When it comes to studio monitors for producing music, there are a LOT of options out there. And every brand has its own set of flashy marketing and own proprietary branded features, making it tough for the at-home musician to sift through the noise.
You can always visit a specialty audio shop if you live near one, but even then, deciding on the best home studio monitors isn’t always clear-cut. The best studio monitors in the store may sound stunningly good there but nowhere near as good once you install them in your studio.
The truth is, choosing the best small studio monitors is more complicated than simply picking up a pair of the best studio monitors 2021 has to offer.
You have to consider your budget, the size of your home studio space, the acoustic profile of that space, and even the kinds of music and content you’re editing.
There are all sorts of factors going into this decision. We’ve done our best to break down these factors and give you our top recommendations for a variety of price points and situations.
Below, check out our top 12 picks for the best studio monitors 2021 has to offer for your home or bedroom studio.
What Are Studio Monitors?
Studio monitors are speakers designed for use in a recording studio setting. They are active or powered speakers, which means that they require electrical power and have their own amplifier built in. This aspect differentiates them from the speakers in a home stereo or most home theater setups, which are passive in nature. Passive speakers must be powered by an external amplifier.
As an active speaker, a studio monitor can directly receive an audio signal, usually over TRS or XLR. Generally speaking, a well-built powered speaker can produce clearer, more even and more consistent audio than a passive speaker. This is one of the reasons people tend to choose active speakers for use in the studio.
Most studio monitors are built with a flat response in view. They aren’t designed to produce enhanced audio in the way that many hi-fi systems are, with boosted lows and highs. Since audio professionals use studio monitors to hear in-progress music as accurately as possible, they don’t want any kinds of alterations to the sound. They want a speaker that reproduces the track faithfully—flaws and all—so they can set about the task of fixing those flaws.
Who Uses Studio Monitors?
The most obvious answer to this question, of course, is “people who have studios.” Professional commercial studios, studio-like spaces in houses of worship, and fully furnished home studios are all likely to rely on studio monitors for playback in the control room and for editing.
These aren’t the only places that studio monitors show up, though. Because studio monitors are legitimately good-quality speakers, they sometimes show up in other places. They might crop up in home theater setups or in a quasi-audiophile listening space. Commercial spaces like restaurants or schools might use some studio monitors in place of other commercial-grade speakers, too.
So the most obvious place to find studio monitors is in studios, but you’ll also see them in use in other situations that call for reliable, consistent and high-quality audio.
Can I Just Use Whatever Speakers I Already Have?
One question some beginners ask goes something like this: “I already have [insert random speakers here] at home. Can I just use those instead of buying new studio monitors?”
Depending on their I/O, you probably can. But you shouldn’t. Here’s why.
Consumer-grade speakers prioritize sounding good. Of course, “sounding good” is a relative concept, which is why there’s so much variety in sounds across a range of products. Beats headphones are notoriously bassy, Amazon speakers tend to be muffled, Bose speakers have proprietary gimmickry going on that can sound pretty awesome in the right scenario, and so forth.
But when you’re setting up a home studio, you don’t want speakers that are trying to sound good. You want speakers that are trying to sound accurate. There’s a difference here that’s massively important.
Consumer-grade speakers tend to manipulate sound, and they do this on purpose. They might amplify highs to sound bright and shimmery or amplify lows to give you “earth-shattering bass” or some such thing. They might do complex spatial audio stuff, analyzing the room they’re in with microphones and tuning to it.
All of this stuff can make for excellent listening, but it isn’t exactly a true representation of the source.
What you want in your studio is something entirely different. You want as flat and accurate a sound as you can get. You want to know if there’s a flaw in your music—you don’t want your speakers to overcome that flaw for you.
And this is what the best studio monitors do. They provide exceptionally high-quality audio that’s perfectly balanced or flat. When set up correctly, the best home studio monitors give you a completely honest representation of what your music sounds like at present.
So, as you can see, using whatever speakers you have lying around isn’t a good idea. You won’t get as true or accurate an idea what your music sounds like, and you might start producing music that sounds good to you — but not to your audience.
Best Studio Monitors 2021
Now that we’ve covered what studio monitors are and how they are typically used, it’s time to find the right ones for your setup. Yet there are so many options on the market that it’s hard to know where to start.
