Monitors KRK Rokit 5 G4 Studio
The KRK Rokit is undoubtedly one of the most popular monitors in the world, used in home recording studios and beyond. G4 is their fourth generation. The changes in the G3 are so big that we can talk about a completely new product.
Although the group of monitors included in G4 series we will find four models, I insisted that I would like to test leastс 5" woofer.
First, I don't believe in optimal bass reproduction in small rooms where budget near field monitors are most commonly used. Increasing the woofer diameter, which is sometimes associated with lowering the lowest frequency handled by the monitor, does not make much sense in such conditions, except to give the impression of low bass. However, such a bass remains uncontrollable and even more psychoacoustic phenomenon than reliable sound information.
The DSP block is controlled by a liquid crystal display and an encoder with a button function. The encoder itself also allows you to adjust the input sensitivity of the monitors.
The second reason I always choose 5-6" monitors is because it's necessary for large setups. lower crossover frequency, which leads to a decrease in the effectiveness of observers in terms of measure.
This does not mean that the chances of other than 5-inch kits are not ruled out. Many prefer the sound of sevens or eights, and I'm not at all surprised. They are louder, more dynamic and reproduce bass more efficiently. However, if I have to choose, I usually choose Fives because they will be the most representative of the entire series and have the most to say about the concept behind them. It seems that in this case I managed not to make a mistake ...
Financial issues
A few years ago, when asked what monitors up to PLN 1500 per couple I can recommend, the only answer was a smile. Now, without hesitation, I say that everyone. Differences between such systems as Adam Audio T5V, JBL 306P MkII, Kali Audio LP6 and finally KRK Rocket 5 G4 they are aesthetic in nature. Buying any of them will not be a mistake as long as we know what it is about near field monitors intended for design work and premixnot for professional mixing and mastering.
Price: PLN 790 (each); Producer: KRK Systems, www.krksys.com Distribution: AudioTech, www.audiotechpro.pl
In the last two cases, you need to start with PDU (room, experience, skills), and then the monitors you have chosen will clear up by themselves. And I guarantee that they will not be in the range of up to PLN 1500. However, for home and project recording studios, as well as the kind of work that we usually do in such places, these monitors will be just right. It is on them that we will increase our personal PDU factor.
Converters
Rokit 5 G4 are two-way monitors, active, operating in bi-amp mode and based on an MDF bass-reflex cabinet - exactly like the vast majority of sets of this type. So how are they different from others? Yellow aramid driver diaphragms? Yes, it's KRK's business card, as is the illuminated logo. The phase inverter runs along the lower edge of the front panel and has contoured edges. Yes, this is a very interesting thing. Even more interesting is that the bass-reflex tunnel has a special design - it is curved in the shape of a rounded letter L and is quite long, ending at about half the height of the monitor.
About applied high frequency converter some good things to say. This is a well made driver with a large ferrite magnet and a synthetic dome that dampens resonances well. It has a very low distortion level and excellent directivity, which in an acoustically good room ensures easy positioning of sources and their stability in the panorama.
The filters available in the EQ section function like presets: four for low frequencies and four for high frequencies. In both cases, the third setting disables filtering. For low frequencies, the equalizer includes a 60 Hz shelving filter and a 200 Hz band pass filter, and for high frequencies, a 10 kHz shelving filter and a 3,5 kHz band pass filter.
Sounds great - transparent, no noise, accurately and effectively reproduces the highest frequencies. But ... well, it's not superfluous even in terms of characteristics. Many people remain vigilant about this, believing that the frequency response should resemble ice.
Only that the characteristics tell us exactly as much as the photo in the man's passport. And although the driver from the G4 does not look impressive on the graphics, I believe it. He just plays well, sounds good and doesn't cheat. This is the type of tweeter that we like not for performance, but for Character.
design
For monitors at this price, it was made very advanced designmade up of many elements. Suffice it to say that the front panel itself - entirely made of plastic - consists of five specialized pressings with reinforcements and an interesting arrangement of their relationships.
The case with electronics is no less interesting. The analog signal is digitized through a Texas Instruments PCM1862 converter and then fed to the Burr-Brown TAS5782 amplifier.
The latter, as a fully digital solution, is controlled via the STM32 microcontroller. And it is he who performs the function of making corrections, also interacting with the LCD displaying the characteristics of this correction, and the encoder with a button for working with the monitor menu.
On practice
The monitors sound very honest and, unlike previous generations of KRK Rokit (but also more expensive models), which were often accused of being too "consumerist", they offer expressive measure. Yes, its higher range isn't as crisp as more expensive monitor systems, but it doesn't tire you out and extends the length of individual listening sessions.
The resulting characteristics of the monitors (green) and the characteristics of the individual sound sources: bass reflex, woofer and tweeter. A noticeable parasitic resonance of the phase inverter at 600 and 700 Hz is reflected in the overall characteristic. The phase inverter strongly supports the woofer in the 50-80 Hz range. The smooth slope of the crossover separation towards higher frequencies maintains optimal audibility in the 2-4 kHz range when it is not yet fully effective.
As I mentioned in the driver context, this is monitors you can trust. Bass - often artificially exposed in KRK - here it maintains the correct proportions to reality and is still clearly perceptible. As long as we have orderly room acoustics, the Rokit 5 G4 will allow us to optimally control everything above 100 Hz - although of course they also provide information at much lower frequencies. We hear 45Hz effortlessly, which is quite an achievement for such compact monitors.
Summation
Previous generations of KRK Rokit are perceived differently - some love it, others don't. The general opinion is that they are strongly "DJ" and "electronic". The situation is different with the fourth generation Rokit and certainly with the 5-inch model. You can clearly see that a lot of work has gone into taking their sonic character to the next level. Rokits grew up not so modest.
Decades of experience and state-of-the-art technology have enabled KRK to create a product that can easily compete with similarly priced and functionally similar Adam, JBL and Kali Audio monitors.
If you have the chance, also try the XNUMX-inch and XNUMX-inch woofer versions for slightly larger rooms and for work where you need to play louder and with more bass.
