Dynaudio BM5a's Vs Mackie Hr624's (monitors)
 

Bloody hell.

I have been researching for a decent set of monitors for a while now - and managed to get it down to two pairs. Although it must be mentioned that reading web reviews cannot in any way shape or form give you the big picture when making your mind up on which set to buy. You MUST go to the store and demo them. Although it is very handy taking on board user reviews and advice from the pro's.

I Recently demo'd a pair of BM5a's against the Hr624's - there is no comparison. I was totally blown away by the Dynaudios. Having run a few reference songs through both sets - here are my thoughts: -

The Mackie Hr624's have quite a "harsh" top end (to my ears). I definitely felt that I would suffer from hearing fatigue if I listened to these for a long period of time. The mids are clear (if not again slightly harsh) and the stereo spread is good. The bottom end however was very disappointing - you will most definitely need to purchase a sub(s) in my opinion. But again it depends on what music you are creating.

The Dynaudio BM5a's were a revelation. The top end had a nice less harsh appealing sound. The mids were very clear and smooth. The stereo spread and overall detail was excellent. The bottom end was much fuller and instantly audibly superior to the Hr624's.

These things are purely down to the individual, what may sound good to me, may sound like shite to you. I must stress that you go and demo ANY set of speakers you are considering purchasing. But in my opinion the Dynaudio BM5a's are fantastic and I would highly recommend them.

I just look for something I can stand listening to for ages, then after that flat response and good separation - not too fussed about the depth of bass response as you will get used to it anyway. Over time I have come to the conclusion I should look for another pair of monitors.

I have the Event TR8XL which is very pleasent to work with for hours on end, no fatigue, great sound, deep bass response, fairly wide sweet spot and seem to be quite accurate in imaging - and as they sound great, they are a joy to create with.

Their downside is they seem rather sensitive to location compared to some I have used. I also think they are making me lazy with mixing - its too easy to get a mix that sounds really good on them, so I might actually start looking around for a second pair of more brutally representative monitors to use just for mixing and post production maybe even grot box type things.

I would advise against sub base setups as a primary monitor set for mixing - every time you move slightly the whole frequency balance can seem different. Subs are a demo room thing for me. They can be great for listening to what your recording with so you can feel that deep bass - but I truly hate trying to mix with them and for post production - forget it.

So for you - maybe ask yourself what you want out of your monitors - a good and brutal guide for mixing, or enjoyable sound while creating?

824s and 624s have a reasonable rep in their price range for being a good guide more than a pleasent pair of monitors to create with. 824s are alot better to create with, but I think they make you lazy as well.

I have a pair of BM5A's aswell and I like them alot. I had Mackie HR626 monitors which were also very nice. I like both the Dynaudio and Mackie tone. The Mackies have that a little harsh or crisp sound but I somehow liked it too. At least with Mackies I could say more quickly if something was wrong in the mix or not. With Dynaudios I have to listen more carefully or at least totally differently because the BM5A's tend to produce great sound with about any material. But yeah, if the audio is well mixed the sound is just superb. So if you want to mix a good mix with Dynaudios you have to tweak till it sounds superb I guess. :D

These little things play pretty loud too and the bass response sometimes surprises too. I extended the bass ports on the back by 4.5 centimeters to get a more like BM6A tuning and the bass plays a little lower now. However I will add a subwoofer to the system in 2 weeks to get that missing bottom end.

FSD. What store did you get your BM5a's from?

I bought them from Thomann, they sell them for 522 euros each incl. 22% vat. I usually buy from Thomann because it's near Finland (where I live) and they give 3 years guarantee and they serve their customers well.

I'm using Quested F11's and very happy with them. Mixing sounds on these baby?s is as easy as turning in a guitar string. Flat, with a very large sweet spot. Solid bass and magical highs, a dream for mixing effects.
Don?t be a Lemming and go down the Mackie rout, or get what everyone else has got thing. For me the F11's beat any Mackie?s and Dynaudio's or Genlecs in the same price range hands down! :P

It's not about how nice they sound; it?s how well they do the job for you. They are for mixing not playing music on. Don?t be fooled by subtle sweetness tweaks by manufactures
:wink:

Buy hifi speakers if you want that

But with the mackies or dynaudios you can also listen to music and really enjoy it. For example the dynaudio BM-series are a good example of speakers which seem to be designed just to sound natural so you can use them as studio monitors or hifi speakers if you want. In fact there shouldn't even be any difference between a good hifi speaker and a studio monitor speaker.

The goal of designing both kind of speakers is to get the most natural sound and flattest possible frequency response. I hear some people talking about hifi speakers or "hifi listening settings" (wtf?) and these tend to boost bass and treble but that's not what hifi means to me.

IMO the BM5A's sound very neutral and precise. The frequency response is very flat. They just don't have any annoying characters in the sound so you don't get tired of listening to them even at long sessions. I also enjoy listening to music with them. In fact I don't know many or any hifi speakers which sound better than these. I just checked Dynaudio's hifi speakers and those are really expensive. I don't know how they can sell the studio monitors at this price. Of course the enclosure design and finish of the hifi speakers cost more but still...

I'm not knocking the BM5A?s; they are the better of the two. But you would not use NS10's as hifi speakers would you? and you see them in use in the top studios world wide right. If you have the money check out the Genelec 1032A's, if I not got the F11's I would have been tempted to take those. :wink:

Don't worry, I didn't think so. You had some good points. :)

I just wanted to add some extra toughts to the discussion. And yes, I have heard that many studios use yamaha NS10's and many people say they sound horrible. Personally I haven't heard them yet. Would be very interesting. In fact I haven't even heard the truths. I have heard many genelecs and mackies and now dynaudios. We don't have many places here where you could listen to different monitors.

I am with FSD on this one. IMHO the Dynaudio BM5a's are probably the best speakers $1000 can buy on the market. I have listened to quite a few of them. The Mackies are hearing fatigue city. I have not checked out the Quested F11's - not in my price range and too powerful for my needs.