Samson MediaOne 5A Precision-tuned Powered Studio Monitors, 5 Woofer

Customer Ratings:
List Price: Price Unavailable
Sale Price: $134.36
Today's Bonus:

• Precision-tuned, rear-vented enclosure
• 5-inch copolymer woofer
• 25mm silk dome high frequency driver
• 2 x 20 watts of Class A/B internal power
• Front panel level control, headphones and stereo input jack

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I live in a small room which is about 10ft wide and 12 feet long. I have a lot of gear, guitars, acoustic drums, keyboard, sleeping mattresses etc in it.

I was looking for a very basic compact monitoring system so that I could get decent mixes. So I didn't have my hopes up too high. Also, I'm planning to move from the PC based recording system to a mobile one via a Tascam multitrack setup. So portability is another requirement. "To make records with the mobile"

So I went through a whole load of budget monitors on amazon and read every review here, on buzzillions, on zzounds and internet forums. It seemed that the MediaOne series was the least bashed one of the lot. My problem was that the sellers selling these on amazon were charging a kings ransom for shipping to India which kind of put me off.

So I went down to the market today to try my luck and lo and behold there they were. I tried them out at the store and thought they were alright. I'd only know how good they were in my home so I picked them up.

I ran these out of my SB Live Value card which has decent fidelity. I have a Presonus Firebox too.

Here's my take on these after listening to a a few tracks through FL Studio projects as well as youtube.

+ Pretty flat response

+ Makes you hear things you would miss on usual hi fi/computer speakers

+ Has surprisingly good bass. I felt fitments shaking in my room during Adam Szabo's house tracks.

+ Is pretty loud for a small room. I don't need to turn it over 40-50%

+ Look very nice

+ Super compact. This is real nice. A great space saver and the monitors sit sweetly on either side of my Samsung 22 inch computer screen.

This was my first real time on monitors and I enjoyed the clarity of sound I heard. You hear everything.

I don't have any real negatives as of now but I'll be sure to update this review in case I find out any.

Just a few trivial ones:

No XLR/1/4 inch inputs

Feels a little plasticky at parts like the ac power in.

The power cable should have been twice as long at least

Should have come with an RCA connector

If you're worried about the size of the woofer, think about the room you're in and how good it is acousticaly.

My logic is that if you have an average bedroom, you'll never be able to even appreciate a large or an expensive monitor because of all the reflection of sound that will happen. For a small and acoustically untreated room you need a NEAR FIELD setup where the monitors are loud enough to hit your ears and then not bounce around and shake the room too much.

I'm on youtube arjunkaul

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Some of the other reviews on this page claim that the bass isn't as "loud" as it should be, and for most intents and purposes, they are correct.

These speakers aren't going to make your music sound the way it does on your home stereo ... at least in terms of bass. However, what I've found is that while mixing, these speakers actually produce extremely smooth bass response, but they make it so you have to work to get it sounding as such. It takes a lot of patience, but if you can achieve tight, controlled low-end in your mix through these monitors, you're guaranteed to get good bass translation on 80% of the systems out there. Even those with subwoofers. If you pop a mix on these things and are surprised by how "muddy" or overdriven the low end sounds, it's because you have a bad mix. In that respect, yes, the bass would sound horrible. However, that's the beauty of these puppies. They force you to troubleshoot. They are honest. So honest you may blame them for problems that exist elsewhere in your mix.

Others have said they are very loud for how small they are. This is true, however I didn't purchase these to rock out with. I use them for mixing and occasionally mastering. The volume they produce can go much louder than I will ever need. They are compact, professional looking (for the most part), and come with a mini headphone output and an AUX in, which is more handy than you'd think.

The volume knob does feel a bit cheap, and the headphone plug definitely isn't built for the rigors of touring. Otherwise, if all you have is a hundred bucks and an ear that's trained to listen, you really can't go wrong with these.

-Adam (using the wife's account)

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I run a small in home studio that I use for personal music production. I bought a pair of these monitors about a month ago along with the MediaOne 4a monitors that I run in conjunction with these speakers. The mid and high clarity is awesome. I am able to hear things in my music that I was not previously able to. it has made mixing and mastering a less frustrating process. I play and record mostly death metal and low ends are a must for this type of music. These monitors (as wells as the 4a)lack in that department. I ended buying a small sub (10 Inch Sony for $100) from BestBuy to compensate with great results. With what I paid for the entire setup ($400 for two sets of monitors, a subwoofer, and the amp to push it all) I couldn't be happier.

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I'm writing this review with these cranked up to their max because I was sitting here at my computer thinking "Wow I am so impressed with these for the $100 I paid for them." I did not know that a 3" woofer could pump out so much sound. I have them connected to the outputs from an external audio interface, which allows me to boost the sound level and quality, but these were exactly what I wanted for my computer desk. I have a pair of more expensive studio monitors in the other room with 8" woofers (Event 20/20 Bas) which are amazing speakers, but I'm blown away with how closely these little Samson 3 inch'ers compare. Of course, they don't have the same amount of low end, but geez, I'm certainly not complaining for their size. In fact, I'm really happy with how much bass they DO have. I keep looking at them thinking that they shouldn't be able to reproduce sounds that low with 3" woofers! I can even feel it in my chest and that just baffles me. I may pair them with a subwoofer to handle the really low tones below 80Hz later, which these can't reproduce, but everything else they do great with. The mids are punchy and the highs are crystal clear. If you've never experienced a set of high quality studio monitors, these are an excellent starting point and will blow you away. Hell, I've heard monitors in a professional studio that cost over $1,000 a piece and these still impress me with how much clarity they bring out of my music even in my non-acoustically-treated office space.

When these monitors finally arrived, well I suppose I shouldn't say finally, because they came with lightnin speed, but like I was saying when they got here I was amazed at how small they were and I thought to myself I had made a huge mistake. No way did I think these little monitors would be good enough for playback and mastering in my home studio, but as luck would have it, they turned out to be these great sounding little monsters. Excellent bass response and crystal clear highs make these monitors sound like a Bose radio. Needless to say, I was blown away and Im quite happy with my choice of purchase. They do start to distort a little when turned up awfully high, but if you need to turn them up that loud than maybe you should have your hearing exhamined. A good buy.