Buyer's overview
DJ speakers: 15 devices at a glance
Monitors tell you the truth about your mix; Bluetooth speakers do not. For practice, whatever you own will do for a long time; once you record or build sets, you hear the difference. One note that saves money here: for most models the price is per unit and you need two. Only the small desktop pairs are sold as a pair.
up to €1002 devices
Mackie
CR3.5
up to €100
A small active pair for the desk — 3.5-inch woofer, 50 watts, a tone control Mackie calls flat at its left end.
Ideal for: Anyone with nothing yet who just wants something better than laptop speakers.
No longer sold newMackie
CR3-X
up to €100
A small active pair for the desk — no longer available new, more monitor than a Bluetooth speaker and less than a studio pair.
Ideal for: Anyone with nothing who first wants something better than laptop speakers.
€100 to €2005 devices
RecommendedKRK
ROKIT 5 G5
€100 to €200
An active studio monitor — the classic once the Bluetooth speaker is no longer enough.
- Woofer
- 5-inch, woven Kevlar® aramid fiber cone
- Amplifier power
- 55 W total (HF 20 W, LF 35 W), Class D
- Frequency response
- 54 Hz – 30 kHz (±3 dB)
Yamaha
HS5
€100 to €200
Active two-way monitor with a white cone and room adjustment on the back — for small rooms.
- Woofer
- 5" cone
- Amplifier power
- 70 W dynamic (LF 45 W / 4 Ω, HF 25 W / 8 Ω)
- Frequency response
- 74 Hz – 24 kHz (-3 dB), 54 Hz – 30 kHz (-10 dB)
JBL
305P MkII
€100 to €200
Small active monitor with wide dispersion and an adjustment for wall placement.
- Woofer
- 127 mm (5")
- Amplifier power
- HF 41 W + LF 41 W (Class D)
- Frequency response
- 43 Hz to 24 kHz
ADAM Audio
T5V
€100 to €200
The affordable entry to Berlin's ADAM range: U-ART tweeter, clear highs, compact.
- Woofer
- 127 mm (5"), polypropylene cone
- Amplifier power
- tweeter 20 W + woofer 50 W (Class D)
- Frequency response
- 45 Hz – 25 kHz
PreSonus
Eris 3.5 (2nd Gen)
€100 to €200
A small pair of active speakers for the desk — sold as a pair.
Ideal for: Anyone with little space mixing on monitors for the first time instead of laptop speakers.
€200 to €3508 devices
KRK
ROKIT 8 G5
€200 to €350
The big ROKIT: more cone area, more bass, more level — for larger rooms.
Ideal for: Anyone with a room that can take a big speaker and who wants to feel the bass.
Yamaha
HS7
€200 to €350
The HS5 with more room at the bottom: 55 Hz instead of 74 Hz at −3 dB, a bigger cone.
- Woofer
- 6.5" cone
- Amplifier power
- 95 W dynamic (LF 60 W / 4 Ω, HF 35 W / 8 Ω)
- Frequency response
- 55 Hz – 24 kHz (-3 dB), 43 Hz – 30 kHz (-10 dB)
Yamaha
HS8
€200 to €350
The largest of the series — for rooms where the smaller siblings starve.
- Woofer
- 8" cone
- Amplifier power
- 120 W dynamic (LF 75 W / 4 Ω, HF 45 W / 8 Ω)
- Frequency response
- 47 Hz – 24 kHz (-3 dB), 38 Hz – 30 kHz (-10 dB)
IK Multimedia
iLoud Micro Monitor
€200 to €350
Tiny monitors sold as a pair, with Bluetooth and 45 Hz of reach at −10 dB — for the desk and for travel.
- Woofer
- 3" paper cone
- Amplifier power
- 50 W RMS (70 W peak) total; per speaker LF 18 W + HF 7 W
- Frequency response
- 55 Hz – 20 kHz (-3 dB), 45 Hz – 22 kHz (-10 dB)
ADAM Audio
T8V
€200 to €350
The 8-inch monitor of the T series — the same U-ART tweeter as the T5V and T7V, with more headroom at the bottom.
- Woofer
- 203 mm (8"), polypropylene cone
- Amplifier power
- tweeter 20 W + woofer 70 W (Class D)
- Frequency response
- 33 Hz – 25 kHz
KRK
ROKIT 7 G5
€200 to €350
The middle one of the ROKIT range — between the 5 and the 8.
Ideal for: Anyone wanting more volume than the 5 without the space for the 8.
