BX5 D2 5" Active 2-Way Studio Monitor Speakers (Pair)

SOUND QUALITY: The BX5 sounds neutral and balanced. Compared to similar sized consumer speakers, they are a bit understated and without bass bloat or exaggerated highs. The even keeled tonal signature is pleasing and easy to listen to for hours. It also lacks a midrange bump, and sounds a bit recessed or laid-back compared to average earbuds or home speakers. In fact the BX5 sounds similar to my Sennheiser 580HD headphones, but with less lower bass. And that's a good thing for mixing as you don't want speakers that add color and/or bumps in the frequency response. Unlike typical passive stereo speakers, the BX5 is powered with separate amplifiers for the tweeter and woofer, i.e., bi-amped. This design allows for accurate reproduction as amplifiers are optimized for each driver. The downside to this design is each speaker needs both input and power cables, so not convenient for living room use but not a problem for nearfield computer based editing. At first the BX5 struck me as underpowered for a 70 watt rating, at least with a signal directly from my Mac Pro. However, once jacked into the hotter signal from my MOTU Ultralite the true power of the BX5 was revealed. It was loud and could be painfully so if cranked. These are directional speakers and render placement of instruments in a stereo soundfield accurately as long as you sit in the sweet spot a couple feet out (your head should form a triangle with the two speakers). That diffuse room filling tone of home theatre speakers is MIA. In fact, unlike most speakers, there is little rearwards projection. Perfect for not bothering family or neighbors but bad for parties. So don't buy these for standard stereo or home theatre use. I mainly mix classical and acoustic guitar solo and ensemble recordings, live and multitrack, so the bass range is perfect for me. The bass extends down to a clear 60Hz, so plenty ump for drop-D and drop-C tuning. If you mix bass guitar and kick drum you'll want larger speakers (BX8) or a sub but these are great for guitar. I'm used to mixing with neutral speakers and headphones but it would be nice if you could adjust bass, mid and highs for different room responses and taste. Oddly, the PDF instructions show EQ switches for the prior version of this model but they are missing from my speakers. I assume they were omitted as a cost cutting measure. RFI RESISTANCE: I'm an inner city dweller and live in a high RFI area. Cheap audio gear acts like a radio receiver and injects a local classic rock station into my mixes. So one of the major selling points for me was M-Audio's claim of RFI shielding. Luckily that was no mere marketing jive. They really are well shielded against RFI. Not a single wayward drum loop or DJ in my tracks, not even when cranked. I can't make that claim for prior speakers I've owned. HEAT: These speakers run on the warm side: the upper back is fairly warm just idling and can get hot to the touch after a long session. Not egg frying hot but a wee bit uncomfortable to the fingertips. It has a sensor to shut it down in case of excessive heat. However I have not seen it shutdown even after all day editing sessions. I live in the balmy tropics so cold weather dwellers may not see as much heat build up. Not a deal breaker but it's wise to turn them off when not in use (I use a power strip so I don't have to flip two separate switches). CONSTRUCTION: These are handsome units in a blend in your your gear sort of way: the black finish matches perfectly with my black trimmed Cinema Display and MOTU Ultralite. Construction appears very good with dense particle board (MDF) cabs, metal back plate (heat sink benefit) and matching plastic front molding around the drivers. The cabs are covered with a satin black vinyl. These monitors are petite and smaller than most speakers with the same sized bass driver. The bass drivers are Kevlar with rubber surrounds (tougher than foam!) and the tweeters sport silk domes. No protective grill or covers as usual for mixing monitors. So the nekid drivers can be easily damaged by a careless finger or chopstick. CONNECTIONS: Like most studio monitors, the BX5 comes with pro audio style jacks for 1/4 inch phone plug/TRS and XLR. If you're a novice recordist or a civilian buying these for general computer use, be forewarned there are no stereo mini jacks, RCA or USB. So you will need to pay extra for a set of special cables and adapters. If you're an experienced recordist, you should have plenty of these cables laying around but, otherwise, be prepared to reach for your wallet. One of the things I like about the BX5 is both the TRS and XLR connections are active at the same time, allowing the monitors to receive signals from two different sources without messing with cables or switches. I have an Audioengine D1 DAC connected to the TRS/phone input (for iTunes, movies, games, etc.) while a MOTU Ultralite (for mixing & tracking) is plugged into the XLR connection. LAST BLURB: Yes, the small Focal speakers I listened to were better sounding and louder than the BX5 but cost a couple toes and a month of lunches. However, a perfect monitor for a home studio isn't only about a good neutral sound, but also about compactness, appearance and value. And the BX5 nails all of these while still sounding pretty dad burn fine.

