SDotD - BX3 studio speakers

[Briansol]

I have a pair of bx5a's, and i blew one of them years ago... hums like crazy. I haven't really recorded anything in years, so it was never on the short list to replace.

I see the MF sdotd today is a 3" set.
https://www.musiciansfriend.com/stup...6c7029df77970c

the 5's weren't very loud - so i'm not sure that these 20 watt 3"s are going to cut it. But, the price is very good. I was not looking to spend serious money here...

any thoughts? waste of money? good enough to get by?

[Chris]

Waste of money. Buy nice or buy twice when it comes to monitors, a good set will last you a super long time. I've had mine for probably close to 10 years. 3" monitors are about as hifi sounding as the free Altec Lansings that Dell used to throw in with every purchase.

Get the HS5s or HS7s.

[Drew]

3" monitors won't cut it for serious recording work, the low end response is going to be pretty much nonexistent. That said, if you're not really doing any serious recording and aren't worried about trying to get a bass guitar and kick drum to sit well, they're probably solid speakers for casual listening/gaming/whatever use and I don't know if you're going to find much better for $70.

[Greg McCoy]

You also have to keep in mind for monitors that since the majority of them are active, you don't have to only worry about "cheap speakers", you have to worry about "cheap poweramps". Since actives are just speakers with the power amps built in.

So for actives you have to factor in that a $100 monitor isn't actually a $100 speaker, a lot of the cost goes towards the built in power amp. It's more like, a $60 MSRP quality speakers and a shitty $40 generic radioshack poweramp housed in the same enclosure.

If you actually want the "industry standard" NS-10s, Avantone makes the truest take on it. The NS-10s are passive monitors. Avantone makes an active version too, but the passives are the most legit reproduction.



If you're interested how much a good power amp should cost when it comes to monitoring, it's helpful to compare the non active versions to the active versions. Provided the manufacturer offers both. The passive version of the Avantone NS-10s are like $700 a pair, the actives are $1000 a pair. So that gives you an idea of how seriously you should take the power amp section.

[jacksonplayer]

Go with 5" drivers. There are a lot of good choices out there. Even Mackie makes a budget line now. I personally wouldn't go with the M-Audios, since I just escaped from over a decade of using a BX-8 set.