The best studio monitors for my room?

[relic]

Here we go again… Another thread.

Greetings from Norway!

I´m in a bit of a tailspin trying to find new studio monitors after the tweeters on my Dynaudio BM6 MK1s gave up on me.

My room is quite small, about 10ft by 11,5ft and lightly damped. Ceiling height is a little over 7ft. My desk is located at the 10ft wall. I cant install bass traps in the corners because of doors, windows and shelving. My listening position is about 40 inches (1 meter) from the speakers. I mainly do electric and acoustic guitar tracking, but occasionally I do a full mix or two. Genres are pop, rock, country, blues. Not very sub-bass heavy music.

Number one for me is translation. I never could get the Dynaudios to translate well, and with them I have spent a lot of time bouncing mixes to listen on other sources. So this time around, I really want some monitors that I can trust. If they are a bit exciting to listen to with a good bass response, thats a plus. My recordings and mixes up to this point tend to end up a bit dark and dull, so I think a speaker set that´s a bit on the bright side is not right for me. I don´t have space for a sub, so I need a decent amount of bass response from the speakers.

I live in the middle of nowhere, so testing before buying is not an option. I haven´t landed on a budget yet.

Here are the speakers I´m currently considering:

Neumann KH120II -> MA1 room correction is a big plus, but I´m a bit skeptical about the speaker size.

Kali IN-8 -> I´ve read a lot of good things about these, and the idea of a three way speaker is interesting to me. But I´m wondering if they would be to big for my room and relativity close listening position?

Focal Shape 65

Focal Shape Twin

Focal Alpha Evo 65

Dynaudio LYD48

I´m also dreaming about the Kali SM-5, Focal trio6, Neumann KH150, but I´m afraid all of these are a bit over my budget.

I guess the size of my room, lack of acoustic treatment and close listening position are important factors. What would be a decent size monitor for my room?

Tips and help are all greatly appreciated.

 

[Martini]

How about a pair of Genelec 8330A and the GLM kit for room correction? Then add a 7350A Subwoofer when the budget allows.

 

[Frankee]

First thing first, english is not my first language and i'm not using any translation tool trying to keep what i'm writing in a sense meant to be.


Leaving this here in case it may help a bit. Home studio owner here, nothing professional, doing Rap/Hip Hop since 2003.

After reading a lot, i mean a lot, about what, why and where, there are 5 things which are common to most things i've read.

Even with the most expensive studio monitors, if you don't get number 3 and 4, there's not much to say about it from here on.

Number 4 is the one nobody can get around i think and it takes a lot, i mean lot, did i say a lot, of time and understanding.

Number 3 is as much important i would say.


1- Room Treatment [This will help a lot, up to a certain extent]

2 - EQ software correction [This will help up to a certain extent]

3 - Train your ears by listening to a lot of music, analysing and understanding the battle of frequencies, amplitude, depth/spaces, effects
[Compressors, Saturation ...] in a mix/mastering ...
[I never found an easy shortcut to this, even after watching a lot of Y*uTube stuff, either you get it, or you don't, it is what it is unfortunately]

4 - Know your gears [That's the most important for me, it takes a lot of time before you could say i mastered my equipments, no matter what you are using]
[Some people are using inexpensive gears and it sound like professional stuff, you know when you hear it]

5 - Reference a lot, on different monitors, different headphones, cars, crappy radios [Or buy yourself a 10 million dollars studio and work full time as an engineer] ...



Studio monitors for mixing and mastering versus listening and enjoying music,

that is two different thing, i would say you need to different pair of monitors for this, one to enjoy music, the other for mixing mastering.


Trying to find speakers that will do both [if you do, it will get you around 60 % efficacy for either purpose],

you will need to hear them yourself and compare them to others in a store, no way around it, it's your ears.


After saying all that, if it may help, no matter what studio monitors you are using or looking to buy,

knowing and understanding your gear is hard and it takes a lot of time, no way around it.



Get your hands on it, stop spending so much time for the perfect gears, start producing music.


Until you get that 10 million dollars studio and working 80 hours a weak only producing, mixing, mastering,

your gears will help you, maybe by 25% at most i would say, until then,

learn to know your gears very well, reference a lot, this will get you up to 80%,

without breaking the bank and along the way comes the knowledge, the battle of frequencies.


Finally, i see a lot of recommendations regarding small room, 5 inches speakers, max ....

I've seen and read a lot contradictions on this, low frequencies problem [# 5 can solve a lot of this, # 4 remains solid]
[But yes, you will lose the low bass on 5 inches max ... Up to you, know your gears and references]


Cheers

Frank