Get a list of the best budget studio monitors for your home recording. Whether it is from monitoring or mixing, you will find a loudspeaker to suit your budget.
Maybe you are just building your first home studio or, you are short on cash, and looking for a cheap studio monitor that does the job but won’t break the bank.
Since technology has advanced rapidly, low budget studio monitors are of better quality.
This article is our expert guide and selection of the best budget studio monitors available to buy in 2021.
We cover ten low-cost solutions for both mixers and producers alike.
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- How to choose a studio monitor
- Studio monitor placement
- The best studio monitors
Best budget studio monitor
The list includes studio monitors from top name manufactures such as Yamaha, Adams, M-Audio and Mackie. Most of the loudspeakers on this list cost less than $300.
1. Yamaha HS5
Yamaha HS5 is the speaker for the home studio. Small nearfields monitor with 5″ woofer and 1″ dome tweeter that accommodates even the most cramped control room.
A high trim filter control allows you to cut or boost the monitor frequency by 2dB above 2kHz to compensate for an overly excited or damped room.
The Room Acoustic control offers 2dB or 4dB of low-shelving cut below 500Hz to adjusting the bass response of the speakers when place next to the wall.
For me, the downside is the 74Hz low-frequency response. In most case, it may require another speaker with extended low-frequency to judge the bass accurately.
The Yamaha HS5 accept both balanced and unbalanced signal via TRS and an XLR connection.
May suit a small room that is extra boomy.
For price and reviews:
2. Mackie XR624
Mackie is known to produce cost-effective quality equipment the XR624 studio monitor is no exception.
The Mackie XR624 features a 6.5″ Kevlar woofer and a 1″ black anodised aluminium tweeter with an output power of 100watts and 60watts respectively.
The rear panel options include an HF shelving EQ with a 2dB boost or cut at 10kHz and a low-cut filter at 80Hz.
The Acoustic Space option allows you to adjust the monitor frequency response to compensate for wall proximity, which helps when you have to place the monitors next to the wall or in the corner.
Balanced XLR and TRS connectors provide alternate input; the latter can accept unbalanced signals.
For price and reviews:
3. KRK Rokit 5 G4
The Rokit 5 G4 is the smallest of the four monitors in the G4 series, which features a 5″ woofer and a 1″ tweeter made with yellow Kevlar cones.
The compact size makes it popular in the desktop or mixer-based setup.
The thin high-density iso-foam pad on the underside of the monitor helps with isolation and table-top grip.
Onboard LCD visual DSP-driven EQ allows you to adjust the frequency response of the monitor to the environment.
The Acoustic Space correction includes a shelving EQ at 60Hz and 10kHz and peak adjustments at 200Hz and 3.5kHz.
For price and reviews:
4. IK Multimedia iLoud Micro
The IK Multimedia iLoud Micro is compact, making it ideal from small spaces. This 3″ driver monitor produces clear, accurate sound that would suit the passionate music producer.
The room-correcting EQ feature allows you to calibrate these monitors to the environment if it is negatively affecting the sound you are hearing.
The super-nearfield design of this monitor and extended frequency response range from 45Hz-20kHz makes them good reference speaker for the mix engineer.
The only downside for me is that these monitors use RCA connection and not XLR or ¼” TS.
However, they work when connected straight from a laptop.
For price and reviews:
5. Fluid Audio FX8
Fluid Audio is a relatively new company. Their goal is to build studio monitors that “present a realistic soundstage where you can pinpoint and place each instrument exactly where you want it to be in the mix”.
The Fluid Audio FX8 uses a bi-amped dual concentric instead of a two-way monitor design to achieve this.
Unlike a two-way design where the HF and the LF split at a crossover frequency, but a coaxial design doesn’t for a better phase coherence and imaging.
FX8 have a good sense of sound location across the stereo spread as well as a decent sense of space back to front.
The 8″ woofer provides plenty of low-end, which can be much in a boomy room or when the monitor is placed against the wall.
The downside, there is no Acoustic Space option for when the bass frequencies get too much.
For price and reviews:
6. ADAM Audio T5V
Adam Audio is known for designing and building great sounding studio monitors, but these monitors also come with a price tag.
In 2018, Adam Audio released a lower cost range of studio monitor when they released their T Series monitor.
The ADAM Audio T5V is the smallest of the two monitors that were released.
It features a 5″ woofer and the ADAM Audio Unique Accelerated Ribbon Tweeters that helps to deliver that signature “ADAM’s sound”.
The EQ filters allow you to boost or cut the HF and LF by 2dB if the sound needs adjustment to compensate for the space acoustic.
For price and reviews:
7. Presonus E4.5
This top-range low budget monitor is perfect if you are upgrading from headphones or laptop speakers.
PreSonus E4.5 features a 1″ low mass silk dome tweeter for high frequencies and a 4.5″ woofer for the mid and low frequencies.
Also offers an Acoustic Room control (Midrange, HF, High Pass) to help you adjust the monitor to the room.
For price and reviews:
8. JBL Professional 305P MkII
The JBL 305P MKII is another JBL product with high-quality sound reproduction capabilities.
The sound profile is defined by a deep and clear bass, which provides a well balanced low-end without overpowering the mix.
It also features a high-precision double flared port, which in combination with the sub offer an extended frequency response.
The 305P MKII uses the JBL’s staple Slip Stream port destined for bass signal improvement.
The monitor uses magnetically-shielded, HF transducers, which lower distortion levels, and respectively, decrease ear fatigue.
For price and reviews:
9. M-Audio BX5 D3
The M-Audio BX5 D3 two-way monitor features a 1″ silk-dome tweeter and a 5″ woven Kevlar woofer, are magnetically shielded.
The woofer delivers a 60 wattage and the tweeter 40 wattage with a crossover at set at 2.5kHz.
This reference monitor has a wide frequency range and an Acoustic Space bass setting to compensate for any low-end issue caused by the studio environment.
XLR and TRS jack connections, which works simultaneously and Bluetooth allowing you to stream from your mobile.
Ideal from the produces or engineers who desiderate clarity and accuracy.
For price and reviews:
10. Alesis Elevate 5 MKII
At the budget end of the spectrum, certain concessions have to be made versus more advanced models.
Often, this comes in a reduction of the available frequency range and, more often, it is the bass that suffers.
The Alesis Elevate 5 MKii proves this point, but that doesn’t have to be a dealbreaker; the monitor includes a dedicated bass boost switch for those moments when you are listening for pleasure, rather than for reference.
Overall, the Elevate 5 performs well across a range of listening situations and would make a superb addition to any studio.
For price and reviews:
