i Agree i just recently purchased off ebay 2 pair of M-AUDIO studiophile av 30 monitor speakers for $107.00 i thought they would be bigger about 15inches but when they arrived their only about 8inches i was kind of skeptical of the sound if it would be what i wanted to be. but when i hooked them up and laid down a track using them i was blown away by the sound these little speakers put out great low bass range & high and mid range i would HIGHLY recommend these for anyone who is serious about music production to start off with.

Well now, personally, I have the ATH-M50 monitoring cans, and I can say, they're perfect in sound quality and clarity. Combined with a good soundcard, youve got your monitors in a pair of cans. Unfortunately, I cant afford the SC I'm looking at, so I'm stuck using ASIO4ALL/the built in Realtek SC until I can get it, and the sound is still phenomenal as is. They run for ~120-40 (USD) depending on where you buy from. Seriously good deal if you ask me. Every mix I've done on them sounds great on other systems. They're also very comfortable and don't get hot easily thanks to the material the cups are made of.

For those who care, the specs.

type: closed back dynamic, driver diameter: 45 mm, magnet: neodymium, voice coil: CCAW, frequency response: 15-28,000 kHz, maximum input power:1,600 mW @ 1 kHz, sensitivity: 99 dB, impedance: 38 ohms, has a gold plated stereo 1/8" jack and a screw-on 1/4" jack.



As for the dual monitors, I'd only use that when doing 3d modeling or animation. I don't mind working with smaller windows when producing, but for art applications, you can never have a big enough monitor, or a wide enough display...wait, actually, 10 monitors wouldn't be good...never mind about that last part! XP

say like u get a midi controller with sliders and knobs instead of one with just keys . . .. u get it for the convinence of being able to do more things from your keyboard . . 2 screens has the same principal, it will in no way make your music better, its just there for personal convinence. thats all. Im runnin on a laptop now, but when i get my PC and Sonar, ima invest in 2 screes so i can have mixer in one window, and everything else in other . .

but liek i said, not essential, just convinent

I am clueless....i have'en hear of that before.what ya'll taking bout???

I just set up dual monitors maybe a week ago, I love it for everything, especially my main "hobbies", digital painting and 3D modeling.  Ref pic in the spare monitor, main Photoshop/Painter X window in the main monitor, or the UV Editor, or the Render View in the spare and the main program in the main monitor.  I did try FL with the duals, it is nice to split things up between them in that too.  Took a bit to get things happening how I wanted them to (the main monitor is to the right of the spare, and I needed the main to stay the main, but for the desktop to extend off the left side of the main, which took a few hours to figure out lol)  If you plan on hooking up more than 2 monitors, youll need more than 1 video card.  Video cards, if you aren't using a high end model, usually only have 2 ports for monitors.  I know of a few (2 or 3) that have 4 slots, but not many people buy them as they're for higher end computers doing Pixar-esque work, or for Graphic Design pros.

As for your other question, Im not quite sure what you're wanting.  If you just want a visual representation of the frequency spectrum, I think your program of choice should have that built in or in an included VST.

im sorry, but this is false. You should mix using headphones unless you are in the studio. At your home, your room is probably not accustically treated, your speakers are probably not in the exact right place and are probably not at the proper equlateral triangle position. Most people listen to music with headphones anyway. People mix with monitors because in the old days most people listened with speakers and headphones are not as comfortable and in the studio you want things to be as comfortable as possible so heads dont get hot.