Just a bit of background information first: I compose and rough mix with Sony 7506 headphones, which I highly recommend for the price versus flat response. I am done composing and the time for mastering has arrived. I had pre-researched many entry-level project monitors in the 300-500 dollar range for about a year. I'd planned to buy passive speakers and use a Kenwood Kstat amp (very clean 200W) to power these, but my amp became unusuable for an odd reason. I was very fortunate to come across a pair of used Alesis powered monitors in a music store, I literally pounced on them considering the price. Being intimately familiar, of course, with the subtle nuances of my songs through the Sony 7506 headphones -- I was eager to hear the mix through speakers/air. Naturally there is far greater bass presence, as well I clearly detect all the mids and highs where I expected them with a few revelations here and there that headphones simply cannot produce. For mixing and mastering the Alesis create a nice sound field, allowing you to immerse within a rich 3D space.

The convenience of internal power is wonderful. These speakers are compact, yet highly accurate. With a mini-jack adapter you can even hook these up directly to a laptop, as the input is line-level and can go straight into a headphone jack. Which is amazing, considering the huge, rich, 3D space which envelopes your head. No amp needed, true convencience with the satisfaction of mixing through a system you know is accurate. Can you beat that!

Ease of use would be highly rated, considering that the power is interal and you simply need to plug them in and your off. These speakers take either RCA (guitar) jacks or more advanced balanced jacks (vocal mic 3 pin). Here, I have quarter inch jack adapters (guitar) attached to RCA type cables which lead to a stereo mini-jack adapter which goes into the back of my PC. This sound is so clean, I don't even use my protools rig anymore.

For the accuracy of sound to price, this would be hard to beat. In fact, considering the satsifaction of being able to hear your music so accurately for this price, it's somewhat of a miracle.

For the money, this is a great investment for your studio. Hey, if you have no limit on money, I would of course say buy a pair of monitors that are legendary, but if you are on a budget -- the Alesis will do the job with ease.

I have not had a need to contact support, but I did find the Alesis web site quite reasonable with good links and resources.

Great looking speakers, they are just the right size and color. In particular you can feel the quality when you lift these as they feel very dense, solid and tight.

Art Director, Composer

Electronic Ambient

These speakers sound excellent for their cost. Listen to your favorite artists through them while tuning your master EQ and your set. I've used many low cost and these are one of the best. Some say the highs are too high or the mids are to high...adjust your EQs. These are just plain crisp. Get over it. A subwoofer option designed specifically for this set would be very nice. But don't change the recipe Alesis these sound honest.

A really, really good instruction manual was included. Power cables too. But no speaker cables were included so factor that in when shopping. Spend well on the cables. Official Alesis Bass port plugs are the only thing missing from this excellent set of low cost, high quality monitors. I'm sure something could be crafted up if needed.

Again tune your master out and your ready to roll. Occasionally sound check your work on other systems of course! Just like other speakers you'll adjust to these, but I believe it isn't as hard as of adjustment.

Gave it a nine because one of the Blue power leds didnt work out of the box. I ended up putting a piece of tape over the other speakers led cause it was too bright anyway!! They are really bright infact :)

These are worth more than their selling price. I think the company knows it and made a bet on it.

If you haven't looked at the .pdf manual yet then you need to do so. It will show you what type of company your buying from. It becomes quite obvious Alesis is very dedicated to what they do while your reading this precise and informational product manual. I dont think I'd have a problem with them if I needed to speak to someone about something.

These are a practical addition to my set up. Again if you read through the included manual it goes to show how deep the company went into R&D. The set is designed the way it is for a reason. To lay flat or upright depending on what your mixing. Their almost two sets in one because of this. Thats genius. No more using a different set to mix vocals...genius.

Hobbyist, Extreme audiophile, Sound Surgeon

All of it.

They really do sound great. It sounds very clean and equalized. They can get loud, but its hard to judge the real deep bass. But I think everyone should have some sort of sub to flip on and off to check the low frequencies. Don't get me wrong though, the bass sounds good and clear.

I like the Biamp, and two hole design. I think it would have been nice to add switches in the front, and have caps to cover the bass holes for acoustic tuning.

Sturdy, solid, and clear. What more can i ask for?

