M-Audio AV 40

The Studiophile AV 40 is some of the best studio monitors that M-Audio has come out with. They are very low priced and sound great. You can even purchase these in the “Red Edition” if you do not want the black ones.

SOUNDS

The sound is very clean and tight, the low end is not real heavy mainly because these monitors are not that big at all. I would suggest using these for more of a reference style of monitor use rather than a main pair of monitors just because you will not get a great mix on the low end with these. The AV 40 are pretty small, they are less than a foot tall and about 7 inches wide making them the perfect size for your desktop station. I have these hooked up to my laptop and I use them mainly to just listen to music from my computer with and sometimes I will use them as a pair of reference monitors because I listen to so much music in them I can use that to reference my own music with.

OVERALL OPINION

The frequency response is 85 Hz to 20 kHz which is the reason you are not going to get a lot of bass with them. But if you love a clean sound then you will love these speakers/monitors. When I first took them out of the box I said there would be no way they would get that loud. They are small and I didn’t expect that big of a sound out of them but they really surprised me. If it was not for the lack of bass I would really use these more for mixing my music at home.
For the price you can pair for a pair of these, you will not get a better sound with another set of speakers/monitors. M Audio surprised me with these, especially after some of the poor monitors they came out with right around the same time as these.

This is a review of the M-Audio AV40 Active Studio Monitors. These were my first monitors, and I still use them now. I needed a small pair of monitors for my bedroom studio. I don't live in a mansion so if I have gigantic monitors, the entire block would hear them. I wanted a pair of small monitors from a manufacturer that I trusted. After walking into the monitor room in Sam Ash, I picked these little buggers out. They are small active monitors, so no amp is needed. They have RCA jacks as wells as TRS jacks on the back so you can plug them into what you want to.

SOUNDS

When I started using them, I heard no evidence of a smile curve. They seemed pretty flat, and when I listened to them against the Yamaha big monster cabinet speakers, they produced a flatter sound with less high and less lows. There is a little bass boost switch on the back if you want the smile curve. When I pan the sound left to right, the stereo aspect of it was very nice for such small monitors. It was a very accurate stereo image. Also, I used a frequency generator plugin and heard that there were little differences as I changed frequency. This was nice. They are pretty accurate, and as I listen to them versus various pairs of headphones and other monitors, I was surprised at their accuracy.

OVERALL OPINION

I have been using these monitors for about a year now. I was really happy with the price, which was about $150 dollars. They are a good value and also come with some little isolation pads. I tried various other monitors before I picked these, and were very happy with my decision. The thing I like most about it was the sound. The sound was nice and clear as well as the frequency response. I would have saved a little money and invested in the BX series if I could do it again, but these are a great pair of compact monitors.