What studio monitors are really the best for mixing?

yamaha, mackie, krk, jbl..? So many and they all claim to be the best for mixing but which one has the flattest frequency response?

What are your experiences with monitors under $500

or perhaps your experiences with monitors $500 and up

there are so many monitors on the market - nobody can tell you which one are the "best", because it also depends a lot on your room.
think about it - you play music thru a box that sits inside a bigger box that has a lot of influence on how the soundwaves can spread and reflect.
under 500 per piece or per pair?
a good monitor in a bad sounding room will not give you a good result - a mediocre or a bad speaker in a good treated and well sounding room will reveal its weaknesses.

so think about the room and the speakers as an unit and then name a budget for this - then we can give reccomendations for good speakers within your budget.

in my career i have used many different setups from ns-10s to genelecs, from adam to westlake mains and all of them were only as good as the room they were in.
currently i use the yamaha msp-7 studio for nearly 10 years and i´m very satisfied with them in my partially treated room that i have to use wile saving for my next good studio room.

peace, jo

Under 500, most people nowadays would say the JBL LSR 305.

You could also get used Adam A7X for that price.

500 and up, the new hype on gearslutz is Amphion monitors. They are quite a big step up from 500 bucks tho. Paul G from Morcheeba has just bought two pairs and loves them a lot.

As people always recommend what they have, my personal recommendation is PSI Audio (also quite a bit more than 500 bucks, multiply that by six).

Selecta Jo said it very well. It's an individual thing, and ultimately you have to test them all yourself and in your own room. You can get good mixes on cheaper monitors as long as they are relatively flat, better expensive ones just make the process easier and mistakes way more obvious.

The only thing i don't agree with is that monitor quality doesn't matter in an untreated room. In my experience, better monitors WILL sound better, no matter how bad your room is, they will reveal more.

Ask in a store if they allow you to take home a few different models to try out in your own environment (a good store will always let you do this), or ask the manufacturers directly.

yeah jibber you are right, a good speaker will sound better even in a bad room.
what i wanted to say with that - if your room is bad and there is a big null or a peak at your listening position, then even the flattest monitor will give you a misinterpretation of your source material, leading to bad mixing decisions.

peace, jo

Personally I swear by anything made by dynaudio. Can normally find the small models on gumtree for good prices well worth it

Hi,
Don't get caught up in the marketing. The best monitors are the ones you know. There are so many options. You buy one then stick with it. Listen to your favorite albums thru it. YOu will learn your monitor and then you will know how to mix on them.
You do not need to spend a large amount of money.
You do not need the largest woofer in front of you.
You may need a sub woofer depending on the amount of low end mixing you are doing.
YOu may need a crossover.

The last two items helped me tremendously.

Cheers,
Ian

i once made a beat with no sound at all.. then checked what the whole thing sounded like after i was done... it wasn't that terrible and it was mixed alright too... i wonder what happened to that beat haha. moral of the story: know your gear... know how it translates to the outside world.