Um.. EXTREMELY tight budget: Behringer TRUTH studio monitors?

[Joachim P. Dyndale]

What's your take on them? I know that the monitors are, besides the preamps, the most important thing in a home studio... It's just that, as I said, I'm on an extremely tight budget. I need something better than my cheap JVC stereo. Headphones are not recommended for mixing, right? They got a pretty good review in EQ. Thanks. -Joachim Dyndale

[swiggy]

I got them, works well. way better than my Yamaha MSP5. definitely worth the price. Hope it helps Swiggy

[dj3]

Joachim, This is a widely discussed subject. If you do a search on the board for this topic you'll get a lot of information from people in the same boat. rgds, dp

[Rog]

I've got a pair and I'm not too thrilled with them. They are useable though and you should be able to get good mixes. Feel free to message me with any questions.

[where02190]

Given Behringers rep for quality control (or lack thereof) I'd be interested in comparing several pairs to see how consistant they are.

[Wewus432]

Rip Rowan reviewed The Truth monitors a year ago and gave them really bad marks BUT since then I've heard other people say they like them. Check this link at prorec.com for some monitor reviews including The Truth- [url=http://www.prorec.com/prorec/articles.nsf/articles/7EE658E1CBA3A77E86256AE10015266A]Ten Nearfield Monitors Reviewed[/url]

[ernest828]

For a $100 you can get better monitors than the Behringers. Go to Radio Shack and pick up a pair of RCA 40s ($20/pr,) with the SA 155 Intergrated Stereo Amplifier ($60) and the needed cables ($10). This setup will run you $100 with tax. These monitors are small and they don`t have much bass so it forces you to make the mix sound good on something really cheap. Two advantages here: 1.) You will not be supporting a company that steals ideas/designs from other companies like Mackie. 2.) You`ll save some cash and get a great pair when you can (Mackie HR824s), in the meantime you have a decent pair of monitors. Ernest

[LeiDeLi]

I have the Truths. I compared to Mackies, Tannoy, Event, etc prior to buying. I can't claim the Truths sounded better than the others, but they were definitely not lagging. In fact, I liked them better than most. The Tannoy reveals were also very good sounding, but twice the price. The Mackies were, if anything, slightly dissapointing, since they are supposed to be better and sell for about 3X the price.

[Gtoledo3]

I'm curious about these too. My main pair of monitors are a self-cutomized set of three way marantz cabinets, which I am VERY happy with. But I want a "bedroom set" to put by my computer. I like the reveals and the mackie's so far. I have read reports of a lack of depth with the behringers- any one notice this?

[k1neta]

umm... as far as I know, there's never been a Radio Shack here in Norway. Which means we can't get their products over here (unless we let ourselves get screwed at ebay). Also, keep in mind a couple of things. Audio gear in general is way more expensive over here than in the us (as an example, a pair of Mackie HR824 is well over $2000 here - if I'd pay that kind of money for studio monitors, I'd get ADAMs instead). Furthermore, very few music shops actually have a good supply of monitors here. Especially outside of our capitol. Most shops rarely have more than a couple of pairs in store, which means trying out loads of different speakers normally isn't an option. Therefore, many of us have to rely on other people's first hand experiences and opinions on gear we consider. In my case, I (and probably quite many others) don't give a flying f about Behringer's business practices and such. All I would need to know, are the Truths any good? Do they work properly for what they're supposed to do? Thanks to Swiggy, Rog and LeiDeLi for at least trying to be helpful.

[Joachim P. Dyndale]

Right Kennet! I live in the capitol, so I can go right over to Pro Lyd and test several monitors. But because of my extremely tight budget I won't bother, 'cause they only sell top-of-the-line stuff. Yes, I've heard that the TRUTHs lack depth. I don't know how bad it is though. I'm not looking for the best right now. I don't need the best. I just need a good pair of monitors that'll let me make mixes which translate well to most stereos. I'm going to listen to the TRUTHs as soon as I can. If any of you know of any other monitors that cost a maximum of $700 for a pair that are better than the TRUTHs, please let me know... Thanx for all the help people! -Joachim Dyndale

[Wewus432]

Another low cost solution some people are using is The Passive Tannoy Reveals with a Hafler TA1100 power amp, probably run you about $550.00 for that combo.

[Dak Lander]

Joachim, They'll probably do well for you, especially at the price. What you'll have to do, I you have to do the same thing with most monitors is put a mix together that you think sounds good. Then play that sucker on everything you can get your hands on. Boom boxes, car stereos, home stereos portables & computers. If it sounds good on one or two you still have some work to do to fine tune what you hear to what will sound good on something else. If you hit on 75% (it sounds good) of the things you play it on, you have the settings you need. Learn from there & you'll be able to put a mix together that may not sound absolutely great on your monitors but will KIK when someone else plays it on their system.

