Help me choose between these two monitors

[Robertibi1]

I hope this is the correct forum. I am looking for a 'good' pair of monitors for my home studio. I am currently looking at the Mackie HR624 and Event 20/20bas monitors. I have raised my budget to consider these choices. I can get a pair of Mackies for $839.90USD new and the Events for around $899USD new.

If it helps, here's some background on my rig. My soundcard is the Aardvark Q10. I play acoustic/electric/bass/classical guitar via the Q10, guitar amps and AKG C1000S & C3000B mics. I basically do rock I guess but do other styles ala Outkast, XTC, Talking Heads and Richard Thompson(acoustic & electric) kinda stuff.

Any suggestions, advice and/or direction would be greatly appreciated.

thanks,
Robert

 

[Kurt Foster]

You need to have a neither box also ...

I don't care for either the Events or the Mackies although I do like the Mackie 624s more than the 824s..

In your price range I am currently very hot on the [="http://www.recording.org/e-mag/article_102.shtml"]Yamaha MSP5's ...[/]

 

[stewie]

i am in the same boat between these speakers any input is appreciated.

 

[hbj]

I am selling a pair of ATC SCM10s at that price which I think most would agree are at least a step above either of those two choices. Write me at hbjhbj@lycos.com if you're interested -

 

[Robertibi1]

Thanks for the input and glad to see others are interested. Don't know why I got the check boxes. :d:

For my humble studio, I need near-field active monitors with balanced inputs. I read that article by you Kurt and very interesting. I am getting a list of monitors to test drive next weekend. I will have to put those Yamaha's on the list. Quite a cost difference, I see them for just under $500USD for the pair. Interesting, maybe I can save some money.

FWIW, the monitors will be approx. 5ft apart from the center point of each monitor. I have to have monitor stands on each side of the desk. This would still make them near-fields, right? I have a spacious room with vaulted ceilings. The room is approx. 18ft x 26ft with the studio desk/monitors centered along the 26ft wall. My studio/office/study is a loft in my house.

This is great and thanks to everyone,
Robert

 

[Paladyne]

I am stoked with my Mackie 824's. I had been using Tannoy Reveals before. I would prolly lean torwards 624's out of your two choices because of that fact. I do not care for the Events that I have heard.

 

[jonyoung]

Ditto on 824's, love 'em. Part of my rapture is the deal I got on them (from a friend who went to Genelecs), $500 for the pair. Woohoo!

 

[Kurt Foster]

Lots of tales of woe attributed to the 824s. Inaccurate in the lows and non linear.. that is they respond differently at different sound pressure levels. I really dislike the rear mounted passive radiator.. makes placement problematic in the least, reflections off the front wall play havoc with the low freqs.. ask your friend why he went to the Genelecs.. after all, if you look at both sets of speakers, the design appears to be very much the same.. but the Genelecs don't have that damned passive radiator..

 

[Robertibi1]

Originally posted by riversedge:
Ditto on 824's, love 'em. Part of my rapture is the deal I got on them (from a friend who went to Genelecs), $500 for the pair. Woohoo!

I would have driven to Nashville for that deal! :c: Good for you.

 

[Kurt Foster]

My advice is to punch up a search here on "monitors". Be sure to search Small Steps, Producers and the Micing / Mixing forums.

There are a lot of threads on the Mackie 824s there, most have people saying that their mixs are not traveling well when they use them ... Low frequency problems abound. That's the best I can offer.

If they work for you, that's great but the user feedback on them over the past two years has not been that great.

 

[Robertibi1]

I will take your advice Kurt. I am in no hurry as I want to make a sound decision. Like I said, I'll be road testing next weekend. I'll be taking a friend and some cd's.

So Kurt, you're still standing by the Yamaha's? You don't recommend anything between those and say, the Genelecs? Nothing else below the $800 range in your recommendations?

Robert

 

[Kurt Foster]

For the bucks, the Yamis are hard to beat IMO. I am not the only one who likes them. RecorderMan turned me on to them and when I tried them I was amazed. They have very wide imaging and are perfect for small and medium control rooms. The fact that they are powered is just a big fat bonus .... I really like them because they are perfect for a 5.1 surround system, add a sub and three extra speakers and you are in business.. I think that would be a killer surround system capable of turning you deaf in short order.

I am currently evaluating a pair of Yamaha MSP10's. The MSP10's sound much more like the old NS10M’s that the MSP5’s do.. if you want that type of thing, then they are a good choice.

I like Tannoy concentric and anything Dynaudio... KRK are good too.. I am fond of the V8 and V88’s.. Blue Sky makes good stuff as does ADAM.

 

[Luke]

I haven't heard the 624s,but I've had the 20/20bas for about 4 yrs and I am very happy with them, my mixes translate well to other systems.If you look around you can probably find the Events for alot less than $899.
Good Luck,
Luke

 

[darling]

Between the two -- I think I would lean toward the events. They travel a little better.
I heard the yamahas last week, and was not
impressed.
good luck - Dave Darling

 

[MisterBlue]

I have also owned Event 20/20bas' for quite a while now and I am with Luke on this: I quite like the sound and I have zero problems with translation onto other systems. I also don't feel that I have "outgrown" them - leaving me urging for something better like it is the case with some other equipment. I do admit that I have added a subwoofer a while ago which made a noticable difference. The Event S250 sub proved an inexpensive choice and very good match for me.

