Customer Ratings: 
List Price: $119.99
Sale Price: $79.99
Today's Bonus: 33% Off
- Compact stereo speaker system
- Powerful 4" woofer
- Dedicated volume
- Magnetically shielded
- 1/8 inch TRS headphone connector
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SUBJECTIVE REVIEW: Behringer MS16 2-Way Active Personal Monitor System
Pros:
Accuracy, soundstage & imaging!!
Connectivity & Front Panel Controls (Right CH Speaker):
.... INPUT 1 (1/8" TRS) Connector
.... INPUT 2 (RCA Right & Left) Connectors
.... ADJUSTABLE 1/4" TRS Microphone Input mixable w/stereo inputs for playback and vocal monitoring applications
.... 1/8" TRS HEADPHONE Connector w/auto-mute loudspeaker function.
.... FRONT PANEL Controls (Bass, Treble & Level)
Cons:
None except deep bass which can be resolved by adding a powered-sub like I did!!! ;-)
NOTE: All subjective comments based on:
1) SPEAKER LOCATIONS:
.... a) Free-standing near-field monitor location, 4' apart, slightly tilted-in (closes walls 10') Music by my Polaroid 30 GB MP3 player (NO powered-sub )
.... b) Keyboard: L & R location installation, slightly tilted-in (with & without Altec Lansing FX2021 powered-sub**)
**NOTE: Adding a powered-sub relieves the Behringer MS16 4" woofer speakers of reproducing the lower frequencies thus lowering the possibility of distortion or breakup when played louder, 85 dBc to 90 dBc Fast SPL Peaks!
2) Critical listening SPL = approx. 85 dBc to 90 dBc Fast SPL Peaks measured @ 8' to 10' away from the speakers.
.... a) Radio Shack SPL Analog Meter: Dial = 80 or 90 / Weight = C / Speed = Fast
ACCURACY:
One of the Behringer MS16 hallmarks is the accuracy in reproducing encoded musical sounds from my MP3s, ... like, a violin sounds like a violin, a trumpet sounds like a trumpet, a tenor sax sounds like a tenor sax, a Grand Piano, like the Grand Piano that Diana Krall uses in her "Live in Paris" CD (I use to own a 6' Yamaha Grand in my HT/family room), etc. What is unusual for this price range, is the MS16 ability to reveal subtleties and the resolution of the high frequency characteristics within the encoded music/instruments, . . . they are just more evident with the Behringer MS16 vs. other speakers in this price and some costing more; i.e. with close mike recording of an acoustic guitar, you can hear the artist fingers (George Benson; Earl Klugh; Russ Freeman) sliding up and down the frets; you can tell that that two violins are playing a melodic line, rather than just one violin; the air harmonics off the crash or ride cymbal sounds, just like our Tama Rock Set w/Zildjian cymbals; Diana Krall breathing during some of her songs Intro ("Live in Paris" Music CD). Here I do chalk up the sound quality to Behringer MS16 1.5" (38mm) Diameter High-Resolution Tweeter., which is a nice size for a small personal Studio near-field Monitors.
SOUNDSTAGE:
The left to right placements of instruments & voices are excellent, providing a precise, very wide, beyond the speakers soundstage. The Behringer MS16 front to back (depth) soundstage is also excellent, as well as the dynamic's resolution (soft vs. loud) in playing back the encoded instrument sounds which helps provide excellent location placement of the instruments. Though the front to back soundstage can be a result of how close the microphones were to the instruments, no doubt, the quality of the best recordings, will be revealed by this speaker and the opposite is also true, poor recordings will be revealed as poor. The Behringer MS16 plays back all my Jazz CD Music with relative smoothness, with no surprising in-between the eyes, unnatural frequency peaks because of it's super flat & wide Pro Monitor like frequency characteristics. I also own the JBL N24 w/4" woofers (JBL NSP1 PKG) which was raved by Brent Butterworth for its super midrange playback (voices) and in direct comparison, the Behringer MS16 is equal to task providing the same balanced, natural, clear unstrained playback! (Samples: "Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim" 1967 Digital remastered DDD Music CD; Diana Krall "Love Scenes" & "The Look of Love" Music CD; Bob James "Fourplay" Music CD; David Benoit "Fuzzy Logic" Music CD [Album Of The Year 2003 National Smooth Jazz Awards], etc.).
