I don't know. I have the 5.1 module for Vegas, so I might as well get the equipment just in case I need it. Any suggestions would do, though.

We have a set of Altec Lansing that we picked up at Staples, they suprisingly sound really good for $80

http://www.staples.com/Catalog/Browse/Sku.asp?PageType=1&Sku=443412

We also have a set of Roland MA-12's for our Fusion system and they sound great as well.

Neither one of these sets is 5.1 though.

I was searching for this very topic a few days ago, and here's what I found. If you really want to monitor your audio, you should buy a set of monitoring speakers. Also, if you don't have a decent sound card, it might make the monitors kind of pointless...That is what people on the Vegas-Audio forum will tell you. If you're wondering about 5.1, you might look at the M-Audio LX4's. You can buy the 2.1 for under or around $300+shipping, then when you need the other sattelites, you can buy those seperately and add them on, for another $160+shipping. I haven't heard these, or any other speakers, I'm still working up the cash to pay for them. I think I'll go for the M-Audio LX4's mainly because it suits what I'm doing, and even though I don't need 5.1 right now, it does give me the opportunity to expand.

A great thread on this exact topic

http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?ForumID=4&MessageID=245799


Prices for the LX4 2.1 speakers

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3704803387&category=23786

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=293221&is=REG

... I may be wrong but I think Spot had good words for these M-Audio speakers and the advice BE0RN gives you concerning 2 speakers first then expanding to 5.1 is, in my opinion, good advice. Better buy a little less in quantity but a good starting point in quality. If you're just getting into the "editing world", you'll have a hell of a ball with stereo anyway. And since it's upgradable...

I've just decided a few weeks ago to get my feet wet in surround sound. Found an article over at www.extremetech.com (a site closely affiliated with PC Magazine) that said recently that the Creative Inspire 5300 5.1 setup was a terrific bargain at just $100 (www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,662342,00.asp ). When I read that article and then saw another article on the replacement model, I bought a set last week.

Just set them up today, and they sound very nice. Would a $1000 set sound nicer? No doubt; for my purposes, however (experimentation, a few projects, and watching DVDs), these will be just fine for now.

With great reluctance I also picked up a $12.95 4-channel sound card. It lacks a center channel and also the LFE channel (the ".1" channel), but otherwise works surprisingly well.

I think DSE raised a point a few months ago that all studios should also have a set of lowest common denominator speakers as well, to replicate the sound stingy clients will hear on their cost effective conference room audio systems. We have Tannoy monitors for the AVID Media Composer but also have a pair of crappy Vivids for final audio check from the finished product.

In the pre-NLE days we used a cheap TV with one of those teeny speakers to test audio.

Peter

Yep, it's good to have both. But...
Everybody doing pro work needs a good broadcast monitor, because that's what you're gonna end up seeing the most miniscule details and troubles. Same goes for speaker monitors. It's what you hear different.
The LX4 system is a VERY good low-budget system. There is nothing less expensive that I've seen, and believe me, I've seen all of them, that has any quality for semi-pro and pro work. Even though for instance, the Alesis are branded by a pro namebrand, they are built by Logitech. They sound great for listening to compressed, finished audio. They are useless for listening to raw, unprocessed audio. Honky, tweaky, and no where near a middle level monitoring environment.
Now...if you are making vids as a soccer dad, not doing anything that you charge money for, a low cost system is just fine. Nothing at all wrong with staying within a budget. But if you are charging money for anything you do, you do owe it to the client to provide the best pic and sound you can afford. Otherwise, it makes the whole business look bad, no?
BTW, I LOVE the little LX4 system for small rooms. We're doing a buncha VASST's with them.

Spot (or anyone) -

in consideration of the budget nature of this post, how much importance would you place on getting a mactched set of speakers? I'm sure many of us have some old hi-fi speakers & amps kicking around that could be pressed into service as rears/centre in a surround setup on the cheap.

I'm in three frames of mind about the surround thing.

Scenario one "I have no money":
Decent Stereo Monitoring, plus additional cheap boxes for the surrounds & centre used purely for placement judgement.

Scenario two "Well, if I cut out booze for a month":
Decent Stereo Monitoring, plus a hi-fi all-in-one amp/speaker surround package for surround mix panning/balance.