[ernest828]

"In my case, I (and probably quite many others) don't give a flying f about Behringer's business practices and such. All I would need to know, are the Truths any good? Do they work properly for what they're supposed to do? Thanks to Swiggy, Rog and LeiDeLi for at least trying to be helpful." -Real nice. Do you think I was denying you help? I`m telling you what I think is best. Take it or leave it. I`ll even offer to pick up the pieces for you and ship them to you if you want. Email me at the my AOL address and we`ll work it out. Thats fine if you don`t give a flying f` about Behringers business practices. Do you think I will when you spend hundreds of bucks on them and find out they suck yourself? You need to chill. Ernest

[bond1]

Get them, they sound good. Behringer is a company that caters exactly to your need-people who want to make music who have tight budgets! Then you can get busy making music. No they don't compare to megabucks monitors but I don't think anyone expects them to.

[Godspeed,YouBlackEmperor.]

Well, I had them for a little while after being impressed in a friends studio. I needed a third reference that didnt sound like my other two. To make a long story short, Rip Rowan's review is totally on the money except for one thing, he called the treble "brilliant" I would say it sounds artificial. You can hear where it starts to rise (around 5k). There is also zero imaging. Its almost like listening to two mono speakers. You only start to get stereo separation as well as freq separation when you crank them. They sound ok or at least more linear at very loud volumes than at moderate mixing volumes. I would recommend the reveals as a good cost effective solution.

[zele]

A good pair of Event 20/20 bas are well under $700 used--- http://fp2k.redshift.com/cjogo/crystalrecording.htm

[ernest828]

Just stay away from Behringer. Ernest

[Rog]

[quote]Originally posted by bond1: [b]Get them, they sound good. Behringer is a company that caters exactly to your need-people who want to make music who have tight budgets! Then you can get busy making music. No they don't compare to megabucks monitors but I don't think anyone expects them to.[/b][/quote]I'd disagree. The monitors are OK for mixing but very tiring to work with. The treble is very harsh and, although the level can be attenuated, this does nothing to change the inherent character of the treble. Bass lacks punch too so if you're doing anything that has important stuff below, say 100 Hz, then buy a sub or forget it. Bottom line is that they aren't very good but you can mix on them. If you can save up any more then I'd recommend it. With the Behringers you'll get OK mixes at the expense of feeling pissed off every time you have to mix on them because they sound crappy ... flattish freq. response but still crappy. How much do those little ADAMs go for up in Scandanavia? Even the Budget Genelecs are a HUGE improvement IMO.

[Geordie]

http://www.yorkville.com/products_main.asp?cat=20&id=&type=14&show= Try the Yorkville YSM1 or YSM1-p(active).. Cheaper than the Behringer and IMHO outperforms them as well. Great bang for the buck! Cheers, Steve

[teh dri]

why bother arguing they sound good enough, they are dirt cheap we got a pair over the mackies because the difference wasnt worth the $ and everything else that was active in the price range sucked as for snobbish calls about depth and response whinging (no offense guys) ignore... like you said you dont have too much choice and they are better then what you have now the rest is academic... just worry about the music if you get more $ and better music in the future, you can keep your truths as second set of monitors.... you cant lose

[bond1]

[b] [quote] why bother arguing they sound good enough, they are dirt cheap we got a pair over the mackies because the difference wasnt worth the $ and everything else that was active in the price range sucked as for snobbish calls about depth and response whinging (no offense guys) ignore... like you said you dont have too much choice and they are better then what you have now the rest is academic... just worry about the music if you get more $ and better music in the future, you can keep your truths as second set of monitors.... you cant lose [/quote][/b] I totally agree. They WILL get the job done, they're cheap, and you are on a tight budget, so its a no brainer. If and when you can better monitors, great! You'll have a second set. Good luck.

[Rog]

[quote]Originally posted by DRiLoad: [b]why bother arguing they sound good enough, they are dirt cheap we got a pair over the mackies because the difference wasnt worth the $ and everything else that was active in the price range sucked as for snobbish calls about depth and response whinging (no offense guys) ignore... like you said you dont have too much choice and they are better then what you have now the rest is academic... just worry about the music if you get more $ and better music in the future, you can keep your truths as second set of monitors.... you cant lose[/b][/quote]Why bother arguing? Because they're fatiguing as hell which, irrepective of price, is something we can all live without.

[aliengroover]

First off, I have never heard these so-called "Truth" monitors. However, I have used a pair of OF (original formula) Monitor Ones for many years now. I've heard so many people dog them, but everyone says they love my mixes. I can mix all day on them, though other people say otherwise. The key thing is that they were what I could afford then, and above all, "I" loved how they sounded (meaning how they revealed what they revealed). And that there is the key to it all: will it work for me, even if it's just in the meantime? I'm absolutely through listening to the same 'ole arguement about not buying Behringer because of their (past) business practices. I said it in another thread, and I'll say it in this one. Many of the people who say that about Behringer have ZERO problem going into Sam Ash to buy stuff, and the Asher was named in the lawsuit for giving them the "blueprints". And many of the same people also are surfing the 'Net on a Windows-based machine. And many of those people also own a mic that isn't a Neumann, but looks a helluva lot like one. And pretty much EVERYONE is wearing clothes whose sewers make pennies a day. My point is that although Behringer and the Asher were DEAD WRONG in what they did, to use that as an excuse not to buy something makes no sense, particularly when you don't apply that philosophy to the rest of your purchases. I've only purchased one Behringer product, and I like it. Not too much else other than their digital mixer excites me, so I probably won't buy one again. But they have great bang for the buck, and if your budget is that tight, that fact means alot. Peace

