Dear Steve:
I need an inexpensive monitoring setup. What's the best bang for my buck?
The Anonymous Newbie
The monitoring question can be a difficult one to answer. There used to be a large selection of passive monitors that you could couple with a decent power amp. I remember when you could buy a pair of passive Yorkville YSM1i passive monitors for around $175. The lowest price seems to be $220 now. Don't let that stop you. They're still a bargain at $220 but I'm just illustrating the price trend on passives seems to be upward.
Two years ago in answering this question I wrote that I'd get a pair of Yorkville YSM1i passive or a pair of ART SLM-1 passive monitors. My answer in 2005 remains the same. It just so happens these are the exact same monitors but branded differently.
The Yorkville YSM1i is a two-way monitor. It features a six and one-half inch foam-surrounded woofer and a soft-dome, ferrofluid-cooled tweeter. The Yorkville monitors possess an open top end. They translate a detail that allows you to pick out specific parts while mixing. The low end seems accurate to me although not as big as I've heard on monitors with eight inch speakers. However, the low end on the Yorkville monitors never gets flabby either as with some eight inch speakers.
I suggest trying to track down some 10-gauge cable. Whatever length you settle on you'll need to make the length of each cable the same. For example, if one cable is 10 feet, then the other cable needs to be 10 feet. I've tried other gauges of cable yet nothing less seems to give the low end and sonic fidelity that 10-gauge cable will give you. It just so happens that the "Original" Monster Cable is 10-gauge cable. Some hardware stores carry this cable in bulk so you can buy it by the foot. If not, then they'll usually carry some sort of generic 10-gauge cable.
Formerly, I suggested getting on eBay and shopping for a Pioneer or Sansui stereo power amplifier, integrated amp, or receiver made in the 1970s or early 1980s. Get on Google and start searching if you want to try this approach. There's a whole society out there of old hi fi collectors who post up info on old hi fi gear. I no longer recommend it but it's an option if you must stretch every penny. It'll cost you from $30 to $100 for a used stereo power amplifier to power your monitors.
Anymore, I recommend powering the Yorkville or ART monitors with a Hafler TA1600 power amp. These are good power amps. The Hafler TA1600 also smokes the Crown D-75, which often gets recommended as a power amp for home studios. I might use the Crown for spec'ing a public address system in a dental office but I don't suggest using one to listen critically to music.
The Hafler TA1600 is a made in the Orient version of Hafler's Transnova series of power amps. I was watching a DVD on one of the premiere producers in the world the other day. He owned two of Hafler's Transnova series power amps. For some reason, some places list the TA1600 at $150 at present which is a significant discount.
This monitoring approach will cost you $300 minimum if you go with my former recommendation of using a consumer stereo amplifier or receiver from the 1970s or early 1980s. If you go with my Hafler TA1600 approach, which is highly recommended, then it'll cost you $400 to $500 depending on what you pay for the TA1600.
How important is monitoring? I remember asking a preeminent audio designer once about a piece of outboard gear. He said that a quality monitoring system was the most important thing in a recording studio. He said the coffee cups were the least important. He said his new outboard piece fell somewhere in the middle. I agree that monitoring is important. It amazes me that a quality monitoring system can be bought for $400. I feel this system compares favorably to active monitors costing $700 a pair.