ADAM Audio
T7V
€200 to €350
The larger T-series monitor — with the brand's U-ART tweeter.
- Woofer
- 178 mm (7"), polypropylene cone
- Amplifier power
- tweeter 20 W + woofer 50 W (Class D)
- Frequency response
- 39 Hz – 25 kHz
JBL
306P MkII
€200 to €350
The bigger of the two JBL monitors — with the range's wide dispersion.
- Woofer
- 165 mm (6.5")
- Amplifier power
- HF 56 W + LF 56 W (Class D)
- Frequency response
- 39 Hz to 24 kHz
Speakers: specs compared
The key values from the manufacturer manuals side by side. Every value appears with its PDF page on the product page; a dash means there is no clear value in the manual.
| Device | Woofer | Amplifier power | Frequency response | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ROKIT 5 G5KRK | 5-inch, woven Kevlar® aramid fiber cone | 55 W total (HF 20 W, LF 35 W), Class D | 54 Hz – 30 kHz (±3 dB) | 4.95 kg |
| HS5Yamaha | 5" cone | 70 W dynamic (LF 45 W / 4 Ω, HF 25 W / 8 Ω) | 74 Hz – 24 kHz (-3 dB), 54 Hz – 30 kHz (-10 dB) | 5.3 kg |
| HS7Yamaha | 6.5" cone | 95 W dynamic (LF 60 W / 4 Ω, HF 35 W / 8 Ω) | 55 Hz – 24 kHz (-3 dB), 43 Hz – 30 kHz (-10 dB) | 8.2 kg |
| HS8Yamaha | 8" cone | 120 W dynamic (LF 75 W / 4 Ω, HF 45 W / 8 Ω) | 47 Hz – 24 kHz (-3 dB), 38 Hz – 30 kHz (-10 dB) | 10.2 kg |
| 305P MkIIJBL | 127 mm (5") | HF 41 W + LF 41 W (Class D) | 43 Hz to 24 kHz | 4.73 kg |
| T5VADAM Audio | 127 mm (5"), polypropylene cone | tweeter 20 W + woofer 50 W (Class D) | 45 Hz – 25 kHz | 5.7 kg |
| iLoud Micro MonitorIK Multimedia | 3" paper cone | 50 W RMS (70 W peak) total; per speaker LF 18 W + HF 7 W | 55 Hz – 20 kHz (-3 dB), 45 Hz – 22 kHz (-10 dB) | 920 g (left), 800 g (right) |
| T8VADAM Audio | 203 mm (8"), polypropylene cone | tweeter 20 W + woofer 70 W (Class D) | 33 Hz – 25 kHz | 9.8 kg |
| T7VADAM Audio | 178 mm (7"), polypropylene cone | tweeter 20 W + woofer 50 W (Class D) | 39 Hz – 25 kHz | 7.1 kg |
| 306P MkIIJBL | 165 mm (6.5") | HF 56 W + LF 56 W (Class D) | 39 Hz to 24 kHz | 6.1 kg |
Manual not yet evaluated: ROKIT 8 G5, ROKIT 7 G5, Eris 3.5 (2nd Gen), CR3.5, CR3-X.
Frequently asked questions
The questions people actually ask before buying — answered from what we can back up. Daily prices are deliberately not part of it.
- Do I need two speakers or is one enough?
- Two. Without stereo you cannot hear where anything sits in the image, and that is half the information when mixing. Important for your budget: with most models the price is per unit. Only the small desktop pairs are sold as a pair — we say so on every product.
- Are my Bluetooth speakers enough to practise on?
- For practising, yes — you can learn beatmatching on anything that makes a sound. For judging, no: speakers like that flatter the bass and smear the highs, and over a wireless link the sound arrives late. Your mix sounds good there and nowhere else.
- What size fits on my desk?
- In a small room the smaller monitor is usually the better one. A large woofer in an untreated room mostly produces room modes — bass that booms in one spot and is missing two steps away. More important than the driver size is that both speakers sit at ear height and the same distance away.
- Can I use them to cover a party?
- No. Studio monitors are built for the near field, for one to two metres and one listener. Turning them up until a room is full drives them into their limits and risks the tweeter. An audience needs a PA — that is a different class of device.
Other categories
Everything together, filterable by setup and budget, is in the catalogue. Why we recommend what we recommend is in the buying guide. To the equipment catalogueTo the buying guide
You picked your gear — now what?
The learning path takes you from the first cable to your first set: 12 phases, step by step, free. It works with any device — including the one you already own.