Scenario Three "I might have to sell some close relatives":
A set of Mackies - 5x 624 plus HR120 sub or similar (and I'm actually SAVING money buy not having a seperate stereo setup - is this the bargain of the decade? ;-)

I think the last one is really where I'm heading, but any thoughts on intermediate setups would be useful. As well as my video 'hobby' I design sound for theatre shows (as in stage rather than screen!), which is where surround comes in handy, and also why initially the quality of surrounds might not be too important for me. Hopefully will start to get into 5.1 music mixing when I have the right setup.

Have you used the mackies or similar. Tempted by Genelec 1029 system, but I don't think the bass is as extended as the 624s, taking into consideration that the 5 in 5.1 should be full range speakers.

I think I worry too much - also aware that I've kinda hijacked this thread, and that I'm asking a load of questions..... aaahhh!!!!

Thanks for your time.

PS - just looked at the price of the Mackie sub, and it's gonna take the sale of more that one relative to cover that setup! Maybe some KRKs

Thank you all for going in-depth with your replies. I'll give you a little background on me and maybe that will help. I'm a film school grad who has been out in the real world for 5 years. I bought my VX-2000, a computer, and Vegas 2 in Nov '01 (got the free upgrade to vv3, woo-hoo!). I'm now using V4 and getting ready to make the leap into full time professional work, so my OEM speakers aren't cutting it anymore. I have read very good reviews on the Klipsch line, but they were all from audiophile and gaming sites. The M-audio stuff sounds like a decent buy. If anyone has used the Klipsch speakers extensively (and for video production), please post, as they are a few hundred less than the M-audio speakers. I AM interested in quality overall, so I don't mind spending the extra money if it is warranted.

Thanks again guys. This is what I love about this site.
Corey

The Klipsch are also made by a 3rd part, I think they are made by NK, which makes the Kensington speaks. Same story with the Monster speaks too.
Klipsch speaks are very sexy, but they AREN'T remotely close to professional. Again, their plastic, and aren't tuned, curved, nor rated. Use at great risk to having mixes be way off in a real post situation. I'd say out of balance will be the rule, not the exception with these speaks. [edit] worse, these speaks have compressors built in which could seriously compromise what you are hearing. [edit]

Hey all,

If one already had two m-audio SP-5B speakers, how much of a kluge would it be to just pick up the LX4 system 2.1 system and ... to get to 5.1 surround.

How could one get there from here?

thanks

Picking up on the best prices for the M-Audio, I was the original buyer in the referenced thread and the best price I found was as follows (copied from another thread):

------------
Best price on M-Audio LX4:

Most places give you $440.

www.JacksMusicStore.com gives you the same "public" quote.
You then click on a "best quote" button and send them an email.
They return an email immediately to you with a special "associate" login.
That price is $381 plus shipping.
The shipping estimate is $13, however, that will be overriden due toi the size of the shipment.
For me, shipping from California to Kansas City was $27, with an automatic express upgrade to 3-day.

So I got it for $405 with 3-day shipping.

Note: I actually had a week's delay, when the salesman over-promised and they did not ship. Still, I am ecstatic about the speakers.
------------------

I also spent a couple of weeks checking out *everything* in the sub-$500 range. I hated the Klipsch 5.1 speakers. They sounded muddy/unclear, had too much bass (good for gamers), and got too bright at high volumes. Klipsch makes some fantastic stuff, but its built to sound *loud*, not built to sound *true*. The final straw was listening to them side-by-side with a 2.1 system from Bose. It was absolutely night and day. With the Bose, I could reach out and "touch" the source of the sound in space. With the Klipsch, it was all a mess. The things is, you don't know its a mess until you've heard how good it can actually be.

Also, when I was searching for my system, I was under-appreciating the need for "near-field" monitors, i.e., the kind that sound great when your ear is only a few feet from them. Most speakers are built to make the room sound good, but they sacrifice that sound up close. So all my listening in the listening rooms was useless. And all that listening in the Best Buy et al.s was just miserable, since no one there knows how to setup an audio system.

My recommendation is either save up for the M-Audios, or buy something cheap that will get you down the road to when you can afford the M-Audios.

>Scenario one "I have no money":
>Decent Stereo Monitoring, plus additional cheap boxes for the surrounds & centre used purely for placement judgement.

Sure.

