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TWENTY SEVEN
NUMBER THREE
$5.99US $5.99CAN
09281 03050
12
DECEMBER 2013
USA $5.99
CANADA $5.99
B Y PA U L V N U K J R .
Wow, time really does fly. It was all the way back in our August 2008 issue that I
introduced our readers to KRK Systems then new and upgraded ROKIT G2 monitors. Now I have the privilege to introduce the newest Generation 3 model.
The previous ROKIT G2 models have been the speakers in my office editing suite
for the past five years. So, as you can imagine, I was very interested in seeing what
has been changed in Generation 3. KRK sent me the 5" version; I received one of
the first pairs in the country a few months prior to launch and was sworn to secrecy!
Third time around
Out of the box at a casual glance the new model appears similar to its predecessor. The 1" soft-dome tweeter, 5" yellow glass-aramid composite woofer, and the
glowing backlit KRK logo (which indicates power) are all in the same place and
appear unaltered.
Putting the G2 and G3 models side by side, however, one can see quite a bit
has changed. The contours of the body are tighter and sharper, and the bass port
has been completely redesigned, as has the waveguide around the tweeter. There
are no longer any screws on the faceplate and even the ROKIT logo has been
updated. The G3 is made of MDF with a black vinyl wrap, measuring 9.7" x 7.4"
x 11.2" and weighing 13 lbs. The G2 weighed 14 lbs.
A big difference
I spent an afternoon with the ROKITs, old and
new, at my studio The Moss Garden. I hooked
them up with Drawmers MC2.1 monitor controller (reviewed September 2013) alongside
their big, big brother, KRKs flagship Expos E8b
(reviewed February 2008). The E8b is a multithousand-dollar monitor that serves as my main
system for mixing, mastering and sound design.
After listening to everything ranging from
Sade to Ray La Montagne to the Beatles, Led
Zeppelin, Porcupine Tree, Radiohead, Miles
Davis, Bill Evans and more, I was quite surprised to learn that not only are these new
ROKITs a complete sonic upgrade from the
ROKIT G2, but they sound like a completely different level of monitor altogether. This became
most apparent with four recordings:
I find The Oscar Peterson Trios Things Aint
What They Used to Be off of 1962s Night Train
to be some of the best recorded trio jazz ever laid
to tape, from the clarity of the piano, the intimate
close-up drums and especially upright bass. I was
immediately impressed by how the G3 translated
the low end. Not so much in a shake-the-room rumble, but in tightness and clarity. The finger noise
and string slaps retained their detail without getting
lost in low-end boom. On the high end the tape
noise shone through nicely and the ride cymbal
was present and clear, but not too bright or cutting.
Moving on to a modern piano trio, on Arild
Andersens ECM recording The Triangle I was
again impressed by the improved clarity and
Wrap up
For their price, build and sound, the
ROKIT 5 G3 completely impressed me!
Bottom line, I feel I could trust these to work
on, and everything I have done with them
so far has translated very well, be it in my
car, on computer speakers, earbuds or
television speakers.
You cant argue with the ROKIT legacy.
The ROKIT G2 is one of the most-used
budget monitor speakers on the planet,
and with this new model KRK has completely upped its own game. I am blown
away by the improvement!
Price: $299/pair
More from: KRK Systems / Gibson Pro
Audio, www.krksys.com
Paul Vnuk Jr. (vnuk@recordingmag.com)
makes his living working at the audio gigs
mentioned in this review, and a few others
as well from time to time.