KRK RP6 G2 Rokit Powered 6 Review
True studio monitors have been out of the reach of consumers for quite some time, given the generally high cost. Sure a few companies have marketed what they call monitors at a low cost, but they do not sound very good or monitor like at all. Along comes KRK with a low cost high quality line of studio monitors they call the “Rokit” series. This leads me to the RokitG2 6 studio monitor that I recently picked up for the sole purpose of listing to music from a computer or mp3 player, and not the normal use of a monitor for studio applications. At $199 each ($398 per pair) the Rokit 6 is not a cheap solution and I didn’t know how well they would work for a living room setting, considering as they a marketed as studio fixtures. Continue and find out if they are a hit or miss for listening to music in a home environment.
- KRK RokitG2 6 Specs
- Woofer: 6 inch Glass Aramid Composite Woofer
- Tweeter: 1 inch Neodymium Soft Dome Tweeter with Ferro Fluid
- Inputs: XLR (3-pin), RCA & 1/4" TRS - 10k Ohm, Balanced / Unbalanced
- Amplification: 100 Watt Dynamic Power Bi-amp, 24 dB Octave Filters
- Freq Response: 49Hz - 20kHz (+/- 1.5 db)
- Dimensions : (H x W x D) 32.1cm x 22.5cm x 26.6cm
- Weight: 8.9 Kg
Power to spare
The Rockit series are self amplified in that they need no external amp. Interestingly enough both the woofer and tweeter have separate amp stages unlike cheaper speakers.
Color the sound or not
Color refers to the speakers sonic characteristic that may change the audio it produces. KRK touts the rokit series as a studio monitor, meaning that it has a flat even frequency response, or free of “color”. In ideal circumstances this means that the KRK monitors should not exhibit any bump in frequency over the spectrum.
Curves, ports, and tweeters
Once out of the box you can notice a few things different on the Rokit G2 series over most other speakers. The first thing is the port, it is front firing and a large non circular shape. A front firing port means you can have the speakers close to a wall without artificially padding the bass or making them sound boomy. The shape also is what KRK refers to being “just right” to minimize turbulence (or what I like to call port flatulence).
Most tweeters are mounted flush with the front of the speaker, this is another area the KRK G2’s differ. The Rokit G2 makes use of a wave guide to help widen the sweep spot to increase the perceived spaciousness of the sound stage.
KRK uses a curved cabinet as well to minimize wave diffractions and allows the sound field to be radiated towards the listener and not back at the speaker.
What you get
Upon opening the box you will find the speaker and a power cable with accompanying manual and warranty card. This is very minimalist, but it is the speaker you are looking for, and it is packed well.
Speaker or tank?
When you first get the Rokit 6 out of the box you will notice the size and heft of the speaker. It feels well built, almost epic in quality. No creaky sensation when applying force to the cabinet and you really get the sensation of the speaker being dense like a brick when you knock on it. Be sure you have a place for them being 22.5 cm wide and 26.6 cm deep they are no wimpy multimedia pack in computer speaker. The speakers have a decoupling pad on bottom to minimize vibration transfer to the surface you have them on. Unlike some other brands of studio monitor, krk has even used a non intrusive power indicator, which illuminates the krk logo a nice soft white. This is great compared to some monitors that use a blinding blue led that blinds the user during close range operation (looks at you m-audio).
You found a place to put them, what now?
KRK really gives the user quite a few options in how to connect the speakers to the audio device of your choice. You do not get anything extra in the box so you will need an audio cable to connect your device. You have 3 options: RCA, XLR, and TRS ports to indulge in your connectivity needs. As the power cable goes, you do get one in the box, if you need a longer one it is the standard power cable you will find on most computers.
Full of Knoby goodness
So you made your connections and hopefully have the units powered, you will notice that you have 2 controls on each speaker. “A separate gain control on each speaker” you may mutter, how do I get them balanced ?! Well KRK thought this one through, the gain controls click into place, so you can count the clicks and repeat on the other speaker to get the gain balance exactly even. I say gain control as its not really meant as volume, you set your source on the loudest level while the speakers are at the minimum gain. Then you turn the gain up on the speakers until you get the loudest you would ever want the speakers to be at and use the volume on your source to adjust the loudness.
Moving on to our second control, the HF level adjust. This allows you to boost the treble or remove some treble form the speaker if your room tends to make the speaker sound to bright (harsh). I kept mine at the default level of 0, but your experience may differ, play with it until it sounds how you like it.
But what do they sound like ?
KRK makes the Rokit G2 series shine on paper, but many companies make a product that looks good on paper. I have used the Rokit 6 G2 for a few days now and can say they are amazing. Even though the manual states they are for use in near field (close to the listener) configurations, they shine even as a mid field or far field monitor. The claim of being flat is true but in no way are they boring. Sure enough the so called “sweet spot” is expansive, allowing the listener to experience a good stereo image any place between the two speakers.
One concern to voice to a prospective buyer is in no way are these speakers “polite”, they do not smooth out bad source audio. If you feed them trash you will get trash out in the end. You feed them a good recording and that’s when they shine.
The highs are vibrant and never harsh unless the recording you are listening to is harsh in the first place. Bass extensions are amazing for a 6 inch woofer, in practice they seem to push out even lower than the rated 49 Hz. Even at lower listening volumes they really shine in the bass extension department. At higher volumes the bass never gets flatulent nor do the highs sound over driven. The internal amps seem to have quit a bit of head room when you decide to go for that mythical push to 11 (over the cliff).