Seriously, i put a lot of research into this, these are the best for youre money, the only speakers I'd consider getting next are Mackies. But I've had these for a year and a half and I don't really even want Mackies now.

Haven't needed to talk to them, because they work perfect. Is that pre-emptive support?

Very standard and semetrical design, they match my Kurzweil, and computer well. I'm so used to the sound of these now that I can tell when a mix is off, or whether it will sound level on another play back device or not (well not perfectly, but no one can really).

Experienced musician, and recording student / Intern.

Hip hop, and IDM

This pair basically is very useful when I monitor my mixes in stereo, it give me an idea what I am doing. Sound quality is good, smooth and bearable compared to my Yamaha HS 80, which really gets ears tired quickly when mixing in loud volumes. The Alesis MK2 M1 active however seem to lengthen the period of mixes without too much breaks in between. The HS 80 however has definitely more sound detail and power. I use the HS to listen to detail, I review mixes longer in the Alesis.

The internal design of the power amp section has already been altered by Alesis. I opened it up to see whether the same flawed design was still in them. I'm glad I would not have any problems commonly associated with the capacitors of the old design. The C8 capacitors are not located where it was before, and that it had been replaced with higher specs compared to the former. The resistor that usually corroded the C8 capacitor has been re-sized, too. So bye bye capacitor problems.

I got used to it the moment I knew how it sounded. Still getting used to it though depending on the audio material being used.

I guess it would last at least five years of daily use at loud volumes.

I started playing music at the age of 8, I play piano, guitar, drums ,bass. I do audio production home studio based

rock, hip hop, country, classical, Christian, etc.

The sound quality is massive for what you spend on these speakers. I came from using the MK2 passive monitors and I was experience amp failure so i decided to purchase these active monitors. It was a great move!

The speakers come with everything as listed. Don't expect to get receive speaker wire because everybody's setup is different from the next.

Plug and play...need I say more.

For what it's worth you get more than what you pay for!

Most def!

Love at first site!

active musician, home producer

all types

Granted, after using PC speakers for longer than I'd like to admit, any upgrade is welcome. However, for the price of an iPod, I finally have a legitimate set of monitors. The sound is amazing, and adding in the price point, makes it even better.

An out for a sub-woofer would have been perfect.

Needed to determine the right speaker cables (By the way male xlr -> male 1/4") for connection to my UX2, then it was a cinch!~

Product seems well made - lots of weight to it. Would have liked a grill cover, I'm just concerned about protecting the front...

Great bang for the buck.

Active Musician

Folk/Rock/Americana

I've been involved with recording and mixing since the 70's and I give the monitors a 9. They are not perfect, especially the low end. The whole port stuffing solution outlined in the manual leaves a lot to be desired. The reason I rate them highly is, though they sound just decent, they "voice" like better monitors. That is, when you take your mixes to another studio, to a car stereo, to a boombox or consumer stereo, you will hear what you expect. These monitors do not mislead you as you set levels, place vocals, set pans and EQ. To get something more accurate, you would spend three times more. There is a reason these are the insider's secret. They work.

The features - the drivers, the crossover, the amps - are all fine for this price range. I give them a 9 because, a pot or reostat to adjust bass level would not add a lot to the cost, but would add a lot to functionality.

Plug and play. Takes XLR and quarter inch connectors.

The quality seems fine so far. No issues. Some users report that the power indicator LED's fail. I hope they do because they are too bright.

One of the very best bang-for-buck monitor solutions out there. 3 out of 4 recording engineers recommend these for home demo studios.

Unknown. I have never dealt with Alesis on warranty issue.

They are just black boxes. Monitors with no grills.

Game Audio Producer

Pop, soundtrack, retro

The Good..Their Even Response and Smooth Delivery Doesn"t Fatigue Even After Hours of Listening. They Behave Themselves Even When Driven to Anti-Social SPL"s The Bad..Their Blue Power on Indicator is Waaaay To Bright !That Silly +3dB Lift at 48Hz. Spoils an Otherwise Competent Reference Monitor.

Best Features Are Simple Operating Control, Just a Volume Knob at the Rear.There Are no Really Bad Features, Apart from The Eyeball Searing Blue On-Light.That Bass Lift Can Spoil Enjoyment of Some Recordings.

Simple Design and Layout Enables Easy Connection of Mains and Audio Leads.

