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Not for a gig but rather for a home, yet powerful enough to make me feel I am listening a CD from a very high quality stereo system with nice speakers.

I would like to have all the quality bass sounds and mids and trebles whether volume knob set to 10 or 3...

What type of a setup do you guys recommend? Any brand or model # appreciated...

Also what wattage UPS/Surge protector I should get without overkill...?

What's your budget?

I didn't know there was a best. I prefer my Headphones semiopen DT 880 pro, but you just don't want to listen through headphones all the time and on those occasions, I use some QSC K10 pas. I'm sure there are some monitors that would be a lot better but like asked above what do you want to spend.

danmusician wrote:What's your budget?

I think I'd like to stay under $1,000... Unless something unbelievably cool worth another few hundred bucks...

Please remember I am looking something sounding great for a 12'x15' room not for a stadium concert.

You can get some pretty good powered near-field monitors for much less than $500 each. Lots of options. A pair of these would sound great. https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail ... BYQAvD_BwE

Best is a relative term.

You can go for Focal/Adam/Genelics for decent stuff.

for low to mid price range, Yamaha/JBL/PreSonus

If you’re playing at home for your own pleasure and not looking to gig or produce recordings for others, than literally any home stereo with audio inputs will do. You mentioned wanting it to sound like you’re listening to a CD on a high quality system. You can do exactly that. When I started back in the late ’80s, I couldn’t afford a system for my keyboard and just patched into the Aux input of our component stereo system.

If you buy near field monitors, you may be disappointed with the sound. Studio monitors are designed for a very even frequency response. The idea is that a recording produced on them should sound good on any playback system. For casual listening, however, they can sound a little sterile.

By contrast, I remember being in a store one time and this young guy was enamored with a pair of speakers that had awesome bass presence. He wanted to use them for mixing in his home studio and the salesman couldn’t get him to understand that mixes produced on them would end up with weak bass when played on other systems. They were meant for casual listening, not critical mixing.

$1000 is plenty of money to get a decent system. If it were me, I’d look at a Yamaha portable PA system. You'll get good sound and if you ever decide you want to play somewhere else, you’re good to go. Something like the Yamaha StagePas 400i.

As for UPS, for the last six years, I’ve used a $40 unit I picked up at Walmart. Never had an issue, and I’ve played some venues with somewhat sketchy A/C, including a gig I did yesterday. You can spend a lot of money on a high end UPS and some folks here recommend them. I’m sure they work great, but mine has served me well.

+1 on getting a $40 Walmart UPS. I have a couple of them, as well as a couple more expensive (and larger and heavier) UPS's from Amazon and Best Buy. Turns out the lightweight one from Walmart is perfect for getting conditioned backup battery power that is portable enough to lug in a gig bag. It's got 4 battery outlets and 4 surge protected outlets:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/CyberPower-C ... A/14123366

I know you said you don't gig, but it doesn't hurt to get something that will serve you at home and for the occasional jam away from home.

For the money would be the EV ZLX 115P or 112P. Some people prefer the 12 inch over the 15 inch speaker on this particular model. I bought the ZLX 115p from PRO AUDIOSTAR IN NY. for about $750 for the pair. Great deal and the speakers sound really good. Of course just my honest opinion. Sure they may be better speakers but for the money they are fantastic. Rick Wakeman used them on the latest Yes tour.

As for speakers for your new Kronos, this is what I'd recommend:

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/K8.2

I use my first generation K8s in my studio listening to music, keys and bass practice, watching/listening to videos and audio from my computer, and for the occasional recording stint. Although not super high-fidelity studio reference monitors, they are close enough for most average uses in my opinion. While EVs, Peavey, JBL may be pretty good, imho the QSC's are a step above those, on par with similar specced Yamaha or Turbosound speakers.

They are Full Range Flat Response (FRFR), with DSP (Digital Signal Processing) to shape the flat signal via EQ, function (floor monitor or PA top), etc. The information I'm providing you here doesn't just apply to QSC speakers. Other brands you may consider, such as Yamaha, EV, or JBL, will also have FRFR DSP options. Let your research, wallet, and ears be your final guide.

As noted in an earlier post, getting near-field monitors may sound super-true ("sterile"), not be very loud, and cannot serve any other use outside the studio (party on the patio, portable keyboard amp, one-man band solution, church/office/jam event).

The K8s have served me extremely well away from home. Many others rave about the K10s too. With 3 separate inputs per speaker, and bass boost, flat and vocal switches, these guys have functioned anywhere from portable bass rig to keyboard amp to full band PA tops. Essentially a combination of basic mixer, power amp, and high quality speaker cabinet, they not only look good, but are portable enough to fit 2 of them in the wheel well behind the driver's seat of my small SUV.

The originals came with a 6 year warranty. This new generation serves up more bang for the buck, including being louder with more DSP power like EQ and presets and separate volume for all 3 inputs. The K8 version 2 now has a form factor suitable for use a stage monitor or audience-facing floor PA.

If I were starting again from scratch, the K8.2 is an option I'd seriously research and see what competition is out there. Then I'd go by user testimony given by online forums and user reviews. Good luck in your search.

amit wrote:Best is a relative term.

You can go for Focal/Adam/Genelics for decent stuff.

for low to mid price range, Yamaha/JBL/PreSonus

I have to agree with Amit here.

Best bet would be to take a little portable sounds source (uncompressed audio is a must TBH) and have a listen to a few different makes and models before buying.

Anything for PA use will not have the high quality audio you want.

danmusician's comment about near-field monitors maybe not being right for you makes sense. Small, powered PA speakers would probably suit your needs better.

I think the QSC K8's would be overkill for your small space.

Check out the options from JBL: https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/EON610
Or if that doesn't give you the bottom you want, step up to the 12" model
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/EON612

If you're not out playing gigs where you need to fill a room full of 100+ people, you don't need 2000W speakers.

I use original KRK 8’s at home and they are great. They are reasonably priced and unless your an recording engineer they will probably work fine. The new ones are as reasonable as well price wise. There are a ton of options when it comes to speakers and it will definitely make you nuts!
I just went through this with buying a new live system and ended up buying QSC without actually trying them. It was the result of recommendations from folks here and a lot of Googling.
The good is there is so many good products out there.