JPF Home Page Forums Musician Gear and Techniques Recording Studio and Gear Forum Alesis MkII Studio Monitors (review)

I produce and engineer all types of music from country to rap, and I own a small independent record label. I also do acoustical consulting.

Today I'll be reviewing the Alesis MkII powered monitors. I have had a pair of these for about 3 yrs now, and they have served me very well.

The monitors are bi-amplified, meaning that each speaker box contains 2 amps - one for the woofer and one for the tweeter. The amp for the woofer is 75 watts, while the tweeter is powered by a 25 watt amp.
The woofer is made of lightweight carbon fiber. The tweeter is of the silk dome variety, and is ferrofluid cooled.

There are two ports on the face of each speaker which can be plugged if necessary to accomidate room size and monitor placement.

These monitors are one of the best investments I have ever made. They have absolutely remarkable frequency response - (+ or - 2dB from 50Hz to 20KHz).
I can mix on them for hours before experiencing any signs of ear fatigue.

The only gripe I have is I think they should be a little more powerful. While they are perfect for mixing at comfortable levels, sometimes you just wanna CRANK IT UP! Especially when playing back a master of a rap song for a client. I guess I'l just have to find me some good mid-fields to impress the customers with!




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Chris

When it comnes to impressing Rap clients, nothing compares to BIG speakers. Altec is making A7's again.

I've been using these monitors for about two years now and have also been very happy with them. They are very near field (about 3 ft. between speakers) monitors, which is perfect for my situation. If you have a bigger studio, though, you may want something with a little more power and throw.

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Stone Marmot
experimental pop-rock
www.stonemarmot.com

Can't gripe about my M1 active Mk2's. They have been flawless. Thought they might be going out the other day, but it was just the recording. Someone out there is micing a busted speeker!

Hey Kaboom,
You know, I actually left out one piece of forgotten info.
About 9 months ago, I was mixing a song when my left speaker just cut out. Still had power, just no sound from the woofer.

I VERY carefully removed the back panel to find the problem, and it ended up being one simple quick-connect cable that had somehow become loose on its post. I pushed it back on securely, and it fit nice and snug. I thought "Huh, wonder how that happened?"

About 3 months later, the same thing happened with the right speaker, so I figure it was just a lazy employee who didn't take the time to make sure they were properly connected.

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Chris

Actually, I had the same thing happen to me a month ago with the tweeter in one of my speakers. I just reseated the push-on connectors to the back of the tweeter and it has worked well since then.

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Stone Marmot
experimental pop-rock
www.stonemarmot.com

Well, if you can afford the extra bux I would sport for the Genelec 1029a's. They are absolutely amazing. I can't even turn these speakers up past a quarter turn before it's friggen loud. But I have cranked them up and they produce kick ass sound.

The great thing about Genelecs is that they sound the same no matter which series you own. But then they cost more, so most people don't consider them for their project studios.

Jody

Alesis makes some really nice stuff. I'm anxious to hear the new ProLinear DSP monitors from them. Reviews are thumbs up so far. Mine are vintage JBL 4408. So far so good. But I'm ready for something new.


Kris Karr

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/2/kriskarrmusic.htm