Recommended Pro Studio Monitors?

[MusicEnthusiast100]

Hello, I've been reading through the various forums posts here with great interest and already shortlisted a few monitors but would like to ask the forum members now.

I've seen this type of thread a few times before but answers change with time, budget and specific situations / preferences.

Here's my situation:
I produce music and would like to upgrade my studio monitors at some point in the future (within the next 18 months). Currently working on a pair of Focal Shape 65. They are not bad at all but I always think I could do better because my songs are not translating that great on mobile phones.

I'm working in a home studio with okay acoustic treatment. I produce, mix and master everything myself but also send things off to a great mixing & mastering engineer sometimes.
The room is around 20-22 square meters / 215-236 square feet. The exact measurement escapes me at the moment.
I am going to hire a studio acoustician in the future and have him measure and treat everything to higher standards but the current treatment is def. okay. Just stating this because I've seen a lot of replies like "invest into acoustic treatment rather than new monitors" on other forums and I def. pay attention to room acoustics.

I guess the question is really simple:
What studio monitors do you recommend for professional music production?

Of course, they should be neutral, flat and help me make songs translate perfectly on other systems.
Because I am renting, I can not install speakers into a wall or build a second wall.

Budget is 9,000 USD / 8.000 EUR / 12,600 CAD / 14,250 AUD.
I don't know if is necessary to max out the budget or if speakers that cost less will do the job just fine too. For example, I know that a pro studio ( I think it is run AVID in California ) uses the Kali Audio IN8 v2 speakers for their surround sound studio rooms. Those are quite affordable. These were also recommended to me by another pro producer but I've also seen many producers rocking the Yamaha HS series, which I dislike a lot. So, just need some quantity of recommendations too. Maybe, if you have the time to spare, you could give an option that is around the max budget and another option that costs less (like 4,500 USD for a pair).

Genelec and Neumann get a lot of love here but I honestly don't see them as often in pro studios compared to ATC, PMC, Auspurger, Barefoot and some others. After watching a bunch of studio tours and equipment posts from 2025, I've noticed that quite a few high end engineers use Amphion monitors, especially the Two18 model. I know this forum is more aimed at general audio enthusiasts rather than music professionals but I've already found some great info here and hope to get some recommendations.

Thanks in advance.

 

[staticV3]

Hi @MusicEnthusiast100! Welcome to ASR.

With such a budget I'd look into Cardioid monitors, as these will reduce the impact that room acoustics have on your mixes.

Brands that make cardioid monitors include:

Kii Audio
Dutch&Dutch
Mesanovic
GGNTKT
Shivaudyo

 

[MusicEnthusiast100]

Hi @MusicEnthusiast100! Welcome to ASR.

With such a budget I'd look into Cardioid monitors, as these will reduce the impact that room acoustics have on your mixes.

Brands that make cardioid monitors include:

Kii Audio
Dutch&Dutch
Mesanovic
GGNTKT
Shivaudyo

Hello, thank you very much. I'll check those out. I've read a bit about the Dutch & Dutch 8c before.
Ideally, I won't have to spend the entire budget on speakers unless there's strong cause to do so. Still trying to figure things out.

Some things I've shortlisted so far are:
Kali Audio IN8 v2
Fluid Audio Image 2
Amphion Two18
Genelec 8351B

 

[EERecordist]

Welcome to ASR! I'm not sure if a specific monitor above a certain professional intended use level can solve translation. I don't work in streaming, and I think each platform has requirements and may post-process conform. Suggest mastering forums, and your mastering engineer, for that discussion.

Are you tracking, mixing, and mastering? What genre of music and what instruments? Nearfield? How conditioned is your room, and have you EQed your listening position with a calibrated microphone?

 

[Grotti]

Hello, thank you very much. I'll check those out. I've read a bit about the Dutch & Dutch 8c before.
Ideally, I won't have to spend the entire budget on speakers unless there's strong cause to do so. Still trying to figure things out.

Some things I've shortlisted so far are:
Kali Audio IN8 v2
Fluid Audio Image 2
Amphion Two18
Genelec 8351B

I own the Amphion Argon 3s, which basically is a One18, and I can assure you that they are no match for a Genelec 8351b. I have got used to their flaws but I wouldn't hesitate one second to change them for a Genelec or Neumann, if I had the need for a tool for mixing, mastering or whatever. There are measurements of the Amphion Studio Monitors available on the net which speak for themselves....