IMAGING:
Another characteristic that the Behringer MS16 displays is its ability to image the specific instruments across the soundstage, with a floating in front, side, quality sound presence comparable to some JBL PRO Studio Monitors, though its point source is more precise due to the smaller cabinet side. The Behringer MS16 low-diffraction front cabinet geometry feature curved cabinet edges to eliminate diffraction, which ensures precise imaging and localization. I love the Behringer MS16 ambience reproduction in my room, because it gave me the feeling that "you are there" and if the recording is from a live concert, the ambience provided the right amount of reflections to make you think your listening to the performance outdoors, or in the symphony hall. ("The Corrs Live at the Royal Albert Hall" Music CD; Diana Krall "Live in Paris" Music CD).
BASS FREQUECY:
WITHOUT POWERED-SUB: (Bass adjusted slightly less than MAX @ the 5 o'clock position / Treble left flat)
The Behringer MS16 bass is rated down to 80 Hz, and after adjusting the Bass Control to near MAX (5 o'clock position), ... it easily matches my JBL 24s (Benchmarked down to 89 Hz -2.7 dB Fronts location by Tom Nousaine for Sound & Vision Magazine) lowest rated frequency reproduction in my familiar jazz music (David Benoit, Bob James, Joe Sample, Diana Krall, etc.) MP3 encoded music is not as demanding as a keyboard or CD (pure digital recordings), so what I hear was more than acceptable @ 85 dBc Fast SPL Peaks! (louder than normal listening). The deep bass is lacking of course, which is expected for a 4" DIA woofer, but it wasn't MIA and actually sounded better than most free-standing speakers w/4" or 5" woofers. The upright bass (Diana Krall) and electric bass lines (Bob James "Fourplay" w/Nathan East on bass) reproduction was way above average and overall, ... it nicely filled my 20 x 30' room with well balanced, clean & smooth frequency jazz music.
WITH POWERED-SUB YAMAHA PORTABLE GRAND KEYBOARD:
Reproducing a digital keyboard is demanding so to get that floor & air feeling bass SPL without distortion or breakup, I coupled the Behringer MS16 Speakers w/the Altec Lansing FX1021 2.1 Speaker System, or more specifically, Altec Lansing FX4021 Powered Subwoofer (w/Two 5.25" long-throw woofers in isobaric configuration). This unit is rated down to 32 Hz and takes care of the lower frequency duties. Matching the Altec Powered-sub to the MS16s took about 20 mins. using the Keyboard built-in MIDI DEMO files and by playing it personally! I'm finally happy with what I hear from my Yamaha DGX-505 88-key Portable Grand.
THE BOTTOM LINE:
If you want "budget" monitors that provides excellent imaging, revealing resolution, super flat & wide Pro Monitor like frequency characteristics, the Behringer MS16 is for you! At no time during my critical listening phase (w/85 dBc 90 dBc Fast SPL Peaks) did I hear any distortion or breakup (with or without powered-sub) from my Behringer MS16 speakers!!!
Although the following is an OPTION & NOT REQUIRED to ENJOY these powered speakers, you can add a powered-sub to round out the lower frequency foundation and once you balance the SPL between the powered-sub & MS16s, ... you've got a very nice killer setup for MP3, PC, Laptop, Keyboard & near-field Home Studio application @ a very reasonable price!
In my case, I'm guessing, that the Behringer & Altec powered-sub combination for my Yamaha Portable Grand Keyboard frequency response is approx. 40Hz 18kHz ±5 dB in my 17' x 13' living room (see my attached Amazon photo's) and for the price, ... it just sounds GLORIOUS @ 85 dBc 90 dBc Fast SPL Peaks!!!
Highly Recommended!!! (Another way to think about it is, ... you can't build a 16 Watt [2x 8 Watts] self-powered speakers like this for under $60 a pair!!!)
Background: Audiophile since 1980; retired Audio/Video dealer; retired semi-pro musician (piano, keyboard, acoustic / electric guitar, bass guitar & drums).
