Best studio monitor for classical music for 500$

[stevenswall]

Thank you mkawa. I might save for a bit to get 8020 which is 720€ at the moment.

I would go with a Kali IN-5 over that. Better placement correction presets on the back. Coincident coaxial driver, and three way instead of two.

Genelec monitors really shine with their minimum diffraction coaxial drivers and GLM room calibration. Lacking both of those things, the 8020 isn't as much of a standout. The Kali IN-5 however has no competitors in the price range than have equal or better room/placement correction, port design, and coincident drivers.

 

[stevenswall]

the 20s are definitely near field.

a mic, positioning and REW can help oodles with LF response, but realistically the 20s are going to -6db corner at ~55hz even with the port placement and signal processing coming together perfectly. as @LTig said, you can't fool physics. a small woofer not going to have as much LF extension as a larger woofer, nor will it produce the same amplitude.

genelec has a great and in standard genelec fashion, incredibly honest page: https://www.genelec.com/correct-monitors

The Devialet Phantom Reactor has 4" woofers, and is quite capable. With modern materials, machining, and DSP, you can forego the large enclosure and large driver if you have enough power and excursion.

I've listened to the Phantoms in my home and they are shockingly good, but just bass cannons. If they had normal inputs and didn't need an app, I'd say they are some of the best all around near field monitors: dispersion, smooth frequency response with a slight down tilt, incredible extension, low noise, point source.

 

[Schubert1]

Thank you guys. Great that we can have such a great discussion about this topic. And thanks for all suggestions. I have more than enough information now.

 

[Schubert1]

Guys, one question.
Does anyone have any experience with Genelec 6010a? Got an offer for them used for 300€/pair.


Thanks!

 

[thrash]

Hello everyone. Complete amateur when it comes to audio equipment here.

Trained musician, just looking for accurate and honest pair of studio monitors for classical music critical listening.

If you think I could get a pair of great passive speakers for that price, I am open to suggestions.

The models I read about:

Focal Alpha 65
Presonus Eris 7 xt and 8 xt
Mackie MR624 and MR824
Adam Audio T5V and T7V
Tannoy Gold 7 and 8

Thank you in advance! Looking forward to your suggestions.

+1 for the 8" mid-woofers.
I happend to own/used to own some of the monitors you have listed.

Focal Alpha 65. I wanted to like them as they were nicely built nearfields but the sound, natively, was not ok. They had bit muffled mids and the low end was not right to my ears. I do not know if there are any measurements for those.

Presonus Eris 8. I own some of their gear and i have a respect for Presonus as they are making great value for money gear, i 've recently switched to their DAW and i find it great, especially for the price, considering the price pro-tools sells for.
The problem with the Eris was that -even though the local distributor sent me two separate pairs- they had a loud and annoying hissing from the HF amp chip. If you are looking for those, audition them in a store, not all make the same hiss as the chip internal noise has some tolerance, and make sure you buy the exact same pair that you have listened. I did not have that luxury. Even though the two of the four i had in my hands were undoubtly less noisy, the hiss was still annoying.

Mackie MR624/824. I still have both of them (i am listening from the 624's while i am writing this). I just love them. They are good for Near field use and MR824 are also good as midfields. I use the 824's on a treated home studio room L:10m x W: 6m x H: 3.5 m along with a pair of KS Digital A200 -as mains-. I bought them three years ago and even though i do not switch them off when they are idle, are still good (always a bit hot on the backplate though). For 400e (824s) you can have really decent speakers.
The 824's were measured by a German pro-audio magazine. Search the forum, i think someone provided the link.

Adam T5. They are excellent for nearfield, they measure well, they need a subwoofer to go low, they are good for nearfield (again!)
I keep a pair of those for nearfileds as i trully like them.

Longevity. Well this is a factor to concern at this price range. You will never know where every manufacturer will cut corners to reach the lower price. Do not expect to have the same quality for Speakers+Amplifiers+DSP with Genelecs, Adam S series, KS, or Neuman. They need to cut corners be it the quality/implementation/power of the amps, the passives (switches, connectors etc). Not saying that you will not find good 500e speakers -already proposed the Mackies-, all i am saying is that at a price range of 5K for my KSD's you are expecting to buy not only features, but serious built quality and top quality control.

I trust that both the Mackies and the Adams will last me for at least 5+(?) years !!!

Frankly the nicest sound you will hear is after treating your room and using compensation software. People here are proposing Room EQ Wizard as it is free and very powerful, or Dirac. I use sonarworks as i am lazy and it is cheaper than Dirac.

As it was mentioned before, try to buy locally -if u can nowadays, i can't-. I know Thomann and Musik Produktiv are convenient but nothing like the personal involvement and interaction you have in a physical store.

 

[Schubert1]

Thanks a million, Thrash!

