As noted elsewhere, my monitors until now were in a very bad way. I had been checking out the Samson MediaOne BT3 for a while. Finally, there was a deal on Amazon, and I pulled the trigger on them.
Background
My Samson Studio GT monitors had served me very well. I bought them sometime between 2012 and 2013, I think. In my command center days in the UK, they were great. They were just the right size for my little bedroom desk; and had a built-in audio interface that didn’t need any drivers – complete plug and play.
One of the early battle scars was breaking the clamp for the speaker cable. A wooden matchstick just about held it in place. But, it wasn’t a big deal, because I never moved them, because I live by myself.
However, fast forward to sharing a New York apartment, and they just weren’t cutting it anymore.
- There’s no room to just have them out permanently, because there’s no room for me to have my own desk
- As a result, the first five minutes of a session was getting the shim to do its job
- They have a UK plug, so I always needed an adapter when I did want to use them
- I couldn’t use them with my mobile phone, meaning I had to bring the whole monitor with the audio interface to track things at Astoria SoundWorks
In particular, since starting this blog, I started looking at some more viable alternatives.
During my investigation, the Samson BT3 set caught my eye. They
- Cost under $100, so very affordable
- Had woofers that were only three inches wide, so very compact
- And, as a bonus, came with BlueTooth
When I was researching the post about getting started in light audio recording, I found them for just under $80 on Amazon, so I jumped at the deal.
Samson MediaOne BT3: specs
| Sold as | A pair |
| Output | 15 watts per channel RMS, 30 watts per channel Peak |
| Woofer size? | Three inches |
| Tweeter size? | One inch |
| Any other cool stuff? | Bluetooth connectivity; RCA input |
Small and simple.
For lols, here’s a size comparison with the Studio GTs:
In use
When I unboxed the Samson BT3 pair, I immediately checked it for what I needed to do: work with BandLab. Also, that the Bluetooth worked, with my Chromebook and my phone. But mostly BandLab.
It all worked fine.
As noted previously, the first time I tried using the BT3s was recording bass for It’s Not Happening. When ironically, it did not happen.
On reflection, and after some Googling, I think those issues from the first session were a result of lag in using Bluetooth speakers with Chromebook. Lesson learned, and since then, I’ve kept things safely wired.
That session with the bass was actually the only time I’ve used them in recording. The sessions since then have involved micing things up, so I went straight into the audio interface.
However, as I near the end of recording It’s Not Happening, I’ve been doing a little bit of rough mixing.
With the raw files I’m currently working with in mixing, I have the volume about halfway up, which is just about right. When things are mastered, I expect it to be less than a quarter way up.
So, while there’s still room to crank it, I don’t have to, which means things aren’t getting distorted, so the clarity of the sound is still OK. Which is what you want when you’re mixing.
Obviously, with three inch woofers, the bass isn’t going to be the bassiest bass that’s ever bassed.
However, I don’t make particularly bass-heavy music. I also don’t expect anybody to be listening to this on anything other than computer speakers. I don’t expect anything I record to be in a bass-heavy night club or anything.
So, whatever my Samson BT3 pair can do, is likely as much as my music will ever need.
Samson MediaOne BT3: conclusion
| Affordable: we’re all about the cheap here, and anything less than $100 is a win | Bluetooth: it lags on Chromebooks; however, I’m not sure about PCs or Macs; I was hoping to keep things tidy by reducing wires |
| So compact: the other things we’re all about here | Too compact for bass: three inch subwoofers aren’t exactly going to thump |
| Bluetooth: while the Bluetooth is useless for music production, it still means I have awesome sound available if I just want to listen to some tunes from my phone | Controls: a separate control for headphone volume would be cool |
Obviously, I’m slightly biased, but I think my expectations have been met with the Samson BT3s. I’m looking forward to finishing It’s Not Happening with them, and I hope they sound as good in years to come.
If you’re looking at downsizing your home recording monitors for any reason, the Samson MediaOne BT3 is certainly worth looking at.
Moreover, share your own light audio recording thoughts and experiences! There’s a Facebook group, a Subreddit, Twitter and Instagram.
Also, feel free to shoot me a coffee.