If you’re looking for the best home studio monitors for 2021, we’ve compiled the ultimate list. Whether you’re trying to find the best monitors for music production, the best small studio monitors or both, you’ll find highly acclaimed models and surprise picks alike in the sections below.
Yamaha HS Series
We’d be remiss if we didn’t start with the Yamaha HS Series, a simply iconic line of studio monitors with roots going back to the 1970s. If you’ve been in the industry long, you’ve probably seen these speakers somewhere. While HS speakers are available in either black or white cabinets, all models have an iconic white woofer.
All three models are also available in an I variant (HS5I, etc.). These variants are identical in performance and simply add a bracket mount.
Yamaha HS5
The most affordable in the lineup, the Yamaha HS5 is a contender for best small studio monitors and may be the best option available under 500. These active speakers feature a five-inch cone woofer with a one-inch dome tweeter and offer two-way bass-reflex bi-amplified nearfield audio.
As with others in the line, the goal here is flat, even response—the truest representation of your sound that you can get. And that’s what you want in a studio monitor, of course.
Frequency response ranges from 54Hz to 30kHz, and there are a total of 70 watts of power amplification per speaker.
On the speaker you’ll find ROOM CONTROL and HIGH TRIM controls as well, and the HS5 accepts XLR and TRS inputs (balanced or unbalanced).
Check the current prices on Amazon for the Yamaha HS5s (Black or White)
Yamaha HS7
The farther you go up the lineup, the more power you get and the more money you pay. The Yamaha HS7 is very similar to the HS5, but you get a 6.5-inch cone woofer instead of the smaller five-inch woofer in the smaller speaker.
With the added size, you get a better low frequency response (all the way down to 43Hz) and greater power— 95 watts of amplification.
Check the current prices on Amazon for the Yamaha HS7 (Black or White)
Yamaha HS8
The crown gem of the HS series, the Yamaha HS8 is a powerhouse. It has an eight-inch woofer and steps up to 120 total watts of amplification— 75 watts for low frequency and 45 watts for the high-frequency bi-amp system.
With the larger woofer, again you gain additional low frequency response, for a range of 38Hz up to 30kHz.
If you have the space and budget for a pair of HS8 studio monitors (and the additional power won’t blow out the room next to your studio), we highly recommend them as some of the best studio monitors 2021 has to offer.
Check the current prices on Amazon for the Yamaha HS8 (Black or White)
Yamaha HS8S Subwoofer
Not every home studio or bedroom studio needs a subwoofer. But if you need a studio-grade subwoofer and are already invested in the Yamaha HS series, the HS8S is the one to get. It’s an eight-inch bass-reflex powered subwoofer that significantly bolsters your low frequency response (from 22Hz up to 150Hz).
You get a whopping 150 watts of power on this low end, too, and plenty of controls. There’s a low cut switch as well as low and high cut controls (80-120Hz). With the convenient phase switch, you can easily set up this sub without the need of additional equipment.
Check the current prices on Amazon for the Yamaha HS8 Subwoofer
KRK Rokit 7 G4 Studio Monitors
If you’ve shopped for speakers of any sort in a physical store before, you may identify with this scenario. You walk into a specialty retailer and a salesperson wows you with sound so incredible you can hardly believe it. You drop some serious change to buy what they’re selling. But once you get it installed at home, it just doesn’t have the same effect.
This is a common occurrence, and it’s not typically due to any wrongdoing or shady sales practices. The difference is in the acoustics of the space. The store listening area was carefully designed to impress acoustically, whereas your house…wasn’t.
The same thing can happen in your bedroom studio. You buy a fantastic pair of monitors that should sound amazing, but they don’t.
KRK is here with a novel solution: the KRK Rokit 7 G4. The killer feature on these seven-inch monitors is the onboard graphic EQ, which shows you the response your room is giving you. Paired with the KRK app, the graphic EQ can guide you in what kinds of acoustic adjustments you need in your space.
The monitors also offer 25 settings for making adjustments based on issues with your room.
In addition to this snazzy tech, you’re also getting matching Kevlar drivers in a scientifically designed enclosure with a custom power amplifier. All this for under 500 for a pair makes the KRK Rokit G4 series some of the best home studio monitors available today.
Check the current prices on Amazon for the KRK Rokit 7 G4 Studio Monitors
Presonus Eris Studio Monitors
Presonus is a brand well-known for producing professional quality gear at surprisingly low prices. If your budget is exceptionally tight, Presonus is our top recommendation.
