May 2015
OK.., so I’ve been in the market for a simple pair of small monitors – as a secondary reference to my Mackie MR8 MkII nearfields. After going back and forth between the Avantone Mixcubes – and the Behringer Behritone C50A monitors for the past few months – I finally decided on the Behritones.
If you’ve been doing the same kind of back and forth as I have – then you are no doubt aware of the “controversy” surrounding the Aurotone clones. Honestly, I wasn’t so concerned with all the arguing over the merits of one over the other (especially between the Avantone and the Behringer) as it really comes down to how it works for you and your mixes. The major fact here is that the Behritone C50A retails for about $120 ea — whereas the Avantone MixCube (if you can even find just one), is going for about US$240 — so, double the price – for double the performance??? While I don’t yet have an Avantone Mixcube to compare here yet – the facts are that the Behritone C50A has been working GREAT here for me over the past month.
The C50A has done exactly what I had hoped it would do — which is give me a second reference source for adjusting (primarily) the midrange frequencies of my mixes – and to tighten-up the bass as well. I actually bought two of them, but have yet to connect the second monitor. I’ve been listening to the C50A primarily in MONO (as a single speaker) by using the ALTERNATE speaker setting on my Audient iD22 – and choosing the MONO option. It’s been an excellent reference for this purpose.
The Audient iD22 allows me to adjust the volume balance between my main monitors and the C50A’s – so, everything is well-balanced when switching between them.
I MAY hook up the second C50A to see if it’s worth having the stereo pair when needed — or may just get a single Avantone MixCube to also test in mono against the Behritone.
I was a bit surprised to find so much negative talk about Behringer as a company — I haven’t had a lot of experience with them in the past (outside of the odd thing here and there) – but, all I can say is that the C50A ‘s were well-packaged – look and work flawlessly so far – and are a great value for the money!
As always – the value of any equipment is in what it helps YOU accomplish. Try one of these out – if it works well for you, then it’s value is obvious.
I hope to have a good head-to-head and unbiased review for the Behritone and the Avantone very soon —
Stay tuned —
Steve