Budget studio monitor comparison

This morning I bought a pair of Tascam VL-A4 powered studio monitors for a friend who runs a studio in the Solomon Islands, so before I sent them I thought I'd test them out and compare them with the monitors I use daily - Yamaha MSP 5s. Test conditions are by no means ideal, but this is a quick comparison not a serious review. Why bother? Well in places like the Solomons, people have to very budget conscious, and a lot of music is recorded, mixed and mastered on equipment from the lower cost end of the market. When I tried to search for a review and independent opinion I couldn't find one, so here goes!

My setup consists of a macbook connected to a Metric Halo 2882. I then connect separate outputs to the different pairs of speakers.






First impressions of the VL-A4s are that they are reasonably solid, bar the fact that there is no grill over the speaker cones... Why? For looks? Certainly not for performance so maybe cost. Take care with 'em then.

I ran some of my standard reference tracks (a combination music which I think is useful in terms of specific features of mixing and material I know very well) and kept switching between the different speakers, while adjusting my head position to get my ears level with the upper drivers.

The most obvious difference is that the Tascam's lack the crispness in the high end that the Yamaha's have. They can also sound a little muddy, although I did have them too close to the wall so that would most likely have made a difference. The bass on the Yamahas is a lot clearer and extends further back than the Tascams too - fairly obviously given the Yamaha's have 5 inch drivers as opposed to the 4inch Tascams.

In terms of the stereo field, jumping back and forth between the speaker pairs at first gives the impression that the Tascams have a narrower field. A more detailed listen shows that the definition and location of instruments in the stereo field sounds much tighter and more accurate on the Yamahas.

Ultimately it is the reduced lack of clarity in the high mids and highs that would worry me most when mixing on the Tascams. The Yamahas don't always sound particularly pleasant, but they do give a much more accurate representation of what is there I think. I get the feeling I'd find it easier to locate problems in a mix with the Yamahas.

Price is a big issue here though - the MSP5s sell for about AUD$1000 a pair here, and the VL-A4s were about AUD$250.

I might try a mix on them at home tonight and see how it goes...