Good speakers for low price?

Anything below 300$ you might as well just get headphones my dude.
300+ for speakers, speakers last eons and sound great to boot.

Headphones also last eooooons at the 60-200$ range so definitely get a good pair if ya haven't already.
 
KonKossKang said:
Anything below 300$ you might as well just get headphones my dude.
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Probably true. If you're dead set on getting beginner monitors for well under $300 for a pair, look at ones like Mackie CR3, M-Audio AV32, PreSonus Eris. They do the trick for a lot of people, and hey if you absolutely hate them then you'll know you need to save up at least $300 for your next pair. This goes beyond what you're asking but I can't recommend enough reading over a studio monitor buying guide (this one is helpful too) and understanding why - or why not - you would opt for certain things like speaker sizes, sub or no sub, passive vs active etc. For actually good monitors around that $300 price point, people rave about the JBL LSR305s. They're legit.
 
subliminal24 said:
Probably true. If you're dead set on getting beginner monitors for well under $300 for a pair, look at ones like Mackie CR3, M-Audio AV32, PreSonus Eris. They do the trick for a lot of people, and hey if you absolutely hate them then you'll know you need to save up at least $300 for your next pair. This goes beyond what you're asking but I can't recommend enough reading over a studio monitor buying guide (this one is helpful too) and understanding why - or why not - you would opt for certain things like speaker sizes, sub or no sub, passive vs active etc. For actually good monitors around that $300 price point, people rave about the JBL LSR305s. They're legit.
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I wasn't all that impressed with the JBL's actually. I read all the rave reviews too... I just didn't feel it.
Now that's my real point: I don't think I'm smarter than all the people that love them, or have better ears. But it's an argument to never buy speakers until you've seen and heard them..
preferably in a few different situations with different sources. Especially at lower price ranges, the perfect speaker doesn't exist.. not even one that comes close, so it's really about what works best for your room, your ears and eventually your mixes. If a speaker hypes the sound in areas where you tend to overdo things, that's not a bad thing. You can have a speaker that translates amazingly well, but if it sounds horrible while you're working on it, you're never gonna love what you're doing with it. I'd say liking how it sounds is a big factor too, but others may not give a damn about that.

So the best idea: save up even more budget while you go to a lot of stores where you can see and hear different speakers. Talk to people that use them, or if you can go to friends' studios and check their speakers, hear their experiences.. hear your music on them. Play some other music which you consider mixed perfectly and play some music which has obvious flaws. Then eventually you'll find something that stands out to you, at a budget you're comfortable with. The 3000 dollar speaker is always gonna beat the 300 dollar one.. but once you get to that price range, you also have to consider room treatment, etc.. and consider whether those things represent a worthy investment for you. If it's just hobby you might want to buy new nikes and bikes for the kids first ;) You'll also find more and better deals, so maybe you can snatch up a 600 dollar speaker for 300.

Worst idea: oh shit.. I have some money in my pocket, lets get some speakers based on what other people say about them. You don't know what their stake is.. people will defend their purchasing decisions to the hilt, they're not just defending the product itself. They're defending their personal decision as to why they bought this model and not a similar one, but also why they didn't go for a cheaper or more expensive option. The cheaper will always be trash for them, the more expensive one always 'not worth it'. It's just psychology. Some people will just outright be marketing shills too.
 
localspace said:
Worst idea: oh shit.. I have some money in my pocket, lets get some speakers based on what other people say about them. You don't know what their stake is.. people will defend their purchasing decisions to the hilt, they're not just defending the product itself. They're defending their personal decision as to why they bought this model and not a similar one, but also why they didn't go for a cheaper or more expensive option. The cheaper will always be trash for them, the more expensive one always 'not worth it'. It's just psychology. Some people will just outright be marketing shills too.
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This. Most people - especially when talking about relatively cheap/low-end monitors - only have experience with one or two pairs of monitors, and it's unlikely they've actually compared them, side by side, with anything. So other people's opinions about something as subjective as "good sound" is going to be extremely biased. Speakers are tricky in a lot of ways; they'll sound different to even two people in the same room, let alone in different rooms and positions.
 
"maybe you can snatch up a 600 dollar speaker for 300. "



ya you can buy them used. I got mine like half off the retail price from a homie.
 
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Epsilon-144 said:
"maybe you can snatch up a 600 dollar speaker for 300. "



ya you can buy them used. I got mine like half off the retail price from a homie.
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Indeed. Most monitors are built like tanks.. the ones I've owned and seen at least. A good pair will easily last a decade or more.
Even if they're broken, I've seen spare parts for some of the bigger brands... how hard can it be to replace a cone?

I found mine by just looking at my budget and the best ones I could get for it. That narrowed it down a lot.
I had my eyes on these for a long time... but when I started reading some reviews, which I guess were written around the time they were launched,
they all listed like 400 - 500 (dollar/euro) as the suggested retail price. Per unit, which what I paid for the pair and seems to be a normal rate. So that's a pretty significant price drop.
I guess that's maybe an advantage of buying your precision audio equipment from the world's largest moped and farm equipment manufacturer :D They have economy of scale that a specialist
shop can't have.
 
ive once baught KRK rockit 8s and sent them back with a smile.
i use passive german speakers from the 70s.
baught them for 50€. one speaker weights 20kg.
i sent the KRKs back cuz the lack BASS.
And i love BASS.
And the KRKs are considered to be a lil`on the hifi side.
I think good speakers labeled as monitors are beginning at 1k per speaker.
If you can trust your ears you can get a used pair of passive speakers plus an amp for less than 100€ that surpass 1k monitors.
But that said i have to mention that i`ve spent years of trial and error to find the speakers i use now.
Amps are not so criticle.
And room treatment is just as important as your speakers if not more.
You can have 20000€ speakers sounding only ok in an untreated cube shape room.
 
If you're a bedroom producer KRK rokit 5s will take you a good way. Good cheap and dependable.
 
I have a pair of M-Audio AV 30 speakers, been using them for about a year now and have been great! They're sound quality is decent, definitely worth enough for production, mixing, mastering etc... and home studio work. Not exactly the best of the bunch but I got them for $100 which was okay with my budget. This is more of an older model pair but they have newer ones that are 20-30 bucks higher so just depends on your budget. As far as performance, I've been really satisfied with them.
 
I just bought some new KRK rokit 4's and honestly they sound really good for the size and price (about $200usd)
 
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