 

[Behrelec 37]

The only right way is Genelec smart active monitors, as well as the master series.

 

[berjine]

With your budget you can certainly make a huge upgrade over your Focals, but I'm not sure this is really what blocks you from having good translation

In your position the first thing I would do is to get a measurement microphone (UMIK for example) to really get the best from my system (take a look at the tutorials in the Room Acoustics section of the forum)

And then if you still feel held back by your monitoring look at upgrading, but I think it's worth trying a 100€ solution before buying 8k€ of speakers

And the mic will also be useful with the Kali if you choose them

 

[Mort]

I assume no subwoofer? Shortlist the 8361a if you are going to include a Genelec with no subwoofer. With a sub, it matters less. With that budget you should not sacrifice full range, or very close.

Genelec also has cardioid but it's beyond this budget.

 

[Bruce Morgen]

I have those Kalis and love the stuffing out of them -- but if I could afford it I'd go for a pair of Kiis in a New York minute!

 

[MusicEnthusiast100]

Welcome to ASR! I'm not sure if a specific monitor above a certain professional intended use level can solve translation. I don't work in streaming, and I think each platform has requirements and may post-process conform. Suggest mastering forums, and your mastering engineer, for that discussion.

Are you tracking, mixing, and mastering? What genre of music and what instruments? Nearfield? How conditioned is your room, and have you EQed your listening position with a calibrated microphone?

Thank you. My question pertains to music production not streaming. I'll def. research on other forums as well but this forum seems very "objective" with the amount of users that actually measure speakers and don't just go by feel.

Yes, I do everything myself. The genres are hip hop and R&B. I would assume nearfield is best suited for my situation. I always had the preconceived notion that mid field monitors have to be paired with nearfields and they are only for "bigger studios", not for a home studio like mine but maybe I'm totally wrong. The acoustic treatment of my room is okay, could be improved for sure though. I have done some EQing with the hardware EQ on the Focals. I've tried using sonarworks but for some reason it would not work because it was not able to get a proper signal during one step of the process. Don't know if this was a bug or something else. I may have to give it another shot.

 

[MusicEnthusiast100]

The only right way is Genelec smart active monitors, as well as the master series.

I don't know about Genelec being the only way. Certainly a good choice and I've seen them in a lot of video production studios but it's usually the smaller ones. Don't see them as often in pro recording studios.

 

[MusicEnthusiast100]

With your budget you can certainly make a huge upgrade over your Focals, but I'm not sure this is really what blocks you from having good translation

In your position the first thing I would do is to get a measurement microphone (UMIK for example) to really get the best from my system (take a look at the tutorials in the Room Acoustics section of the forum)

And then if you still feel held back by your monitoring look at upgrading, but I think it's worth trying a 100€ solution before buying 8k€ of speakers

And the mic will also be useful with the Kali if you choose them

Thank you. Do you recommend a specific software along with the mic? I have sonarworks with their calibration mic but could not get it to work because there was a problem ( or bug) during the calibration process that I could not solve. I've used sonarworks for working on headphones and it worked reasonably well.

 

[MusicEnthusiast100]

I assume no subwoofer? Shortlist the 8361a if you are going to include a Genelec with no subwoofer. With a sub, it matters less. With that budget you should not sacrifice full range, or very close.

Genelec also has cardioid but it's beyond this budget.

Thanks. Is the mentioned 8361A a great step up from the 8351B? The name probably indicates a bigger footprint and therefore better bass output, I'd assume.

 

[MusicEnthusiast100]

I have those Kalis and love the stuffing out of them -- but if I could afford it I'd go for a pair of Kiis in a New York minute!

The Kalis seem to be a really underappreciated option. I've just watched a video of Jeff Ellis studio and he uses Kali Audio for most of his work, and that guy has a Grammy. The Kii I have never seen anywhere before. I've read about them being in a random post on this forum but besides that I don't know any music professionals who use that brand. Doesn't have to be a bad sign of course but I also give credence to anectodal experience.

 

[MusicEnthusiast100]

I own the Amphion Argon 3s, which basically is a One18, and I can assure you that they are no match for a Genelec 8351b. I have got used to their flaws but I wouldn't hesitate one second to change them for a Genelec or Neumann, if I had the need for a tool for mixing, mastering or whatever. There are measurements of the Amphion Studio Monitors available on the net which speak for themselves....