Simply put, the brand doesn’t make bad gear. Anything you get from them will perform well. It may lack the precision or some of the bells and whistles of other models, but it’s worth a look.
Presonus has introduced a line of studio monitors under the Eris name. We’ll review two of these below.
Presonus Eris E5
The Eris E5 is a five-inch bi-amped studio monitor, perfectly sufficient for a bedroom studio. Boasting 80 watts of power, the Eris E5 includes a Kevlar low-frequency transducer and a silk-dome high-frequency transducer, plus a front-firing acoustic port for better bass.
Presonus knows that not every home recording space is acoustically perfect, despite your best efforts. So the Eris lineup offers all sorts of acoustic tuning adjustments, including plus or minus 6 dB for midrange and high frequencies (continuously variable), an adjustable high pass filter, and a flat/-2/-4 dB acoustic space toggle.
The company also gives you the tools to know how to adjust the monitors to fit your acoustic space so that you’re getting the flattest response possible.
When you choose Eris, you’re getting powerful, highly adjustable studio monitors and the tools to make them work well in your space. And you’re not spending a whole lot to do so, as a pair of these comes in way, way under 500 bucks.
Even better, this bundle includes adjustable monitor stands and cables along with dual Presonus Eris E5 studio monitors — all for less than $300.
Check the current prices on Amazon for the Presonus Eris E5
Presonus Eris E3.5
If you’re operating in an especially small space, even a five-inch monitor might be too powerful. For the space-constrained or the beginner, the Presonus Eris E3.5 is an impressive — though tiny — introduction to the world of studio monitors.
These speakers output just 25 watts through 3.5-inch woven composite drivers and one-inch silk-dome tweeters. But what they lack in power they make up for in quality and adjustability. The Eris E3.5 comes with a scaled-back version of the acoustic tuning we described above with the E5, at a fraction of the price.
On the front panel of one of the pair, you’ll find a power switch, volume knob, and 3.5mm Aux In and Headphones jacks. Around back, there are L and R TRS inputs as well as an unbalanced RCA pair, plus the acoustic tuning controls.
At this insanely low price point, there are some tradeoffs. There’s just a single amplifier powering the woofer and tweeter, where most other speakers in this review are bi-amped. The frequency response is narrower, as well (80 Hz to 20 kHz). Still, a pair of studio monitors for $99? That’s just crazy.
Check the current prices on Amazon for the Presonus Eris E3.5
Mackie MR624
If you’re more interested in a lower-midrange price point than a small speaker size, the Mackie MR624 might suit your needs quite nicely. Given its 6.5-inch polypropylene woofer, the MR624 isn’t quite a small monitor. And polypropylene, while effective, isn’t anywhere near as high-end as some of the other materials found elsewhere.
At the same time, with just 65 watts of bi-amp power, these aren’t the most powerful speakers around. So these are slightly bigger speakers that are neither particularly powerful nor particularly expensive.
That said, they do have some great traits going for them. Mackie has a great track record with its logarithmic waveguide design, which is included here. You get an extremely wide sound dispersion, foregoing the need for staying in a particularly small sweet spot.
Also on hand here are acoustic space controls, allowing you to customize these speakers to your room.
Without question, the Mackie MR624 studio monitor is a middle-of-the-road choice. You could spend less and get less or spend more and get more. But here in the solidly under 500 bucks range, the Mackie MR624 is a contender for best monitors for music production.
Check the current prices on Amazon for the Mackie MR624 Speakers
Focal Alpha 50
As a brand, Focal isn’t well known in the general public. That’s because the bulk of their business is in ultra high-end audiophile products, including some of the best studio monitors money can buy. And sure, if you can drop $3,000 on a single monitor speaker (that’s right— $6k for a pair!), more power to you. Go buy a pair of Focal Trio6 monitors and stop reading now.
For the rest of us, gear that expensive just isn’t in the cards. A few years back, Focal decided to bring its enviable skills to a more budget-friendly audience with the Focal Alpha line. It’s still not the cheapest around, but it is at least approachable.
The Focal Alpha 50 is another of the best small studio monitors on the market today. It’s a two-way active speaker that features a near-field system, with a five-inch polyglass low-frequency driver and a one-inch tweeter.
You get a solid frequency response of 45Hz to 22kHz with a total of 103 watts of output power. The Focal Alpha 50 has LF and HF shelf knobs on the back, giving you some degree of acoustic control (but nowhere near the flexibility of some other monitors reviewed here).
