Active Studio Monitors for HIFI ?

[r100]

Hi all,

does anyone have any experience with so called "Studio Monitors" in their HiFi system ? I stumbled across the KRK ROKIT 5 G3 series and others in the same price / spec range. They all seem to be quite cheap considering there are two amps built in to each speaker... From what I understand, they are tuned for relatively close range auditioning which may limit their use in larger spaces...

What do they sound like compared to a "HiFi" speaker of about the same size ?

Thank's

11736

:scratch:

[Mika K]

In short, lot of dynamics and impressive sound pressure but not so good in terms of quality.. :) Of course there is also good active monitors available but then the pricing will go up just like with other solutions also. I would much prefer Behringer models over KRK any given day in this price range.

Here is on vid you can compare KRK, Yamaha and JBL monitors, that might interest you..


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riXAOTRdTNA

[r100]

Thank's will check it out

[agk]

Interesting topic. I quite fancy some dirty great wedges in place of my Tannoys, no great logic at work here, I want something big and LOUD.

[r100]

the ROKIT seem to do just that .. :)

[PaulStewart]

KRKs are OK, the current Yamahas are not up to the classic NS10s but they are good value for money. We re-equipped both edit suites late last year and as Genelecs, which are now the de-facto industry standard for nearfields in pro applications, were out of our budget after a lot of listening we went for the active Tannoy 501 Reveals. It's a great sounding little monitor, very accurate over it's range. However theyvare all nearfields, designed to resolve when the listener is about 1 to 1.5 metres away, not in a "HiFi" listening position. When you put the on stands and try that, they get a little flaky and the imaging and tonal balance can suffer. Well designed ones are not meant to have a major interaction with room acoustics.

Best of luck

Paul S

[nat8808]

It's a funny kind of area, especially at the cheaper end.

At the cheaper end they're aimed at a combo of people just wanting an all in one way of getting sounds out of their DJ mixer for practicing at home, or perhaps for cheap and chearful events and people making music at home a on a budget.

As people making music at home get more serious they begin looking for better quality and so prices go up and you have to do research into which are the good ones and which are just over-priced me too prodcuts..

I would go secondhand though. Tannoy Reveals are probably a little better than the cheaper KRKs and they sold so many that they can be picked up very cheaply. Active speakers can't really be abused either because they've probable got clip protection, so don't have to worry so much as long as they are all in on piece.

Sound on Sound magazine is good for checking secondhand gear reviews as they have their archive online (well issues older than 6 months are viewable for free).

Here's a search for "active" in their review section: Sound on Sound search (http://www.soundonsound.com/search?url=%2Fsearch&Keyword=active&Year=+&Month=+&Words=All&Summary=No&Section=0&Subject=0&ShowResults=yes)

[nat8808]

the ROKIT seem to do just that .. :)

Here's a review of the original generation of these: http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/aug04/articles/krkrokit.htm

Good for the price but their small size limits the bass response is the general conclusion.


The Rokit 5 has just 15W driving the tweeter and 30W powering the mid-range/bass


Any amp and speaker set can go loud.. these won't be any louder than any other amp/speaker (of course, taking into account sensitivity matching etc).

If you want loud then you want portable PA speakers with sensitive compression drivers, not budget studio monitors..

[nat8808]

Hi all,

does anyone have any experience with so called "Studio Monitors" in their HiFi system ?

I use studio monitors in my system, Acoustic Energy AE2 Pros. They are great!

Sometimes I feel they are a little darker than some other speakers but then the top end seems to be there when you'd expect it - so I wonder if some hifi speakers are given a little extra top end to add more "air" for the listener.

The differences betwen hifi speakers and studio monitors is mostly down to marketting to the particular consumer and there are probably just as many hifi consumer types to market to as there are studio user types.

