New studio monitors!

[Mattias Westlund]

I had promised myself that no matter what, I would stick with my old passive Digital Designs studio monitors because I've had them for upwards of ten years now and I know them. Which is more important than having super-flat and super-accurate monitoring.

Problem is, they're too big for my tiny home studio. In fact, I'm not even sure they're actually near-field monitors. I can't be bothered to post pics of them right now, but they're the typical big, deep monitor variety with two woofers and a tweeter in the center, meant for lying on their sides atop a huge studio desk. They worked well enough in my old apartment where I had more room for setting everything up. Where I live now, I end up sitting too close to them, and it feels like the sound projects somewhere behind my head. So, not ideal.

Then the cheap little stereo amplifier I've been using for powering them started flaking out. I went looking for a more expensive and reliable one, and instantly balked at the prices. I realized that if an amp alone is going to set me back $100-150, I might as well get myself a pair of powered monitors more suited for small/home studio use and solve all my issues in one fell swoop.

I ended up getting a used pair of Behringer Truth B2030A monitors. I got them for around $160 and the guy I bought them off of claimed they've only been used very sparingly. I believe him, since the monitors are in absolutely immaculate condition. They're probably a number of years old, since they have the old Behringer logo, but there's not even a speck of dust on them, and they work perfectly.

Now comes the fun part though: getting to know these buggers. I could tell right off the bat they're more detailed and has better stereo imaging (which lends credence to my suspicion that the old monitors are actually mid-fields). Other than that, they sound COMPLETELY alien to me and it's going to take a lot of reference listening and experimentation before I'm able to make any informed mixing desicions with them.

[Michael Willis]

Ooh, fun. It's funny that in the summary of the review that you linked to, the "cons" section says "The sound's a little light on detail", but you say that they're more detailed than your previous set.

A lot of people have negative things to say about Behringer, but I have actually been really happy with any Behringer product I've used, particularly considering the price point.

[Mattias Westlund]

(12-11-2021, 12:15 AM)Michael Willis Wrote: Ooh, fun. It's funny that in the summary of the review that you linked to, the "cons" section says "The sound's a little light on detail", but you say that they're more detailed than your previous set.

I think they mean in comparison to high end monitors. And the detail issue with the old ones is probably due to me sitting too close to them. It feels like I can hear "into" the mix better with the Behringers; even small eq and level adjustments are more noticable, and the reverb and other effects are easier to make out.

(12-11-2021, 12:15 AM)Michael Willis Wrote: A lot of people have negative things to say about Behringer, but I have actually been really happy with any Behringer product I've used, particularly considering the price point.

Same here. Their build quality and reliability can be hit and miss sometimes, but I have lots of Behri hardware that sounds and performs flawlessly. Heck, some of their super cheap guitar pedals even sound better than the expensive units they're copying!