KRK Rokit RP5 G3 Black Gold Active Studio Monitors Review
Who remembers Gold 1210's? Well KRK have jumped on the bandwagon and we love it. We have got our hands exclusively on the new KRK Rokit RP5 G3 Black Gold Active Studio Monitors. The 1" soft-dome tweeter remains the same as its standard edition brother, but the 5" glass-aramid composite woofer is black instead of the usual KRK yellow.

Overview

The Black Gold G3 is made of vinyl wrapped MDF. Around the back the ROKIT 5 offers a three of input choices - balanced XLR, balanced 1/4" TRS (jack), and unbalanced RCA. The speakers are active (they require no amplifier). There are controls to adjust the high-frequency range by -2 / -1 dB / 0 / +1 dB, a stepped knob for adjusting the low frequency: -2 / -1 dB / 0 / +2 dB as well as volume which can be adjusted from -30 dB up to +6 dB. krk-rokit-5-g3-bg-black-gold

Specifications

  • 5" Glass-Aramid woofer, 1" soft dome tweeter
  • Power: 50 Watt
  • Class AB amplifier: 30 Watt woofer, 20 Watt tweeter
  • Frequency range: 45 - 35,000 Hz
  • Input: RCA, XLR and 6.3 mm jack
  • Magnetically shielded
  • Auto Standbye Studio Monitors Review
  • Dimensions (H x W x D): 284 x 188 x 246 mm
  • Weight: 5.9 kg
  • Colour: Black gold
KRK Rokit RP5 G3 Black Golds sound tight and punchy with great low end extension for their size. Low end extension, in small monitors, is always an issue for small sized speakers for both DJ and studio monitors.

Test - DJ

Finding a home/studio speaker is always a balance between output level, sound quality and size. As Dj's we want something that packs a punch but does not take so much space that our other halves, children, and pets don't have to move out to accommodate for our speakers. KRK RP5 G3's are certainly small enough but do they output enough good quality sound? Short answer is yes. And then some. We have already talked about the G3's low end extension, the monitor excels at this area. In many speakers this often means a trade off with clarity in the mids. Clear mids are vital to good beat matching, as the human ear struggles to accurately interpret low frequencies. This for me is where these speakers outshine the competition at this price range. The mids are clear, detailed, and transparent. The RP5's let me seamlessly mix on CDJ's and Vinyl as I could hear every detail of my blend (out of time beats and clashing frequencies). Check out this video of Lowsteppa trying out his new tune on a Gold Black pair. 1459975_604749749586987_1716604565_n

Test - Production

There is one phrase that ultimately describes what is needed in a studio monitor and that is 'transfer-ability'. I often here people talking about looking for a 'flat' monitor but really it is more important to mixdown on a speaker that translates well to the usual suspects: car audio, home stereos, phones and club systems. For example, maybe the most legendary studio monitor in history, the Yamaha NS10 has an EQ representation that looks more like the Alps mountain range than a 'Flat EQ'. So in the studio I pulled up some mixes I am familiar with as well as a new tune I have been working on to see how these monitors perform. On familiar mixes what impressed me the most was the detail in the low end it gave me. The RP5's have depth in low end you would normally only hear in a 7-inch or bigger speaker. I am used to mixing on Ribbon tweeter monitors so added Plus 2db to the HF Level Adjust on the back of the monitor to give me the top end presence I like in the studio. This gave me a really nice detailed top end. As described in the DJ Test above, all this does not come at a cost of mid range clarity. I proceeded to mix down the new project I had been working on, bounced it down, and then tested it in the usual places (car, nan's old stereo, iphone, club system). The low end and mids performed really well but I maybe left out a little to much in th 4khz plus area. (This was probably was because I over boosted the EQ on the back by plus 2db and maybe should have left it at 0 or 1). So I went back and corrected this and was surprisingly happy enough with the results to bounce down a pre master and send them off for mastering!

Re-Sell Value

One important thing for all of us when investing in studio gear is re-sell value. KRK products tend to do pretty well in this area, then you add on the fact itsLimited Edition Gold Black and the outlook is pretty positive on this front

Conclusion

At this price Range and Size this speaker stands out as a leader. It performs like that that of 7-inch speaker that is double the cost. Tight low end, detailed top end, and translatable mids make this a perfect first time monitor if not a great additional reference speaker. We love the Black Gold look, which could have been tacky, but KRK have pulled it off here. Im sure they wont be around for long so get them whilst you can! - KRK Rokit RP5 G3 Black Gold Active Studio Monitors (Pair) krk-rp5-g3-black-gold-1