Getting new monitors and an interface, could use some help

  • For five years it's just been me and my Profiler at home monitoring through a guitar speaker and I want to take full advantage of what a Kemper has to offer, especially in stereo, through a decent set of monitors. I have a set of Presonus Eris E3.5, about as cheap as you can get, they have been fine for what little bit of video editing I do but they absolutely don't cut it for monitoring the Kemper.

    I'm looking at something like the following:

    JBL 305P MKII

    JBL 306P MKII

    Kali Audio LP-6 V2

    ADAM Audio T5V

    ADAM Audio T7V

    Focusrite Scarlett 2i2

    I don't have an interest in recording anymore, this is strictly for enjoyment at home and getting a good representation of the profiles, I value the input from this forum and could use some guidance to help me sort through some options.

    I haven't kept up on studio equipment since loosing my home studio 10 years ago but after chasing frfr solutions for the past year I have come to the realization that this is probably the best route for me to go for home use, if I ever play out again I now have that covered. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

  • I do use Adam's A7X (not sure if exact these are still available) for many years in my little studio environment. They do pretty well for my recording stuff but as well to represent Kemper sounds. Works well to tweak on those and take the sounds to rehearsal and gig afterwards. It just needs to be assured that the volume is high enough when tweaking otherwise you can get into typical traps, e.g. Fletcher-Munson curve.


    Finally: I still do have a guitar cabinet with a Kemper Kone there as well for the moments when I want to feel a bit more amp-in-the-room vibes. Those Adams don't really give that to me, simply not big enough.


    What do you need the Focusrite interface for when you don't want to record? If it is for mixing different sources or just to power the monitors you might look also into a Monitor Controller, e.g. SPL 2Control or Mackie Big Knob. That depends really though on your other needs.

  • What do you need the Focusrite interface for when you don't want to record? If it is for mixing different sources or just to power the monitors you might look also into a Monitor Controller, e.g. SPL 2Control or Mackie Big Knob. That depends really though on your other needs.

    There have been a couple of times over the last few years that if I still had an interface I could have recorded a track of guitar for a backing track or vocal for an instructional video. I made a countdown video with an announcement a couple of weeks ago and had to generate a text to voice for it, I would have used a mic instead if I still had an interface.

    I think it would have been more accurate if I would have stated I don't care to do multi track recording anymore, but the above mentioned I will do occasionally.

    I'm leaning towards the 6.5" - 7" monitors, my old set were 6.5" and I never felt I was missing anything with them, and you could push them pretty hard without the speaker "flubbing" out if needed, which I only did for fun on occasion. The $50 difference between the 5" and 7" monitors would probably be money well spent, at least in my mind which really isn't saying to much🥴

    Thanks for the info deadman42

  • Looking forward to hearing some responses here. Since guitar is normally played thru a 12" speaker, it seems larger would be better. So should people go 8", 10", 12" etc ??? But a 12" speaker starts to roll of highs in the 4-5 kHz range. So maybe the 12" was picked over smaller speakers for its roll off and not its bass response?


    I only have a few sets of speakers at home. Behringer 2031Ps and some low end Edifiers. So I do not have any suggestions.


    The Behringers sound really good. But lack a little crispness. And the Edifiers are way too crisp. With the Behringers, I can hear the difference between profiles. The Edifiers and various computer speaker sets, I cant. They all sound like the the speakers, not the profiles.


    To my ears, the tweeter is the key piece for guitar. So much of the guitar definition is high frequency. So a very transparent and smooth tweeter is needed.


    A lot of guitar cabs have bass down in the 100 Hz range. So a bigger woofer would help with fullness and thump.


    I am always curious about some of the cheaper powered PA speakers for fun guitar listening also. That way you get into 12" range pretty cheap.

  • I have the JBL306's with the JBL310 sub. I have the sub crossover at 80hz for mixing and then switch it to LF mode for playback and casual listening. I think the JBL306 are pretty decent value for the costs. They are far better than any entry level monitors and hold their own at moderate priced monitors. Sweetwater runs a sale on them with $50 off each one from time to time. I like the feel of a little air pressure on my ears with the 306s cranked. I don't think I would get that on the smaller 305s.


    I have the Motu M4. Motu is far better than focusrite with specs. The LCD screens are totally off the charts. The M4 (4i4) version will allow you to reamp the Kemper. The M2 or other 2i2 versions won't likely be able to reamp since not enough ins and outs.


    But I am biased on those products since I own them.


