KRK V8

The KRK V-8's (Series I) are active monitors that produce a flat response over a wide frequency range. I bought these for a steal from Daddy's Junky Music, which motivated my purchase. Someone must have listed the price wrong, but I can't remember what the price was at the time. I demoed the Protomen's first album and was sold halfway through the first song.

Because they are active monitors they have each have a built in amplifier. There are controls to boost or reduce the treble and the monitors can accept a variety of connections through one jack which accepts either XLR or TRS. The treble can be boosted by plus or minus 1 db, and the low end can get a 3 db boost at either 45, 50, or 65 Hz.

They are heavy for their size, and feel very well constructed.

SOUNDS

These monitors sound amazing! It'll make professional recordings sound incredible, and all of the old tales about how good monitors will bring to the surface all sorts of depth to the recording ring absolutely true.

There is some missing low end, but if you pair them up with a KRK subwoofer then you'll be able to enjoy the full spectrum. The danger of mixing without a subwoofer is overmixing the low end. I've paired mine with the KRK RP10S, which although isn't in the same series, suits my needs just fine.

These monitors are fairly quiet and produce only minimal hiss when not playing back anything.

OVERALL OPINION

I think they're great monitors, especially since I got them for an excellent price. From what I've read, when the Series II was released from KRK the price was lowered, and although the manufacturer did not explicitly state why, they attributed to lower production costs. To me, this means one of two things (and quite possibly both): cheaper components, and lower labor costs.

That being said, I've never listened to Series II monitors, but am really happy with these speakers. The one thing people remark on when they visit my studio is how good everything sounds out of these monitors.

I have these monitors as my main monitors at my synth station. Overall, these are a great set of speakers from an American company. My choice to get this was based only on two things - how good they sound, and how much they cost. I wasn't going for any bells and whistles on this purchase. The monitors have your standard audio connections in the back, with inputs for XLR and 1/4". They are powered so you don't need to connect these to a power amp. There is a tweeter and a cool looking yellow woofer, no mid range horn. There is also a slotted bass port on the bottom of these. Another nice feature is that you can balance the high frequency content of your signal on the back, which can be nice if you have an overly bright or overly dead room.

SOUNDS

The frequency curve on these is great. I might say that you get just a little bit of hyped bass, but it isn't a huge amount and everyone likes listening to good bass anyway. The tweeters sound very smooth and accurate, which also means that the stereo imaging is going to be pretty good. You definitely get a very defined sound field if you set up these monitors right and you aren't in a very live room. The sound on these monitors is overall very pleasing, which is sometimes hard to find in monitors with relatively flat responses. You won't get terrible ear fatigue with this pair. Dynamics are well taken care of with these as well.

OVERALL OPINION

I have had these for maybe 5 years or so. I really like the smoothness of the sound and the fact that I can work on these for a long time without my ears starting to bug me - that is a huge plus in monitors. If I had to complain I would just cite the bass hyping, but again it is very minor. This is a great pair of monitors that I have been very happy with. I have had no problems with them in terms of any part failure or anything like that the entire time I've had them. Good sounding, solidly built speakers at a good value. I recommend them!