All music I have tried from Bach to the fine classical stylings of Opeth perform amazingly well. Even with music that needs quit a bit of bass expansion do well without a sub. That said I would love to eventually add a KRK sub to the mix to see how well this would work out.
What else is around?
I really can not compare them to any other monitor I have listed to, the m-audio series in this price range are laughable at best comparatively, and even pricier Adam studio monitors seem like a bad value when using the KRK Rockit series.
Conclusion (worth the price?)
I could say most people will find amazing value in these speakers, especially when people are shelling out the same amount of money for some speaker docks from other companies. Once you give them a listen you will not go back to lesser listening experiences. You can buy the PR6's from Amazon in the US with free shipping and no taxes. Available at Amazon UK as well.
Also check out the RP5 G1 Review.
Comments
Cory on August 18, 2009 3:22 PM
Great review, I've been toying upgrading my sound for my Cowon U3 and soon to be Zune HD players. I like the modular setup that would allow me to add a sub with little problem. My only question is how well will they fill a larger room? I have approximately 1200sqft of wide open space where I will be using these. I may borrow a friends pair of Mackie monitors to do a test and see how well it covers the room.
C
Dromedary on August 18, 2009 5:29 PM
This is a comment on the question about using near field monitors in a large room.
There is a reason these are marketed as 'near field'. For a large room you need a good sized system.
True, you can get a lot of dB from small speakers, but the sound would feel "small". I am writing this from experience with a different brand of monitors.
yuki on August 18, 2009 5:51 PM
1200 square feet would be to large to get decent perceived bass extension out of these monitors... if you add the sub it should be ok though ^^ imo
Andy on August 19, 2009 2:40 AM
Great review, thanks.
Just out of curiosity, what do you think provides better sound quality out of the PS3 or Xbox 360? (as seen in the picture)
yuki on August 19, 2009 11:29 PM
@andy i do not know how they would perform , the ps3 and 360 are going through the polk floor speakers the krks are setting on. I am sure they would work, they seem to work well with tv programs from my computer.
Nartub on August 20, 2009 9:17 AM
I know they should perform better than the RP5, but are they worth the extra bucks? Thanks for the review, I'm more and more convinced of buying a pair of KRKs, but I was looking for the RP5 because of the budget.
Martin on August 20, 2009 1:53 PM
i Love his ROOM..!!!!
Cory on August 21, 2009 11:15 AM
Thanks for all of the advice. I'm leaning towards 2 monitors plus a sub. Normally I'm on one end of the building so it should sound awesome.
C
yuki on August 21, 2009 11:26 AM
@Nartub i think the 6 inch driver is the perfect size for decent bass extension for mid field listening... The 5 inch model should work well in the near field and should sound very good as well
Dromedary on August 21, 2009 12:13 PM
My near field monitors have "narrow sound beam" at high frequencies. In other words they sound best when pointed at you. The sweet spot is thus small.
This is normal for near field monitors, but a disadvantage for large room speakers.
I wonder how the RP6 are like.
yuki on August 21, 2009 12:37 PM
@Dromedary the newer krk line uses a different wave guide than other monitors to widen to so called sweet spot on the tweeter assembly... I also have a pair of adam A7's in my daw room, they perform as near field only compared to the KRK's which work fine in a further listening distance...
ITrush on August 22, 2009 7:32 AM
Hmm, looks really great to me but I'll just wait for the price to go down before replacing my dilapidated speakers.. still sounds great though.
digiralraid on August 22, 2009 12:01 PM
These speakers are great. I got a new pair for 300 dollars about 7 months ago. Coupled with my Echo indigo soundcard, they are amazing on a budget. Highly recommended. They do have a sweet spot so they sound a little off but still acceptable if you are not near the speakers. Bass is a little inadequate (still audible though) but that's to be expected.
RP6 is better than RP5 or 8 from what i have read.
brad on August 24, 2009 12:09 PM
I went to hear these speakers in the store (GuitarCenter) and was very unimpressed. The highs are muddy, the mids are dull and the lows are not there (which makes sense from a small speaker). These are not worth any amount of money to me as every single other speaker in the store sounded better. Btw, i ended up buying the JBL LSR2328P which are a) twice the price and b) 8" not 6.
loop on August 25, 2009 6:39 PM
I'm thinking in buying krk rp5 they are little smaller and cheaper but still they are one great performer at the price given !!
Think it would be interesting blue sky media , exo review !
I would be interested for sure !!
aki on September 19, 2009 6:39 PM
I am interested in these speakers, for combining with my pc/pioneer deck, but I'm not quite sure if I should by speakers with analogue connection, can anybody tell me the ups and downs of digital connected speakers?
henderson nevada on November 11, 2009 9:42 PM
I've decided to buy the KRK's over Behringer Truth series and Mackie for the price all the reviews lead to KRK. My decision now is do I spend the extra $100 for a pair of 6's or just get the 5's. I am actually only planning on using these for computer speakers. Which creates another price issue. Do I go cheap with RCA cables and a Behringer UCA202 or do I spend on a quality DCA which would add $100 to $200 to the cost. I wish that KRK had Metal Grills for these like they do for the VXT Series. The would make them so much better for me as I tend to somehow someway accidentally break things on the desk! FYI: BestBuy has a 10% OFF Coupon that is good till Nov 30. I'm wondering if they will have even sweeter deals as Christmas approaches.