Best Studio Speakers For The Money

Studio Monitors Buyers' Guide

There was a time when the concept of a home recording wasn't really a thing, but people soon realized the potential of home studios. There are several things you need in your home studio to get quality recordings. One of the most important things is a single or a pair of studio monitors. What's so important about studio monitors? The answer is simple.

In order to produce great music or record high-quality sounds or vocals, you need a studio monitor. They are essential for recording and mixing - regular speakers just won't cut it.

There are some important things to keep in mind when you begin shopping for a studio monitor. We've broken the basics for you below so you know what to look for when you hit the stores.

The Budget

The most important consideration before going for any product is your budget. But to determine your budget for studio monitors, you must be aware of the range of prices they're offered at. You can get a studio monitor for as low as under $300 up to thousands of dollars.

High-end models will have more features and better specs but will set you back more. Figure out the nature of your recordings and mixes and decide what is important for you to have in a studio monitor before you buy.

Type of Monitors

There are two types of studio monitors, passive and active. Passive monitors aren't equipped with an amplifier, so you'd need to purchase an amplifier separately in order to power them up. Active studio monitors are equipped with a built-in amp so you can use them straight out of the box without making any further purchases. In terms of which is better, it's completely a matter of personal preference.

The Size of the Speaker

Another important consideration is the size of the speaker or the size of the woofers. Simply put, the bigger the woofer, the better it will produce bass sounds and vice versa. A bigger woofer also means your studio monitor will be an overall larger size, so if space is an issue, you'll want to keep this in the back of your mind.

Here's an example. If we look at two differently sized woofers, an 8" and 5", the bass that you would get out of the 8" subwoofer will be far better than what you would get from the 5" one.

Top Pick

The Yamaha HS8 Studio Monitor comes equipped with a large 8" cone woofer and a 1" dome tweeter to give you the maximum bass output. The frequency response is high, so that you can hear every single detail in your recordings. All of these qualities make this studio monitor one of the best choices for any home studio.

Premium Choice

The Adam Audio A7X Powered Studio Monitor is the upgraded model of the excellent A7. This is an active studio monitor that uses state of the art technology known as X-ART built into the tweeter to give you the best frequency response around. The sound quality has been massively improved from the A7 and you get some seriously high-end sounding highs and lows in this studio monitor. There's no distortion and this baby is easy to use and will help you make flawless sounding music.

Great Value

The JBL LSR305 Professional Studio Monitor offers excellent value for your money.As you can guess by the name of this studio monitor, it comes in a pack of two monitors. The frequency range is pretty high for getting that detail in your recordings. It is also equipped with class D amplifiers to give max power to the monitors.

Monitor stands or isolation pads - It's not the best idea to sit your studio monitors directly on your desk. If you do, the vibrations will pass from your monitors through your desk, and you won't get the best out of them. The solution is to buy some decent monitor stands or even some cheap isolation pads.

FAQs

What are Studio Monitors and Why Do You Need Them?

Monitors are specially designed to serve a particular purpose, to monitor the sound during a recording. The application is restricted to the studio or home recordings only, hence the name.

Now we will come to the second part of the question. Let's consider a group of 100 people hitting the market in search of speakers. There's a high probability that 98 out of these 100 people will purchase standard consumer speakers since they want the speakers simply for listening to enjoying music.

Consumer speakers are equipped with sound-boosting features which take away the true sound to enhance the listening experience. Monitors are used by professional musicians because they play the authentic sound without coloring the music (or recording) in any way.

The whole idea behind this process is that if a musician is able to make mixes or recordings that sound good on studio monitors, the chances are that when this mix or recording is being listened to by a consumer, it will sound excellent.

What Do You Need to Know Before Purchasing?

Figure out what'll need in terms of type, specs, and features. We've outlined some of the basics for you below.

Passive vs. Active

Now, this is the most important consideration to bear in mind when buying a studio monitor. Passive monitors are simply speakers with no power; to power them up, you'll need to purchase external amps. Active monitors, they have a built-in amp in them so you can use them straight out of the box. They're both good, this is more of a matter of personal preference.

Speaker Size

The bigger the woofer, the better it will be in terms of bass response. If the bass response is a concern of yours, aim for an 8" woofer. If space is an issue, you may prefer a 5" woofer.

Physical Size and Weight

Studio monitors come in different sizes and weights. It's useful to know the size and weights of the models you're interested in before you spend any money.

Watts

Watts are the power rating of the studio monitor. This is important because the higher the wattage rating, the more headroom, and volume you'll get on your studio monitor. It also has an effect on minimizing the distortion and clippings in your recordings.

Frequency Response

You need a flat frequency response in your studio monitors - this allows you to hear recordings accurately. The flatter the frequency response, the better your studio monitor will be at giving you that clear, uncolored sound.

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