Purchasing new monitors, any ideas?

Its that time where I need to purchase new monitors. I was thinking about the Alesis M1's that are around $199USD for a pair. Anybody have any good suggestions for something around $200-300USD? Your help is greatly appreciated.

$199 for the alesis monitors?

they are £299 here!!!!!

There's two different versions, the powered monitors and the unpowered monitors. Perhaps thats the difference? I know the powered ones here are around $400USD I think.

I've got the active M1's and they're superb. £250 they cost me and they sound brilliant. :D

m8 4 that price there is absolutely no competition..

I would get the active version!! an linear amp can make a lot of difference!!!

Z

For $230USD (+$40 shipping) I have just picked up the alesis active powered monitors. My guess is this is not too bad of a deal! Thanks for the advice.

Alesis active M1s - I'm tempted by these as well - the time has come, and I'm on that kind of budget.

I had a chat with a friend of mine who builds speakers as a hobby. We knocked up a plan for getting the best monitors at a budget:

Find a company that will allow you to test-drive the monitors before parting with your cash. Bring along CDs (preferably uncopied originals) of the kind of stuff you want to produce. Work out what frequency ranges are the most critical. (If you'll be doing vocals, 1-2k is pretty important. If you have trouble separating bass, look carefully at the 200-500Hz range).

Now listen away... While constantly flipping back to a set of monitors that's way out of your price range. (Make sure it's a good set, like HD1s or Dynaudio M1s or something).

This should throw up any problems the speakers might have.

Look at the crossover frequency in the specs. Examine that range carefully. This is where sound can become separated, and you can lose detail. (Think Twilo or Fabric sound system!)

1st order crossovers will have a wider crossover region than second or third.

Hope this helps!

:)

Tequila

ive just bought some yamaha msp3's for £200, their active, but very small, i wanted some monitors, and they satisfied the budget, and the lack of space at home.

it is said that their ok for programming etc, but not ideal for final mastering due to the lack of bottom end. (only 20 watt amp in each monitor)

yeah its the active ones. Me and my production partner are considering these also.

i got m1`s recently and so far i can say that high and mid range is precise.
low end needs more definition. i draw that conclusion by constant yanking of my partner about my basslines who is on other side of the world.
in few days i ll take some of the tracks made on them to another soundsystem and then i ll be exactly sure what where and why. i ll keep ya informed :) .