Behringer Truth Active Monitors

Reviews | Behringer Truth B1031A
102
B
ehringer have a great
reputation for cut-price
products. Responsible for
building a wide range of
gear from outboard and microphones
to guitar amp modellers, they deliver
the goods at some hard to believe
prices with some designs and feature
sets being clearly inspired by other far
more expensive gear. Take the subject
of this review, for example: A pair of
monitors that look and sound very
similar to a pair of KRK’s but weigh in
at half the price.
Truthful essentials
The B1031’s are active, with a 1” silk
dome tweeter sitting above the 8”
Kevlar woofer, with a crossover
frequency at 2.5kHz. The woofer
features a 100W amplifier, while the
tweeter is driven at 50W. Kevlar is
used for the woofer to ensure strength,
which should translate to rugged,
distortion-free, focussed bass and the
Truths score immediate points in this
regard, as theory does translate into
practice. One of the design
requirements of the B1031A’s was a
wider-than-average sweet spot and
once again Behringer have done well –
you don’t need to sit rigidly in one
position to enjoy optimum sound.
One of the benefits of this is that
the Truths could be used comfortably
in a surround system, even for
rear-speaker placements. Connection-
wise, you’re greeted with balanced ¼”
jack and XLR inputs and, unusually, an
RCA input too. Rocker switches are
also included to allow you to adjust
High Frequency, Low Frequency and
Room (Proximity) Compensation, so it’s
possible to tailor the sound to your
room’s needs. The final adjustment to
be made at the rear is an input trim
knob, with travel from -6 to +6dB.
Sweet sounds
I tried the Truths with a wide range of
material and they stood up well across
genres. Starting with Dance music, I
was pleased by the level of detail in the
lower mid-range and struck too by a
decent level of spank at the bottom,
though with cutoff at 35Hz, these
shouldn’t be the only monitors you use
if you’re testing mixes for club
systems. The top end was pleasing too,
with a good level of detail without
over-sharpness. Impressively, the
monitors didn’t start oozing distortion
when tested with Hip Hop, though
there was a slight boxiness here, in
keeping with monitors of this size with
such material. With Electronic Pop, the
monitors showed up well in ‘detail’
tests – I was pleased that a large
number of individual elements could
be discerned even in busier mixes.
Home truths
There’s no doubt that this is an
impressive pair of monitors for the
price. In fact, I’ve heard little better at
this price point, so if you’re on a
budget then your prayers have been
answered. The bass end is nicely
rounded, while there’s good detail in
the mid-range too. Treble is so
subjective that only you’ll know what
level of sparkle you like to hear but
there’s a pleasing clarity and, most
importantly, these speakers don’t
produce a sound which will quickly
lead to ear fatigue. In particular, if
you’re a fan of KRK’s excellent monitor
range but can’t afford to stretch to that
price point, then the remarkable
B1031As are well worth a listen.
WHAT is iT?
Low cost, high quality
active monitors
ConTACT
Who: Music Village
Tel: [phone]
Web: behringer.com
HiGHLiGHTs
1 The cost!
2 Good bass response
3 Wide sweet spot
speCs
Audio inputs: XLR
connector, 1⁄4” TRS, RCA
Input impedance, Input
Trim, Transducer
High-frequency driver:
Ultra-high resolution 1”
dome tweeter
Low-frequency driver:
8” woofer
Amplifier Ouput Power
Low Frequency Driver:
RMS @ 0.1 % THD (sine
wave): 70 W @ 4 Ω
Peak Power: 100W @ 4 Ω
High Frequency Driver
RMS @ 0.1 % THD (sine
wave): 33 W @ 4 Ω
Peak power: 50W @ 4 Ω
Crossover
Type: Active
Crossover Frequency:
2.5kHz
Frequency Response -3dB:
35Hz to 20kHz
Sound Pressure Level:
max. 113 dB SPL @ 1m
(pair)
Frequency Band Allocation
Low Frequency: 0, -2dB,
-4dB, -6dB @ 60kHz
Room Compensation: 0,
-2dB, -4dB, -6dB @
300kHz
High Frequency: +2, 0,
-2dB, -4dB @ 8kHz
Dimensions:
261 x 295 x 393mm
Weight:
11.3kg
Behringer Truth
B1031A Active
Monitors | £230
Behringer’s Truth range gains a new familiar sibling.
Jono Buchanan looks to reveal all…
VeRDiCT
BUILD
❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚
VALUE
❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚
EASE OF USE
❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚
VERSATILITY
❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚
RESULTS
❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚
A quality set of active monitors at
a breakthrough price. Thoroughly
recommended for the money.
FMU244.rev_behringer.indd 102 8/15/11 2:08:37 PM