Focal advertises these monitors as having low directionality, meaning you don’t have to sit in a tiny sweet spot to get a true sound. They’re also impeccably engineered so that the tonal balance remains consistent at any volume.
The Focal Alpha 50 lists for $299 per speaker, but you can often find them below $250. If you can snag a pair for under 500, you’ll have gotten a solid deal on some of the best home studio monitors we’ve found.
Check the current prices on Amazon for the Focal Alpha 50 Monitors
Focal Alpha 65
The Focal Alpha 65 is very, very similar to the Alpha 50. The larger 6.5-inch driver gives a bigger sound and a slightly better bass response (down to 40Hz from 45Hz), but the total output power doesn’t technically go up by much at just 105 watts.
Other features remain the same as the smaller unit. If you’re looking for a beefier sound in the Focal Alpha family, you’ll find it here. Otherwise, save your pennies and stick with the Focal Alpha 50.
Check current prices on Amazon for the Focal Alpha 65
Genelec 8010a
The Genelec 8010a is a tiny speaker with a not-so-tiny price tag, but it’s on this list for good reason. It’s incredibly compact, housing a three-inch wooder and a 0.75-inch tweeter, and you’ll have to shell out around $700 for the pair. Still, when considering the best small studio monitors you can get, you simply can’t overlook Genelec.
Top-end studios the world over turn to Genelec for their monitors. The brand has serious chops, even here on the small end of the spectrum. Here’s what you get with this pint-sized choice.
The Genelec 8010a monitors are bi-amplified monitors with an incredibly even frequency response. With the smaller size, the lowest of the low end takes a hit. Frequency response is just 74Hz to 20kHz. Despite the frequency cutoff, many reviewers find the low end to be shockingly well balanced.
This monitor delivers natural, flat sound with exceedingly low distortion thanks in part to its Minimum Diffraction Enclosure.
Genelec has thought out the finest details here, even down to the speaker’s isopod foot, allowing the monitor to function well on just about any desktop surface.
If you need more bass than you’re getting with a pair of Genelec 8010a monitors, you can simply pair them with a Genelec 7050B subwoofer for a more robust monitoring experience.
Check current prices on Sweetwater for the Genelec 8010a Speakers
Neumann KH 120 A
We’re getting into higher-end territory now with the Neumann KH 120 A, and the specs show it. This impressive studio monitor is bi-amped, with 50 watts each for the 5.25-inch long-throw woofer and the 1-inch dome tweeter outfitted in titanium fabric.
The cabinet is made from non-resonant aluminum, keeping your sound free from distortion.
Neumann boasts meticulous craftsmanship that ensures +/- 0.5 decibel tolerance. Any pair of these studio monitors will be remarkably well balanced. There are plenty more features here, including some that are a bit jargon heavy, like the mathematically modeled dispersion waveguide.
As you move up in price, you expect a greater degree of control and flexibility, and you get it here. On the back of the unit you’ll find controls for bass, low-mid and treble acoustic adjustments. There are four levels of adjustment for each, and there’s an easy-to-read frequency map on the speaker so you know exactly what each adjustment does.
Other controls include 15db adjustable input gain damper and five settings for output level.
If you’re looking for an exceptionally well-balanced studio monitor and have the budget to handle it, you’ll be plenty satisfied with the Neumann KH 120 A.
Check current prices on Amazon for the Neumann KH 120 A Monitros
Focal Solo6 Be
As we mentioned earlier on, Focal makes high-end studio monitors with hefty price tags. Within their main lineup, the Focal Solo6 Be is the lowest-priced option.
Make no mistake: these are premium studio monitors. A set of two will set you back a solid four figures. But if you have enough cash on hand and your home studio space has good acoustic design, you’ll be blown away by the Focal Solo6 Be.
The Solo6 Be features a 6.5-inch woofer made of two layers of glass with a foam layer in between, plus a one-inch beryllium inverted dome tweeter. It’s a powerful, luxurious studio monitor, one that produces a true reference quality sound. As such, there are fewer acoustic adjustments available here: just two small adjustments to high and low frequencies, plus a sensitivity switch on the XLR input.
Oh, and did we mention the speaker is downright beautiful to look at? If you prioritize aesthetics in your studio design, stepping up to the Focal Solo6 Be will make a big difference.