KRK RP6G2 Rokit G2 Powered 2-Way Active Monitor

zZounds' Take on KRK RP6G2 Rokit Powered G2

As a recording engineer, you need to trust your instincts, your ears, and most of all, your reference monitors. It's like this: if your speakers aren't providing you with an accurate image of your sound, you won't know what you're listening to and your mix will suffer. Investing in a pair of accurate monitors may be the most important purchase you make for your home studio, because, at the end of the day, it's the sound that matters most, right? Right.

Luckily, there's a name you can trust in home recording, and an active monitor that's been around the block more than a few times: the KRK RP6G2 Rokit.

KRK has become one of the most trusted names in home recording, but only after becoming a well-known success in professional circles. They've taken the engineering know-how that went into their top-of-the-line Expose monitors and applied these techniques to the newly revamped Rokit Generation 2 line. And the beneficiary? You. These KRK RP monitors are still as affordable and user-friendly as ever, and now they're even more accurate.

Easy To Set Up

With the home recording enthusiast in mind, KRK designed the Rokit RP6G2 to make adding accurate monitoring to your setup as hassle-free as possible. Because the RP6G2 is active (self-powered) you won't have to worry about finding or hooking up a separate, matching power amp. The Rokit's internal amplifier ensures maximum driver efficiency for tons of crystal-clear headroom and instant studio integration. With simple volume and high-frequency controls, the rp6G2s provide enough tone shaping to adjust your monitors to different rooms and projects.

Ergonomic Design For Home Studios

If you're concerned that two controls aren't enough to combat bad room acoustics. . . don't be! KRK incorporated several simple design elements to the rp6G2 cabinet in order to eliminate the most common monitor placement issues. For example, rear-firing bass ports, which typically extend a speaker's low-frequency range, tend to form "boundary-coupling" when situated near a wall, resulting in over-hyped bass response. Front-firing ports keep this from being an issue with the Generation 2 Rokits. The cabinet design also helps eliminate diffraction inherent in traditional box-shaped monitors. When sound waves hit those sharp corners, they start to bounce around and "muddy up" the sound, but the KRK rp6 G2 incorporates the same curved edges as the higher-end KRKs to virtually eliminate diffraction issues. These two clever elements result in a sound that's more accurate and worry-free than other home studio reference monitors can deliver.

Generation 2: Improved Drivers, Improved Sound

That classic yellow glass aramid composite woofer is still there, and its companion neodymium tweeter has been re-voiced for an even more neutral--and therefore, more accurate--performance. KRK also improved the tweeter's wave-guide design. High-end diffusion is even more directional and phase problems are cut down significantly. The result is a clearer impression of those ever-important transients that can otherwise wreck recorded instruments like cymbals and acoustic guitar, and can undesirably color the "air" in a vocal track. All in all, you simply get a clearer image of your mix with the new KRK Rokits.

The KRK Rokit RP6G2 is the next evolutionary step in a long line of successful and respected professional and home studio monitoring products. So if you're shopping for your first studio reference monitors, trust in the name that's been trusted for decades by engineers around the world: KRK.

Manufacturer's Description for KRK RP6G2 Rokit G2 Powered 2-Way Active Monitor

The KRK RP6G2 Rokit G2 Powered Studio Monitor takes this KRK design to new heights. All of the great stuff that Rokit's have been known for including front-firing bass port, soft-domed tweeter, glass aramid composite yellow cone are still there, but the G2 Rokit's feature refined voicing and a new curved baffle that looks great, reduces diffraction and provides even better monitoring accuracy.

Features:

- Radically curved front plate design virtually eliminates diffraction distortion
- Waveguide design provides amazing detail and imaging
- Front-firing port provides low freq extension without boundary coupling
- New speaker voicing for even more accurate frequency response
- 1-inch Neodymium soft dome tweeter
- Glass Aramid Composite Cone Woofer

Even More Accurate Than Before

KRK engineers and listening panel took the Generation 2 Rokits' speaker voicing to even more accurate levels. What you hear is what you are intended to hear, coloration is not part of the spec. This performance is brought to you by drivers that are custom-designed by KRK's world-class studio monitor engineering team, for clear, low-distortion performance.

The Recessed tweeters may look the same, but they don't perform the same. KRK has designed a superior tweeter wave guide for the Rokit that provides optimal high frequency pattern control and focuses the sound outward, away from the cabinet. More conventional designs direct sound along the plane of the cabinet where waveform interaction can cause phase problems and increased diffraction. KRK knows a properly engineered high frequency wave guide is a critical component to great sound, and one key to their award winning performance.

