top 5 best cheap studio monitors let's get started with the list
starting at number 1 2 presonus studio monitor coming in at just under our budget level of 200
are these monitors from presonus these are a good set of monitors
they should be considered as one of the best budget studio monitors under 200
for small rooms these are active speakers with a 25 watt amp built into one speaker
each cabinet has a four and a half inch kevlar composite woofer and a silk domed one-inch tweeter
whilst the woofer is smaller than some of its competitors this is given a little help
there are some extra sound tuning controls located on the back of one of the monitors
they are called acoustic tuning controls and they allow you to make some changes in the sound
this is especially useful in use in ordinary rooms where the acoustics are not
shall we say productive in addition there are controls for flattening the frequency response
this can help with sound controls when referencing and mixing the frequency response itself is not
great at 70 hertz to 20 kilohertz for those that may work with extreme bottom end styles of music
these monitors will need some low end help but that only applies really to music that relies on
that sound projection they have a peak spl of 100 decibels for extra detail in listening there is
also a headphone jack this is a decent addition if plugging into your audio interface with headphones
is a little awkward at number 2 3m audio reference monitor these speakers from m-audio have been
designed and then marketed with a variety of uses in mind they are reasonably priced for what you
might call a middle-of-the-road monitors they are a decent option for those on a very tight budget
in each cabinet there is a four inch woofer and one inch silk dome tweeter
this combination will provide you with a frequency range of 75 hertz to 20 kilohertz
there is a very common problem with budget range monitors if you deal with music that has a lot of
bottom end these monitors will need some help on the other hand they will suffice for most other
musical styles they are made from mdf fiberboard and measure just 7.10 by 5.80 by 8.40 inches
they are quite lightweight as well at less than 8 pounds each
this may reflect on their performance and you may hear more buzzing or rumbling than is good
this may occur especially at louder volumes they are small enough to be carried around with you if
you need to though why you would need to do that as a studio monitor we are not sure at number 3
5 cali audio lp6 studio monitor kali was founded by some xjbl employees that were let go due to cuts
every cloud has a silver lining as they say so they pooled their talents and set up cali
ironically cali now produces products that rival their previous jbl masters
we should state at the outset though that whilst these monitors fall within our 200 brief that is
for just one speaker if you want two which you may well do then they will start to get a little
expensive this is a monitor that is designed to help you achieve the best quality sound possible
likewise that sound can be adjusted slightly to suit the environment you are in
it is made from mdf fiberboard and the cabinet measures 10.25 by 8.75 by 14.25 inches
it weighs 15 and a half pounds inside the cabinet are a 6.5 inch woofer and one soft dome tweeter
there is also a front loaded base port 2. this monitor features a built-in class d-amp
it has been fitted with extra-large magnets as well as oversized voice coils
therefore it generates an accurate response at the bottom end this is a good monitor with some
good features but as we said you will probably need two of them unfortunately they may not
qualify as a budget range that will depend on your budget at number 4 6-cali lp-6w 6.5 powered studio monitor
another monitor from cali and identical in many respects to the lp6 except this one is white
kali arrived in 2018 and they have certainly seen interest grow in their monitors
these white monitors are produced in case you don't happen to like the black version
this monitor like the back version is part of the company's lone pine series they enjoy the
same 6.5 inch woofer in a powered studio monitor likewise there is the one-inch soft dome tweeter
the frequency bears the same flattened curve and the distortion levels are very low on the rear are
balanced xlr inputs along with an unbalanced rca and trs inputs in order to not repeat the features
we included in the previous review the technical data is the same this is a decent speaker
however like the black model it is quite expensive for just one speaker if you are on a budget to be
honest we do quite like the white design at number 5 fluid audio studio monitors this is a pair of
speakers from fluid audio nicely designed but they may be moving away from the concept of monitors
for the recording studio we may be wrong but we have never met an engineer who wanted bluetooth
on his monitors this indicates that these are more of a multi-purpose type speaker as opposed
to a monitor designed with the studio in mind one of the big selling points of the c5 bt they have
bluetooth 4.0 built-in with aptx codec support this is a two-way system with a five-inch driver
and one-inch tweeter the frequency range of 54 hertz to 22 kilohertz is very respectable likewise
a maximum sound pressure level of 97 decibels is a benefit furthermore they will generate a
peak output of 40 watts they have a range of options that includes using your stereo your
phone or watching your movies therefore they are probably best kept for those occupations it is not
likely they are set up for the specialized sound requirements of a recording studio as monitors