What desktop studio monitors size amplification for home practice ?

[basskit_case]

I have been playing through headphones a lot recently through my small Valeton gp100 multi effects pedal.  I would like to play without headphones now and again at low volume and was Just wondering what budget price monitors or pc speakers people are using at the moment. Looking at £200 max for a pair.  These won’t be pushed used for bass and guitar.  Thanks

Edited December 29, 2022 by basskit_case

[JPJ]

Colour me interested. I am in a similar position but I am looking for the holy grail of small form factor (particularly depth as my desk is up against a wall) and a good low end response without the need for a separate sub. I’m wanting to be able to play bass through mine via my interface/GarageBand setup. I’ve been tempted a few times by the Rokit 5 but they are quite deep.

[fretmeister]

You'll get a used pair of Yamaha HS7 for that money.

 

Great monitors.

[asingardenof]

I've been eyeing up these as they seem to be quite decent: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B075QVMBT9/?coliid=IDRIG5W2WK822&colid=3PXEP9EBMVFNN&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

[basskit_case]

4 hours ago, fretmeister said:

You'll get a used pair of Yamaha HS7 for that money.

 

Great monitors.

I bet they sound great, bit meaty size wise.  I guess it’s needed to produce decent lows.

4 hours ago, asingardenof said:

I've been eyeing up these as they seem to be quite decent: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B075QVMBT9/?coliid=IDRIG5W2WK822&colid=3PXEP9EBMVFNN&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

They appeal to my wallet and the size is ideal for a desktop.  Just depends on bass response.

[Dan Dare]

If you can stretch to around £280, Adam T5Vs are excellent. Check the reviews.

[David B]

I’ve have a pair of Monitor Audio BX5 speakers. Very happy with them. Not huge although quite deep (but I think they need to be a certain size to ensure a decent bass response). My son has a pair of BX8 speakers - he just had to go “one louder”. They are much bigger but have a killer sound and provide volume in spades for home use. His home practice set up is a Kemper through his monitors. I’m more of a cheapo Zoom guy.

[walshy]

21 hours ago, Dan Dare said:

If you can stretch to around £280, Adam T5Vs are excellent. Check the reviews.

Just ordered the T7V’s as they look the part too. Arrive tomorrow 👌

[Franticsmurf]

I started off using a pair of JBL 104 powered monitors in my home studio. For the size (4.5" speaker) they were fine for the general recording and mixing I was doing. I only moved on (to M-Audio BX8s) because I had the chance of grabbing a pair for next to nothing from a mate. The 104s are now my PC monitor speakers and I occasional use them if I'm recording away from the studio.

[JPJ]

So, thanks to this thread I have today pulled the trigger on a pair of KRK Rokit RP5 G4 monitors. I’ve gone for these based on the published frequency range, the front ports, and the relative shallow depth. My desk is pushed up against the wall so depth is my enemy and these seemed to be the best compromise. 

[Phil Starr]

Wish this thread had started a couple of weeks earlier, I've been looking for a similar speaker for my study/practice room. I do most of my practice with my Zoom B1 and a set of Sennheiser HD595 headphones. Great for bass but I struggle with practicing my backing vocals and sometimes when everyone is out I want to make a real noise. 

 

Anyway I'd bought these just as this thread started RCF LYRA PRO5 with the Yamaha HS5's in contention. In truth they were a present brought by Santa  I love Santa

 

Just a quick review as they only arrived yesterday. The sound is everything I hoped for. My practice room is round 4m x 2.4m and they go more than loud enough and will handle bass aty like the sound I get through the  room filling volumes without complaint of obvious distortion. The sound I'm hearing is very like the sound through the headphones and the few test songs I've tried have demonstrated how revealing these things are. Voices sound very separate in the mix and you can hear the effect of different miking in the recordings, all this with a cheap Alesis mixer in the chain and dowrticularly pleasing was nloaded off Spotify so not a clean source. The stereo image is great, lots of depth and separation with instruments nicely placed in space which would really help sitting them in the mix if I was recording and not just playing them back. Actually the lack of colour makes them really pleasant to listen to, I've a horrible feeling they'll give my very expensive hifi a run for its money. That's mad for two speakers costing no more than a decent soundbar.