Build Quality is Really Very Good. They Are Nice to Have and Hold.No Rattles or Buzzes, Even at High Volume Levels.

Probably The Best Value Proper Monitoring Speaker Currently Available

No Experience in This Area, (yet)

For Me Alesis M1 Active MK2 Wow Factor is the The Sound, It"s Gorgeous.(After Plugging The Front Ports to Tame that Silly +3dB Bass Lift.)

Audio Enthusiast /Engineer/Long Standing Relationship in Pro Audio Industry

Classical, Jazz, Rock, Acoustic,, Vocals.

I think this is a decent monitoring system ......the sound quality is just a little bass heavy ....but not much at all ....the only tip I would have would be ....be sure to play reference material (professional material ) and use it as a guide to compare your mixes or masters too.... I use a DBX 2231 dual eq to set the system to my ears . These speakers do translate pretty well ...compaired to the behringer passive speakers i used in the past .

N/A

Pretty much plug and play ......just use the recomended method of plugging a one of the port holes if you have too much bass or usea 31 band eq ..... I know its not the recommended method ....but I dont want to remodel my house !

made well ....seems reliable ....seems like they will last a long time

Well worth the cash ...

Never had to contact

the appeal of this product is what made me buy it ....they look good , had good reviews .

30 years , pro the last 5 years

Country

Crisp honest sound. Best in it's class.

great manual. easy set-up

5 years of daily usage. travel with them. I don't have a special case, tossed them in the suircase a few times.. still sound great... have a few scratches here and there but thats it. Solidly built.

After 5 years of problem free usage I have to say that they have paid for themselves 10 times over.

never needed any

the clear true sound.. what you hear is what you'll get.

producer/artist

electronic

Sound excellent. They sound transparent but not too thin- music does sound good through them if it's been produced well. Superb near field monitor speakers- and good for casual listening as well.

The power supply on one of my speakers has just failed (after 3 years use). They cost 99 pounds to replace (basically the cost of a new speaker). Alesis deny this is a common problem, but it obiously is the result of a design fault.

Its relatively cheap, excellent sound, but you may only get a few years use out of it...

Just phoned the UK branch. They will sell a new PSU (for a rip-off price), but don't provide any information on how to install it, which, given the evident frequency of this problem, is very poor service.

Quality issues aside, pretty appealing

Semi-pro musician

Electronica

Nice, sweet. have heard others in this price range and they don't even come close. I bought these here 4 years ago and am actually looking to get another pair.

all is well

plug in and listen

perfect 4 years and still like day 1. I travel with them, in a suitcase, not a special case. been all across south america and the caribbean with them.

best price here absolute value for money..

never needed them.

producer / engineer

reggae, dancehall, house, techno, soca

Incredible sound for the price, right out of the box! These are worth every penny and then some. I'm Thinking about just adding five more to my home system.

Not much here, but what do you really need? You can do all that fancy stuff with Preamps.

Solid pieces of no-nonsense sound machines.

Absolutely astounding value.

??? Haven't needed any.

Hobbyist

Acoustic

OUTSTANDING SOUND - while they last.

Simply Simon.

OUTSTANDING SOUND - while they last. Enjoy them while they work. Soon, the infamous design flaw will get you and you'll walk in one day to the blinking-LED-syndrome. Power board dead. But no worries, Alesis will let you fix it yourself if you fork out $100.00 plus s/h for a new card. In short: IF you must buy these, get the longest warranty they'll sell you and save the boxes. You'll need them in 18 months.

Paid retail for new, sealed-box, set. Got about 18 months of use. Could've rented for less money.

Alesis knows about the power supply design flaw, but will not make good on the thousands of owners screwed by bad boards. BUYER BEWARE.

Hobbyist

Classical

I've called these things my poor mans NS-10's because if you get a mix balanced on these it will translate great on anything.

I used the first run of Monitor Ones ( the set with the Alesis two space rack amp) for over a decade. I was going to go with JBL's but figured what the hell and bought these. I'm happy, what else can I say.

XLR, 1/4" trs combo jack, works out great for me.

Made well, solid feeling and great fit and finish all around.

These monitors went beyond what I expected to get for the price actually.

I'll give a 9 here because I've never had to deal with Alesis support in the 20 or so years of using their musical products.

