Better (but cheap) monitors for home playing

thecolourbox

Wondered if you chaps had any good tips for cheap monitors that I can use for playing guitar at home as my current ones are, I believe, pretty poor.

They are Fostex PM04.n01 monitors if that means anything to anybody.

If probably be lucky to get £30 for them, plus say £50 for the amp I'm trying to flog. Am I right in thinking £80 will get me precisely nothing worth having over the awful purple speakers of blandness?

It's to use the equally non descript Digitech gsp1101 through in a small ish spare bedroom

Thanks

octatonic

Don't waste your money.

thecolourbox

octatonic said:

Don't waste your money.

Be a bit quiet with nothing though. Would I be better getting more of a hifi or music playback type speakers?

octatonic

Just keep using what you are using until you've prepared to spend around £300-500.

Musicwolf

I used to have a pair of PM04’s which I bought for location recording.  It was a long while ago and I didn’t use them much but my memory is that they were pretty good for the price.  I very much doubt that you’ll find anything better for £80 (better as in neutral).

thecolourbox

octatonic said:

Just keep using what you are using until you've prepared to spend around £300-500.

Right yes see what you mean. I'm not prepared to spend anywhere near that

Will try some of our home audio stuff instead then I think

Funkfingers

thecolourbox said:

my current ones are, I believe, pretty poor.

Here is what Paul White wrote about them. https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/fostex-pm04n ;

thecolourbox said:

octatonic said:

Just keep using what you are using

Will try some of our home audio stuff instead 

This will have the advantages of
1) providing a familiar listening experience.
2) already being paid for.

Anything with a "woofer" measuring 6" or above will be an improvement over the Fostex pair.

octatonic said:

spend around £300-500.

My taste is for the Acoustic Research AR-18 with the Graham's Mod. 

andy_k

Look for a second hand pair of I-louds, you might find some now they have been upgraded.
Or just bite the bullet, you could probably get them for £200 if you shop around.
Very versatile little things, and they sound surprisingly good, proper studio monitor design.

Snap

When I first got back into recording I used my hifi (which is hooked up to my PC for daily spotify listening) as my monitoring. I didn't change it until I got some proper monitors, which were the cheap but excellent Yamaha HS5s. You can pick those up for about 200 a pair on ebay, used. Good enough for me.

sweepy

A plus 1 for a set of s/h HS5’s, they’ll do the job better than a home hifi and are easily good enough for what you want 

thecolourbox

Thanks fellas for the tips, I'll bear them i mind if my situation changes but I can't justify £200 on speakers really at present. I think I'll have to stick with the Fostex ones for now unless something unexpected crops up. My "hifi" is not very "hifi" i suspect (Harman Kardon Sound Sticks) but I might try that if/when I can get my computer working easily enough to start recording again.

kennedydream1980

Presonus Eris monitors are excellent for the price. I have the Eris3.5’s at home and I’m perfectly happy with them. The Mackie CR3’s are also excellent. They arn’t as flat in EQ as the Presonus and have a bit more bass. 

Snap

@thecolourbox - you know mate, you could do a lot worse than just use some headphones. I did this for ages too. As long as you remember that things sound a bit different through them, and you will need to use your Fostex's too, you will be fine. Plus, it's nice and unobtrusive for everyone else!

there is a lot to be said for a set of proper monitors, but for most of us hobbyists, if you are working to a budget, just use your headphones and whatever you have. Better to wait til you have the money for something half decent than buy something crappy in the short term.

thecolourbox

Snap said:

@thecolourbox - you know mate, you could do a lot worse than just use some headphones. I did this for ages too. As long as you remember that things sound a bit different through them, and you will need to use your Fostex's too, you will be fine. Plus, it's nice and unobtrusive for everyone else!

there is a lot to be said for a set of proper monitors, but for most of us hobbyists, if you are working to a budget, just use your headphones and whatever you have. Better to wait til you have the money for something half decent than buy something crappy in the short term.

Cheers, yeah ordinarily headphones would be a great idea but two reasons make them not ideal - one I have done kind of misophonia for the buzzing and hissing noise I get which we through headphones is unbearable, and second I think I'm used to when I played piano where the sound surrounds you rather than hitting me in the ears from either side. I even tire of listening to piano music on headphones.

When I did recording as mixing etc then headphones were fine but not for playing music

John_A

Although they would be great for mixing there are plenty of cheap monitors around that will be perfectly good for a bit of bedroom playing for that sort of money, something like

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Alesis-Elevate-MKII-Speakers-Video-Editing/dp/B01MUY2470/ref=sr_1_13?keywords=Studio+monitors&qid=1583301079&sr=8-13

or 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/PreSonus-3-5-inch-High-Definition-Active-Monitors/dp/B075QVMBT9/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=Studio+monitors&qid=1583301248&sr=8-5

denz32

I've been looking for a similar setup to use with my HX Stomp. Does anyone have experience with JBL LSR305 or Adam T5V / A5X?

Modellista

I had the JBLs.  Good.  Loud.  I think I saw you can get them for around £100 a speaker which is great value for a good product.

Rocker

thecolourbox said:

octatonic said:

Don't waste your money.

Be a bit quiet with nothing though. Would I be better getting more of a hifi or music playback type speakers?

Talk to or phone a hi-fi dealer, he usually has a shed full of 'second hand' speakers and amps.  Many for very little money.  

close2u

Can I jump on the bandwagon please?
I'm thinking of going down a similar path ... multi fx direct in to active monitor speakers using amp / cab sim or whatever is required. I already have a pair of M-Audio AV40s. Will they sound okay-ish on a small bedroom setting? 

thomasross20

I got genelec 8020D which are small but POWERFUL. Haven't regretted it one bit.