 

Particularly pleasing was using them as monitors for my backing vocals. I'm a pretty weak singer and only manage at all with decent monitors and these are better than anything I've tried so far. For bass they sound like my headphones and like my FRFR bass speakers (LFSys Silverstones) That's going to make setting up fx at home a whole lot easier.

 

The only downside is that they are a bit bigger Than I'd hoped. I had measured up the space and they are of course exactly the size it says on the tin but the reality is that they are big and black and I'm going to have to tidy up my study to fit them in. On the plus side the bass is far more satisfying than I expected, they really don't sound stressed at all and it's a lovely clean sound.

 

So @JPJ has his Rokit's which I also thought looked good, I'd love to hear how he get's on with them but I'm really happy with these Lyra's so far.

 

[JPJ]

@Phil Starrso the Rokits arrived on Christmas Eve, but with a house full of guests I haven’t had chance to even unbox them yet. Looking like tomorrow or Wednesday before I’ll get a chance to play with them. 

[mcnach]

On 16/12/2022 at 16:53, asingardenof said:

I've been eyeing up these as they seem to be quite decent: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B075QVMBT9/?coliid=IDRIG5W2WK822&colid=3PXEP9EBMVFNN&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

 

I've got the 4.5" version. Pretty happy with their sound.

[Bassybert]

On 20/12/2022 at 17:42, JPJ said:

So, thanks to this thread I have today pulled the trigger on a pair of KRK Rokit RP5 G4 monitors. I’ve gone for these based on the published frequency range, the front ports, and the relative shallow depth. My desk is pushed up against the wall so depth is my enemy and these seemed to be the best compromise. 

I have the exact same model at home and love them. I need to put them on a couple of stands (which I’m planning on making) to get the optimum angles on my desk but they’ve been brilliant so far. I think you’ll be happy with them 😃

Edited December 28, 2022 by Bassybert

[JPJ]

So I've finally got the last of the Christmas house guests away and had some time to set up and play with the KRK's and I think I have become an instant audiophile. Please bear in mind that I've only been listening to mp3's (so heavily compressed) tracks but the stereo image is so good you would swear the sound source was directly in front of you. In fact, I had to check my GarageBand settings as at first I thought they had weirdly set themselves to use my screen speakers and not the KRK's. 

 

Playing bass through these is a joy. No loss of bottom end and as loud as I need them to be (and considerably more in reserve) and they are not vibrating the room to bits while I am playing. At the moment they are sat on my desk so about 8" lower than recommended, but I will rectify that tomorrow when my desk stands arrive. I've had a play with the handy free KRK app to 'tune' the speakers to the room and for me it did make a noticeable improvement. 

 

In summary, I only wish I had done this a lot earlier. If you are considering going down the studio monitor route, I can happily recommend the KRK RP5 Gen 4's for a small home studio setup.

[Stub Mandrel]

Get a pair of these and stuff some change in your pocket. Will happily double as stereo party speakers, near-field stage monitors and even a no-drums gig PA

 

https://www.pmtonline.co.uk/hh-hpx108-active-moulded-speaker-300w?gclid=CjwKCAiA76-dBhByEiwAA0_s9aXjh7Tpq7Yj22bSEUu2-ow9PFDwX3_7J_1M2KvqMTWZBoKSQeCI_RoCX_oQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

Edited December 28, 2022 by Stub Mandrel

[skidder652003]

12 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Get a pair of these and stuff some change in your pocket. Will happily double as stereo party speakers, near-field stage monitors and even a no-drums gig PA

 

https://www.pmtonline.co.uk/hh-hpx108-active-moulded-speaker-300w?gclid=CjwKCAiA76-dBhByEiwAA0_s9aXjh7Tpq7Yj22bSEUu2-ow9PFDwX3_7J_1M2KvqMTWZBoKSQeCI_RoCX_oQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

I think those will be pants as studio monitors (happy to be corrected). The Rokits will be fine.

Personally I would have gone for Kali LP 6's as I believe they punch well above their weight in the price to performance ratio.

