Customer Reviews

Behringer Speaker MS40 Digital 40-Watt Stereo Near Field Monitors

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you need a inexpensive home theater PC speakers MS40 are fun. Their mids and highs are sweet e the mid-bass line is satisfatory. Those ones who intend to listen to MP3 and watch movies on PCs will enjoy MS40.

On other hand, if you need a reference monitor for recordings, forget it! No way! MS40 is quite uneven, lacks resolution and clarity on mid band and its treble has absolutely no resolution. Bass lines isn't good enough also, because of its lack of control and velocity (they are boomy speakers). Their quite apparent boxiness also let MS40 down.

Looking for a entry level reference monitor? I would recommend to spend a bit more and get KRK Rockit RP5G2 or a M-Audio BX5A. They cost twice as much, but sound 4 times better. You can't afford any of them as your budget is short, so go with M-Audio AV30 or AV40. In my opinion, even the chep M-Audio AV20 offers better mid and treble resolution than behringer MS40.

These Behringer MS40's are rockin' my apartment big time. I have had plenty of speakers in my day, but these are the best combination of size and sound. I still find myself thinking "where's the sub at" on occasion when enjoying these speakers, because the low end sounds beautiful. I remember when you would have had to of placed tower speakers sporting 10" cones or had a sub cabinet to get this sound. Best part is that the mid range and highs sound GREAT too!! With about 8-10 feet of seperation between the speakers the imaging is right on. When I watch movies with them you get what they intended to mix. Dialogue is centered, cars sweep across the room, and explosions rock the walls. I listen to quite a bit of music and enjoy various styles. It really doesn't matter what the genre because the end result is always excellent. My only advice would be to make sure that you are not to close to the speaker when listening. I originally place them about 3' from each end of my couch and realized that the "sweet spot" was my kitchen...I switched their placement to the opposite end of the room and have sounded great ever since. Seriously well balanced speakers...not like they are the best, but I have not found any better for the price. Something else that makes them awesome is the input section. I have my computer running through one input, my tv/dvd through another and sometimes friends will drop by and we plug their ipod straight into another input...two volume controls allow me to adjust the computer and tv/dvd seperatly. These speakers are SWEET for the Price!!!

These are excellent amplified speakers, with great fidelity for their size and unusual flexibility to accept both analog and digital inputs. The exposed and delicate woofers, however, had me worried. I searched the web for speaker grills that had four mounting holes to match those of the MS40 (screw holes exactly 4 15/16" across from each other). I hit paydirt in my search, have just finished installing the grills and have uploaded a photo to show how they look installed. These grills are Item 260-420 from Parts Express. They come singly, so buy two. These are a perfect fit in size and color for the MS40. Mounting these grills takes about 5-10 minutes per woofer, requires no drillling or modification to the MS40 and is reversible. In my opinion, there is no effect on sound quality. Cost with shipping is about 18 bucks for two grills. Lastly, I have no affiliation with Parts Express.

Brief How-To: Place one of the enclosures on its back and remove the four screws with a 3mm hex driver. Lift off the plastic ring. Save the ring and four screws if you want to restore to original later. Mount the circular grill bracket using the four screws that came with the grill kit. Put the included steel clips on the screws to act as spacers against the rim of the woofer, aligning them to conform to the rim without extending over the woofer cone. Carefully screw the mounting bracket onto the screw holes in the MS40 enclosure, alternating between screws until the bracket is flush with the enclosure - don't overtighten the screws. Push the circular grill onto the bracket -it goes on easily and can be removed for cleaning when needed. Repeat the process for the second enclosure. Enjoy.

I purchased a set of these new, and actually have a fair amount of Behringer equipment. I like it because there are some subtle misunderstandings with the equipment they sell, and that means you can usually get it very cheaply.

I am very happy with these, and actually suspect that much of the whining about midrange is from people who previously had multi-media speakers, and miss the exaggerated midrange. I have faith in Behringer, and these speakers are probably quite flat in their dynamic response. On the other hand, I have considerable flexibility in driving them through a good mixer, and can get what ever I want out of them. My only criticism is that these speakers are very directional as a result of their design, and it can be difficult to find the listening "sweet spot".

A clue about Behringer stuff:

A design technique they use is electronic power cutoffs to eliminate noise from low amplitude signals. This means if you don't have enough input amplitude to drive them, you may get faint or no sound out of them. My guess is that this is the case with the sets that can be had for 70 bucks because one or more speakers is faint, or not producing sound at all. See what I mean about getting Behringer stuff cheap? <g>.

PS - There is no hum out of them, they are absolutely silent when not being driven

DO buy these if you have a moderate (No more is required) understanding of sound system architecture, and can set them up properly!

DON'T buy these if you want something to plug in to your ipod or TV set, and are going to give up because 5 seconds after you do you are unhappy with what is coming out of the speakers. What you want are multimedia speakers.

Finally, if you want to chance a "Damaged" pair that isn't producing good sound out of one or more speakers, go right ahead, but do so at your own risk. I bought them new, but as soon as I plugged them in got faint sound out of one speaker until I went through and made certain they were being driven with a strong signal, and all the interconnects were solid - Then Presto! (As I say to myself - Oh yeah - Behringer stuff)

I recently purchased a Samsung 58" ultra-slim plasma TV for my main viewing area. It took the place of a 46" Sony XBR Bravia, which by today's standards would not be considered "slim." My viewing tastes encompass film, and live concerts recorded to DVD. The audio system that I originally purchased in conjunction with the Sony Bravia consists of high-end Klipsch speakers. Because I was happy with this system, I have continued to use it in conjunction with the Samsung plasma. For those who own an ultra-slim plasma, you know that the audio is just "okay," but certainly not commensurate with the size of the picture. When I am not watching a movie or a concert, I usually do not run my surround sound system. I am therefore limited to audio contained in the TV itself.