Really helped me. If I may ask, how would you compare Mackie MR624 and 824? I would happily sacrifice a bit of bass if the midrange and highs are good.

Thank you in advance!

 

[Schubert1]

One interesting thing, if I may.
I listened to conductor Frans Brüggen rendition of Schuberts 8. Symphony, on period instruments. I am used to period recordings, but I was struck how actually natural the timbre of instruments was. Especially woodwinds. 432Hz is the tuning of the orchestra, I believe.

Highly recommended, If someone is interested.

 

[thrash]

Thanks a million, Thrash!

Really helped me. If I may ask, how would you compare Mackie MR624 and 824? I would happily sacrifice a bit of bass if the midrange and highs are good.

Thank you in advance!

I like both equally. The pair of 6" are in the main house on a PC with a Behringer 404HD interface driving them. The space is an untreated home-office 3m x 2m x H:2.1 m and wooden ceiling. They are placed 25 cm from the walls with a listening distance approx 1.3 mtrs. The 8" are in a bigger and treated room with a listening distance of 2.5 mtrs. I can say that i enjoy both in acoustic music (my present acoustic listening consists mostly of classical guitar and piano parts, i do not listen much of classical music nowadays,) at mid volumes but that's my personal preference. I would suggest the 8" as the headroom is better and they can go low without the need of a subwofer. They are both clean and analytical at mid volume levels -for 350 and 400 euro actives-.

 

[Schubert1]

Thank you Thrash. Appreciate all the help I am getting.

 

[JIW]

Guys, one question.
Does anyone have any experience with Genelec 6010a? Got an offer for them used for 300€/pair.


Thanks!

They are basically 8010As with RCA connection instead of XLR and less powerful amplifiers (12 W compared to 25 W). Here is the manual.

 

[mkawa]

can you fit a small sub? it can't be that hard to find something used..

 

[Schubert1]

I can fit a small sub, no problem. I thought that seems like a good offer for Genelec 6010a.

Thanks guys!

 

[stevenswall]

Guys, one question.
Does anyone have any experience with Genelec 6010a? Got an offer for them used for 300€/pair.


Thanks!

Less flat that the typical Genelec 8000 series, non-coaxial, roll off around 80hz so little bass. No GLM, but maybe that doesn't matter as much since they aren't going to excite many room issues.

The smallest I've heard is the 8240, which is a 6.5" driver. My theory would be get something capable of using GLM, as it's more upgradable in the future if you decide you want room correction, or a GLM capable subwoofer. It's all more expensive, so maybe it's out of budget, but at that point I'd be looking away from Genelec as I don't think they are as competitive at the lower end of the spectrum.

 

[Schubert1]

Thank you Stevenswall. Always learning from you guys.

 

[jcarys]

Are you sure? Have you seen this review?

I have, and I find it a very interesting review, but it's a different model and a different price point and intended speaker use. One bad review doesn't stomp out my listening history. I could link a few dozen positive reviews of other models.

 

[LTig]

Guys, one question.
Does anyone have any experience with Genelec 6010a? Got an offer for them used for 300€/pair.


Thanks!

See this posting.

 

[AnalogSteph]

OP, would you mind specifying "mid-sized room" in meters, including likely listening distance? People's idea of "mid-sized" tends to vary substantially across the globe, and some may want a nearfield setup at the desk while others would want more typical hi-fi distances (which would have major implications for dispersion and level handling capabilities). Also, how is the room furnished and what are general room acoustics like?

 

[Schubert1]

Hi AnalogSteph.

The size of the room is 25m2, and listening distance would be 2.5 - 3 meters I suppose.
Not treated, with a lot of wooden surfaces.

In the near future I will treat the room also.

Thank you!

 

[Newman]

Ah ha, I was looking for your intended listening situation from post #1 (on the sides of a PC desk; on a wall; on stands away from walls; near or far; room size...), only to find it in the very last post!

I think in a room that size and distance, at your price, the accurate monitors tend to be 5" woofers and often internally equalised to maintain flat response to a certain bass frequency, then drop like a stone, and they will simply tend to sound bassless for you. Also the equalisation can reduce their power 'headroom' in the bass, exacerbating the effect I just mentioned.

So 8" bass drivers might be the way to go. Or a subwoofer with 5" monitors. With your stated non-emphasis on bass output, you could get a lot of joy from a modest subwoofer like Elac SUB3010. Note that it has internal EQ ability. You are going to want that.

My experience with a (well-adjusted) subwoofer is that it makes all types of music sound better, even when I would have thought it is doing very little.

cheers

 

[mkawa]

3 meters is 8030c (5.25" woofers) territory. there are a couple people who have gotten down to 30hz with 8030s with optimal room placement, so it's possible to run without a sub. maybe you could provide some pictures of where you want to put the monitors and some sense of the room size?

another thing is that we would normally recommend a umik to REW out your room reflections, but that adds another 75eur apprx to your budget...