Good budget speakers for checking audio

[IndiePaul]

Hi

We've spent a big portion on our budget on quality audio gear (very good mic, preamp, recorder etc).

I crucially missed something key though - speakers to check the audio with. Damn...

I doubt our laptop's speakers are not going to be good enough.

Can someone recommend a solution (quality external laptop speakers?)? We don't have a Hi-Fi, just a high-spec laptop (Samsung Series 9 Ultrabook - NP900X4C-Pro).

Our budget? The lower the better now. Ideally under $200. If that's not possible then $400 would be a max.

 

[IndiePaul]

Just to say thanks for the advice from you folks - it's invaluable and hugely appreciated.

 

[MetalRenard]

Hence why I said "it may (or may not!) be of interest"!

Yes, exactly my point, it isn't. Your post was quite unnecessary, really. Try to lift people up rather than pushing them down. They don't need to hear in this particular thread that million dollar budgets allow for a different process, they need to be given solid, usable advice at their level - this is INDIE Talk after all. It's already clear from your previous post that the big guys do it differently, this 2nd post was purely to win points over other people. Unnecessary.
Help others by keeping relevant to their needs, don't use them to satisfy your ego.

 

[AudioPostExpert]

They don't need to hear in this particular thread that million dollar budgets allow for a different process, they need to be given solid, usable advice at their level - this is INDIE Talk after all.

You either haven't read this thread or my contribution to it or you're just being argumentative because of some inferiority complex of your own! I explained how a commercial quality monitoring environment can be created for under $3k, (which is hardly a million dollar budget) in response to an indietalker with a budget around that level. Even a low budget commercial monitoring environment can be created which can be trusted to the point that testing mixes on a wide variety of systems is not necessary, which is the point, as low budget (and even much higher budget) commercial TV work does not allow the time for multiple system testing!

G

 

[TheArtist]

Yes, exactly my point, it isn't. Your post was quite unnecessary, really. Try to lift people up rather than pushing them down. They don't need to hear in this particular thread that million dollar budgets allow for a different process, they need to be given solid, usable advice at their level - this is INDIE Talk after all. It's already clear from your previous post that the big guys do it differently, this 2nd post was purely to win points over other people. Unnecessary.
Help others by keeping relevant to their needs, don't use them to satisfy your ego.

How dare you say "no thanks" to the face of knowledge ?

How can invaluable insight on the pro way of doing stuff we care about be unnecessary ?

APE, you don't need to bother with people unwilling to learn new things.

 

[Lucky Hardwood]

I personally appreciate insight into all budget levels. I do not aspire to be the next YouTube famous indie short filmmaker (more power and best of luck to those who do). I am hoping to sell a couple of TV shows and make studio features. I know that this is IndieTalk and my personal goals are not the norm here. My YouTube aspirations are to make money from the content that I create and use that as a springboard to bigger and better things. I for one am grateful that industry professionals frequent this board and are so generous with their knowledge.

 

[CraigL]

Unfortunately, your experience is not so uncommon. The audiophile world is a strange world indeed, built on a mixture of pseudo-science and an almost a religious zealot level of belief. The audiophile world and the professional audio world are two different worlds which don't have much to do with each other. The salesman you described was not only a "total dick" but a totally ignorant dick!

OK, for theatrical work you're going to need to add 2 or 3 zeros to your budget but for $2k or so you could achieve a monitoring environment suitable for professional low budget TV work and therefore perfectly good enough for many/most indie filmmaker applications. Something like the Genelec 8040B speakers will set you back just over $2k. Spend another few hundred on a measurement mic and some DIY acoustic treatment and for under $3k you have yourself a monitoring environment similar to a lot of commercial audio post facilities working in the low budget TV sector. If this is still a bit rich for you, the 8030B's are still a decent option which will keep you within your $2k budget (inc., measurement mic and some DIY acoustic treatment).

G

Sorry for bringing this up days after it was posted, but I'm curious about something. In both cases, you recommended the "regular" (not sure what the word is) version of the speakers, rather than the near-field version, and I'm curious what that is? I had always thought the near-field version would be better in a non-treated environment, as they're meant to be closer, so could reduce some of the effects from everything else. In a perfect room, obviously having some distance would be desirable, but in a most of our cases, wouldn't there be some advantage to the near-field version?

CraigL

 

[AudioPostExpert]

The 8040B (and the 8030B) Genelec monitors I recommended are both nearfield monitors.

As with virtually anything, there are pros and cons with nearfields. The biggest pro is that they are cheap (relative to mid field monitors) and because you sit quite near to them they potentially slightly reduce acoustic issues. Only potentially and only slightly though because in practice they are usually placed on top of a desk (work desk or mixing desk) which is a great big reflective surface and is therefore virtually the worst place you could position speakers. Also, by the time you are sitting 3ft away from speakers (even if they are on stands rather than a desk) about 50% of what you are hearing is reflections rather than the direct sound and it's the reflections which cause all the acoustic problems. So even with nearfields you still have to measure your room's response and apply acoustic treatment. Another disadvantage of nearfields is that they always have a very limited and/or inaccurate bass frequency response.

G

 

[CraigL]

The 8040B (and the 8030B) Genelec monitors I recommended are both nearfield monitors.

Oh. I was confused by the fact both the 8040 and 8030 had an A model listed specifically in the title as "near-field". Reading further into the specs of the B though, I see that they are classified as such. I guess the "A" model must just be last years model or something and they changed to description.

Thanks,

CraigL

 

[AudioPostExpert]

Yes, the "B" designation is just the updated "A" version. I'm not sure what the "B" version differences are, probably quite slight, I don't think the "B"s have been out very long. There are many brands and models of monitors in the 8040's class but the 8040's became almost an industry standard for a lot of TV sound editing and even for mixing low budget programs.

G