Clean pro look to the monitors, a little larger than I was expecting ( my fault for thinking they were the same size as the powered ones). They look great in a vert or horiz setup. Nice and bright blue power lights on the front.

Guy with gear

Rock

Some problems with balancing Bass

After 3 years, both power supply units went bad, (each costs $100)

$400 for 3 years usage...sucks......

They solved my problem by telling me to order new parts, $200 for 2 power supplies, half of the original price for pair of new monitors, which I have to install myself.....:-(

Very Sexy....SUCKS !!!

Active Hobbist

etc

in my opinion, this is worth a 10 for its price as ive heard nothing under 500 that sounds this good, and a 8 if you count a whole range of over 500 pounds. its amazingly flat, little glitch with the bass end but the manual and the internet tells you how to resolve this

made of materials that take long to build, 20 hours i believe. bass is made of fibre and the tweaters of silk. quite nice to know its not just a normal metal tweater and bass speaker made of carpet!

sound is very flat talking about the freq. for people who dont know, that just means its very good for recording.

nothing loose, a stirdy design, my pair fell a few stairs, and still worked.. for a bit. and today i go to buy new ones!

amazing value for money, and thats also why they are so popular within home studios.

online manual is good help on how to get rid of resonance or other unwanted sounds

basic, yet stylish... it has a blue light! its a normal box shape, no one has tried to make it look like a rocket or something it isnt, its just a pair of great speakers

recording engineer

Rock/Metal

The sound quality is very good. That's for sure, especially at this price.

I think there is 50:50 chance for us to receive a defective unit. So you need to be lucky to receive a good pair. I have known this fact before I purchased this unit and I actually ended up getting one defective speaker out of a pair. I still either have a choice of returning them or getting a warranty repair but I just decided to keep them because I feel sorry for the reseller(who were very nice with price matching and packaging as well) if I return them, and I know the speaker will come back all torn up if I go through the warranty repair. Yes, like lots of other disappointed reviewers', I one of my speakers leak and rattle so bad to an extent that I can't stand at certain frequency. The other speaker sounds very tight and great. So, if you get lucky and receive a good matching pair, then this will be a great buy. If not, then you will be wasting money just like me and other negative reviewers did. So, I just wish you a good luck.

If you get a good pair then the value will be more than 10. If you get a bad pair then the value will be less than 1.

I haven't dealt with the company directly even though I live only one hour away from the company. I don't bother to deal with them because I heard their customer service is the worst.

Great concept, great appearance. and great features only provided that they maintain the quality consistent.

Techno, Alternative, New age

I produce Darkwave music, been at it for about seven years. Play guitar and sing.

Darkwave, Industrial, Rock.

They could have done with some bass attenuation switching on the rear - though plugging the ports works too. Level switches are on the back which is a bit inconvenient. No bells or whistles is to be expected at this price. Not that its a bad thing really - less to go wrong. That blue led is very cool though !! ;O)

Good finish on mine. Feel solid and well built. Better than i thought at the price. Look quite sexy too !! Especially mounted horizontally. All good so far. Hopefully things will stay that way !!

Are there better value monitors than this? At

Recording Engineer/Musician

wide variety

Sounds great but could be less muddy in the lows. I've owned mine for almost 8 years and never had one single issue.... so I'm not sure about these power issues that some people are discussing.

sound is super clear. Brand new monitors are supposed to be broken in for additional bass and mid response and so far the more i listen to them the better they are. I almost thought i was listening to a surround sound system a few times when i was using them to watch tv because there was so much clarity that i had not heard before. Best choice for monitors in their class and price range.

These are really the only monitors I've ever used so I can't compare them to others for frequency response, imaging, etc. I've mixed some stuff on them that a mastering engineer said came out pretty reasonable in the frequency department so they can't be too far off. I like to check my mixes by listening from the next room though.

It's nice having the amplifiers built in. They have a volume control (for balance) but no eq/filters. If I remember correctly the jack accepts XLR or balanced 1/4". The blue LEDs are distracting; my peripheral vision would prefer amber. I covered them with electric tape which dims them substantially but still lets me see whether they're powered up.

Alesis loses points for failing to include a manual in the box. It's available online, but still, that doesn't impress me in the quality control department. It takes two people to set the volume controls on the back, but once they're set they don't need to be changed. I plug one port on each monitor with a sock to control the bass. They sit a few inches from my CRT and I've never noticed any magnetic effects.

