Cheap speakers/monitors for "box room studio"

Snags

Avoiding the long story, I'm intending on doing a bit of home recording for fun, and to learn. But I've been intending on doing this for years, and only ever inch towards it.  So this sets the context for budget!

Last night I had occasion to do a very simple recording of an acoustic, and comparing listening to the files back on my home office speakers (ancient cheap Creative Labs PC speakers, about £15) and my work speakers (even more ancient Creative Labs, but a 2.1 system that was about £60 a million years ago) has made me realise just how crap the home speakers are.

I'm way out of the game on this, so was wondering if there are any reasonable PC speaker systems available these days for this kind of thing, at not a great deal of money (in absolute, not relative terms!).  Obviously I'm not going to get proper studio monitors, but as I'm using an Alesis interface and am clueless in Reaper, I don't need those - just some powered speakers on a 3.5mm jack that sound "OK".

Any thoughts?

Freebird

Yeah, you gets what you pay for 

Snags

Fair point

OK, to re-phrase the question: any pointers at PC speakers that are "good enough" for very much rank amateur hobbyist/home use?

In the unlikely event this becomes a serious thing I'd upgrade. Everything!

Lestratcaster

I don't do mixing/recording but for teaching I have a pair of Mackie CR4's for playback (backing tracks, metronome, etc). They are pretty decent and didn't cost silly money. They do the job for me.

kennedydream1980

I was in a similar situation to you and I went for the Mackie CR3’s. For the price they have no right to sound as good as they do. 

Snags

Thanks.  I guess I know what the birthday money will be going towards.

Freebird

The problems start when you want to review your recordings analytically. Up until that point you don't have to be too fussy.

Whitecat

Check out the IK Multimedia iLoud monitors... should be £240 or less for a set... more expensive than the Mackies, but arguably getting into reference-level quality. They are ridiculously good for the cash, and they are super-small footprint. Check out some reviews (or even better, check some out in person)...

https://www.juno.co.uk/products/ik-multimedia-iloud-micro-monitor-studio-reference/599151-01/

Funkfingers

Freebird said:

The problems start when you want to review your recordings analytically. 

Critical listening requires critical quality loudspeakers. 

PC accessory loudspeaker systems tend to be aimed at gamers. They usually include a sub bass loudspeaker and the amplification circuitry adds a colossal bass boost in an attempt to make the games seem more exciting. 

Lestratcaster said:

Mackie 

kennedydream1980 said:

Mackie

IMO, Mackie is a good choice. Buying pre-owned would help keep the cost down.

I like Acoustic Research AR16s with the Grahams gasket upgrade mod. According to an interview in Sound On Sound magazine, so does producer Hugh Padgham. He takes them wherever he works. I figured that he knew what he was talking about and stole his idea. These loudspeakers are by no means ideal but they manage not to fatigue the ear during extensive listening stints. 

Snags

Thanks guys - I suspect the Mackies will more than cover my modest needs. Whilst I fully appreciate the need for high quality kit to do a high quality job, this really is just for my own amusement. £240 is so far past the bounds it's not even in the arena any more

Obviously if I were to get serious about it, that would change things dramatically. But whilst it's just a whim that I indulge a handful of times each year, the aim is to get something that's "good enough" for a very low bar.

I appreciate I've probably done to you guys what people do to me asking about computer kit, and my starting point for "OK" is normally three times their entire budget because there's a huge gap in perceived need/requirement, but I do appreciate it!

Freebird

Along with the Mackies, Adam T5V at around £260 a pair are worth considering. Also check out used gear for better value.

Matt_McG

I suspect you could find some decent active speakers for not a lot of money, e.g. Tannoy Reveals, or similar.

kennedydream1980

If you can stretch your budget a little the Presonus Eris 4.5’s sound superb

JAYJO

I use a pair of event tr5 i got for £50 off this forum Thank you very much and they do me great. Have a look on ebay.

duotone

So what was your budget?

Snags

Unrealistic, probably.  As this is very much for a low-rent "proof of concept" with no idea as to how into it I'll get (and a suspicion that the answer is "not very") then in my head £50-£60 is fine for a bit of fun, but once you start to hit £100 it's getting a bit more serious and I need to justify it.  There's a grey area in between.

Multiple hundreds I can't justify for my personal use-case, even though I understand that to do it "properly" that's where you end up.

The Mackies mentioned up-thread I could stretch to without too much internal recrimination. And I'm not averse to secondhand in order to get something better at lower cost.

In the unlikely event I get massively into mixing (time and talent contra-indicate this) then I would invest proper money. But right now this is largely for my own amusement, and I just want something good enough that when I play recordings back I don't think I'm even worse than I am just because of the speaker quality.