Mini 'personal' monitors? Any experience?

[MarkOne]

Just idly waiting to go back for tonights gig having set up the full band PA this morning.

I was thinking about the weighty floor wedges (and how much stage real estate - not to mention van real estate they take up) and wondering if anything like these are remotely worth their money?

I'd love to get everyone over to IEMs but I really don't think that is an option, they're too used to monitors.

[Sam Spoons]

I had three TC VoiceSolo FX150 mini monitors and they are great for many things but not quite loud enough for a band with a hard hitting drummer (I did use one in those conditions and just about managed but a bit more level would have been nice). Otherwise very happy with them until one just died*. I have since sold them as I have mostly retired and my Bose S1 Pro's do near enough the same job with the help of a bar stool or similar.

* IIRC repair cost was not outrageous, roughly the same a used replacement would have cost but I sold it to a guy who needed a spare driver.

[AlecSp]

SPL levels on stage should end up lower, as they're closer to the performer.

They lack bottom end. Keyboard players can struggle with them.

There's not as much reduction in footprint as you might think, as the stand takes space (if on their own stands), though can co-exist with mic stands more easily.

The arrangement shown in that pic becomes quite topple-prone, especially with power, monitor & mic cables running up the stand.

[Music Wolf]

I have one of these amongst my collection. Heard in isolation they sound absolutely horrible but on stage they cut through surprisingly well.

I agree with the comments about the stand taking up space. Our singer uses a handheld mic so using the B205D means an additional stand on what passes for a stage (for stage read corner of a pub).

With regard to levels / proximity. My band has gone from a 5 piece (drums, bass, 2 x guitars, vocals) to a 3 piece (2 x guitars, vocals plus backing tracks) in the space of a couple of months. We did our last gig with floor monitors but next weekend, now that we are no longer competing with a drummer, the plan is to use my old Adam A5 studio monitors on tall stands either side of the stage with either the 205 or a floor monitor in the middle for the singer (we're going to try it out in the rehearsal room on Thursday). The stands place the tweeters about an inch or two below my ears and I would expect them to be less than three feet away from our heads. I've tested this set up at home and, at this distance, you can easily achieve the sort of sound levels that would call for hearing protection.

[The Elf]

I'd love to get everyone over to IEMs but I really don't think that is an option, they're too used to monitors.

It's worth trying. Once they realise how much easier it makes their lives many (not all) stick with it.

When they are rejected it is most often, IME, because of the lack of bass in the sound, which is cured by making sure the buds are as air-tight a fit as possible, and lack of audience feedback, which can be satisfied with an audience-facing mic (or two - I use a fixed ORTF stereo mic) added to the monitor mix.

It's not for everyone, but I wouldn't give up before trying.

[Wonks]

DaveB was using a Mackie SRM150 as his keyboard monitor for quite a while and he got on with that OK. There was enough bass coming back from the FOH to fill in. I had the Behringer 205D at the same time that was used for vocal monitoring a few times and whilst the Mackie sounded slightly better, there wasn’t a huge difference and the onboard EQ sorted out most of the sound differences.

As we were using 10” monitors, the faff of assembling and dissembling the 205D from the mic stand each time outweighed any benefits, plus it got in the way of the singer’s lyrics stand (later iPad stand clip), so we went back to the floor monitors.

After I left, the band eventually moved over to IEM.

[Tim Gillett]

About 10 years ago I started using one on my vocal mic stand but smaller than that pictured. We were playing regularly outdoors on a hard floored stage (brick pavers) with a low metal roof. This close monitoring was the only way I could actually hear us singing 3 part harmony. Much improved clarity over floor mounted monitors on that difficult stage and lower overall stage volume.

[Mike Monte]

In my club/wedding/GB gigging days (90's-2005) I gigged with one of these:
https://www.pssl.com/products/yamaha-ms202-speaker
on hundreds of gigs. It never failed me.
I mounted it on a 3-legged microphone stand.

I still have it - and it works....!

The only maintenance that I have ever done was recently use contact-cleaner on the power button - otherwise its fine.

Bands back then (or at least, the ones that I gigged with) weren't crazy-loud.

[Random Guitarist]

I have one of these https://www.studiospares.com/live-and-p ... 250270.htm

Used it for acoustic guitar and vocals and found it very useful. Loud enough with a moderate drummer and perfectly clear.