When a product starts becoming something of an industry standard the last thing you want to do is change it. But that’s precisely what Adam Audio did with the awesome A7X studio monitors. The new A7V monitors are the natural evolution of the A7X design. They have a depth of tone, and a clarity of image that has resonated with both Sound Engineers and Producers.

The A7V takes all the mechanical hardware that made the A7X such a great choice for a studio. The X-ART Tweeter offers a detailed, uncompressed response that doesn’t wear you out and combines it with 7″ woofer with a new composition of Multi-Layer Mineral. The A7V is wrapped in a similarly shaped case but with softened edges and a more organic vibe. The power coming from the cumulated amp peaks at 130W. The frequency response at -6dB ranges from 40Hz to 45kHz and the maximum peak SPL for each speaker at 1m is 105 dB SPL.

The big change comes in the form of comprehensive DSP-based voicing, equalisation and room correction. You could see this as Adam Audio making their best-selling speaker more versatile by making it a viable option in many more spaces. On the backplate, you can quickly dial in different bands of parametric EQ and low and high shelf filters to suit your space. But, with the A Control app, you can go much further and freely adjust all aspects of the processing from the comfort of the sweet spot rather than clambering behind the speaker itself. You can even import data from Sonarworks room calibration curves to precisely tailer your monitors to your room.

We are getting into serious money with the A range but if you like the Adam Audio approach and have a smaller budget then there’s the “T Series” which aims to bring their expertise to the home studio end of the market.

Pros & Cons

• Versatile
• Sonically clean and precise
• Expensive
• Probably too powerful for smaller rooms

Street Price: $749
adam-audio.com

The fourth generation of KRK ROKIT monitors is the smoothest yet. They’re scientifically designed to offer exceptional low-end with punch and accuracy. The enclosure has evolved, become less striking in form while retaining the trademark yellow cone, but that’s not the only thing that’s changed.

Inside is a new design of Class D amplifier giving an even power through the speakers with more efficient distribution, less heat, and better audio integrity. This is combined with matching Kevlar drivers which minimize listening fatigue and give great transparency. The high-end has a pleasing amount of detail while that front-facing port pushes the low-end nicely.

On the back is a DSP-driven graphic EQ with 25 presets to help you model it to your room and acoustic environment. It’s incredibly versatile if you know what you’re doing and if this is your first serious monitor then the presets will take the effort and worry out of it.

For connections, you’ve got balanced TRS and XLR combo jacks and a simple volume control. The power output of 145 Watts is impressive and gives the ROKIT 7 an edge over the more petite ROKIT 5.

The surprisingly affordable G4 range goes all the way from the 5″ ROKIT 5 to the mid-field 10″ ROKIT 10-3 so if you need something bigger or smaller then there are options. But for me, the ROKIT 7 is the sweet spot, being able to fill a room without compromising while not dominating a smaller space.

Pros & Cons

• DSP driven room tuning
• Thumpingly good bass
• Iso-foam pad for great isolation
• Great value
• Not as distinctive looking as they were

Street Price: $239 each
krksys.com

These Californian made monitors are on their “2nd Wave” and spent three years in development to improve upon the originals. They strike a balance between good looks, performance and affordability making them a great mid level choice.

The core features remain from the original version including the waveguide technology, bass reflex system and large woofer magnets. The big improvements come in the design of the amplifier which has been upgraded to a Class-D shaving a huge 12dB of noise off the signal while added a further 3dB to the input sensitivity. The tweeters have been tweaked for a better high frequency response, they also get upgraded membranes and a better cabinet structure.

All in all these are significant improvements which brings the Kali Audio LP6 to our attention for the first time.

Pros & Cons

• Superb improvements
• low noise
• Look great
• Well priced
• Less controls than some

Street Price: $279 each
kaliaudio.com

Neumann has an unparalleled reputation for the beginning of the studio signal chain. Their microphones are legendary. Their speakers have been a more recent development, but they have already acquired a lot of admirers for their compact size and punchy, transparent and detailed sound.

They are not the most stylish of speakers you’ll come across. In fact, they’ll give Genelec a run for their money as the oddest-looking studio monitors. It’s all curves and mathematically correct lines that give them a somewhat dated look. But they more than make up for it in the stunning representation of frequencies. The build quality is also excellent, and these things are never going to break or fall apart.

The Neumann KH120s are all about maximum signal fidelity and distinctly contoured transients across the entire, neutrally designed frequency response. In other words, they sound amazing. The curves and the design ensure a flexible listening position with its Mathematically Modeled Dispersion waveguide. Bass response is always kept under control and the optimized driver design keeps it clean all the way down to 50Hz.

The acoustic controls offer a 4-position bass, low-mid and treble switch allowing it to sit comfortably in a diverse range of acoustical environments. The list of features is very long. It’s a masterclass in design even down to the dimmer switch on the glowing Neumann logo, just in case you find it annoying.

Perhaps the biggest feature is the price. You’d be expecting over $1,000 for something from Neumann with this level of technology when in fact they are only $699 each.

Pros & Cons

• Designed by mathematical modeling
• Comprehensive acoustic controls
• Reasonably priced
• Odd looking

Street Price: $699 each
neumann.com

Usually thought of as multi-media speakers, the iLoud from IK Multimedia has gotten an upgrade with the surprisingly awesome iLoud MTM studio monitors.