 

https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/kali-audio-lp-6

 

https://musictech.com/reviews/kali-audio-lp-6-review/

 

https://recordingmag.com/resources/featured-reviews/kali-audio-lp-6-studio-monitors/

 

[Stub Mandrel]

1 hour ago, skidder652003 said:

I think those will be pants as studio monitors (happy to be corrected). The Rokits will be fine.

Personally I would have gone for Kali LP 6's as I believe they punch well above their weight in the price to performance ratio.

 

https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/kali-audio-lp-6

 

https://musictech.com/reviews/kali-audio-lp-6-review/

 

https://recordingmag.com/resources/featured-reviews/kali-audio-lp-6-studio-monitors/

 

 

I wouldn't recommend them for a pro studio, but as an affordable step up from headphones I am impressed  by the sound but note no built in eq.

[basskit_case]

8 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

I wouldn't recommend them for a pro studio, but as an affordable step up from headphones I am impressed  by the sound but note no built in eq.

I guess I was probably incorrectly stating studio monitors, essentially looking for a viable desktop solution in studio monitor form.  Now that the spare room is guitar room and full time working from home room I need a smaller means of amplification.  The corners of the desk that suit monitors or pc speakers was the ideal location for the next step

[NancyJohnson]

I wouldn't even consider using my monitors (an old pair of M-Audio BX5s) for practice purposes; the primary 5" drivers would just get quite pharty.  I have a powered monitor up on the marketplace at the moment (10" speaker); that's about the smallest I'd go.

[JPJ]

1 hour ago, NancyJohnson said:

I wouldn't even consider using my monitors (an old pair of M-Audio BX5s) for practice purposes; the primary 5" drivers would just get quite pharty.  I have a powered monitor up on the marketplace at the moment (10" speaker); that's about the smallest I'd go.

That’s what I bought mine for. Obviously you have to be mindful of the limitations of the speakers, but as i am running a preamp, compressor, and Micro Thumpinator before the bass hits the DAW, and setting the levels correctly to avoid unwanted clipping I see no difference to playing a track through them that contains recorded bass?

Edited December 29, 2022 by JPJ

[Phil Starr]

9 hours ago, basskit_case said:

I guess I was probably incorrectly stating studio monitors, essentially looking for a viable desktop solution in studio monitor form.  Now that the spare room is guitar room and full time working from home room I need a smaller means of amplification.  The corners of the desk that suit monitors or pc speakers was the ideal location for the next step

I'm not sure that you have given a budget for this, no sense in recommending something you wouldn't want to afford.

 

I've had the RCF Lyra 5" monitors going for a few days now and for my practice they are more than good enough.  They certainly handle uncompressed and unfiltered bass for me at any volume I would use at home. I would imagine the 5" Rokit's would be just as good as would the 5" Yamahas and probably the 5" units from any of the well known brands. I've done the usual thing of turning them up to see how loud they will go and in this room it is uncomfortably loud. Even turned up there was no sign of distress and not a lot of cone flapping so I'm guessing there is some sensible low frequency filtering going on. I'd also imagine with any active speaker there will be protection programmed in so you won't be able to destroy your speakers. I've then turned them down quite a long way to get the levels I'm looking for. In my practice room I'm playing with a 3m lead so I'm between 1.5 and 2m from the speakers if that helps.

 

Of course what constitutes 'plenty loud enough' and 'uncomfortably loud' is completely subjective but these things go way louder than most hi fi or television sound bars and in a room this size (8'x12') would be louder than you'd get at a cinema in the loudest bits. Unless you are practicing in a huge room I think 5" speakers would be plenty. 

[JPJ]

Small update, the correct height desktop speaker stands arrived yesterday and I've installed them this morning. Now bearing in mind the mix was tremendous with the speakers sitting on my desk (on foam isolation pads) but now they're up where they are supposed to be there is a noticeable improvement. How would I describe this? Well clarity springs to mind - the ability to mentally separate out the individual instruments, the way the vocals sit on top of the mix and not buried in it.

 

I've always looked at the audio community with 'emperor's new clothes' suspicions but after this experience I think I might have to adjust my position. Now has anyone got any links to those gold plated cables? 🤣

[Chienmortbb]

21 hours ago, JPJ said:

Now has anyone got any links to those gold plated cables? 🤣

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo….  

[Stub Mandrel]