Up until the mid ’90s, there was no such thing as an affordable professional studio monitor. Even as more people began recording in homes and project studios, great sounding studio monitors remained cost-prohibitive. Home and project recordists resorted to using hi-fi speakers—some even cobbled together their own monitors using parts from consumer speakers and the local electronics store—with less than stellar results. We didn’t think this was fair—why should great sound be reserved for only those with a fat wallet?

We decided it was time to level the playback field. Our audio gurus got to work, combining their hard-won expertise to design a monitor that would at last make great sound accessible to the masses. After many long days—and late nights—the HR824 Active studio reference monitor was born. With its signature Active architecture and passive radiator design, the HR824 monitor delivered performance that impressed studio veterans and hobbyists alike—and was in reach of all their budgets. Soon HR824s were perched atop speaker stands in professional control rooms, project studios and bedroom studios all over the world. Following the success of the HR824, we developed the HR624, a compact version of our world-renowned original. Like its “big brother,” the HR624 earned a large and loyal following, and it, too, populated a wide range of studios. With their impeccable sound, enviable reputation and affordability, our HR Series changed what people expected of studio monitors, and challenged how our competitors designed theirs. Simply put, the HR Series became the new industry standard.

Since the release of the original HR Series in 1996, audio recording—and the studio environment—has changed by leaps and bounds. The greater bit depth and higher sampling rates afforded by digital audio mean recordings are more accurate than ever. Recording technology along every step of the signal chain has advanced, too, from microphones to DAWs, allowing for mixes with massive numbers of precisely captured tracks and huge amounts of processing. With these changes have come new challenges for—and expectations from—a studio monitor.

Today’s studio demands a monitor that can reproduce sound as precisely as it is recorded. The same innovation that launched our pioneering HR Series has led to the birth of just such a monitor—as well as a new studio standard. Meet the HRmk2.