[k1neta]

Haha, ernest - I doubt I'm the one who needs to chill here :) Btw, have you ever used these monitors (or other B. gear)? I don't imply that you deny any of us help, but you sure didn't add any useful information to this thread. The reason any of us ask for people's opinion/experience is because one does wants to make sure one gets the right gear for one's needs (and wallet). I don't feel any need to care about who ripped off who, all I need to know is how their products work. You have any problems with that? Fine. Btw, read aliengroover's post - carefully. Rog - as an example, the ADAM S2A (actives), which might seem suitable, list at around 1255 euro's a piece through Thomann (in Germany). Then add taxes (which he more than enough of up here...) shipping and such. So far I haven't been able to find anyone who actually carries these monitors over here. Apart from that, both Genelecs and Mackies seem to be overpriced quite a bit. The Mackie monitors may be very good for all I know - but 4 times as expensive as the Truths? That clearly does not make any sense. Seems the name is more important than the actual product, imo. Steve, the yorkville's are seriously considered. Regretfully, almost noone carries them here, so I haven't been able to find any usable prices on them. But I've heard many good things about these puppies. Yorkville normally does good gear. We shall see. Laighter. K.

[LeiDeLi]

Each "The Truth" monitor comes with a frequency response curve verifying that it meets the ± .5 dB spec from 40 Hz. to 20 kHz. I think that is quite amazing. Sure, data can be cheated and faked, but I just don't think they are doing that, it would be too easy to get caught. It would also just be a lot easier to make the claim, but supply NO DATA (as most manufacturers do) Things like "imaging" and "fatiguing" are pretty vague audio criterion. Not that they aren't real, but that they should be able to be correlated with some measurable parameter. If you speaker is simply producing all the frequencies accurately, that goes a long way toward making an accurate sound. Also, the room being used for listening will strongly influence perceptions. The frequency testing is done in an anechoic chamber.

[Dylan]

The JBL LSR25P's are in the same price range as the Behringers so you might check them out too. I use a pair and find them very nice to work with. More info here: http://www.jblpro.com/pages/recording/lsr25p.htm http://archive.eqmag.com/0008/reviews.shtml

[Lee Flier]

Hey guys, while I can't comment on the Truths, if you are on a REALLY tight budget I have a pair of Event PS-5's I need to sell, and I'd sell them for $350 + shipping, for the pair. They haven't been used much and are in perfect shape. New, they run about $450. These little guys are smaller than the 20/20's, they have 5" woofers. Still they are VERY accurate and detailed for their size and price, and I find them pleasant to listen to. Like any speaker that size it is going to be slightly deficient in the low-lows - you can hear them but they're not going to thump your chest. You can always add a sub later if you really want to. These are perfect monitors for a mobile rig (which is why I originally got them), as part of a surround rig, for recording/mixing in small spaces, as a secondary pair of reference nearfields, or as the primary set for a very broke person. :D Email me at lflier@mindspring.com if you're interested. Sorry for the sorta spam but I really could use the extra cash right now and I'm sure somebody here would be very happy to have these monitors! And I obviously don't make a habit of this kind of thing. :D

[thisDude]

earnest828 said: [quote] For a $100 you can get better monitors than the Behringers. Go to Radio Shack and pick up a pair of RCA 40s ($20/pr,) with the SA 155 Intergrated Stereo Amplifier ($60) and the needed cables ($10). [/quote]Hmmm... Is there a specific model number for the RCA 40's? I couldn't find any with that name. I like the cheap approach. If you can get a mix sounding good on crappy monitors, shouldn't it sound great through good speakers? By the way, what is a good flat freq response? 90-20,000Hz, 80-10,000Hz, 60-40,000Hz :confused: ?

[Lee Flier]

[quote]Originally posted by thisDude: [b]I like the cheap approach. If you can get a mix sounding good on crappy monitors, shouldn't it sound great through good speakers? [/b][/quote]Not necessarily. If there are artifacts in the recording or your mix that you can't hear because of your crappy monitors, they will be twice as glaring through good speakers. That said, I've used Radio Shack bookshelf speakers as monitors quite a lot and they are DARNED accurate. In fact, a few large studios I worked at used them and took the face plate off so no one would see what brand it was. :D I think they told clients it was some expensive custom speaker. :D I used to carry my pair around with me and hook them up in place of the NS-10's. :) They don't make the exact model that I have anymore, but the nearest equivalent is the Optimus X55-AV. They're $80 apiece, plus you will need the amp. Still, if you want a pretty decent monitoring system for CHEAP, and you don't buy my Events :D , this is definitely a way to go.