Remember for example that the most famous studio monitor, the Yamaha NS10 was a hifi speaker first and black studio models were made in response to the poorly selling hifi speaker being used in the odd studio. And Acoustic Energy's AE1 was designed as a studio monitor but became popular in hifi circles and so now Acoustic Energy are known as a hifi manufacturer...

[Mark Grant]

Also consider Adam http://www.adam-audio.com/ All price ranges from a few hundred up to many tens of thousands.

[r100]

thank's all. Very useful info. Will check it out.

[losenotaminute]

I'm a little surprised no-one has mentioned Event Opals (unless I missed it). I heard some last year and was very impressed. There was a pair at Scalford playing alongside some fairly high-end Meridian speakers and as I understand it some people preferred the Opals. They are very industrial looking, but pack a huge punch.

https://www.soundonsound.com/sos/aug09/articles/eventopal.htm

[Mark Grant]

The Event Opals would be great although priced at about £2100 to £2200 a pair are about 9 times more expensive than the KRK Rokit originally asked about so maybe a bit over r100's budget.
http://www.gak.co.uk/en/krk-rokit-rp5-g3-single/87111

http://www.gak.co.uk/en/event-opal-active-studio-monitor-single/52163

The Opals look good :)

[losenotaminute]

Good point Mark, those KRK speakers are extreme cheap, would be a bit dubious that they sound any good at that price, but perhaps I'm being unfair. I think if I was to start afresh I would seriously think about some active monitors.

[tpbholm]

I use a pair of Rokit 6 G3's in my studio with a Rokit 10S sub. They are very good near field monitors but I wouldn't advocate using them as hifi speakers. They're not really designed with convenience in mind. All the adjustment is on the back of each speaker and it's necessary to adjust each one individually to achieve the best balance, tone etc. I have them connected to my Mac through a Focusrite Forte audio interface which I use to adjust volume, input etc. having set the rear controls in advance. The Forte simplifies adjustment and I includes an excellent DAC but it adds an extra £400. They definitely sound their best at 1 - 1.5 metres although they sound ok further away. The bottom line is they're not designed or sold as hifi. Extended listening could be quite fatiguing I think.
I auditioned quite a range of monitors before settling on the Rokits and settled on them as offering the best sound for the price for a studio monitor, but when I want to listen for extended periods I opt for my conventional B&W speakers rather than the Rokits.
There are other monitors which have adjustment on the front of the speaker but they tend to lower quality.

[Digibart]

Hi,

I would go for these ones:

http://www.tannoystudio.com/reveal-402/

I have Tannoy 601a and I'm very happy with them.The new ones have also stereo input so you can play directly from phone or computer.

[r100]

Hmmm interesting... I use KEF LS50's which, come to think of it, are apparently based on / inspired by BBC studio monitors (marketing hype ?) .. they are fantastic at relatively close range (2-3m)... but are not the most "room filling" speaker around but then they are not very large either...

[nat8808]

I auditioned quite a range of monitors before settling on the Rokits and settled on them as offering the best sound for the price for a studio monitor, but when I want to listen for extended periods I opt for my conventional B&W speakers rather than the Rokits.
There are other monitors which have adjustment on the front of the speaker but they tend to lower quality.

Many top studios use B&W standmounts for critical listening. Abbey Road used the B&W Matrix 805s for a long while - I picked up my first pair of 805 Matrix in a horizontal configuration for £250. Picked up my current pair of 805s for £200 .. My AE 2 Pro studio monitors were £240.

Other than the convenience of an active design, I would go for a secondhand hifi speaker with a studio monitor pedigree rather than buy something new in the £150 - £300 price range.

I remember a set of sound on sound articles about hifi monitors v studio monitors. Conclusion from memory was down to power handling (being higher for studio monitors with compromises elsewhere).

Here are the articles:

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jul02/articles/monitors2.asp

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jun02/articles/monitors.asp

Conclusion was that on a price for price basis, they would choose the B&W hifi speaker for their studio (but prefered the much more expensive Dynaudio).


