I have a pair of the Behringers. They're not *too* bad and compare with the Genelec 1030a's I also use.

I think the Tannoy Reveals are great, I went passive, 'cause I had an amp I was use to. however if I had to buy an amp I think I'd go active. Take care Logan

2nd on the Tannoys (Reveals). I power mine with a Hafler P1500.

How about Event PS6 or Alesis Monitor One Active MkII?

I like the Truths... I'm not a fan of Behringer but those are good monitors... I kinda fell the need for a better bass response but... the problem could be my room... I'd go for the Truths :)

Hey Mucio - Here's a link to a review of 10 nearfields - all but one is out of your price range, but it does give another look at the Behringers, which you've undoubtedly seen on a blowout from Musician's Friend, maybe AMS too, for $399 a pair. At that price, some of the negatives might tend to cancel out. Here's the link -

http://www.prorec.com/prorec/articles.nsf/articles/0B7FAE7ED3205D3C86256AE100044F41

Happy hunting... Steve

I'm in the market for monitors as well. I've heard good things about the Mackie 824s. Musicians Friend has them for $579!. I live in Burlington, Vermont- I Love it here but we don't have any big retailers where I could hear for myself what they sound like. So, it looks like I will be doing a roadtrip to Albany or Boston. Won't be the first time I've traveled many miles just to test equipment.

Thanks Steve,the article is nice,But as I said before I cannot go dreaming about expensiver stuff at the moment...It seems that I`ll be just fine with the Behringers for while...
Now ,here are two more questions:
1 - Somebody, who probally understands less about near field monitors than myself(if such a person ever existed...),told me that active monitors give to much "color" to the mix and are less "real" and reliable than the passive ones .Is there any possibilities of truth in this???
If so I am ready to go to the Tannoy Reveals(probally with the Samson Audio Servo 120)...
2 - What about those Spirits?? Nobody talks about them anymore and yet it seems that their owners dont ever think about selling them second hand...

Ooops- that's $579 PER monitor. Curses!!! Foiled again!!!!

Originally posted by Mucio:

1 - Somebody, who probally understands less about near field monitors than myself(if such a person ever existed...),told me that active monitors give to much "color" to the mix and are less "real" and reliable than the passive ones .Is there any possibilities of truth in this???
If so I am ready to go to the Tannoy Reveals(probally with the Samson Audio Servo 120)...

I haven't played with any of the really cheap active monitors - maybe in the lower end of the price universe actives may be at a slight disadvantage, but i hadn't really heard that one before. I certainly don't think it is at all true when you get into the $1000+ range. Some of the most lusted after monitors being made are active ones.

hi mucio,

my set up is very similar to yours.

QS 733 G4
XP30,cubase vst 5.1,etc.etc

I have the Tannoy Reveal actives.... very nice for a good price. I would definately recommend the :)

Nearfield speakers aren't really monitors; they're for checking imaging and stereo placement in a mix, and to highlight any problems you may have in the critical mid range, without nasty room reflections getting in the way.

Now, having said that, there's no reason why you can't do a reasonably decent final mix on any reasonably flat nearfield speakers,ONCE YOU UNDERSTAND HOW THEY TRANSLATE TO THE REAL WORLD.

The big secret to getting a great mix on any nearfield is: Mix at very low volume levels.

The biggest disadvantage to mixing on nearfield speakers is that you will have to keep checking your work on real world systems until you get to the point where you've learned how your mixes translate to other systems.

Imaging and stereo placement are very easy on nearfields; getting the eq and frequency balance right isn't. It takes time and patience to learn how to compensate for what you're hearing to get what you want.

People obsess over nearfield speakers to find the perfect small speaker for final mixing - and there ain't no such beast. In the end, the answer is:

"f you can't have the nearfields you love, love the nearfields you have."

