Wrong Forum? Really unpopular? Feel free to speak. Yes I have them but have no illusions of them as very best.

Looking to determine what would be a move up and what isn't.

I had the MI actives for quite a while and mixed a bunch of decent sounding projects on them. I did have to "learn" these monitors though, as the bass seemed a little heavy on them. But all in all I think they were a good deal and decent quality for the money.

But then I upgraded to Dynaudio BM6A's, and was shocked at how much more clarity these things had. Also, the bass seemed more controlled, therefore I felt that I could make mix decisions based on what I was hearing through the monitors, not what I think I was going to hear in the outside world when listening on the M1's.

If you are thinking of upgrading to a high end monitor, I'd be confident that you will notice a difference.

stonewall40 wrote: I had the MI actives for quite a while and mixed a bunch of decent sounding projects on them. I did have to "learn" these monitors though, as the bass seemed a little heavy on them. But all in all I think they were a good deal and decent quality for the money.

But then I upgraded to Dynaudio BM6A's, and was shocked at how much more clarity these things had. Also, the bass seemed more controlled, therefore I felt that I could make mix decisions based on what I was hearing through the monitors, not what I think I was going to hear in the outside world when listening on the M1's.

If you are thinking of upgrading to a high end monitor, I'd be confident that you will notice a difference.

Cool. Thanks for the info. Would I have to go to something like a genelec to really hear an improvement? Would the Active KRK's for example be an upgrade or just different??

monitors are, in my opinion, the most important thing in your studio (after your ears and what's between them, that is), so a few months ago i started looking for some good cheap studio monitors to build a home studio. the catalogue i was looking at had the alesis m1s as their top of the line model, and described them like the holy grail. they were something like $1000 (australian dollars). boy was i impressed. i couldn't afford them though, so i started looking at the cheaper options, and really did my homework on the subject. but i have a habit of not wanting to settle for second best. i ended up looking at more and more expensive monitors, until i'd passed the m1s! i ended up in dynaudio and genelec territory, things i hadn't even heard of, being new to the game like i was. the phrase "but i thought that alesis made the best monitors" made these "high end" audio ales guys laugh. they thought i didn't know (and couldn't afford) a thing. but i kept slowly saving away. the more expensive the monitors i heard got, the more critical i got. eventually i found something i thought was perfect. it was the atc scm 20. the price was the only catch...$13,000 (AU). but after desperately searching for a second hand pair, i found a guy in egypt selling some of the bigger scm 50, retail $24,000 (AU). i ended up getting that pair for under $6000 AU including shipping. the retail price of the genelecs i was looking at was around that much.

ok, so i went a bit psyco with the budget. but what i ended up will never need upgrading. if you're serious about recording, why spend $500, then $1500, then $3000, then $5000 when you could save until you can buy what you know you'll ultimately be happy with? i've never heard anyone complain their monitors are "too good" for their needs, but i've heard plenty of times people talking about upgrading. upgrading is a waste of money. get it right the first time and you'll actually save money. if you're serious, don't buy anything that would be a liability if it was in your dream studio.

well i was going to say that's just my 2 cents but i've been writing for so long it's probably about a buck fifty. wait, i havent writen that much...i must be inefficient...

Absolutely no question - do your research, plan, save up and get it right the first time - sometimes......

That said, for the current $350.00(US), for the M1's, there's no need to wait, or even to audition the things if you know you don't have anything "better" to use NOW(Their reviews are fine, with only minor, meaningless "quirks" for speakers at this price.). Buy the M1's NOW - USE them - LEARN them - figure out what you might like to have in a "better" speaker and THEN save for something better - but please, when contemplating any truly expensive purchase, go look at them and listen to them - in person - several times - before purchase. Then give the M1's to someone or just throw them in the garbage can when you've finally got your dream speakers...

TG

In answer to your original question - where are they in the food chain? They're the droppings at the end.

BUT...a lot of people use em and a lot of people like em.

Both Teddy G and jimbo have a great points. Sure, you don't want to waste a lot of money upgrading, but at the same time, I don't find $500 or so a waste of money if you get a couple years use out of them.

Sure, the ATCs and the Dynaudios are fantastic monitors! Do you need them? Hmmm...tough to say. Perhaps. But, maybe it wouldn't hurt for you to mix on the Alesis (or M-Audio or KRKs) for a while and see what you don't like about them. Once you can identify what you want in a perfect monitor, then should your quest begin. And hey, if you wind up with a pair of ATCs or Dyn's, great. But maybe, the monitors that work best for you are 20 year old JBLs or even NS-10s (GASP!!!)

Personally, I say - do what you like and get what you can afford now. Save up and then make up your mind when you are truly ready to upgrade. Chances are, you'll at least get 30-50% what you paid for them when you put them on e-bay.

FWIW - the KRKs are a bit better in my opinion. A little less hyped in the 60-80 Hz range.

J.

Thanks for the comments guys. I have had the M1's for several years now. They have served well and knowing them very well at this point I have been able to get some pretty decent mixes from them, limited more by my skills than the gear. I have improved a lot and its time to start looking at better gear now that I have the skills to really benefit from them.

Since I don't have a lot of seat time with anything else I am going to borrow a friends Tannoy Reveal Actives. I see these as comparable units to the M1's but I want the experience with other monitors to help develop a baseline of likes and dislikes in a monitor.

I don't really have a budget number in mind at this point. I will address this once I have a feel for what will really fit my needs and be an improvement over the M1's I have now.

I appreciate the input from everyone. Yes I have them but I don't mind frank, constructive comments on them as I would expect it would be benificial in evaluating other monitors looking forward.

Possibly a better investment, at this time, might be in your space - your room?

The better the speakers, the better your room needs to be to make use of their capabilities, especially as "better" often means more low frequency output.

It is very difficult for most of us to "do" much with our rooms without help. An investment in an accoustics knowledgeable person(Knowledgeable in recording space accoustics) might be an excellent, not neccessarily unaffordable, expenditure...while one considers "better" speakers. Of course, a better room will make everything, including the speakers you have, sound better - at least more acurate, up to their capabilities.......

TG

TeddyG wrote: Possibly a better investment, at this time, might be in your space - your room?

The better the speakers, the better your room needs to be to make use of their capabilities, especially as "better" often means more low frequency output.

It is very difficult for most of us to "do" much with our rooms without help. An investment in an accoustics knowledgeable person(Knowledgeable in recording space accoustics) might be an excellent, not neccessarily unaffordable, expenditure...while one considers "better" speakers. Of course, a better room will make everything, including the speakers you have, sound better - at least more acurate, up to their capabilities.......

TG

An excellent point and one I am proud to say I have already addressed. Aurelex offers a free consultation which I took advantage of and used their advice to treat the room accordingly by bass trapping the corners, absorption behind the monitors and at the first reflection points and a diffusor array on the back wall. It's still a smallish bedroom with issues remaining but the acoustic treatments have made it several levels of magnitude better in terms of EQ balance, imaging and clarity.