>Scenario two "Well, if I cut out booze for a month":
>Decent Stereo Monitoring, plus a hi-fi all-in-one amp/speaker surround package for surround mix panning/balance.

That would be the M-audio system. Best sub-$500, and better than any hi-fi "home system".

>Scenario Three "I might have to sell some close relatives":
>A set of Mackies - 5x 624 plus HR120 sub or similar (and I'm actually SAVING money buy not having a seperate stereo setup - is this the bargain of the decade? ;-)

Well, yes, hell yes. How big is your mixing room, though?

-------------
Seriously, I can think of three categories myself:

1) Hobby, ain't got the dough.

Get something 5.1 and cheap. Don't spend more than $200, since the plus $200 gear isn't worth it. Low $100 is adequate. Go to the store, listen to everything, and just pick out the one that sounds best. Try not to feel bad about what you're missing. Don't be surprised if you have to rework the audio after listening to your product on a good 5.1 home theater system. And you'll still be guessing.

2) Hobby/Pro. Work alone in a small room.

I see nothing wrong with the M-audio. Spend the time to set them up correctly and you will have a small window of sweet spot around your head that is *fantastic*. That is really all you need to do a great job. Just don't invite the whole neighborhood to stand around and expect to blow them away with the awesome volume. BTW, if they don't sound fantastic, its not the speakers its your setup. you'll need to tune your room and re-adjust the location of the speakers. This is an art. If you can't do it, find someone who can.

3) Pro. Big room.

Out of my league. I think the Mackie's would probably work ok, though :-)

I think you said what had to be said about Klipsch boxes: good for *gamers*.
I bought the Logitech 680 2 years ago and it's the same but cheaper : good for gamers.
Lots of coloration in bass and highs. No good for reference.

If I had more dough I'd check for these Mackie HR-824 boxes...

The Mackie 624's are absolutely awesome in their class. The 626's are stunning, we just installed them in our studio. For those that were at DV Expo, you got to hear these things smoke! With the 18" sub, the room is overburdened, no doubt.

I have to say on a cost basis I'm being drawn towards either the KRK V4 or V6. Both recieved good reviews, and they look fairly portable too (especially the V4s). But there are so many good monitors out there and seemily so few shops with decent demo facilities that is makes buying tough.

I must admit that I have a bit of thing against the m-audio speakers, not because I've heard them, but because of THIS review by Sound On Sound magazine of their first powered speakers. SOS seem always to be fair and objective in all their reviews; can anyone confirm that the newer LX stuff is better than the SP5Bs? The LX system is, as pointed out, very competitive price wise.

Here's my "cheap system" that actually is my system cause this isn't my real job!

Work in 2 channel and 5.1 because it's available to you. Always experiment. I loooove to mix music in 5.1...it's amazing. You can still do 2 channel so it's cool.

So if you wanna do it all for cheap, buy a decent soundcard that will cover all the bases like this one: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/sid=040225224423067075142040152320/g=home/search/detail/base_pid/701378/
that's the m-audio delta 410, only $99. 2 ins, 8 outs. Then I use a regular old stereo set up with a surround sound receiver and 5.1 speakers. It HAS to have 6 analog inputs though, and some of the newer all-in-one packages don't have the nanlog 5.1 channel input.

So I reference on my old theatre system in my little bedroom size studio, and also in my main theatre which is a huge room with very tall ceilings and lots of hardwood. Totally different. If I can get a mix to sound good in both places I'm doing pretty good! And both systems are used for movie watching all the time. Cheap and dual purpose....

That review is hardly fair. I've got the SP5B's in our B room, and they don't sound anywhere near as bad as the review suggests. Do they sound like Hothouse 4's? No. they aren't 4K each. Do they sound like Mackie 624's? No, they aren't 1K each. But they do sound very, very good, they don't sound boxy, they have a sweet if not a little strident high end just like their same-class NS10 from Yamaha sounds like. NS10's require tissue to be put over the tweet because of their harshness.
If you don't like the SP5, you won't like the LX4. The KRK's are good too, but I'd apply the exact same argument against them that SOS posted about the SP5B.

Do yourself a favor: forget about cheapo computer/ home cinema speaker. Buy active studio monitors like ESI - Ego Systems Inc. nEar 05 or Behringer. Much better than M audio and Edirol stuff IMHO.