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Suggestions 5 inch monitors

Biblob

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Hi there,

For my hobby I have been listening to headphones a lot. But ofcourse, this is not always wanted.

For my student room, which is about 12 m2, I want some small speakers. They will probably be stated on my desk, so monitors are the best choice, I think. And because of the size, I thought 5 inch-ones are the best suited for this size room?

I have been searching around the webs, and have come across some popular ones: KRK Rokit 5 G3, Yamaha HS5 and Adam F5. As you can see, I'm looking for some low-budget ones.

Now, because I trust you guys more than the rest :D, I want to ask you guys if you have some good suggestions I should take a look at.
Maybe some active ones with built-in DSP? Because the accoustics in my room are probably terrible...

Please, throw all your knowledge at me ;).

Best regards,
Arnand
 

svart-hvitt

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Hi there,

For my hobby I have been listening to headphones a lot. But ofcourse, this is not always wanted.

For my student room, which is about 12 m2, I want some small speakers. They will probably be stated on my desk, so monitors are the best choice, I think. And because of the size, I thought 5 inch-ones are the best suited for this size room?

I have been searching around the webs, and have come across some popular ones: KRK Rokit 5 G3, Yamaha HS5 and Adam F5. As you can see, I'm looking for some low-budget ones.

Now, because I trust you guys more than the rest :D, I want to ask you guys if you have some good suggestions I should take a look at.
Maybe some active ones with built-in DSP? Because the accoustics in my room are probably terrible...

Please, throw all your knowledge at me ;).

Best regards,
Arnand

If budget is no limit check out Genelec 8331 (or 8341 or 8351...).
 
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Biblob

Biblob

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If budget is no limit check out Genelec 8331 (or 8341 or 8351...).

Unfortunately, budget is the main limit... I am looking for something that is between 200-300 eur. a pair.
 
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Biblob

Biblob

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JBL lsr 305. Assuming the European price fits.
Have seen them on Massdrop a lot. They do seem to be well-respected.

What about building my own monitors? Besides being awesome to do, would it be better to do, price/quality wise? :)

I have made one speaker, and it was a great project to do.
 

andreasmaaan

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What about building my own monitors? Besides being awesome to do, would it be better to do, price/quality wise? :)

Would strongly encourage it for the fun and learning :) Although with the caveat that budget active monitors are the one area in speaker DIY in which it is harder than any other to do better than consumer models for the price. Hard to imagine DIY could beat the consumer models in the 200-300€ price range TBH.
 
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Biblob

Biblob

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Hm, I don't think I have the knowledge and skills yet to outweigh a well-thought speaker from any brand, haha.

I wonder though, what would be easier to implement: placing my desk near my rear wall and place a floorstanding speaker further away, or place my desk more in the centre of the room and placing monitors at near-field.
 

andreasmaaan

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@Arnandsway do you have a basic floorplan of the room including the size of the desk? And what the basic construction materials are?
 
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Biblob

Biblob

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@Arnandsway do you have a basic floorplan of the room including the size of the desk? And what the basic construction materials are?

I don't have it right now, I live in a different room now. Will do when I'm back this weekend.

It is mostly wood... I have a dust allergy, so I can't have carpet or much other cloth furnature, unfortunately.
A guess from old memory: the desk is about 80 centimeters deep and 1,5 meters wide, made from thick MDF.
 

andreasmaaan

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I don't have it right now, I live in a different room now. Will do when I'm back this weekend.

It is mostly wood... I have a dust allergy, so I can't have carpet or much other cloth furnature, unfortunately.
A guess from old memory: the desk is about 80 centimeters deep and 1,5 meters wide, made from thick MDF.

Thanks. Just going on general principles of small room acoustics, on one hand it will be best to avoid being equidistant from the front and back walls (i.e. in the centre of the room, where there will tend to be a bass null), while on the hand you don't want either you or the speakers to be close to either wall. So it depends a bit on the room dimensions and the specific placement you're considering.

Putting a desk between you and a pair of floorstanders may be problematic (depending on the height of the drivers in relation to the desk and the crossover frequencies). It could work though. In that price range however, active monitors are likely to be much better value for money.
 

Blumlein 88

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Have seen them on Massdrop a lot. They do seem to be well-respected.

What about building my own monitors? Besides being awesome to do, would it be better to do, price/quality wise? :)

I have made one speaker, and it was a great project to do.

Oh building your own is very worthwhile, but then we have a different topic.

Also, part of how the LSR305 is so special is a congruence of unlikely events and knowledge to just almost force them into splendid existence at an incredibly inexpensive price. I don't think you could better them without lots of unpaid labor or spending more.

We have a large company with resources to buy in bulk. The knowledge from years of research about what characteristics make a satisfying speaker. Available digitally based chips that are both amplifiers, DACs, and with enough DSP muscle to do really nice crossovers. Finally the company is a speaker company with engineering know how to have made drivers of good quality without being exotic or terribly expensive.

Now having built a speaker or three, what amazes me is how they get this sound out of a relatively flimsy box. The big, big advantage one has DIY is making a heroic inert box, and using better quality drivers as you aren't dealing with markup and trying to make a profit.
 

RayDunzl

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RayDunzl

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Biblob

Biblob

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Oh building your own is very worthwhile, but then we have a different topic.

Also, part of how the LSR305 is so special is a congruence of unlikely events and knowledge to just almost force them into splendid existence at an incredibly inexpensive price. I don't think you could better them without lots of unpaid labor or spending more.

We have a large company with resources to buy in bulk. The knowledge from years of research about what characteristics make a satisfying speaker. Available digitally based chips that are both amplifiers, DACs, and with enough DSP muscle to do really nice crossovers. Finally the company is a speaker company with engineering know how to have made drivers of good quality without being exotic or terribly expensive.

Now having built a speaker or three, what amazes me is how they get this sound out of a relatively flimsy box. The big, big advantage one has DIY is making a heroic inert box, and using better quality drivers as you aren't dealing with markup and trying to make a profit.

Sounds like the 305's are a product where the circumstances come together nicely.

I have done some reading last night, on another thread for low-budget passive speakers. It seems I would be better of paying 300 eur for a couple of passive ones than on active ones? (but that would involve buying an extra amp ofcourse :D)
 
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andreasmaaan

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@Arnandsway if we’re assuming the total cost is going to be 300€, you’re much more likely to be better off with an active pair. The main advantage of passives is flexibility with upgrades and tweeks down the track. At any given (whole system) price point, however, the active option is likely to be the superior option IMHO.

In any case, there is a thread on here called “passive speakers <$500/pair” that you might be interested FWIW.
 

Blumlein 88

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Sounds like the 305's are a product where the circumstances come together nicely.

I have done some reading last night, on another thread for low-budget passive speakers. It seems I would be better of paying 300 eur for a couple of passive ones than on active ones? (but that would involve buying an extra amp ofcourse :D)
Well firstly that means they aren't 300 Euro after you purchase an amp.

I think at this price actives are going to be hard to beat on price/performance.

There are others worth considering beyond the LSR305's. I looked at gearslutz and in lower priced monitors that is a near unanimous suggestion. Which is why I tried them when I needed some monitors for music mixing of recordings. They are unreasonably good for the price.

You could look at the Adams or maybe the offering from Emotiva. If you have the opportunity go hear some. The consensus among many at gearslutz is the Rokits are no longer competitive in sound quality. I heard some of them where they also had the JBL's and that certainly seemed to be the case. The Rokits had an uneven FR.
 
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