Behringer TRUTH B2031A

Controversial Behringer

Among professional musicians, the attitude towards Behringer has been ambiguous. The fact is that its creator, Uli Beringer, chose an unusual course for the industry to copy other people's ideas, so most of their products are successful and not very inexpensive copies of other well-known devices. In the case of the TRUTH B2031A monitors, the concept was very "borrowed" from the expensive and old Genelec 1031A, which received a bunch of professional awards in the 90s.

Copy as good as original

In this case, the borrowing was so successful that in rare blind tests, many listeners failed to distinguish between both models. And this is not surprising, because Behringer actually uses the same class A / B amplifier with TDA7293 chips and toroidal transformers, the same tweeter with an identical waveguide circuit and a titanium dome, and in fact the same fancy polypropylene woofer. It is still amazing how they managed to copy everything almost 1-in-1 at a price tag of almost 10 times less.

Always collected and powerful bass

It all sounds collected, powerful, detailed and legible. As expected from monitors. The most surprising thing is the slick, clear, detailed and at the same time powerful bass. According to subjective sensations, it sounds better than almost any low-cost subwoofer. And interestingly, it never turns into a mess, even if, for example, you turn on some Hollywood blockbuster on the monitors, where there is a lot of rumble from explosions and special effects in the lower register. What is equally interesting is the clarity of the mid-range, which plays in unison with low frequencies, and is not lost behind them. But the “top” here is a little disappointing, it is dry, it lacks life, which is why the ears get tired over time. Here the "biological father" Genelec 1031A is definitely ahead.

Still great monitors

All in all, it's not surprising that 10 years ago, unbiased and knowledgeable pros called the TRUTH B2031A the best low-cost midfield monitors. And even after so many years, the Behringer model sounds great and is in no way inferior to the young and powerful competitors in the face of JBL 308, Mackie MR824 and Kali Audio LP-6 / LP-8. And the built-in filters and the sound correction system for the room are quite modern here. Unless TRUTH's amps are unusually hot. If you listen to them all day long at high volume, then you can probably dry clothes on the back panel. Well, they weigh 14 kg per brother.