Alesis M1 Active MK3 | Premium 65W B-Amplified Active Studio Monitor With 5-Inch Aluminium Driver, 1-inch Silk Dome Tweeter, Optimised Waveguide and XLR/1/4-Inch Combo Inputs

Love the look and the sound as I expected!!!!!!Alsome!!!

This was certainly a learning experience for me. Long story short, it's a good speaker with good sound once you get it properly connected. The only problem is figuring out how to connect it and don't expect much help from customer support. Now for the long story, but I maybe this will help some folks. (Skip to the bottom for the connection solution)I'm running a Scarlett Solo gen 2 to record audiobooks. I've been using headphones but it's annoying having to take them on and off when editing. Couple that with ear fatigue and hearing your recording too well in that you're nitpicking every tiny artifact that won't be audible in the final recording really necessitates a studio monitor.Problem 1: The Speaker only has a 1/4 input. I figured I could just run a 1/4 cable from the headphone jack to the speaker. This produced very low sound even at max volume, which then created distortion.I was about to send the speaker back but figured I'd contact support first.Here comes problem 2: This is the actual transcript with their "support" guy.Me: I just got a single active MK3 and connected it to the 1/4 monitor output on my scarlett solo. I have to turn the volume up all the way on both devices to get decent volume, but doing so creates noise. Is the scarlett solo not powerful enough to deliver the signal? Do I have to get an additional amp? I thought that was the purpose for using an active monitor so I wouldn't have to.Support: Thank you for reaching out to us. I appreciate the opportunity to assist you!I had the same setup until literally last week when I replaced my solo with a Zoom R16, and it is the Presonus that has the low volume. With my new interface, I have a hotter signal to my m1's.For additional assistance, or to re-open your case, just respond to this email with your case number 1526038 in the subject line. I'll be glad to help!Me: So the mk3 won't work with the scarlett then, is that what you're saying?Will you be glad to help, because you weren't much help this time.Luckily, I'm the kind of guy with numerous cables and adapters lying around the house and found a 1/8 to 1/4 adapter and a 1/8 to RCA cable so I could connect to the composite outputs on the back of the scarlett solo. It was better but the sound reproduction was still not right. I thought I had gotten the best I was going to get so I contacted support to let them know what the problem was so maybe they could better help the next person.Me: I figured out the problem. I was using the only 1/4 jack on the solo which is for headphones. Apparently it can't drive monitors. luckily I had an adapter and was able to run it from the rca jacks in the back and it works.Support: Oh I see what you’re saying! Maybe I should phone up Presonus about my Solo?If you need further assistance don’t hesitate to reply!No, I don't think you see what I'm saying at all. Oh well. Although they weren't helpful, they were somewhat amusing.So, the sound is still poor but I don't want to return another speaker until I am certain I'm not the problem as i already returned a different set of monitors. Know this: I'm using a single studio monitor connected to a Scarlett Solo through the red and white composite connection in the back which is connected to my PC via USB. And that was my problem. I was running a stereo signal into a single (mono) speaker. If I unplugged one of the RCA cables I got better sound but still not good. It wasn't until I panned my audio track to one side that I got good sound. This worked but I had to remember to set it back to center before compiling.SOLUTION: When running a single speaker through a stereo connection you HAVE to open you SPEAKER SETTINGS and set the SPEAKER BALANCE to either right or left. Otherwise you lose half the signal as the hardware (my PC in this case) tries to send half the signal to a speaker that doesn't exist. Once I did that, the sound reproduction was very good but not so perfect that I obsessed over tiny artifacts that aren't likely to be heard.There is some noise (humming) in the speaker, but that is likely my other hardware or electrical signal in my house as I get the same thing from the soundbar connected to my other PC. All in all, this is a good speaker with good sound for a small recording area.

Worked as expected.

Not as strong in the bass section as I was hoping for