Buy Behringer MS16 Powered Studio Desktop Monitors - (New) Now
i bought these speakers to carry round with my laptop when i go to friends. when i first tried them i thought the resonance on the upper bass was terrible, but then i tore up a shirt and stuffed cotton down the bass ports to dampen the bass resonance. now they sound quite good for a portable monitor speaker. i don't think i could have got better for the price. i wouldn't recommend them as a home studio monitor but as a portable monitor, they're good value if you tackle the problem of excessive bass resonance. i understand that the bass resonance is supposed to compensate for the lack of bass due to the speakers being small, but it's better to have a clear sound than boomy distorted bass at a single resonant frequency.
Read Best Reviews of Behringer MS16 Powered Studio Desktop Monitors - (New) Here
Very good little speakers for the price. I purchased these to use as computer speakers because of the option to mix in two sources, as I use two PC's at my desk and enjoy the ability to get sound from both out of the one pair of speakers. I was slightly disappointed that there is no option to adjust the level of the two inputs independently.
The audio quality, however, does not disappoint. I was pleasantly surprised by the power as well as the good high and low range response. I would recommend them over any similarly priced set of computer speakers. The bass response is comparable to (and the mid-range and high end clarity far better than) any low or mid-priced 2.1 speaker setup I've seen, so don't worry about the lack of a sub woofer option. They also drive headphones very well, even really demanding ones like my Sennheiser HD-540 reference headphones, which require a lot of power.
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I have a Yamaha P-155 piano, that has a very nice built in speaker system, but I wanted to try out with Garritan Steinway (Mac software piano).
Ever since my piano teacher was able to convince his ex-wife to give him back his pre-1900 Steinway C, I wanted to match "electronically" what he has.
So I hooked up my "Bose 201" Companion speakers and was ready to play.....UGH! This was nothing like what I heard. Was the software bad?.... or was the famed Bose speakers not up for the task? It turns out the Bose speakers are ok, with pre-recorded music, and thats about it.
On the hunt for a speaker that will physically sit the top of the Yamaha p-155, I came to these MS16.
To my surprise, they sound WAY WAY WAY better than the Bose 201. The advantage of the MS16 having a woofer and a tweeter helps over the Bose single driver.
The higher and midrange frequencies are very clean and accurate(my unprofessional opinion). The lower frequencies work sufficiently, but can be overworked with high bass music, or the lower notes on a piano. But, it works very well, otherwise.
Going back to my piano teacher's Steinway, figuring I got it made, I realized something was missing. That clean thundering bass that a real Steinway creates, was lacking back home.
To the rescue, I came across a Cyber Acoustics CA-3602 on sale at Staples. I was more interested in the sub-woofer. This $36 speaker system (gets great ratings), has a nice small sub, about 30 watts, perfect with (2) 8 watt Behringers. I liked the CA-3602, because you don't need to plug in the little speakers to turn it on, or adjust the volume....it has this blue hockey puck thingee for this. This sub only goes down to 50hz, but thats ok with me.
Off to Radio Shack for a 1/8" stereo mini splitter, and back home to connect the MS16 to the CA sub. Woohoo!
Now that the MS16's (sounds like a mexican gang?) are relieved of heavy bass duties (I set the bass controller down to 1/3 and treble up to 2/3), and carefully matching the bass of the CA sub's volume, I am able to achieve, a really nice (cheap) reproduction of a real Steinway. It is not a Steinway, but it sounds real nice for the $$$.
I just hooked these up to my PC (I have a Turtle Beach sound card in the PC) and I am blown away by how great these sound listening to MP3 files. Great bass and overall clarity about 1,000% better than the stock speakers I was using. Awesome sound, easy to hook up, they look great what more can you ask? I would buy another set instantly and highly recommend these speakers.
I did notice the hissing that another reviewer mentioned and was a little dismayed until I turned some knobs and realize the MIC level knob was creating the hissing. Once I turned it all the way down (I guess you would only use this if you had a microphone hooked up which I will never do) the hissing disappeared completely. Just an FYI for anyone concerned about hissing.
Great speakers you will be glad you bought these I most certainly am.
