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.
