Cheap Studio Monitors for the Budget Conscious Engineer

Which brand? How much money should I spend? Are there any special things I should worry about?

If you are in the market for your first studio monitors or are just looking for a cheap second pair, there are a fair amount of great budget options out there for you.

Here below you can see a few popular and recommended options for budget monitors in the price range of under $500. I would say a budget of $500 is a maximum starting budget and you can probably get a pretty decent pair for under $300.

These links here below are affiliate links and if you are seriously looking for monitors please make a purchase through any of these links. Just by doing that you would be helping out this website a great deal.

Fostex PM0.5 MKII

I've seen the Fostex PM0.4 advertised in many buyer's guides but I'd recommend a bigger driver for that additional bass response.

Alesis Monitor 1 Active MKII

A friend of mine can't get enough of these. He thinks they sound awesome and him being an audio engineer and music recording teacher I'm keen to believe him.

Behringer TRUTH B2031A

Say what you will about Behringer. They haven't exactly got the best reputation for quality, but I've used these monitors and they deliver what they're selling. A great budget solution.

KRK Rokit 5 G2 Monitors with Stands

One of KRK staple budget monitors. Great quality and great price. Everyone I know who has these loves them. And with some included microphones will get you started even sooner.

M-Audio BX8a Deluxe

I used the Bx5A Deluxe for a while and I loved them. They were a bit high in the brilliance department but the BX8a, with a better low end reach would sound wonderful.

Ikey Audio M-808v2

@createmusictips says:

"Not very well known but really good monitors for the price"


Mackie Mr5

Tannoy reveal 501A

Mind your acoustics

Whether you are looking for your first pair of studio monitors or are shopping around for a replacement, be sure that there are some great deals you can get for under $500 and many of these deals are much cheaper than that.

Lastly, keep in mind that great studio monitors are never going to sound great in an untreated room. You might have fun listening to your favorite music through them but if you are going to do any serious recording you need your monitors to accurately reflect what's coming out of them without the acoustics of the room interfering with your music mixing and productions.

Bjorgvin Benediktsson is an audio engineer and writer. He is an Alumni from the SAE Institute and has been working in the audio industry since 2006. He has written about audio and music for blogs and magazines since 2006 and has published books on audio recording and mixing. He writes about music production on his blog. Check out more of his writing right here on Audio Issues

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