KRK Studio & Home Studio

KRK is a killer sounding monitor that will get you in the ballpark for a decent pair of reference monitors without spending a ton of money. I needed something to mix some semi pro demos on and knew my headphones or Logitech computer speakers weren't going to cut it. I went to Guitar Center and demo'd these against a few sets of M-Audio and Studiophile monitors. The KRKs were the most expensive, but hands down were the best sounding. I paid $249 a speaker meaning $500 total for the pair. They are out of the box ready to go. Just plug them in and start using them. No weird software or USB cables. I don't have proper stands for them, but I set them on separate tables with foam padding under each speaker and it seems to do the trick. I did have to return these once as I blew one speaker out. I am not sure if it was a manufacturer's defect or my own error, but Guitar Center has a generous 30 day no questions asked return policy. Upon buying my second pair I opted for the Pro Coverage which extends my warranty to a few years. The main driver is KRK's own yellow colored 8' driver. It is biamped with the high frequency driver and puts out 140 watts of sound. They can get very loud. I would not recommend mixing loud if you plan on spending long periods of time mixing. There isn't much out there for the price that can compete with the KRKs, it's either cheap junk or high end stuff. Overall I think my KRKs rock even with having to return them once. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

The KRK Rokit 6 monitors tell it like it is. No hype, no beautifying. It translates well, and these are my go to monitors. The 6's have the best balance, good low end, prominent and revealing mids, and highs that don't fatigue like the Yamaha HS monitors do. In this price range I couldn't find a better budget monitor for mixing. Sure others may impress you when you demo them at Guitar Center, but they won't tell you the truth about your mix like these do. Even when I purchase other monitors I plan to always have a pair of KRK's to reference to. SOUNDS Sound is really good, slightly better than the 5’s but no where near the sound of the 8’s. But none the less these will give you a clean accurate mix. If you are producing hip hop or dub n bass you will love the low end sound this gives you. They definitely have that “boom” and “thump” that we all love and that is in so many songs today. There arent many other monitors that sound better than krk’s. But they arent cheap, you will drop a pretty penny for the sound of these. OVERALL OPINION These are killer monitors. I hooked them to my computer as they are purely for listening to music. They are very true sound. Do not confuse hi-fi speakers and monitors, the monitors can really kill some songs with the wrong EQ preset. However, these monitors really go a ways. The 6 inch driver really kicks, WAY more than you'd expect. Admittedly, they don't sound like a full hi-fi system, simply because you need a bigger cabinet/driver to move enough air to hit those low explosions and such. However, for music listening they are fantastic. The tweeter is probably my favorite part of the speaker, it's one of the best I've heard. They get plenty loud, but honestly sound better the louder you drive them. These speakers are worth every penny.

I was is the market for something with 8" woofs as I was having a difficult time capturing the bottom end in my mixes with my trusted old Tannoy PBM 6.5. I didn't want to listen to anything else, but I walked by while someone was listening to the KRK RP5's. Holy Crap! I spent about 30 minutes listening to these and I walked away with them. The bottom is generous, although not at match for the 8"s I was listening too. But they were so focused and the bottom end so tight, that the 8"s sounded muddy by comparison. I can listen farther into the mix better than the Tannoy's. They have a very tightly defined sweet spot, so take the time to position them carefully and they will performs very well SOUNDS The KRK RP-5 Rokit Monitors are nice. The sound is extremely clear and natural. When you crank it there is no white noise that creeps. Great low ends and the highs are heavenly. Frequency adjustments on the back for tuning perfectionists. Good bang for buck. However. If you're rocking out hiphop or rap or anything with a boom it'll distort when its loud. If you forget to turn them off after using them they'll pop when you reboot the PC. If you put your cell phone or any wireless device on top of them they pop and make weird noises. Other than that they've been a great addition to the studio. OVERALL OPINION These speakers really are musically well balanced. So many monitors sound like garbage because they are balanced mathematically at the expense of the human ear. This whole series of monitors is made around the idea of striking a happy medium between sterile flat response and the more musical sounding EQ that these speakers have. These have become like an industry standard set of monitors in today’s music world.

5" speaker, 30W LF, 15W HF, frequency response: 53Hz-20kHz. RCA, XLR and 1/4" jack inputs. I bought these for use as studio monitors at home, as well as for listening music and TV. I did an A/B test with these against the larger Rokit models as well as the Genelec 8020's. These seemed more pleasing to the ear overall, the Genelecs would possibly be better for exclusively mixing work. SOUNDS The Genelecs did sound a bit clearer but not enough to justify the price difference. The larger KRK models seemed to have very farty and muddy bass response compared to the smaller ones. The bass frequencies are a bit soft on these but you could get a subwoofer to fix that. OVERALL OPINION I think they're great value for the price. The only possible bad thing about them is that they're made of MDF I think, so they don't take a beating as well. If they broke I'd probably buy another pair of these. The sound is very good except for the soft bass. They're also prone for making noises if you have a laptop plugged into the same extension cord.