I've been shopping around monitors for about 6 months now, 6 months because I've been saving up money to get some decent speakers as well as fully make a recording studio at home/school. I was set on the Yamaha HSM50 since they were what most studios used, but then listened to the M-Audio Bx5-D2 at my local guitar center and was blown away by how close they sounded to the HSM50, they had them on sale at 280 down from the normal 350 they were selling them for because of 4th of july, I was gonna pluck my money down and take those suckers but they didn't have any in stock. So I went onto their computer and checked Amazon's prices and low and behold it was at 200 smackeroos! I ordered these with one day shipping since I had to have them fast and they arrived swirly and quickly! Sure the one day shipping brought the total up to 220 but that's still a lot cheaper! Well these speakers are plenty loud, maybe it's cuz I'm in a small dorm room/apartment but I can balst these suckers and I usually just ouptu at 50%. They have a nice strong bass and high end along with a clear mid-range, but do note that their is just a little extra kick in the bass, at least in my case since they're so close to the wall. The less on the front of the speaker make it really easy to set up for optimal referencing, but even if your outside of the holy triangle that is recommended for referencing you can still hear a lot of the detail in songs and mixes! These are also awesome general purpose speakers, I use them to play back music and also as a sorta mini home-theathre system when couple with my projector! I use the desktop konnect 6 as the monitor control/sound card so that may contribute to the stellar quality I get from these babies. And these babies are the next version of the BX5, the first being the Bx5a Deluxe, though those were decent monitors they colored the sound a bit too much, the D2 are highly improved, I noticed a dramatic difference when listing to both of them. But in short: they have a flat response, the casing is also solidly built and rather attractive, they are definitely understated with the nice premium felling cabinets, the LED light that shows they are on and that help you place them is wonderfully helpful especially for people that are learning of these things, and I think they are comparable to the Yamaha's but that's just me. And if your an audiophile wanting the best for your music these are surely the ones to go for especially at the attractive price of 200 bucks!

These speaker are beautiful and quite neutral, the bass below 200hz is not very clear but mid-highs are very very good. It's very good for small home studios. Bang for buck!!! The power cable comes with square shaped plugs, not the roundish Indian plug, so you gotta have that type of extension board. No connector cables are included beside power cable. It also comes with 2 pads for putting it underneath the speakers. Just go for it if your budget is around 20k. You wont get a better speaker in that budget.

No soy ningún experto pero estoy muy satisfecho con estos monitores. Tengo un macbook pro conectado a un monitor ultrawide con altavoces. Si comparo el sonido de los monitores con los del macbook pro o el monitor son noche y día.

M-AUDIO AV40から交換したのですがディスクトップオーディオの 一つの正解だと思える出来です。パワフルでフラット、言い換えれば「抜けるような音」。 かと言って固さがある訳ではない。音の解像感が高く今まで聞いていた楽曲が立体的に広がります。 バイアンプの比率と容量、コーンのサイズと材質等が上手くバランスしているのかと感心します。 こうなってくると音源・ソース選びが楽しくなります。 リスニング系のスピーカも魅力的なものがありますがモニタBX5 D2 イイですね。

Je ne suis pas déçu de cette paire d'enceinte de bonne qualité compte tenu du prix. Attention ce sont des enceintes monitoring de proximité, excellente pour faire un home studio, montage vidéo etc... ce n'est pas fait pour faire de la sono. Connectique TRS jack 6.35 ou XLR avec réglage du volume, livrées avec câble secteur, veuillez bien choisir vos câbles afin des les relier à vos divers équipements.

Hab diese Boxen nun schon seit gut 'nem Monat, mittlerweile läuft alles wie man sich es wünscht und besser. In der Preisleistung spielen diese Monitor Boxen klar in der obersten Liga, der Klang ist unwahrscheinlich klar, selbst wenn man jenseits der 50% im Windows-Regler aufdreht was ab da an schon extrem Laut wird für meine Ohren, der Klang bleibt sauber und klar. Die Verarbeitung scheint mir auch sehr solide und sauber, keine Mängel dies bezüglich. Was das Design angeht, naja also über Optik lässt sich bekanntlich streiten, aber über diese kann man nicht streiten, es sieht einfach Top aus! Nichts spezielles mit irgendwelchen farbigen Tieftöner oder sonst was stattdessen lieber minimalistisch und simple, was auch gut ist. Was die Tieftöner noch angeht, diese besitzen ein Waben der aufgrund seiner Optik doch sehr an Carbon erinnert, was echt cool aussieht! :D Man sollte jedoch bedenken dass beide Boxen unabhängig voneinander sind, man benötigt daher einen L/R Output für Stereo, eine einfache Weiche reicht da nicht. Wenn das Mainboard oder die Soundkarte sowas unterstützt, benötigt man noch zwei Klinken-Adapter, da die interne Schnittstelle des Rechners meist 3,5 mm hat und aber die der Boxen 6,3 mm beträgt. Wer auf eine externe Soundkarte bzw. auf ein Audio-Interface setzt, zu dem ich jeden raten würde, sollte keine Probleme mit den Schnittstellen haben, hier reichen zwei 6,3 sym.-Klinkenstecker! Ich habe mir zu diesen Boxen das M-Audio 101841 M-Track Interface gekauft, für ~100 Euro zwar etwas happig aber fair, kann ich nur weiter empfehlen. ;) All in all, klare kauf Empfehlung!