The tweeter on one or both monitors periodically stops working, but starts again when I unscrew it then screw it back in. Nothing appears to be loose so I don't know what's going on. Sometimes I notice some rattle or buzz. I keep hoping one of them will just break at which point it will be good riddance.

They were competitively priced when I got them in 2001, now there seems to be more competition and I could probably do better.

Lose the blue LEDs. They're not cool and they never were.

Quasi-pro

I set up a recording studio about six years ago to record albums for a band that have since become very successful in their particular genre. I would characterise these monitors as being very tight with an excellent bass. Rare for reflex speakers in this price range that usually exhibit one note bass. The midrange and treble are nicely detailed but not over bright,

They are active and so have two volume controls They have two front ports that can be plugged to reduce the volume of the bass. I judged that the mixes I was producing were bass light so I plugged them with some foam lagging used for plumbing. This reduced the volume of air let through but did not completely stop it. Now the mixes are translating well. It's important to lest some air through because the amplifiers inside use this to cool them.

They are speakers their feature is to turn electrical activity into sound! I use these on top of very heavy atacam pro 10 speaker stands. They make a big difference so don't skimp! My room is also fully treated with bass traps, diffusers and absorbers. You can't tell what a speaker is like with a bad room. Speakers with a good bass respone will be considered boomy and overblown!

These speakers have carbon fibre woofers and silk dome tweeter. Carbon fibre drivers produce the best bass of any material but need to be crossed over low in order to avoid two nasty resonances. This can cause problems in the mid-range but not in this instance, so top marks to Alesis They also take at least TWENTY HOURS to run in! It's a known 'feature' of carbon fibre units. Thay are nicely finished.

I paid 170 pounds for these speakers. I would say I would have to pay 500 pounds to better them, and then choose carefully (Adam!). Buy these and spend the extra money on sone rockwool bass traps and decent rigid stands.

I haven't used their user support yet, so can't comment. These speakers have to be used with a poweer surge protector, because they are sensitive to badly fluctuating supplies. I have them so that I can switch them on after the main power on, just in case!

They have blue lights on them if you like this sort of thing.

Recording Engineer

Alll Types

These monitors sound so good that my first inclination was to assume that they color the sound and would not be good reference monitors!!! I have been VERY pleased the crisp highs, full lows, and total lack of harshness with these monitors!

Simple hook up... solid sound.... whats not to like??

These monitors are heavy and appear to be very well constructed!

I cant believe monitors this good are available at this price... I HAVE heard better.... but not for anywhere near the $$$$$

No need for cust support..........

If you have a home studio.... BUY THESE!

these things sound really full. great highs and lows. The low end may be a little overwelming for some in a small room

powered, no need for external amp..

i have had mine for over a year without a single problem. Very solid

got mine for 370. a great price for everything you get. Especially when compared to other higher end monitors.

did not need it.

The frq response was very dry, very flat. Perfect for mixing. The bass was a little much at first but I attenuated it by plugging one of the ports on each, as the manual suggests. Sounded great.

I went through two pairs before returning for good. They come with everything required, except the friction pads. The manual states that adhesive-backed friction pads are included but they weren't - on either pair I tried.

I went through two pairs before returning for good. The first pair had an outrageously high magnetic field. I couldn't place them within two feet of my computer display (or anything else for that matter.) The second pair was better in this regard. I could get them as close as 1 foot but still not as close as 3 inches, as the manual states. Also, one of the second pair had a minor blemish on the bottom and the volume knob was sticky. I didn't try the first pair, but the second pair sounded decent.

If you get a good pair and have plenty of space in your studio, the price can't be beat for the level of sound quality these monitors produce. I am sad that the physical quality is not so great.

I contacted Alesis via email about the magnetic field problem in the first pair I bought. The responded promptly but did not back up the manual's statement that I should be able to place these as close as 3 inches from my computer display without any worries. I dealt with my supplier for an exchange, then a refund. www.zzounds.com was the best purchase/exchange experience I ever had with a mail-order supplier.

These units look great and sound great. The value can't be beat. But if I'm going to invest in my studio, I want something I can rely on. I do not trust these monitors to survive in a rigorous production environment.

Rock and Folk