Alo amigos .
Thanks for your all that information,I already ordered the Behringers and unless they are VERY BAD I will be sticking with them for a while (anything will be better than my Aiwa Hi-Fi system...) .Today I went to do a session in a small but very professional studio owned by a friend and loved his custom made near field monitors(passive),he had them made in Spain for a bargain !!! (But not cheaper than the Behringers).I am thinking of use the Hi-Fi system to compare with the Beringers (do we really need to do that??),have fun.
Mucio

Bear,

Mid fields speakers are a problem for most people with bedroom studios,due to their size and where they have to be placed. Back in 1988, I designed some prototype nearfield speakers for Akai (which turned out to be terrible and we never went into production on them), but it got me thinking about the problems with nearfields.

Higher efficiency speakers give you better transient characteristics (at the expense of extended bass response), and lower efficiency speakers give you more linear response in the low end, but things get very puffy down low when you hit them with something like a deep kick drum. I think I've finally figured a way around some of the problems.

It comes down to moving a lot of air to produce real bottom end, and there are several ways to do that: bigger speakers, longer excursions (cone travel), porting, cabinet volume, etc. Making a small speaker that will go low accurately is a big problem that still hasn't been solved except by throwing large amounts of dollars at the design problems and coming up with very expensive powered nearfields like the K&H, Westlakes, and the new A.D.A.M. speakers.

I've been thinking about going back in business again to really produce some killer nearfields that COULD be used for mixing.

I still have a lot of contacts with independant speaker manufacturers and I've been toying with the idea of licensing some of my ideas for making a set of fairly inexpensive nearfields that could be used as real monitors. I'm not sure at this point in my life if I really wanna get back into the whole manufacturing thing, since it'll mean about a year of design, tweaking, and fine tuning.

But it's tempting.

Hey there. I'm on a small budget here in my home studio, so I bought the Truths because they sound great and cost less. I don't know why one could not do mixes only using nearfields! Like with any speaker, you've got to get used to them. You do that by listening to favourite (very pro and good sounding) productions (make sure the playback device has no crappy DA) and note what you hear in all the frequency ranges, etc. That's what I did.

I just got a pair of Event 20/20's (passive) for $300.00 at Musician's Friend. I drive them with an Alesis RA-100. I am very pleased with the sound! I used to have a little pair of JBL control 1c's that I paid $30.00 for and, believe it or not, I was able to get some pretty darn good sounding mixes off of them. As someone recently posted.. It's really how well you know your speakers that gets results. I know for myself, my Events are not giving me 10 times the sound. Maybe a 20% increase in sound quality but definitely better low end. My mixes have improved only marginally, go figure!

I use Klipsch monitors, and will probably never change unless they blow ... not even if I won the friggin lottery. It's not that they're anything extraordinary, it's just that they do what I need them to do. I am totally familiar and comfortable with them. If I really feel like there's someting that needs super-tweaking while mixing I put the phones on.
Like most other guys, I listen to my songs through many other systems, including a stereo, my PA, a boombox, and my crapola truck stereo. Getting many different perspectives of your mix is of utmost importance, especially for those of us who don't have $10k to sink into monitors. After a while, once you've mixed on your studio monitors and heard things that needed tweaking on other systems, you develope a better feel for getting things right through your studio monitors the first time around.
Undoubtedly, some monitors are better than others, but on the low budget level, IMO, it's more a matter of personal taste and what you can afford. Buy em, use em, compare your mixes on different systems, and get comfortable with them.

Hey Mucio, don't forget to come back and tell us what you think when you get your new Behringers!
-kent

I am still waiting for the Behringers,I ordered them at a online german store (Thomman)and they told me they will have them in mid-march,maybe there is a shortage of Behringers now or they are planning a new product...as soon as I get my hands on them I `ll let you know of my satisfaction/desapointment.the problems with near fields is when you get used to the top ones (in the pro studios as a session musician)and then get home and yours sound like shit.
"Do not ask what your monitors can do for you but what you can do WITH them..."