Complete Monitor and Mic Pack Contents (Optional):

1 x Samson C01 Large Diaphragm Condenser Microphone
1 x CAD GXL1200 Single Condenser Microphone
1 x Audio-Technica ATHM20 Stereo Monitor Headphones
2 x On Stage 7701B Tripod Boom Mic Stand
2 x Whirlwind MC20 Mic Cable XLR - XLR (20 Foot)
2 x CBI BLUC10 Ultimate Series Male XLR to 1/4-inch TRS Cable (10 Foot)

zZounds Expert KRK RP6G2 Rokit Powered G2 Review

Great In Tight Spaces

Like many project studios, my space is a bit cramped. I normally use a pair of Event 8-inch monitors and while they sound very nice, they sometimes feel a little too big for the room. So, I had high hopes for these 6-inch KRKs. I positioned them at head height on speaker stands flanking my mixing console; about five feet apart, and about two feet off the back wall. With the front-firing slotted bass port, I wasn't worried about odd bass reflections from the rear and could probably have put them right up against the wall without a problem. The extra clearance was good for reaching around and making adjustments to the high-frequency shelving and output volume controls. The volume knob has a range of -30 dB to +6 dB, and 0 dB is center-detented so it was pretty easy to match levels on the speakers by feel instead of sight.

Running some reference music through the speakers, I was immediately impressed by the size of the sweet spot. It was considerably wider than my Event monitors, and I was able to move several feet out from dead center with no appreciable change in the sound. KRK claims the beveled front panel reduces diffraction to provide a cleaner off-axis image, and I have no reason to doubt after hearing them in action.

The response was balanced and even throughout the low, mid, and high frequencies without any undue coloration. The crossover seems pretty tight, with a clear separation of responsibilities between the kevlar woofer and silk-domed tweeter. My Events, in comparison, seem to have a bit of a bump in the highs which tend to wear me out after a few hours of mixdown. I felt like I could go much longer with these KRK monitors and still trust my ears.

Right On Target

I switched from the reference music to a project I had been working on for a few weeks, and felt the sound through the RP6's validated the effort I had put in. The bass response was tight without being overly boomy, and the mids and highs were crisp and articulate throughout the stereo field. I won't say they uncovered a bunch of problems that the Events had masked, but kind of gave a second opinion that confirmed the original diagnosis.

The RP6G2's have three input options, including balanced XLR and 1/4-inch TRS jacks, plus unbalanced RCA connections. I normally run XLR into my Events, so most of my testing was done in the same fashion on the KRKs. But I got great results through the TRS jacks too, and tried the RCA connections on some random DJ gear and on my XBOX with huge success. Guitar Hero through these KRK monitors brought a whole new dimension to the experience.

Volume-wise, these powered monitors were plenty loud for my small space. With the volume knob set to 0 dB, it was too much for the room, and even backing off to about -15 dB I was mixing a bit hotter than normal, but there was no noticeable difference in the quality of the response from one level to the next. That kind of power and clarity in the smaller footprint really took me by surprise.

Overall, I highly recommend the RP6G2's for smaller mixing spaces. The reduced footprint has no impact on the sound reproduction, and the enhanced sweet spot will give you an accurate mix well beyond dead center. The bottoms of these speakers (in a vertical orientation) have rubber decoupling pads, but if you prefer to mix with your monitors horizontal, pick up a set of MoPads. At this price, these monitors are a great option for a budget home theater setup as well. Video games, movies, and your music library can all benefit from the big sound in a small package.

zZounds is an authorized dealer of KRK products.

Drivers:
- Woofer: 6-inch Glass Aramid Composite Woofer
- Tweeter: 1-inch Neodymium Soft Dome Tweeter with Ferro Fluid

Input: XLR, RCA & 1/4-inch TRS - 10k Ohm, Balanced / Unbalanced

Amplification: 100 Watt Bi-amp Dynamic Power, 24 dB Octave Filters

Frequency Response: 49Hz - 20kHz

Video Shielding: Yes

Dimensions (H x W x D): 12 11/16 x 8 7/8 x 11 1/2 inches

Dimensions and Weight in Packaging

Single Speaker with Free G2 Pack

Shipping Weight: 38 lbs

Single Speaker

Shipping Weight: 23 lbs

Shipping Dimensions: 17 x 15 x 13 in

Pair, with Complete Monitor and Mic Pack

Shipping Weight: 65 lbs