What's a good monitor these days?
 

I've been using a pair of Mackie HR824s for a few years now and really need to trade them in - they're just too powerful (and insanely loud) for my new apartment (already had the neighbors banging on my floor). So I am looking for something in the same price rang (say between $1,000 and $1,500) that is smaller than the 824s, but that is known for very good translation and ultimately sound really well. Any suggestions?

what about the 624's by mackie? I am using the Event ASP6's and love them.
I think I read ADAM is going to start making an entry level monitor. Might be something to look into.

They are the ADAM A7's. I was thinking of getting them for a friend of mine. They run 50W to the woofer and 50W to the ribbon tweeter. Plus they have a cool looking carbon fiber driver!

Check them out at http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/A7/

i would second the Adam A7s or try the Adam Anf10 passive monitors+150w (or 300w) poweramp like the alesis ra150 or maybe (on the higher end) a Rolls or Hafler amp.
check out the Dynaudio Bm5a aswell for a simmiler price range.

yeah, a couple of my friends here also recommended the Adam series of monitors - I'm definitely going to check them out. What are your guys thoughts on these JBLs?

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/LSR4326Ppak/

I reckon your best bet is a pair of Dynaudio BM5a's....not as powerful as the 6a's, and almost as accurate.

You could find a pair in your price range...over here I could probably get em around AUD$1600

They are very well regarded monitors for accuracy

I also recommend the BM5A's. I had them for 4 months and liked them very much. They are accurate, a little bright sounding and can also play the bass quite low altough they are so small. However, I still sold my BM5A's to a friend of mine to get a pair of bigger BM15's (for better bass response).

I also have a problem with listening spl because of neighbours but I still went with bigger dyns. I cannot play them very loud but I just have to live with it. Dynaudio Acoustics sound is very good. I earlier had Mackie HR626's (2x6" + 1") which were really nice (imo the best mackies) but they also had a little fatiguing treble. Dynaudio monitors are completely nonfatiguing and they produce their drivers in their own factory. Many high end speaker manufacturers have used Dynaudio drivers and especially the silk dome tweeters and woofers with extra large voice coils are well known.

I have read many comments about active dyns being brighter than the passive ones (for example BM15 vs. BM15A and BM6 vs. BM6A) and I also noticed that when switching from BM5A's to BM15's (passive), altough they are completely different models. Sometimes I felt that the BM5A's were a little too bright for my taste (and a measured frequency response also shows that) so the sound of BM15's seems to be better for my needs. Anyway, I'd go for the BM5A's if you have to switch your monitors to smaller ones.

btw, have you tried to attenuate the bass of your 824's with the switches on the back? It's the bass anyway which your neighbour can hear.

A friend of mine bought KRK Rokit 8s.

They are pretty bad ass.

I have not heard the smaller KRKs.

Cheers, Doc!

-Alex

If you want to keep within familiar territory then 624's would be a good compromise. Having said that...why not pick up an old pair of NS10's.....if you play them really loud they will permenantly shut off...thus protecting your neighbours ears :lol:

DS

thanks for the feedback guys -
I will definitely give the BM5As a listen!
F5D - believe it or not, I actually switched the setting to low cut @ 80hz and the neighbors still were banging on the floor :?

DS - I still have my ns-10ms that I bought many years ago. Problem is that I never took the time to learn them properly, so my mixes alway sucked (I always compensated way too much for the lack of low end), so now I just use them when mastering.

Alex - I haven't heard too much about the KRK series, I'll look into the Rockits.

cheers all :)