Customer Reviews

M-Audio BX-5 Bi-Amplified Studio Reference Monitors ( Pair ) ? Black

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I am absolutely amazed at the sound of these monitors. The musical sound stage is recreated perfectly. Especially with classical music, sitting in speaker's sweet spot puts you right in the middle of an orchestra, and you can hear even the subtle nuances. Before getting these monitors I was worried about them lacking in bass. However, as long as you position them next to a wall or in a corner, the bass will be plentiful. Maybe not enough for heavy hitting club music, but for all practical purposes it should suffice. Moreover, BX5s have sound shaping controls on the back which allow the user to tailor the monitor's sound to almost any environment. One other point worth mentioning about self-powered speakers like these, is that the built-in power amp was specifically engineered to match the speaker cones. Therefore, more often than not, a CD player connected directly to powered speakers like these will sound better than a sub $1000 receiver matched with sub $500 speakers. Something worth considering when looking for great sound on a budget. Overall, I would recommend anyone looking for a good pair of speakers to give these BX5s a shot.

I tested this smallest model in the range of strictly studio supplier from deepdown America. The source was PC CD-ROM/ decoder line-output to M-Audio multichannel preamp (no equalizer!). Neither the electronics' gain level, nor the thick long hi-capacitance hi-resistance guitar cables used to connect to speakers , not the room (a resonant messy Club Multimedia in Moscow) contributed to the sound. We were intent to make it hard for the speakers so as to make easy for user.

The experience went to proove those are the very speakers for any player/PC/tape machine/whatever with master volume and analog RCA jacks. Some kind of volume knob will be there in most cases, though.

With master volume level crancked, we had the speakers deliver superior dynamics with not a shade of discernable distortion heard on sensetive chorale music. Their 70-watter built-in amps obviously belonged with a discrete true-to-life hi-end class, which chipset output of typical AV-receiver cannot match.

What's more, the myth about "rough studio sound with robbed-of low-level nuance" prooved a myth, exactly. If anything, the tiny 2-way M-Audios on quiet music preserved the soundstage which goes thin or hysterical on a receiver. Yet another ruined myth concerned the "difficult and unnecessary" controls on the speaker's back. They all were handy and immediately effective to level and tembre, working from min. to max. (left to right) regardless of maker's description.

Verdict: Stereopair of M-Audio's is terrific and immediately ready for home multichannel-output-equipped DVD player or 2-block (pre-main configuered) music centre. If you've got a kitchen mono tuner, an old radio, a ghetto blaster or a small receiver - one such compact speaker will revitalize them by adding power and FILTERING out hiss. They are NOT that strange "near field studio monitor" beast the public's been shunning for years. Price-wise, too.