• Hi all


    Well I went into my little studio today to do some recording and one of my studio monitors has blown. They are around 15 years old so they have been good workhorses for me.


    I am looking at the Yamaha HS8 matched pair but I am wondering if any of you guys have any other recommendations.


    I have £600 to spend and would like active monitors. This is a home studio, not a huge room and for mixing rock, hard rock guitar based music.


    Any recommendations would be appreciated.


    Cheers


    Mike:thumbup:

  • Hi ! You´ll probably get as many suggestions that there are members of this forum,

    but my choice many years ago was a pair of Adam A7x . I´ll never regret that :)

    They where second hand and I got them for approx £500


    Cheers !

    The adjective for metal is metallic. But not so for iron ... which is ironic.

    Edited 2 times, last by Hoki Toki ().

  • Hi ! You´ll probably get as many suggestions that there are members of this forum

    Minus one....

    my choice many years ago was a pair of Adam A7x . I´ll never regret that

    ...because same here and very happy about it ever since. Neumann's KH120 are good as well but a bit more expensive. Indeed many good choices there out on the market.

  • Thank guys


    I am dubious about looking second hand as I will hav eno idea what abuse they have taken over the years. The A7x look nice though but new they are £500 a speaker so out of my range. I can afford them but I can't justify the cost for what I do.


    The same for the KH120 just too expensive but I will say both are solid options, reviews are fantastic and the general concensus is extremely positive.


    Regarding the Yamaha HS8 I do like them and seem to be recommended by a lot of studio owners. My only gripe is Yamaha appear to have been having some quality issues. I owned the Steinberg ur824 soundcard and I was not impressed with the quality. Solid unit but the Hi-z clipped regardless of guitar and support could only confirm it was a known issue. Experience makes me cautious but the quality and reviews do make me feels its worth a punt.


    Genelecs I have zero experience off and never came up in anything I read so I am off to see what these are capable off.


    Cheers all, helpful as always.

  • Regardless of witch monitor you choose the most important thing

    is that your room has good acoustic, but everyone knows that ... Right ? :/


    Cheers !

    The adjective for metal is metallic. But not so for iron ... which is ironic.

  • My only gripe is Yamaha appear to have been having some quality issues. I owned the Steinberg ur824 soundcard and I was not impressed with the quality.

    I wouldn't worry about that, Mike.


    Firstly, it was a "known issue", of which AFAIK the HS series has none.


    Secondly, look at how long Yamaha has been making solid pro-audio gear... as well as motorbikes and God knows what else. Their mixers are legendary as reliable workhorses, and IMHO and in my experience even "trivial" things such as input jacks ooze quality and toughness compared to other offerings. My Yamaha desks vs Mackie, for example, were chalk-and-cheese in this area.


    Just sayin' that if you feel the HS8 will do the job, the least of your worries is build quality IMHO.

  • Regardless of witch monitor you choose the most important thing

    is that your room has good acoustic, but everyone knows that ... Right ? :/


    Cheers !

    Totally agree!


    But we all have to work with what we have (as basis).


    And we have to decide how much money we want to spend. This can easily become a trap otherwise ^^


    Like: "Now that you have spend money for nice monitors, you should invest in room treatment in order to benefit. Then you need new/better cables... should be worth it... you spend so much already, the stands are not on par with the setup...and a few more bass traps would further improve things... maybe now it's time to upgrade the monitors to the next level" ^^


    Still, going for an upgrade can be an eye-opener. For example, the APS Klasik 2020 that I am using atm are not "a little bit better" like the Yamaha HS series or other alternatives in this price range. It is another league! If you experienced this, it is hard to go back. Stero image, placement of instruments in the stereo field, clarity, .... It was a shock for me how much difference "spending a few bucks more" can make.

  • Yeah ... The pursuit for the perfect sound is indeed a rabbit hole and when we think we´re

    almost there, the inspiration to make and play musik might be long gone .....

    In other words : don´t forget why you buy new stuff = for the love of music <3


    ( And to earn a few bucks on the side ........ :P )


    Cheers !

    The adjective for metal is metallic. But not so for iron ... which is ironic.

  • Secondly, look at how long Yamaha has been making solid pro-audio gear... as well as motorbikes and God knows what else. Their mixers are legendary as reliable workhorses, and IMHO and in my experience even "trivial" things such as input jacks ooze quality and toughness compared to other offerings. My Yamaha desks vs Mackie, for example, were chalk-and-cheese in this area.

    This ! Yamaha is like Amazon "light" ... They got "everything" :/

    My latest quality product from them was my DXR-10 ( Dec 2018 )

    that I use with my KPA :thumbup:

    Also have a DX7 from 1983 that I still use a few days every week ......

    Works and sound great :)


    Cheers !

    The adjective for metal is metallic. But not so for iron ... which is ironic.

  • Yeah ... The pursuit for the perfect sound is indeed a rabbit hole and when we think we´re

    almost there, the inspiration to make and play musik might be long gone .....

    In other words : don´t forget why you buy new stuff = for the love of music <3

    Ain't that the truth, brother.


    It's a mug's game if you get caught up in the diminishing-returns trap 'cause there's really no upper limit as to how much you can spend.


    I've always felt that if you perceive a decent improvement after an upgrade, there's plenty there to get excited about. On a small budget, this conservative approach is preferable IMHO, and I even apply it to the only computer game I ever play (Gran Turismo) - as long as there's a noticeable improvement with each new version's release, I'm happy and don't need to go down the rabbit hole of alternative driving-sim software.

