it's ok 
by Dan B from Ft. Collins, CO, December 2007
Music Background:  Engineer, Musician

I have used these monitors for about a year and a half now doing editing, mixing, all sorts of stuff. They sound all right. The top end is pretty nice but in a fairly live room make sure you roll off the tweeters. My biggest gripe with these monitors is lack of low end. For starters physics doesn't really allow for 5" woofers to produce anything super subby. I'd say these roll off about 150hz or higher despite what the graphic on the back of the box says. Very hard to mix bass, kick drum, synths.

On the other hand they are very quite. Unlike cheaper Sampsons when you turn these speakers on they are very un-noticeable.

  Wow!!! 
by Kevyn W. from Fort Wayne, Indiana, June 2007
Music Background:  Artist, Producer, Lover of all music since before I was born

When I came to Sweetwater and told my sales advisor Greg that I was looking for a set of monitors he told me about the 8in" version of these but after listening to these along with a set of Adam A7's and a set of Dynaaudio BM5's I could not believe my ears! These speakers are the truth! For the money you will not find a set of monitors that sound as clear and accurate as these do period.

After having these in my studio for a few days I took them back because the bass response was not what I was looking for and since I record and mix rap and R&B I can see that these babies really need the matching sub to sound their best but for any and ever other kind of music that doesn't require a ton of bass, these are the speakers you need!!!

I upgraded to the R6a's and they offer the same great sound these offer with just the right amount of bass that I needed.

  Can't be beat for the money... 
by G. Jackson from Rural middle Tn USA, March 2007
Music Background:  Guitar, bass, drums, and keyboards. Jack of all trades master of none.

I've had a Zoom mrs 1266 cd for several years now. while getting into digital multi-track recording has been a great experiance, I had trouble trying to master with head phones. I've lost count of how many cdrs that have been used for target practice, art projects and such.
Now that I have purchased my Rubicon R5a near field reference monitors, there is no more guess work. Simply put, what you hear is what you get. My mixes have improved 100%.
To anyone on a budget, you can't do better than these monitors. It is a move that will take you to the next level, and let your imagination free.

  Samson R5a monitors 
by Paul Knutsen from Sacramento, CA, October 2006
Music Background:  Semi-pro bass player

I bought these for desktop monitoring. Very clear sounding with impressive low end for 5". The mids are great, and I regularly hear details in recordings that I hadn't noticed before listening to larger speakers. Nice, non-fatiguing top end with 3 stage adjustable brightness control.

Great natural sound 
by Zebastian from New York City, May 2006

I picked up these babies 3 months ago to use them as second set of monitors.
My main set is a pair of Genelec 8040, they sound fantastic , but they are not so great for long mixing sessions.
I find myself switching to the samson rubicon 5a more and more, I think it sounds less agressive than the genelecs, allowing me to compose and mix for lo9ng periods of time, Eventually I switch to the genelecs, but I can believe these great monitors cost 7 times less than the genelecs.....I would highly recomend the Rubicons to anyone looking for mackies. I think my next purchase will the the sub...now thats got to be something :) .

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