I Love It

i like the fact that i can use it with both sonar x1 and pro tools! i can work in both. i can use my one set of monitors without unpluggin anything.

This one is staying in my rack for a long time.

I've had this interface for more than 3 years now. In terms of sound quality and feature set, relative to the price I paid, I think the Fireface 800 blows away the competition.

Thanks to Alan Carter of Sweetwater for the consistently excellent service.

Solid and sounds awesome

I was torn between this and the Central Station but thought I'd check it out. If you are looking for a desktop monitoring controller rather than a rackmount, I would highly recommend the Monitor Station. It's dead quiet and doesn't color the sound at all. Also nice having four headphone amps that can choose between two mixes when you are tracking a full band.

Glad I bought this item after my sales guy referred it

So here's the breakdown. It allows me to mix 3 different signals, FM, PC, MBox Pro Tools all to one output. I don't use it for the multiple speaker option but it sure reduces the clutter of wires having it the way I did before.

The only reasons why this unit is not perfect is be careful what type of RCA cables to use, the connection is quite flimsy though the Y adapter I'm using requires force to plug it in which is a good thing. The unit I received wasn't level out of the box when placed on a level table top. Hoping the rubber feet would remedy the situation it didn't. I just folded up a piece of paper a couple of times just so that all feet are level. It was quite annoying because every time you pressed a button before hand the entire unit would push down with it. Not too professional IMO.

Lastly the button lights and LED meters are not shielded in a way where the light bleeds over to other button such as the LED's bleeding over to the ST1 etc. Other than that the connections are solid, it's rugged (an all steel enclosure). Great headphone outputs. The talk back mic maybe useful someday for an isolation booth. The built in mic isn't bad but you'd wanna use the external mic input.

Overall this is a great product if you have multiple speakers however it works just as great for multiple sources for sub mixes if your main board is being used for something else. A little on the pricy side but worth it considering the other products from reviewers had hum noise and other nasty sound artifacts. This product has none of that. Well worth the investment!

yes its Amazing, the monitor station by PreSonus

was exactly what I was looking for.. ns 10s on A, JBLs on B and Cd player on Aux .. awesome for switching, dimming, muting, headphones,
and one big knob for volume.. its easy, effective and I LOVE IT

Good For The Money

Has done an excellent job on my studio with three diferent set of speakers (HR824, NS10 and Genelec 1031). The headphone outputs also are great; I have recomended to all project studios owners I install

Perfect for a small studio!

I've had this unit for nearly a year now. I bought it to replace a small mixer which I used to have a master volume control for my active speakers. The biggest advantage is in the sound quality. Small mixers for the same price as the Monitor Station are made to serve a lot of functions so they often end up being cheap and quite noisy. Monitor Station focused on the basics but it does that very well and it has a very low noise floor. Actually, I haven't noticed any change when I inserted the unit between my external sound card and my expensive active speakers. The layout is nice, the buttons also feel good and using the unit is quite intuitive.

Monitor Station Rules!

I use a pretty basic setup, but boy is it freeing to have this little baby doing the complex routing for me! I really, really love the soft rubber buttons (the complete opposite of their hard, chunky buttons on the Faderport!?!) that light up. It's always clear what's active and what's not. And the calibration gives you level meters you can trust. Highly recommended!

Perfect for the Home Studio

This little thing ROCKS. Period. Just buy it, you won't regret it! A more affordable solution to the Central Station. This unit has SO many options. Hook up three pairs of speakers! Or two pairs and a subwoofer. Switch between speakers with the push of a button. Multiple inputs. Switch between inputs with a push of a button. 4 Headphone jacks with separate volume for each! Mute, dim. TALKBACK. Perfect.

My monitoring and headphone solution for the home studio

The Monitor Station is a perfect box and answer for any studio not running off of a large console. With the option of running 3 different sets of monitors, I can now check my mix faster as opposed to burning to disc, and playing it on everything from the car to the laptop, dvd player, radio. I still do those things but at the final stage after the mix sounds good on all sets of speakers. It also gives you 4 headphone outputs with indivual control as a cue box would that you would find in the bigger studios as well as a talk back feature with built in mic. After taking it out of the box and reading the meter calibration steps, I wasnt sure as to what my source output db level was. And after some trial and error, I was up and running. From out the box, to trial and error calibrating, to setting dim levels, maybe a total of 5-10 minutes. I definitely recommend

Functional Performance

Easy to get up and running. Did exactly what I needed it to do right out of the box. The only complaint I have is the rubber feet that came witht the unit. They were difficult to get off the contact paper and one of them got trashed in the process.The were kind of cheesy........and why was I having to put them on anyway?

I'll be heading to HD for some real "feet".

Electronicallt speaking, hte unit is great though.

Great peice of gear BUT...

Got this monitor station for about 3 weeks now and i'm pretty happy with all the functions esp. the TALK BACK. It has 4 headphone amps and it doesnt color the sound (much). BUT... when i first bought it, i had to return it back to the shop due to quality of the product. one of the headphone button is deeper in than others when u press it down and they are not equally in the same level. And also when u put it on the table, its not equally flat on the table. I went back and choose between 4 new ones.. none of them have any problem with the buttons but all of them wabble when u put it on a flat desk. So i guess for functionality - Its a HELL YES! BUT for the build quality (not the sound) - BOOOOO

Pretty good for Tracking

I just picked up one of these for a session I am doing. I pretty much bought it for a talkback for my artist. Works great for that. It has a cue mix and 4 independent headphone amps that are LOUD!
For fun I hooked it up for monitoring. It was pretty good once I calibrated the levels. But after I compared it to my Digi 002R (modded by Black Lion Audio) I did notice the Presonus altered the sound. It didn't get quite as good stereo image as my D/A on the 002R and seemed to be missing something.
But for the money this thing is great for tracking. I wouldn't want to mix or master on it though.
Cool product, but not great.

Good but no INPUT level attenuation

I've had this piece for a while now and it was doing a good job.But when i upgraded to a new SSL Soundcard the output was distorting. Presonus has a control on the VU Meter that reduced the distortion but it was still peaking when i was mastering my tracks. I tried everything.. The problem is at the input stage. Presonus doesn't offer input level reduction like the Mackie Big Knob does (which solved my problem). Still, i must say that it is a solid piece and doesn't color the sound at all, however the design is not really sexy.