  • ...

    Just sayin' that if you feel the HS8 will do the job, the least of your worries is build quality IMHO.

    This!

    Owned the HS5 plus sub for years. Even used HIFI monitors Yamaha NX-E 400 at some point for mixing in another room (surprisingly linear and great passive speakers).


    Yamaha = long life and high quality in my experience. I wouldn't even worry buying Yamaha used (Studio monitors, hifi, guitars, keyboards...).

  • All


    Have to agree with room treatment but this is a small garage conversion and with 3 kids it's never going to earn me money, it is, probably like a lot us here, just a hobby. All I want is something I can use to put together a decent representation of my music.


    I also agree with the rabbit hole but for me its about creating a reasonable representation of my music and that's about it. In saying that I am looking at some treatment as I am used to my room for mixing, I know it ain't perfect but I compensate for that but when recording my vocals I certainly notice how the room affects the quality. It thins out the sound and I am a loud SOAB so my acoustic guitars resonate.


    I plan on moving house in the next two years so I then plan on having a proper studio lay out but until then I am compensating.


    In regard to Yamaha I have owned a lot of there gear, I still own the Dxr10, so I am not drastically concerned by the quality. It is just something when researching to consider.


    Monkey man I have to agree with small improvements. How many products have radically tried to reinvent themselves to fall on there arse. Look at Cubase which is ugly as sin when compared to how modern day DAWs look, so close to how it did 20 years ago, but change it too much and you lose the old adopters the have to deal with the needs of a new crowd.


    It may be time to get me some Yamaha lol


    Mike

  • One more question.


    I am upgrading from the original M-audio BX-8 speakers. They have been a work horse but I find the bass is just too much and doesn't transfer well.


    My question is would a smaller speaker work better or will the quality of the bass response from the Yamaha be something that will improve. Just the consideration between a 5", 7" and 8" speaker


    Mike

  • I hear ya on all fronts, Mike. ;)


    Small tip in case you hadn't realised it:

    You can minimise the influence of the room's shortcomings by monitoring at low levels and sitting "close" - not further out than the equilateral triangle between your head and the monitors.


    One more question.


    I am upgrading from the original M-audio BX-8 speakers. They have been a work horse but I find the bass is just too much and doesn't transfer well.


    My question is would a smaller speaker work better or will the quality of the bass response from the Yamaha be something that will improve. Just the consideration between a 5", 7" and 8" speaker

    The 7" will pretty much get you there IMHO; I've used 7s for most of my nearfield-mixing time. I actually ordered 8" around 1999 and received the 7" version instead (Alesis DSP) by-mistake, but the importer refused to swap 'em for me (abusive letter that I still have to this day!). As it turned out, I now use those puppies as my home-stereo speakers, and I've drilled everyone who's heard 'em to tell me what they feel is missing bottom-end-wise. To a man they've all said, "nothing".


    The 7" may provide a better fit for you in a greater number of rooms at home, but if your new space after the move you mentioned turns out to be reasonably-sized, I can't see any harm in going for the 8" model. Just be sure to not place it too close to a wall (leave 18" minimum I reckon) and select the correct room-space setting on the speakers (half-space if against a wall, quarter-space if in corners, whole or full-space if more than a few feet from any wall.


    I can't help but wonder whether close-to-wall placement might've been your issue with the M Audio ones.

  • Thanks for the reply mate.


    Well I have the greatest volume control in the world mate, it will rival at least 90% of people who consider their process to be the best. Above my little studio is the bedroom of my 1 year old twins so I ensure you, my volume is extremely conservative lol.


    Placement is always key. They are off the desk and on stands, the window is wall to wall so behind my speakers, which are cornered, are some heavy black out curtains. They are always open so the ruffles allow for some dispertian too.


    What I am looking to do it to place some dispertian on the ceiling above where is sing, 2 x bass traps and a pull curtain to divide the room when singing. It's a terrible soon for placement. It has two doors, 1 huge window and an alcove so not many options.


    New place will have either a log conversion or a dedicated annex outside the main house.


    Mike

  • Good stuff, Mike.


    The proximity of the rear of the speakers to the walls isn't about dispersion of course, but rather artificial bass reinforcement. If they're in the corners as you suggest, make sure you go with the quarter-space setting.


    Being on stands means little if you're too-close to the walls or corners; the same caveats apply.

  • You could be onto something as reading about ported and unported makes me feel the bass was hyped then ported then cornered so could have been a combination of all 3 providing the artificial bass. I would notice it was hard to compress bass as the bass would continue after the bass sample/bass guitar had finished.


    The HS8 are looking like the front runners but as its Saturday, and the earliest I can get a set is Monday, I am going to read about the benefits of headphones for my situation rather than speakers due to the limitations of the room. I own the industry standard headphones, the ones that are deemed the best for mixing on headphones (can't remember the name of them at the moment.) as it may be a much more appropriate approach for my situation. I know the limitations and I know that everywhere I look it says "never mix on headphones" but this is not commercial mixing.


    I will probably end up with the HS8s anyway as I am sure I couldnt deal with the cable with headphones. Sitting on it, it hitting the guitar etc.


    I could just mix in mono, I still have a working monitor lol.


    Mike