My mastering/mix experience is going great with these monitors. Alesis recommends stuffing a sock into the ports if you feel there is too much bass presence. After several months of mixing, I found that I prefer to hear full, deep bass and as well to stuff both ports for a tighter, mid sound -- which would be typical of your average listeners consumer level speakers. Most of the time I have one of the two ports stuffed, in order for the air to flow to cool the internal power. I'm quite particular about sound accuracy and I consider myself educated and fairly experienced to variation among speakers. I would absolutely recommend the Alesis to anyone looking to buy project monitors.

Sound
Just a bit of background information first: I compose and rough mix with Sony 7506 headphones, which I highly recommend for the price versus flat response. I am done composing and the time for mastering has arrived. I had pre-researched many entry-level project monitors in the 300-500 dollar range for about a year. I'd planned to buy passive speakers and use a Kenwood Kstat amp (very clean 200W) to power these, but my amp became unusuable for an odd reason. I was very fortunate to come across a pair of used Alesis powered monitors in a music store, I literally pounced on them considering the price. Being intimately familiar, of course, with the subtle nuances of my songs through the Sony 7506 headphones -- I was eager to hear the mix through speakers/air. Naturally… read more there is far greater bass presence, as well I clearly detect all the mids and highs where I expected them with a few revelations here and there that headphones simply cannot produce. For mixing and mastering the Alesis create a nice sound field, allowing you to immerse within a rich 3D space.

Features
The convenience of internal power is wonderful. These speakers are compact, yet highly accurate. With a mini-jack adapter you can even hook these up directly to a laptop, as the input is line-level and can go straight into a headphone jack. Which is amazing, considering the huge, rich, 3D space which envelopes your head. No amp needed, true convencience with the satisfaction of mixing through a system you know is accurate. Can you beat that!

Ease of Use
Ease of use would be highly rated, considering that the power is interal and you simply need to plug them in and your off. These speakers take either RCA (guitar) jacks or more advanced balanced jacks (vocal mic 3 pin). Here, I have quarter inch jack adapters (guitar) attached to RCA type cables which lead to a stereo mini-jack adapter which goes into the back of my PC. This sound is so clean, I don't even use my protools rig anymore.

Quality
For the accuracy of sound to price, this would be hard to beat. In fact, considering the satsifaction of being able to hear your music so accurately for this price, it's somewhat of a miracle.

Value
For the money, this is a great investment for your studio. Hey, if you have no limit on money, I would of course say buy a pair of monitors that are legendary, but if you are on a budget -- the Alesis will do the job with ease.

Manufacturer Support
I have not had a need to contact support, but I did find the Alesis web site quite reasonable with good links and resources.

The Wow Factor
Great looking speakers, they are just the right size and color. In particular you can feel the quality when you lift these as they feel very dense, solid and tight.

Musical Background:
Art Director, Composer

Musical Style:
Electronic Ambient read less