They use a symmetrical mid-tweeter-mid design with a pair of 3.5″ high-performance woofers and one 1″ high definition back-chamber loaded tweeter. It’s quite an unusual configuration but it aims to provide an ultra-precise, defined, point source sound. This means that it has a narrower field of dispersal, but this is corrected by having them on tiltable stands which minimizes reflections and gives it a transparent sound to rival much larger and more expensive speakers.

The key to these speakers is in setting them up correctly for your room and for that they include their ARC reference microphone and acoustic calibration technology. Put the mic where you would normally sit and at the push of a button, the speakers create a customized listening sweet spot. That is genius.

The iLoud MTM monitors are going to work best in smaller rooms and their compact dimensions and stands are perfect for that. The naming convention that IK Multimedia use in “iLoud” makes you think of iPhones and iPads and multi-media devices, which is a shame because these are far more serious and useful in a small studio context. So don’t let the name put you off.

Pros & Cons

• Great for small rooms
• Versatile
• Self-tuning
• Good value
• Not enough power for larger rooms
• Could be lacking in bass

Street Price: $349 each
ikmultimedia.com

Falling somewhere between the level of multimedia speakers and reference monitors the BX4 is an unassumingly good little speaker. Great for a small room. Easy to set-up, look good and sound crystal-clear.

The BX4s provide 120 Watts of power through a 4.5″ cone and feature a two-way Acoustically-inert MDF cabinet with bass smoothing reflex and punch through the black Kevlar low end drivers. The natural silk-dome tweeters manage the high frequencies nicely and provide good stereo imaging. These are tailored to work with computer based setups and are perfect for a DAW-based home studio.

The connections are 1/4 inch and RCA on the back and a handy auxiliary input on the front for plugging your phone straight in. Next to that is a very convenient headphone socket that you can use for your mixing headphones. One of the speakers contains the amp and connections and the other is passive and attaches to the powered one. This makes for very easy cabling and you can set which side you want each speaker on. There’s also a little bit of high and low EQ on the back for getting the balance of sound just right for where you are.

The BX3 is the starting point. It even comes with Pro Tools First, some entry level recording software, to get your musical ambitions underway. There’s a slightly bigger version BX4 with a 4.5″ woofer if you have a larger room or want a slightly fuller sound.

Pros & Cons

• Affordable
• A great first step into proper speakers
• Look great
• Useful minijack input on front
• Single amp driving both speakers

Street Price: $149 pair
m-audio.com

Focal monitors are ridiculously good, offering a transparency, class and level of confidence that’s hard to beat. The Solo6 is compact, nuanced and a beautiful piece of studio furniture. It’ll fit into all sorts of environments and is also perfect if you want to immerse yourself in Dolby Atmos or Sony 360RA installations, as you can mount multiple Solo6’s to your walls.

In terms of technology, the tweeter is made from Beryllium with an M-shaped protective grill. The woofer is a specially designed W-shaped cone which compliments the other perfectly. Focal’s Tuned Mass Damper technology ensures any distortion is kept to a minimum and includes a high pass filter. With a 160Hz parametric crossover to reduce reflections from consoles this really is a monitor designed for the studio environment.

A unique Focus Mode lets you run two different speaker configurations in the one monitor. With the pump of a footswitch you can swap between the two giving you the convenience of mixing through two speakers in one. This in effect lets you test your mixes on less capable speakers without having to have some.

The Solo6 is an awesome speaker but it certainly should be for the price tag of $1,500 each.

Pros & Cons

• Sounds fantastic
• Stylish
• Expensive
• Relatively small (which can also be a pro!)

Street Price: $1,499 each
focal.com

The MK2 of these handcrafted professional active monitors builds on an established level of excellence and comes with some important innovations.

The powerful inbuilt DSP board enables three unique features. First a phase Lineariser which brings perfect impulse response and audibly improved spatial reproduction. Secondly CoP technology which lets you choose between a closed cabinet approach or open bass-port design to manage the energy and bass-capacities. And thirdly a Phase Linear Sub-Satellite System which manages the phase alignment of using multiple speakers.

The Type 07 has a 7″ woofer dual-amped to 2x100W with a frequency response up to 40,000Hz. You have both analog XLR and digital AES inputs with a through for the AES. Control on the back include a shelving filter, sensitivity and a desk filter to adjust for your placement.

There’s a smaller version, the Type 07 as well as larger Type 20 and Type 30 plus two sizes of sub-woofer. These speakers are not messing about, they are engineering to be the most precise reproduction of audio you’ve ever encountered.

Pros & Cons

• Stunning realism and precision
• Advanced technology
• Analog and digital inputs
• None really

Street Price: $1,599 pair
hedd.audio

Budget is always your first constraint and if you are starting out then those M-audio speakers are a great purchase. If you have a bit more cash then finding a way to decide between the Yamaha and Rokit speakers could keep you awake at night. They have comparable versions, similar features, good reputations.

In many ways, I’d suggest going with personality. Are you an extrovert? In which case, it’s the ROKITs all the way. Or are you more reserved and chilled? Then it has to be the LP6’s. Choosing between the Neumann and Adam Audio is a similar conundrum. Your best bet is to get yourself to a music shop or dealer and demand the opportunity to try them out with some of your own material. But you won’t lose out either way.