Studio monitors for small bedroom for EDM

[andymcbain]

That room is so small I have to wonder whether rear ported vs front ported is even that big of a deal breaker.

Even front ported speakers shouldn't *really* be placed close to walls if you're going by the book.

I would go for a physically small speaker that can be arranged in an equilateral triangle with the tweeters around ear height. And be prepared for regular checks in headphones (I use Sonarworks software alongside mine - worth a look!) and a lot of trial and error

[ozonepaul]

I know most people give advice with the best of intentions to help, but seriously, a £1000 pair of speakers in this room???
I think a pair of I-Louds would be more than sufficient.

I couldn't find any used I-Loud micro monitor on ebay and the cheapest new price is £250/pair.

The monitors I suggested with prices (per pair):
KRK V4S4 - new £329 on ebay.co.uk at the moment
Neumann KH80 - around £500 used on ebay (new £800)
Adam A7X - around £500-£600 used on ebay (new £850-£900)
Adam A5X - around £400 used on ebay (less than £600 new)
Equator D5 or D8 - only used for less than £300
KRK V6S4 - new it's less than £700 a pair; used they're around £400-550
Dynaudio LYD-5 - new £800-£850, hardly ever on ebay
Neumann KH 120 - £1017 new at Thomann so yes this is a £1000 speaker but I specifically suggested to buy it used on ebay for £700-ish/pair.

I mentioned in my previous response that "the problem is that most probably sooner or later you'll want at least a Neumann KH 310 quality speaker".
The less monitors you buy/go through from your first budget monitor till you get to your "workhorse" professional monitors the less money you waste.
I can't imagine someone jumping from an IK Multimedia iLoud Micro Monitor to his "pro" monitor but I can easily imagine someone working on let's say a Neumann KH80 for a few years than when let's say moving into a bigger room buying a Neumann 805 subwoofer and job done forever. Or buying now a KRK V4S4 and later add an 8"-10" KRK subwoofer to it and done, that's a great system. This way all the pointless upgrades year after year are avoided, and that saves a lot of money. Than 5-10 years later (if he's still into production/mixing) he can go for his dream system.
That is the path I would take if I were in his shoes and most probably I would try to save money by buying used on ebay or gumtree or whatever.

[Kaine]

The MTM's above the iloud has DSP that's pretty damn impressive, honestly, if the ilouds are on the list, then I'd say check their brethren too.

Sub £1000 my choice at the moment is the HEDD's and the 05's sound like they'd be more than enough for the room your working in. I even prefer them to the Neumanns... (flame retardent jacket on)

[1DMF]

Again thank you so much for your replies.

I know the room is small BTW I showed feet not inches, but yeah SHOE BOX!

As you have said, i don't want to waste money buying lesser speakers to then have to buy more at a latter date, who knows if I will get my studio, next year or next decade!

I will certainly look at smaller speakers, but I want a half decent frequency range especially on the bass, I'm not looking to wake the dead, but hear the sound, and currently it's blowing past me and the current speakers are 50/60hz so I'm missing some lows for sure even with the bass bin.

this is what i have , using optical cable. It's an 8" woofer and 5" mids.

my desk is set so the tweeters (satellites) are triangulated at ear height, either side of my pc screen but the bass bin is what I use as the PC monitor stand (speaker lying horizontal) and I could lick the cone, it's a foot in front of my face.

I'm going to take a trip to Brighton GAK armed with some tunes and work my way through those available and see if they have any that are recommended here. Then I can trial the shortlist in-situ at home, dealer permitting.

Though they only seem to have rokits from KRK , who knows maybe Adam A3X will suffice, yup, it's now time for testing, not talking

[mgw38]

I know most people give advice with the best of intentions to help, but seriously, a £1000 pair of speakers in this room???
I think a pair of I-Louds would be more than sufficient.

Definitely iLoud MTMs and a pair of high end headphones. Given the size of the room you might even want to stay away from open back headphones and go for good closed ones instead. Open back headphones can be problematic in smaller untreated rooms.

[Peter - IK Multimedia]

I know most people give advice with the best of intentions to help, but seriously, a £1000 pair of speakers in this room???
I think a pair of I-Louds would be more than sufficient.

Definitely iLoud MTMs and a pair of high end headphones. Given the size of the room you might even want to stay away from open back headphones and go for good closed ones instead. Open back headphones can be problematic in smaller untreated rooms.

Thanks and yes iLoud MTM would be a good fit here and even beyond when a better space is found. Mixing with these in that small space at moderate levels sounds like iLoud MTM's opportunity to shine.

[mikebenson]

I'm a "shoe box" producer as well and I’ve got the IKM iLoud Micro monitors. https://www.musicmatter.co.uk/ik-multim ... ro-monitor
They’re tiny and don't need a lot of space, because they’re meant to be placed very close to you. They sit on my desk, but you could mount them on a mic stand. Due to their size they’re not like "proper" studio monitors, but they sound amazingly good, considering their size. Also, you can connect them via bluetooth, if you don't have enought space for the cables. For me it was money well spent.

Yes. I have a small studio, and these iLoud Micro Monitors sound great. Even the low end is great on these. And they're tiny. Not that the OP cares about extra tiny monitors.

[ozonepaul]

...Sub £1000 my choice at the moment is the HEDD's and the 05's sound like they'd be more than enough for the room your working in. I even prefer them to the Neumanns... (flame retardent jacket on)

Even though I'm bit of a Neumann fanboy, no flame retardant jacket is needed. All the bigger HEDD monitors I've heard are fantastic. (Sadly I've never heard the type 05s and type 07s, that's why I haven't suggested them.)

[ozonepaul]

The MTM's above the iloud has DSP that's pretty damn impressive, honestly, if the ilouds are on the list, then I'd say check their brethren too.

Definitely iLoud MTMs ...

Thanks and yes iLoud MTM would be a good fit here and even beyond when a better space is found. Mixing with these in that small space at moderate levels sounds like iLoud MTM's opportunity to shine.

I never heard about these iLoud MTMs but now I'm curious , thanks

[Passing Bye]

who knows maybe Adam A3X will suffice, yup, it's now time for testing, not talking

Speaker that size is enough for your needs to get overall balance, you just can't fit more bass in that room and actually rely on it, so don't stress that much about it and use headphones to check low end.

About Adam A3X, they aren't bad speakers, but they aren't worth the asking price either IMO, I had them, they are overly bright and exhibit low end rattle, they aren't any better than smaller Eris, Fluid's and the likes, don't get sucked into brand hype, also don't spend too much either, again, if I were in your shoes today, would get best headphones I can afford and than pick something between Eris 4.5/5, Fluid F4/5 or iLoud Micro's.

[SparkySpark]

+1 for iLoud MTM's. Cool that IK Multimedia is looking at this thread!

I review stuff for bedroom producers and must say that the MTM's are on my own shortlist to try.

The original iLouds are about half price, which can matter if price is of concern. They would certainly work too, just not as well. They are also smaller, which may be a good thing in case you don't want them to show too much.

(Also a lot of great suggestions in this thread, BTW. However, I'd say nothing should beat the iLouds in such a small room, as far as tonal balance is concerned. Speaking of which: Izotope Ozone and Neutron now feature a Tonal Balance Control feature. This ridiculously simple tool lets you check the bass vs treble contents to see that you dial in the appropriate amount of bass for your EDM songs.)

[JoeCat]

I've got the iLouds and will be getting the MTMs - keeping both, the originals will get use on my coffee table or wherever else I need to be portable.

With the originals you're going to roll off steep below the low G; I just make sure I've got phones (and my analyzer) to check the bass. The MTMs should get you as low as practical.

[1DMF]

Thanks again, you guys have been really helpfull and it's nice to so a rep pick up on the thread and give some valuable input.

I was going to jump on the train and head to GAK today to check out some speakers, I just got back from spain having rested my ears for a couple of weeks and the 'final mixdown' I had done before going on hols was way too bright and piecing. So I have remastered last night and think I have a mixdown I want to test with, I'm thinking see if it sounds OK on HS7's, even if I'm not buying them and if it does it will be a good test for all the speakers I wish to demo.

So came back to this froum to see if any last advice was available, and now here comes the spanner...

iLoud MTM don't seem to be sold via GAK in Brighton, or at least not when I search their website but if I use the IK Multimedia website to find a dealer near me it lists GAK Brighton, I can't find a suplier near me that stocks them

Thanks for the tip on Ozone, I use Ozone 8, so will be researching that feature for sure!

[andymcbain]

Definitely iLoud MTMs and a pair of high end headphones. Given the size of the room you might even want to stay away from open back headphones and go for good closed ones instead. Open back headphones can be problematic in smaller untreated rooms.

People crank their headphones to the point where the bleed causes room issues? As a tinnitus sufferer this makes me cringe

[andymcbain]

I will certainly look at smaller speakers, but I want a half decent frequency range especially on the bass, I'm not looking to wake the dead, but hear the sound, and currently it's blowing past me and the current speakers are 50/60hz so I'm missing some lows for sure even with the bass bin.

The trouble is if their are issues with your room response (and this is going to be very likely) you may not hear the lows anyway, or their will be nulls at certain frequencies at the very least. As I said before, it's a case of trial and error in less than ideal rooms - which is where good headphones and visual tools will help you out

You may even want to look into a Sub Pac - which physically vibrates rather than actually putting out any sound itself. It's seen as gimmicky by some but there's electronic music producers that swear by them for getting the lows right.