Pro 8 Active V3 Studiomonitor : Pretty awesome studio monitors for the price.

Before these monitors, I had the opportunity to listen and work on the monitors of the following companies: Yamaha HS5, KRK RP5, ADAM A3, JBL 305, Neumann KH80, Mackie CR5.

I also had the opportunity to hear Barefoot, Avantone - I had a diverse experience in listening and working on studio monitors.

I make electronic music and when choosing monitors it was important for me to buy an instrument that would last me at least the first couple of years and in the future I would not be disappointed or even leave it as the second pair of monitors.

Monitors from one batch came to me, the serial number differs by one digit, I think they should be technically close in their characteristics.

At the moment (04.10.2019) I have been using these monitors for a little more than five months - the purchase date is 04/18/2019 and I am ready to share my impressions about them.

My room is not prepared acoustically, I proceed from my subjective impressions and almost six months of work on these monitors.

Sometimes I will give a comparison with monitors from other manufacturers to draw an analogy.

Externally:

The monitor is assembled soundly, the front cover is made separately from the case - it is not made from a single piece and, probably, the woofer and twitter are held on this cover.

The encoders on the rear panel are smooth, the volume control and the high-pass filter are accurate and match the left and right monitors.

The connectors do not hang, feels tight, the cables in them hold perfectly.

Sound:

I bought a model with an 8 inch speaker, because unlike 5 inches you can rely on the presence of bass.

It is present from ~ 60Hz.

The bass does not swim and does not buzz, the attacks are quite clear, it can swing.

For more control, I plan to buy a subwoofer in the future - do not expect from these monitors a sub-bass or deep bass, they will give you a lot, but they will not give an extra bass or a clean picture.

Low-mid:

100-600Hz - readable drums, punchy kicks - you hear your drum part as it is, any minor change: reverb, harmonics, equalization, you name it - you see this picture clearly and distinctly. Didn't used it for a rock, so don't know how it sounds there, but for electronic music it's definitely nice sound.

Mid - mid-high:

600-4000Hz - pure vocal parts, richness of wind instruments, keyboards, synthesizers - components are heard, the opportunity to work with layers more accurately opens up.

It feels like a sound like Yamaha, ADAM - a clean, full sound.

High:

4000-18000Hz - quite clear tops, the harmonics of the instruments begin to work, it becomes possible to place the character of the instruments here and you can hear it.

If there are not enough high frequencies, we hear everything in different ways, – there is an adjustment knob on the rear panel and you can add / decrease, for all the time I work at the "0" position.

The volume of these monitors is more than enough to work with arrangements, when you want to feel the energy and compatibility of the elements, when you add something and hear that it works, you feel it with your chest.

Mixing I prefer to do at low volumes, as it takes some time and this is a big load on the ears.

It’s quite comfortable to work with them, it’s possible to do this for 4-7 or more hours in a row, sometimes I switch to headphones and take breaks.

With delivery to Russia, each monitor cost me ~ $ 230.

The monitors are quite heavy: approximately 13 kg each - consider this when delivering to your country and from your mail)

At the moment, I am completely satisfied with this purchase and am glad that I took these monitors.

If you're looking for some start-point before buy something really pro-level like Neumann, Focal, Dynaudio, ADAM S-series, ATC, Amphion etc, and you ready to spend around $500 – these one actually worth it.