This is a mini-review I wrote to compare some studio monitors, as posted on the mighty bumbleforum. I hope you’ll find a use for it.
Hello again folks,
Yesterday I was finally able to reach a big music store to listen to various studio monitors on the cheap side.
I wanted to listen to:
1) Yamaha MSP-5
2) KRK RP-5
3) Behringer B2030A
But not all of those speakers were available for a test drive, and here’s what we used instead:
1) Yamaha MSP-5
2) KRK RP-8 (bigger, more expensive Sad )
3) Behringer B2031A (bigger, more power, slightly more expensive)
We did side by side comparison and I bought some of my favourite records (which I’ve listened a thousand times…):
1) Steve Vai – Passion and Warfare
2) Steve Vai – Fire Garden
3) Alice Cooper – Trash
And here’s my view on the test:
Behringer B2031A:
I’ve read mixed reviews of the behringer cheap Truth speaker systems, but of all 3 speaker sets, this is the one that sounded “dull”. It was quite a let down ’cause I used to expect a lot from Behringer products for a few bucks… The speakers didn’t sound that powerful, and they had a nasty characteristic, everything going through them sounded very boring and underrepresented, it was also difficult to hear much detail. Sonically speaking I must say they are quite balanced, but they don’t seem to reveal much of a mix. I was rather disappointed.
KRK RP-8:
These speakers are powerful and very balanced, with a good sound, they seem to be pretty neutral, won’t make anything stand out of the mix, I think they were the best performers, but for the price tag (520 euros a pair) they were out of my budget and quite in another league. Bass was present, midrange was there, but nothin’ special, highs were also present and not fatiguing. A good system, quite big in size, but you can do a good work with them.
Yamaha MSP-5:
These speakers are AMAZING for the price: 390 euros per pair. I tend to hate Yamaha for giving the world the worst piece of crap I’ve ever listened to in a studio environment, the NS-10 mid only monitors.
I didn’t know the MSP-5 are supposed to replace the NS-10 (for which production has ended, rejoyce world!) so my listening wasn’t so much biased against yamaha.
I must say they sounded amazing. They colored the sound a little bit, but highs were brilliant, midrange so-so (a sort of lower midrange, upper midrange is a little under represented IMO) and wonderful bass!
Bass on those monitors was simply incredible for the price / size. These speakers are small (quite heavy) and bass-honest. I doubt a sub-woofer will be necessary with the MSP-5 cause the bass is very good. The speakers were absolutely revealing ’cause you could hear a lot of detail (made Vai’s playing less perfect Smile ) and that mades them the best choice for tracking (outside of the headphones realm).
Another thing that was unbelievable for the size:
POWER. these speakers sound HUGE. you can have a lot of air in your face if you stand close to the reflex vents (might be annoying, tho…) and the speaker didn’t really seem to work incredibly hard to keep up with the KRK RP-8 and (possibly outperforming) the B2031A !
They were a good listen, but also a fatiguing one, I guess you should mix at a lower level with those beasts to keep up the pace.
My conclusion: I fell in love with the Yamaha and I think I’ll get’em, but it would be intriguing to give a listen to the KRK RP-5 to check if they hold up well against their older brothers RP-8.
Thank You for reading and I hope you’ll find this mini-review helpful!
All the best,
Simmessa.