Enter the Behringer MS40. By profession, I am a video editor, and already had hands-on experience with the very high quality of Behringer audio mixers and audio monitors. So I decided after a little research to purchase a couple of MS40's and use them to play back the audio from my Samsung plasma TV when I was just watching regular TV programming. The quality, depth, and rich sound from these monitors is absolutely superb.I am extremely pleased with my decision.

From time to time, when I must meet with a video client at his location, I may need to bring a small
TV monitor to show my work. Because the audio part of the presentation is also very important, I will bring the MS40's for playback.

If you are considering these monitors for a computer,to play back your regular TV programming, or for a small group presentation..don't hesitate. these are high quality...As you unpack them, you will immediately be impressed by the quality of the construction..and after you hook them up you will be blown-away by the sound.

I bought these Behringer MS40 speakers from amazon a few weeks ago, and had the exact same problem as some other reviewers, right speaker would make loud rattle sound when low frequency sound or bass is on. After I researched this problem online, it seems this is quite a common problem with the MS40, one reviewer even exchanged and got the same problem with the 2nd set of MS40. I didn't really want to ship the stupid thing back to amazon unless I have to. So I opened up the right speaker, trying to find what's causing the rattling. It seems to me that it is the untied cable that is causing the rattling, there are two loose cables (one thick, one thin), directly behind the sub-woofer, and comes loose by default. So I duct taped these cables securely to the internal wall of the speaker, making sure they will not touch the sub-woofer at all, then I put everything back, tested it with a heavy bass, and the rattling is gone.

Other than the rattling problem, the speaker sounds nice. But Behringer really should've taken care of the rattling problem at the factory, this problem has existed for over 3 years, and still these speakers being shipped today still comes with this problem. I am disappoint. I will probably not buy a Behringer speaker again in the future.

I bought these to replace a 2.1 setup on my desktop last year (a sub just doesn't sound right when it's right next to you).

Their performance and durability is flawless. They are acoustically flat, so it shouldn't be necessary to tweak the settings to get the correct sound from them.

These are ideal speakers for a simple computer-based home AV setup, like a Mac mini and projector. I like them for a lot of reasons:

-Cheap.
-Fantastic sound: rich, crisp--very precise.
-Digital all the way to the speaker.
-No receiver necessary (Huge huge plus).
-With no subwoofer, the sound is more balanced through the frequency spectrum rather than booming special effects constantly taking over.
-With no surround, you can focus on the sound from a single direction in the room rather than it washing all over the place.
-Low cord clutter: spdif to one speaker, power cord to one speaker, cable between speakers.
-Big enough to set on floor without them falling over or jumping around if somebody moves a cord (unlike PC speakers), but small enough they're easy to move when you do.

In the last 12 years, home theater has gone nearly 100% subwoofer and surround. Try out a 2.0 bookshelf system instead. Not only is it cheaper and simpler, the sound is in many ways better. It's really all about detail and focus. You can hear precise detail across the frequency spectrum without booming special effects base always taking over every time it appears. You can focus on listening to the audio from the screen side of the room rather than having it awash all around you.

Watched Battlestar Galactica (RDM) on these, then later on a 5.1. Liked the experience in 2.0 better.

This will not be your typical review. I'm not much of an audiophile, so I can't speak authoritatively about these speakers. I'll just tell you what I like and don't like from a layman's perspective.
Likes: They are plenty powerful enough for me and my applications. I use them in my home office as speakers for my computer and for my LCD HD T.V. The T.V. has lousy internal speakers, but then I knew that going into it. My Sony powered speakers were dying and needed to be replaced, so I chose these, based on a friend's professional advice. So, now when I listen to music or watch videos on my computer, or watch the T.V. I get ample, good quality (at least to me) sound.
Dislikes: 1. No balance control. 2. The plastic plug they had inside the headphone jack was the most difficult thing to get out of there. I nearly ruined the jack trying to remove that stupid little plastic plug. You would think if they felt it truly necessary to have a plug in the jack when they ship it, that they would have some device on it that one could grip to remove it. I was just on the verge of sending the speakers back when I finally was able to remove it. 3. I wish I could use digital optical connectors for both lines, instead of the one they supply on the back. Also, if one chose to go analog, it would be nice if they gave you the choice of the RCA inputs for either line, instead of only one line. As it is, I have to use one digital line for the computer and one analog line for the T.V. I can't use analog (at least the RCA style plugs) or digital for both.
So, for me, the sound quality is great, but the features leave a little to be desired. Hence a four-star rating.
Hope that helps someone.

I've used these for 3 months now. I'm not an audiophile, but I am critical with the type of music I listen to(jazz, pop, classical, vocals + instumental). Replaced a Logitech z3800i(I liked too!) which had a circuit board failure. These speakers sound great to me, has enough controls(volume, bass, treble) and accessible connections(headphone plug and power-on button in front, not in back of speaker). They're built sturdy, but are BIG for the computer desktop, unless you have a large desk. The speakers lack a front grill, so you have to be careful not to accidently 'poke' the woofer cones. Delivery by Amazon and the originating company was GREAT! Arrived quickly and was securely packed.