Up until now I've been using a pair of Alesis Monitor One MKII monitors, and they have served me well over the years. But due to the problem outlined below I felt it was time for an upgrade. The HR824s have always been on my wishlist. Recently their price have come down about £200 due to the oncoming introduction of their MKII model. Talking to someone in digital village, I found out that the new model contains the exact same components as the orignal. The only differences are largely cosmetic, but there is a new design feature which is being used widely amongst new monitor designs, and that is the 'zero-edge' concept. It is believed that speakers with perfect 90 degree edges and corners create diffracted sound waves which alters the way sound is emitted from the speakers. The new design incorporates a new design with all its edges and corners curved off to avoid this phenomenen. Since the new versions will cost £1k and above, I felt it wasn't worth spending that extra £400-500 on just that, so I reluctantly (cos I'm skint) bought a pair of these before they went out of stock completely.

I've only used these a few times now and only for listening. Havent tried mixing with them, but looking forward to it. Listening to some well known familiar songs, I could immediately tell the difference. The high mids are projected forwards in the soundscape and really come out at you. This means vocals come out very clearly and are very defined from the rest of the mix. In fact, everything has immense clarity and focus, and you can really pick out individual elements in the mix. The speakers come with a test graph conducted by the manufacturer to show each particular speaker's own frequency response. It really is almost ruler flat. So this means you really are listening to how the engineer intended the mix to sound. Being so detailed shows the most minute of details and you can hear things you never heard before. This really adds to the enjoyment of the songs and no doubt gives you a new perspective on music you thought you knew inside out.

I've only had these for a few days now, so will update this review after I've worked them in a bit.