I also own a pair of NS10's that I am regularly using during mixdown (... really never during tracking). It's helpful to have a combination of very different speakers and the NS10's are a proven factor.

I can't speak for the MSP10's or the Mackies but I would certainly not advise against the Events. Given Kurt's review and opinion, however, I would certainly put the Yamaha's on my shortlist.

Now go, kick some tires but keep in mind that your control room might have a somewhat relevant role in how you like certain speakers.

MisterBlue.

 

[jonyoung]

Kurt, I appreciate what you're saying about the 824's but I'm in a situation where I literally do an entire project here(at least at this point in time). The only place mixes are travelling is to the client's home stereo, where, so far, everything has sounded great. I'd also put forth the opinion that many times the reason tracks don't travel well is the system phase component that gets introduced because of mismatched input/output impedances from one piece of gear to another in someone's setup. It may sound great in the original monitors tracked on, but the overall frequency response of the system is whacked because of something other than a zero phase angle. Stuff winds up sounding like a string and two soup cans somewhere else! Transfer functions, FFT's, et al...............

 

[random logic]

i use mackie hr824(two sets) , genelec 1032+sub(for sale!), dynaudio m3, yamaha msp 5 and ns 10 in my two studios.for me mackies 824 are best value overall. i also very like yamaha msp5, they really made my ns 10 obsolete (ill keep ns10 anyway). recently we got another pair of 824s to replace the genelec 1032 in the second studio. after months of working on genelec we got very tired of them. the mixes didnt translate well, and they sounded to good to be true.as i do a lot of production which involves programming and sound creation i want a speaker that i can create music on. mackies are really great for vibing,playing, recording....making music, and that is the most important factor to me. i mixed and produced several hundred tracks over years on mackies with help from msp5/ns10 and with proper mastering they sounded great in clubs, radios and tv stations.(some were better, some were worse but...). now we bought dynaudio m3 as our main monitors....these are in a league of their own and we still cant belive what a difference does it make to work on that speakers. (mackies get to stay anyway and we are selling the 1032 with sub). i would go for mackies 824/624, yamaha msp5 or i would save a little bit and buy something more expensive (those atc50s for 500 dollars look interesting) because now i know how important it is to listen music on a best possible speakers.

 

[Christopher Duncan]

I'm using Genelec S30C's, Tannoy System 8 dual concentrics, and a cheap pair of Realistic a/v speakers to check mixes for translation.
The S30c's are active triamped three way cabinets with ribbon tweeters. They are what would be considered mid-fields. I use them for tracking and mixing for hours on end with little or no ear fatigue. They do however make whatever you put through them sound better than it really is. Thats where the Tannoy System 8 dual concentrics come in. Though they are more the nearfield variety, they give me a much more accurate representation of whats going on (real world) and they translate well.

 

[anonymous]

Seriously....call the man about his ATC SCM10's. they are a serious monitor. I mean head and shoulders above Genelecs (which many would say are head and shoulders above Mackie and Event).

As an ATC SCM50A user, I can say that you will likely not be disapointed (in the speakers that is...I find I put on recordings, and become disapointed that the quality is not there; these are very revealing monitors).

Of course, maybe I'll give the man a call....uggg, like I need yet another monitor speaker (already have a pair of Tannoy 10" monitor golds collecting dust).

Actually, I have a pair of Event 20/20bas (and a spare set of tweets) that I might be interested in selling (if the guy selling his ATC's hasn't moved them yet).

Cheers,

Kris

 

[lowland]

How about self-powered Blue Sky monitors? A quick websearch tells me that their Pro Desk system can be bought for a fraction more than your current budget, and the System One 2.1 is about $1500. I reviewed the System One for Audio Media and was very taken with it as a price/performance juggling act - I noticed, for example, that you can have an entire 5.1 rig including bass management and still get change from a pair of PMC AML1s (which I have). I haven't heard the Pro Desk, but if it's a scaled-down version of the System One and retains that system's clarity and neutrality it would certainly be worthy of audition.

I agree with previous comments on the ATCs. It depends on the nature of your work, but with a fine small monitor like the SCM10 (and assuming a suitable amplifier) the main tradeoff is obviously going to be in the lower frequencies, and in the case of the ATC the response should roll off quite smoothly - you could conceivably check the low end periodically on a good set of cans such as Sennheiser 600s. Small speakers like the Acoustic Energy AE1s have a broadly similar response, and I've tracked and mixed this way with AE1s in critical situations since the late eighties to good effect - much of the Christian band Iona's back catalogue was recorded and mixed by me like that, and when I remastered some of it recently I was surprised how well it stood up.

Another small speaker tip: PMC DB-1s, which I also reviewed and liked. Their USP is that they have a transmission line in a tiny enclosure which contributes to a largely flat response above 50Hz, not normally possible in a box that size.

I hope this isn't too much information in one go, feel free to contact me off-list if I can help further.