Not about active designs though. If you WANT active, then it's hard to find a cheap active hifi speaker. Then again, I'd rather get a hifi speaker and two cheap class-D amps velcro'd to the back (not fully active but still becomes one convenient unit).

[nat8808]

So, in terms of frequency response measurement, there's no obvious split between 'pro' and 'hi-fi' among these four speakers. In fact, if anything, they fall into two rather different groups, with the B&W and Dynaudio offering a balance appropriate for nearfield use in small rooms (coincidentally, the Dynaudio and B&W have low-frequency response shapes so similar they could almost be a pair), while the Wharfedale and KRK offer something more suited to listening at a greater distance in larger rooms. The B&W is also the best in terms of resonant behaviour.

Next month, I'll be giving the guinea pigs a harder time, by looking at some of the power-handling and compression issues that might sort the 'pro' from the 'hi-fi'. So while 'hi-fi', in the shape of the B&W, looks to have a lead at this stage, don't count any chickens just yet!

..

[Reffc]

Adam Audio do a range of superb active speakers for reasonable money, although they are above the OP budget, they do come up ex-dem. For the cash though, their Adam Audio Column actives were one of the best sounds at last years National Audio shows at Whittlebury.

http://www.stereophile.com/content/adam-audio-classic-column-mk3-loudspeaker


They do provide a range of smaller more affordable actives though which are worth searching out.

[nat8808]

But are they better than a good hifi speaker with say a class-D amp attached?

Is going active on a low to mid range budget better value for money than finding a higher range secondhand hifi speaker with class d amp for the same money?

Then there are active speakers like the Meridian M3 and M2 which can be found for as little as £150 for the M3 or say £280 for the M2 (although moving up to £450 for the latter from a dealer).

For simple mucking about with cheap actives to see how loud you can pump music before they burst, I'd still go secondhand and bet those K-roks can be picked up for about £60. I'd say Adams are too recent and current to be good bargains even P11As which are 8 years old already.

But hey, this is getting away from the cheap as chips starting point of this thread..

[tpbholm]

For simple mucking about with cheap actives to see how loud you can pump music before they burst, I'd still go secondhand and bet those K-roks can be picked up for about £60.

You'd be very lucky to get a pair of KRK's for only £60 - they're quite sought after second hand, probably because they've had quite a few positive reviews in the music recording press. e.g. https://www.soundonsound.com/sos/nov08/articles/krkrp6.htm

[kininigin]

I used to run a pair of Tapco S-8's,which were to me,quite good value for money.Picked them up for about £150.They were a budget monitor but did sound quite good to me! I was listening more near field rather than further away though! They were the first studio monitors i had tried and was just taking a punt on them to see how they faired and i was impressed enough to keep them! My current pair are far more refined,although not a studio monitor and can be listened to as a 'normal' hifi speaker!

I would say take a punt on a pair of monitors and see how it goes!

[nat8808]

You'd be very lucky to get a pair of KRK's for only £60 - they're quite sought after second hand, probably because they've had quite a few positive reviews in the music recording press. e.g. https://www.soundonsound.com/sos/nov08/articles/krkrp6.htm

For some reason, I'd assumed the ROkit 5s could be had for a low price and I'd got it into my head they were only £150 new... Turns out they're nearer £300!

[stupinder]

Hmmm interesting... I use KEF LS50's which, come to think of it, are apparently based on / inspired by BBC studio monitors (marketing hype ?) .. they are fantastic at relatively close range (2-3m)... but are not the most "room filling" speaker around but then they are not very large either...
We have the X300s here for review at the moment. Heard the LS50s in the past and was really impressed if I'm honest. The X300s seem to offer a proportion of the same feel/sound and are powered too. To be honest I've not tried them as anything than (big) desktops in a nearfield position but really enjoying them for both listening to music and for messing about making music.

[r100]

The x300 seem to be a very nice desktop / computer speaker without the need for a dac or amp.. very handy !