Hey, this is my first time on the forum. I’m on here because I need some help picking out a set of powered speakers under $500 for the pair. I have the Mackie MR624 and Presonus Eris E5/E7 XT set as possible contenders, but I’m open to suggestions. I’m on a desk and plan to use them to listen to music, watch movies, and play some games. I listen to Pop, EDM, and some Rap.
I plan to feed the monitors with a Schiit Modius and use the Magnius as a Pre-Amp if that’s useful information. I would really appreciate any insight and/or suggestions anybody may have.
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I can’t say I have much experience with speakers in general. But for under 500 closer to 600 the focal alpha 50 might be worth looking into. I have the 80s and they are pretty good. If you want to stick to a even cheaper budget I have the iloud micros and those sound super fun too with ridiculous bass. Finally I know many people love the adam T5V which is in between in terms of price. Also when it comes to what you listen to, in my personal experience the ilouds and focals do those quite well. I’ve zero experience with the Adam’s however. But both I mentioned are very well rounded and do bass, mids and treble very well.
Also welcome to the forum!
Thank you for the recommendations! I’ll look into the Focals and the iLouds.
I have the same question on another thread but I’m looking for monitors to be as flat and accurate as possible.
My limited research keeps popping up the ADAM Audio A5X, which are $500 each. The T5V’s are quite a bit less at $200 each, the T8V’s are closer to your max budget, but they are also a LOT bigger. That’s one of the issues I have with my speakers, the larger sizes really don’t make sense on my desk.
I can’t say I’m am expert but the iloud micros sound pretty neutral to me. Pretty flat sounding while having tons of slam for the fun factor and also are very small. I would highly recommend those to you. Perfect for desk size
No expert either, but for bass, size does matter.
Yeah but man I have the ilouds and they have great bass lol. Like it’s surprising how damn good the bass is on them. Best part of them imo
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What did you compare them too?
About topic, when I was looking at monitor speakers I felt a bit overwhelmed.
Most newish monitors under 500 a pair are pretty good these days.
Listened to Adam T7V, KRK 5/7, Mackie, JBL, Kali, Presonus, some others at a JustMusic store last year.
Yamaha & Adam was too bright for me, also wanted front ported (placement issues at home),
so I went with the Kali LP-6… was cheap & sounds good to me (almost too much bass for my room).
Hiss is annoying, but I use them for techno so whatever. Also most of them hiss anyways.
Class AB amps might be better in terms of hiss - like Focal 65.
M-Audio BX8 didn’t sound bad either, certainly expected worse for some reason.
The Hercules Monitor 5 are pretty good too lol…
Don’t let the brand fool you.
Micca rb42, Focal alpha 80
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Yes, no replacement for displacement.
It’s the same thing even with the greatest of monitors. Genelecs. You get great bass even with the smaller monitors but you GREAT BASS with bigger ones. The difference is big in between.
Expect the performance is more solid with volume.
It’s not just the “bass”, there is also the important aspect of how low the bass goes and does it have authority and keep up with volume. No sub-bass or sub’s.
Tiny bass drivers do not go low. To me, that is nearly the same thing as no bass.
iLoud Micros pretty much start to “die” after 100Hz with volume and the tweeters will rape you, there will a gap between tweeter and bass and they totally die ~55Hz mark.
As for more “normal use”. They pretty nice for the size and prize.
Would beef up for MTM’s if small is major priority + they had the measuring system for better end result.
Might have a look at Edifiers. S2000 Pros were loved by Zeos, and the R1700BTs are 150$, “too good for the price” because they’re DSP corrected – like the iLouds – but still bookshelf-sized, so way bigger… and yes, there’s no replacement for displacement. 
Edit: Both are DSP corrected, actually. If you don’t want DSP correction… Klipsch R51PM might be good? (Not the R41PM – these lacked bass and needed space to shine – they’re not for nearfield).
If I was going to get a monitor setup for my desk, Mackies. I like to listen at low volumes often and like having full-range sound at that volume. It’s hard to find a speaker that can produce bass at low volume, passive or powered. That’s why I EQ my passive speakers; they have full range at a low listening volume.
That’s honestly the biggest reason I am considering the Mackies. My setup is in my bedroom (I’m in high school, I have no other choice) and it’s right near the entrance to the house next to the home office so I can’t be blasting music often. The Mackies are appealing because they can play well at low volumes, so that just might be what I get.