font=Arial, Helvetica, ‘Microsoft YaHei’, 微软雅黑, STXihei, 华文细黑, sans-serif]Room Situation same like you.

[font=Arial, Helvetica, ‘Microsoft YaHei’, 微软雅黑, STXihei, 华文细黑, sans-serif]All the best,

[font=Arial, Helvetica, Microsoft YaHei, 微软雅黑, STXihei, 华文细黑, sans-serif]waldemaR

Focal CMS65’s are by far the best monitors I’ve ever had. Well balanced sound through the range, transparent = Great mixes. Built very well.

Used to have Tannoy Reveals. They were weak at the low end and caused listening fatigue.

also had Adam A7’s with the Sub8. Excellent sound but not excellent monitors.
Hyped low and high frequencies and lacking in Mid range detail. I wish I could have kept these as general listening speakers but they had to go to fund the Focal’s

Pretty sure the X models went quite a way to fix the A7s issues, they also won SOS monitor of the year 2 years in a row I think for what that’s worth. :+1:

In my experience it totally depends on the type of music you write too and Adams are great for electronic stuff… I’ve got a few mates releasing techno that use the KRK 6s but know them really well both in totally untreated rooms… Ive also had cms 65s and Genelecs which I miss most these days but changing room 3 times in as many years has had me swap and change to suit my room.
I’ve learnt your room itself is as important as your monitors so pointless spending mega dollar on monitors to be used a totally dry room where you can’t hear all that extra detail anyway. :joy:

Would really like to try those Neumann ones when I know my room a bit better.

I heard that the X’s were a bit of an improvement. I haven’t tried them out.
Adam’s QA on the original A7’s was crap. And the sound field was very narrow. You really couldn’t stray much from the "triangle"sweet spot vertically or horizontally before you lost half the sound.
Focals are much more forgiving.
I could have easily bought the Genelec’s instead of the Focals. One day I still might get some.
Dynaudio have a great reputation as well.

I just bought dynaudio bm12a. Usually they are 995€ euchm so around 2000€ for 2. Because they will be replaced soon, they are extra cheap. I paid 595 incl vat for one speaker, so 1200 for 2. I love the sound, the price is very Nice as wel