Do you mean speak for themselves in a negative or positive way? I've seen the Two18s by Amphion in a bunch of studios recently, often along another pair from other brands but that is common regardless of brand. What kind of puts me of the 8351B is that there are quite a few posts online by mixing engineers who disliked working on them. Of course, I don't know if they are only really usable with the calibration implemented or if there's any other setting etc. that needs to be adressed to make them work as perfectly as possible but these negative posts made me question it's performance. I know they were reviewed here and passed all tests with flying colors.

 

[Mort]

Thanks. Is the mentioned 8361A a great step up from the 8351B?

Yes, especially without a subwoofer and LP beyond nearfield, which includes a room of your size. I think it's definitely worth it for the additional 20% cost.

To me, 8351b sounded like a great monitor, the 8361a sounded like a full range floor stander.

 

[Puddingbuks]

What is the problem with translation to mobile phones?

 

[berjine]

Thank you. Do you recommend a specific software along with the mic? I have sonarworks with their calibration mic but could not get it to work because there was a problem ( or bug) during the calibration process that I could not solve. I've used sonarworks for working on headphones and it worked reasonably well.

Room Eq Wizard is often used in the DIY approach, this video is a good starting point.

It generates parametric eq band parameters, wich you can use in another software called EqualizerAPO or in any EQ plugin of your DAW for example

 

[LTig]

Here's my situation:
I produce music and would like to upgrade my studio monitors at some point in the future (within the next 18 months). Currently working on a pair of Focal Shape 65. They are not bad at all but I always think I could do better because my songs are not translating that great on mobile phones.

First you should explain in more detail what the songs miss when played on a smart phone.

Of course this depends on the headphones used by the listeners. My guess is that in average those deliver a broader frequency range (say deeper bass) than your monitors so a senseful step would be adding a sub and use REW and a UMIK-1 to integrate it.

 

[Adis]

Hello, I've been reading through the various forums posts here with great interest and already shortlisted a few monitors but would like to ask the forum members now.

I've seen this type of thread a few times before but answers change with time, budget and specific situations / preferences.

Here's my situation:
I produce music and would like to upgrade my studio monitors at some point in the future (within the next 18 months). Currently working on a pair of Focal Shape 65. They are not bad at all but I always think I could do better because my songs are not translating that great on mobile phones.

I'm working in a home studio with okay acoustic treatment. I produce, mix and master everything myself but also send things off to a great mixing & mastering engineer sometimes.
The room is around 20-22 square meters / 215-236 square feet. The exact measurement escapes me at the moment.
I am going to hire a studio acoustician in the future and have him measure and treat everything to higher standards but the current treatment is def. okay. Just stating this because I've seen a lot of replies like "invest into acoustic treatment rather than new monitors" on other forums and I def. pay attention to room acoustics.

I guess the question is really simple:
What studio monitors do you recommend for professional music production?

Of course, they should be neutral, flat and help me make songs translate perfectly on other systems.
Because I am renting, I can not install speakers into a wall or build a second wall.

Budget is 9,000 USD / 8.000 EUR / 12,600 CAD / 14,250 AUD.
I don't know if is necessary to max out the budget or if speakers that cost less will do the job just fine too. For example, I know that a pro studio ( I think it is run AVID in California ) uses the Kali Audio IN8 v2 speakers for their surround sound studio rooms. Those are quite affordable. These were also recommended to me by another pro producer but I've also seen many producers rocking the Yamaha HS series, which I dislike a lot. So, just need some quantity of recommendations too. Maybe, if you have the time to spare, you could give an option that is around the max budget and another option that costs less (like 4,500 USD for a pair).

Genelec and Neumann get a lot of love here but I honestly don't see them as often in pro studios compared to ATC, PMC, Auspurger, Barefoot and some others. After watching a bunch of studio tours and equipment posts from 2025, I've noticed that quite a few high end engineers use Amphion monitors, especially the Two18 model. I know this forum is more aimed at general audio enthusiasts rather than music professionals but I've already found some great info here and hope to get some recommendations.

Thanks in advance.

You don't need better monitors, you need to know your monitors, which only comes with time and years of listening to everything you can get your hands on on them. Re upgrading, I suggest the JBL 708P.
My two cents...