For this price range I would prefer Presonus Eris Studio 8 (two pieces) combined with Presonus Eris Sub 10:
I'm not exactly a studio monitor guy tried a lot of them in last 5-6 years but honestly never used presonus products. I'm looking more towards hi-fi side. I like more alive sound in longer stretches studio monitors usually have tendency to get boring and than i'm looking for something new.
JBL 305P MKII great value for the money if "they cost right amount" bought them new for 239€ (Pair)
JBL 306P MKII they are worse than JBL 305P MKII (slow midbass less detalization overall) but they costed around 339€ new (Pair) if i'm not mistaken.
Mackie MR524, decent sound but bad quality control distortion is hearable in some lower quality recordings 269€ new (Pair)
Mackie MR624, slightly better than MR524 but also had some quality control issues with distortion in one of monitors 339€ new (Pair)
Focal Alpha 65 EVO decent sound, decent quality control but not my taste in terms of sound also hiss level is not good similar to JBLs. Bought them used but can not remember for how much it was.
Kali Audio LP-6 V2 decent monitors but also nothing special about them in terms of pure sound detalization i'm not sure if they really sound better than JBL 305P MKII because never tested them side by side. Kali audio enclosure quality is not good JBL have slight advantage in this area although they are not distorting like a Kali Audio IN-5. New LP-6 (Pair) was 409€.
Kali Audio IN-5 decent improvement over LP-6 in terms of overall sound quality. You don't need to get used to these, you can listen to them right away becouse they are very neutral saunding (most neutral in the whole list). The best vocals when listening to movies i ever heard. Mid bass detalization is poor for that price it's strange because it's a 3 way speaker. Had a serious quality issues with distortion also have negative toughts about enclosure quality when listening music at louder volumes. Price was 629€ for new (Pair).
Edifier S350DB was decent 2.1 system for 205€ new.
Airpulse SM200 similar to A100 but sounds more boring becouse it is a "studio monitor" slight advantage in tweeter in terms of detalization but not as enjoyable to listen overall less density than A100 (SM200 sounds thinner) less detalization in midrange, midbass also is less mean than the A100 (less pulse, warmth and drama) they look similar but sound is different. Enclosure quality for A100 and SM200 is better than any other brands mentioned above. SM200 new was 810€ (Pair) then it was overpriced now it costs around 680€.
I bought A100 in 2021 for 573€ (new) and sold it in 2023 then i regretted it and bought another A100 in 2024 for 508€ (new) about 4 months ago now i will not upgrade to anything for a long time.
SW8 was 339€ but it's more like hi-fi sub than studio no XLR or TRS conections. Good improvement over T5 faster, goes lower, tighter with better detalization basically it was built for A100.
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