Hello everyone,
Hope it's ok to ask some advice.
I'm setting up a project studio and need to look at getting some monitors. As per usual budget is a serious problem.
Does anyone have any advice on the following?

M-Audio DX4
Fostex PM0.4
Yamaha HS50M
All of the above are around £129 a pair.

I could possibily go up to around £200 so if anyone has any reccommendations for that price range then please let me know. Just thought I see what the above are like as they seem very cheap (possibily not a good thing). I know that I'm not going to get anything amazing for that kind of budget but i'd like something workable.
Huge thanks to you all for your help

I find that this type of question, as reasonable as it is, crops up way too often on boards. It's a little bit like the 'I put carpet on my walls to soundproof the studio now it sounds shockingly bad. What do I do?' scenario that also seems far too commen.

If you spend £150-£200 on a pair of cheap crappy monitors, you will be shot of them In 6 months. Honestly, save your money and wait, because making critical decsions on a cheap pair of 'monitors' is like taking a knife to a gun fight.

For roughly £400 you could start looking at second hand Dynaudio (BM5a) & KRK (V6) for actives, or B&W 602s and a half decent power amp for around £500.

Don't make a rash decision and regret it. If you use the search function I'm sure that you wil find plenty of similar posts. I for one have been saving for months to buy some new monitors and have spent the time researching and auditioning as many monitors as I can lay my hands on.
Make a test CD with some tracks you know inside out and go hunting. Forget the price and your budget and just go listen and learn. You'll soon see what a bad choice cheap solutions are.

Best of luck!

With that budget you could just about get a decent pair of headphones.

I would buy headphones and save up until you can afford monitors that would do a decent job.

That's exactly what I did myself when I started, I used headphones for a couple of years, but my early recordings still sound good.

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John - Sound-Link ProAudio
President - Federation Internationale des Chasseurs de Sons

I would whole heartedly agree with the previous posters. John Willet makes an excellent suggestion re: Headphones. A pair of Sennheiser HD600s would be a far more valuable investment if the budget is tight right now. With this approach you will be able to evaluate your mixes with much more confidence in the short term plus give you another point of reference once you can afford a decent set of monitors.

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www.gpsystems.ca

Hi,
my raccomandation is to looking for some other monitors than the market offer now.
I always have a particolar attention to the old monitors that several brands builds in '70 and '80.
From 200 to 500 you can buy a pair of Philips motional feedback, wonderful monitor amplified from '70 with a special project for expand the bass range till 20 Hz in a very small cabinet without bass reflex or sub woofer.
There are B&W monitor amplified builds from B&W especially for BBC! Wonderful sound.
Some of Tannoy monitors from '80 to '90 are very great monitors.
Check in internet especially in ebay for a pair used. Belive me that nothing can compare with those that I mentioned before for that prices.
This is my opinion.

Andrea Pettinao sound designer
www.pettinhouse.com sounds for your music

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Andrea Pettinao sound deigner
www.pettinhouse.com sample libraries for your music