September 5, 2008

Rating: 9/10

Active 2x20 watt monitors, with 2 input channels, split over a variety of inputs. Bass & Treble controls on the front, with independent volume for each channel. Ported Bass reflex cabinets finished in \'Black Ash\'. Mains powered.

Sound quality is very good. These are musical speakers, and allow bass to be tracked at low levels for monitoring. Treble and midrange and smooth and spike free, and the entire listening experience is effortless and fatigue-free after some hours of use. They\'re exceptionally good for small apartment / bedroom use - you don\'t need an amp with them , and the twin channel inputs will take your soundcard output, and your MP3 player or keyboard at the same time. Came top in a review by a German mag too. You can mix and monitor on these speakers, -they\'re not \'flat\' but they are a good representation of what listeners like, and if your mix sounds good on these, then it\'s going to sound good on larger systems.

Perfect for PC use, and a big upgrade on the usual PC speakers - they\'re magnetically shielded too, and you can plug almost anything into them. At the price - brilliant.

August 21, 2008

Rating: 9/10

You know if you spend under £100 on NFMs, you are unlikely to have the dogs danglies in sound.

But, however, if you are a bedroom producer and sick to death of over the top reviews about clarity and speaker quality, read on....

Behringer MS40 - great speakers for bedroom producers.

Sound - They will go loud. Very loud if thats your cup of tea. The clarity is good. As these are my first NFMs I cannot compare them to others. However, they wipe the floor with standard PC speakers. Yes, even your 5.1 surround sound mega bass-woofer monstrosity will not pick out the depth of music that these speakers are capable of.

Looks & Build Quality:

Simply put - they are solid, heavy units that look and feel the business. They look proffesional.

SUMMARY:

Bedroom Producer - YES YES YES. Great sound and now when your finally mixing that oh so long project, you can feel and hear the results that you will probably not be able to accomplish on standard speakers.

Professional - You know more than us, so why are you looking at cheaper monitors!?

My PC Spec (for reference):

Simple - XP64 running 2GHz processor and 1500MB+ ram

Software - FL Studio 8 XXL & plugins

Hardware: EMU 0404 PCI sound card (excellent, available from dolphin - check out my 0404 review), MIDI Keyboard Controller (Edirol).

darren eve
February 14, 2008

Rating: 7/10

I read the other reviews on the MS40's and thought a few points were missing! I've been using a set for a year in my project studio. These monitors are pretty good for the price because of the following reasons:
1. analog and digital inputs (phono, mini jack, digi coax and optical).
2. two seperate stereo channels (volume control for each) operable simultaneously.
This makes them very flexible in use -
3. They are a good compact size and also have headphone out.
4. They are loud enough for project studio situations and you don't need to buy an amp (they are active - not passive as some guy said!).
OK, now the downside.
You have to think of them like a reasonable quality home stereo with functions for the computer musician. They are not detailed enough for serious mixing and certainly not mastering so please don't buy them thinking you will be buying a cheap alternative to high-end studio gear. They don't have the kind of bass extension, clarity or response for these tasks. However, and this is a big however.
You can definitely use them for tracking/recording/dubbing, home-mixing, midi/synth based-studio work and general music work on the computer as long as you accept that when you get to the final mixing stage you will need to do that on better monitors.
If you are recording at home, your room probably isn't acoustically ideal for listening anyway so this really isn't a problem. You could take a project all the way the final mixdown stage with these monitors, saving yourself the need for expensive kit or studio time; then take your basic mixes to somewhere or someone where you will be able to really hear what is going on. This would probably need to be done even if you had expensive kit at home but in an untreated environment.
That's why I think in the right hands, aware of their limitations, these monitors are quite a good buy.
Sorry the review is so long!!
darren eve

Jamie Henderson
December 31, 2007

Rating: 10/10

I recently bought a pair of these monitors, by Behringer and was seriously impressed. I ordered them 4 days before Christmas, on a Friday and they arrived on Sunday! So I was very pleased with the service.

When I unwrapped the speakers I instantly fell in love with the shape and design of these beasts. For such small monitors, they weigh a tonne (as all good monitors should). I use the speakers simply for playing music and games attached to my PC and the quality is fantastic!

The 40 watt total power output is more than enough for any sane individual. I bought some shielded dual ended wires which really seem to put out some very clean sounds. There's absolutely no buzz thanks to the in built amps that most monitors include.

The controls are easy to use and very useful. There's a myriad of input types that you can use; coaxial, stereo, mono, line-in, optical. One neat feature is that the speaker can play Line 1 and Line 2 inputs at the same time, and has a dial on the front to get the correct mix of the two. If I can't be bothered to get my guitar's amp, I'll often just plug straight into these speakers and jam away. (Although you will need some sort of adapter to go from the larger guitar lead cables).

So what's more to say? These are some very classy, very impressive sounding speakers that don't take up too much room and won't burn a hole in your pocket. 10/10.

MJF
January 29, 2007

Rating: 8/10

I have a set of these and they are very good for the price. You have to remember what they are - passive monitors. They are not for using with a CD system to listen to your discs, for the reasons I’ll explain.
They are passive monitors, which give off already amplified sound in a small focal point. Basically, you have to be close to them and sitting in front of them to get the best sound, unlike normal speakers you have with your hi-fi, which sound the same wherever you are in the room. These monitors don’t work like that. Ideal for monitoring your music as you record it or for when sitting at a PC.
The good thing is, if you use than as PC speakers, you can have them on reasonably loud without it affecting others in the house, because the sound is focussed into a small area. Also, it has a headphone socket on the front, if you need it. It also has bass and treble but you’ve probably already sorted that at the source.

I’ve found it good to put my guitar through it and you can also mix another sound, like a drum machine through it, because it has two types of inputs which can be on at the same time. It has every type of Input socket on the back such as RCA, s/pdif (optical and coaxial( and 3.5mm jack too.

Do not buy as speakers for your hi-fi or for listening if you are not sitting right in front of it. The sound does not carry. They are good as PC speakers and for monitoring.

My only negative is, that it can't handle a compression sustainer on top of the normal sound but that isn't really what it's intended for anyway. Everything else though is very good.

Good for the price.

kjh
July 1, 2006

Rating: 3/10

These monitors are very muddy. They way over exaggerate the bass response. Just play back some of you favorite CD songs to train your ear to them, and you will be disappointed. They are not flat or true.