    Besides JBL, I've heard the Adams T7 were a good buy.

    Larry Mar @ Lonegun Studios. Neither one famous yet.

  • I am always curious about some of the cheaper powered PA speakers for fun guitar listening also. That way you get into 12" range pretty cheap.

    I tried several lately and didn't like any of them, pretty fizzy but that's just me. I do think a guy I meet a couple of weeks ago might be on to something, he took his powered monitor from the band he plays in for a one off gig where he couldn't plug into the pa, he said it didn't sound very good (fizzy) but in the context of his band he gets his monitor feed from the board and said it sounded great, took the fizz out. At home he said he uses studio monitors and they are the cats meow, but that's all just personal opinions.

  • I would use MOTU for the interface.


    I have the Motu M4. Motu is far better than focusrite with specs. The LCD screens are totally off the charts. The M4 (4i4) version will allow you to reamp the Kemper. The M2 or other 2i2 versions won't likely be able to reamp since not enough ins and outs.

    I had forgotten about Motu, thanks for the reminder. My time and focus has been live sound, a little video and lighting. I've kept up with those products for years but I think I'm pretty much done with A/V installations, especially if it means traveling. Recording equipment kind of faded away into the darkness, now I need to catch back up.

  • Does anyone care about non standard woofer sizes? If you blow a woofer, can you easily get a replacement for a 7" woofer? I have that issue with my Behringers being that they are 8.75" instead of 8". Not sure if I would buy an odd size again.

  • Does anyone care about non standard woofer sizes? If you blow a woofer, can you easily get a replacement for a 7" woofer? I have that issue with my Behringers being that they are 8.75" instead of 8". Not sure if I would buy an odd size again.

    Just speculation on my part but I think you would want to replace the speakers, tweeters and power amps with components from the manufacturer on studio monitors. Replacement with a non OEM part in the manufacturers enclosure designed specifically around their components may not perform well. I've replaced speakers and compression drivers in pa cabinets with good results but I think studio monitors are a different animal all together.

  • Does anyone care about non standard woofer sizes? If you blow a woofer, can you easily get a replacement for a 7" woofer? I have that issue with my Behringers being that they are 8.75" instead of 8". Not sure if I would buy an odd size again.

    That's why you set the volume on the back to 8 and not to 10. ;)

    Larry Mar @ Lonegun Studios. Neither one famous yet.

  • Just speculation on my part but I think you would want to replace the speakers, tweeters and power amps with components from the manufacturer on studio monitors.

    I agree, your first choice would be replacements. But it may be cost prohibitive. The manufacturer may charge more for a replacement speaker than you paid for the whole speaker/cab/etc. In that case you may decide to go generic. And you will have a lot more options for an 8" than a 7". So you may be able to spec a speaker close to the OEM.


    I bought some fun little 3 ways I used to use for mixing. I got these at a steal $9.99 each. Then blew them up playing loud guitar thru them. Now I cant bring myself to fix them because replacement speakers will cost me 5x what I paid for the whole thing ^^ So I popped the 8" woofers out and put them in my old stereo speakers that were blown. I am a big fan of having options.


    Which brings me to another point, 3 ways. The best speakers I have ever heard were always 3 way. So why are all affordable studio monitors 2 way?


    Sorry, I don't mean to take this topic off the rails. Just asking questions I think you would want answered before buying. I always want to learn.

  • I've had JBL 308s for years, they're great monitors for the price. I'm looking to move to the Adam T-series, but mainly because I have the companion Adam sub and I'm partial to ribbon tweeters . Since I've got the sub I'll probably go with the T5Vs, it's a bit of overkill with the 8" drivers in the JBLs. They have plenty of bass for listening without the sub.

  • After i change my home i got the same problem. Not only the size is the problem.

    The bassreflection goes out to the rear with the HS8.

    So i guess its better to have them in front ?!?

    If the rear is close to the wall I've seen a couple of guys pull out about 12"-18" from the wall and it helped, a little wall treatment well placed can go a long way in taming things down. There's an Owen's Corning product that you can make your own panels with that used to be pretty cost effective, I've seen it and I believe another brand mentioned on the forum, at the moment I can't remember what it is.

  • The bassreflection goes out to the rear with the HS8.

    So i guess its better to have them in front ?!?

    Which is one of the reasons why I love my Adam A7Xs. But still if you put them into a corner of the room or too close to the wall the sound might suffer quickly. And some treatment of the room acoustics might help either way.