New Studio Monitor Suggestions To Replace 10+ Year Old KRK Rokit 5's - Confused On New Offerings

[WarmEngine]

I've had a pair of Limited Edition KRK Rokit 5's like the pictures attached that I've been very happy with for 10+ years.  One is starting to have some issues and probably not worth trying to repair since I don't know how to do it myself.  It's basically crackling or will stop outputting audio completely (more often than not now).  I assume it's probably best to upgrade so that brings me here since I'm confused on where to start.  Reddit and YouTube aren't helping very much since it's been so long since I've upgraded.

 

KRK appears to have different options now (Classic Series) & (ROKIT Powered G4).  I've found both pairs on sale, Classic for $200 and ROKIT for $338.

 

Does anyone follow audio closely to have experienced or really know the differences?  I've seen a couple videos and it would appear the Classic would be fine but what I can't figure out is how they compare to what I have now.

 

I'll be using the monitors for doing light audio and video production, listening to music, and for gaming when not using a headset.

 

The color of them doesn't matter to me (black, white, red, blue, etc) and I'm also open to other brands but know KRK have been highly reviewed in the past

 

I just want a high quality monitor with great sound overall like these or better - Any feedback on my current options or other things I should consider would be greatly appreciated!

 

Thanks!

[rice guru]

Lots of great new and used monitors to be found what is your budget? 

[WarmEngine]

4 hours ago, rice guru said:

Lots of great new and used monitors to be found what is your budget? 

$200 to $350 would be ideal and obviously $200 is better BUT if there's a drastic difference between $200 and $350 I'd rather spend the extra money.  The same goes with $350 and if that's not enough for a quality monitor that sounds good and will last I don't mind increasing slightly.  The KRK Classic's are $200 a pair which seems incredibly cheap as I'm pretty sure I spent $300 or $350 on the current pair 10+ years ago when they came out in like 2009-2010 or so.  Thanks for your help.

 

I did a bit more research and from what I can tell my current KRK Rokit's are G2 (whereas the new Rokits are G4's) so mine are 2 generations old.

[rice guru]

8 hours ago, WarmEngine said:

$200 to $350 would be ideal and obviously $200 is better BUT if there's a drastic difference between $200 and $350 I'd rather spend the extra money.  The same goes with $350 and if that's not enough for a quality monitor that sounds good and will last I don't mind increasing slightly.  The KRK Classic's are $200 a pair which seems incredibly cheap as I'm pretty sure I spent $300 or $350 on the current pair 10+ years ago when they came out in like 2009-2010 or so.  Thanks for your help.

 

I did a bit more research and from what I can tell my current KRK Rokit's are G2 (whereas the new Rokits are G4's) so mine are 2 generations old.

I mean generations. Don't really matter if the speaker sounds good it sounds good. Im currently rocking headphones from the 80s and it sounds great. 

 

The thing I can reccomend  within your budget is  the iloud micro a lot. But if you value stereo imaging you'll probably prefer the KRK rockits 5. If you had a budget of $400 I could give more options but it seems inflation has caught how ith a few of my other reccomendations.

 

[WarmEngine]

44 minutes ago, rice guru said:

The thing I can reccomend  within your budget is  the iloud micro a lot. But if you value stereo imaging you'll probably prefer the KRK rockits 5. If you had a budget of $400 I could give more options but it seems inflation has caught how ith a few of my other reccomendations.

 

Not familiar with iloud brand but will look them up.  Since I replied I've raised my budget slightly.  I looked at the Yamaha HS5 ($400/pr) and KRK Rokit G4's ($370/pr) in Guitar Center today to compare them side by side.  They didn't have the KRK Classic 5's ($300/pr) unfortunately so wasn't able to test those out.  The Yamaha's had really solid clarity and high/mid range but lacked low end and had a rear facing bass port and my speakers are within 1 foot of a wall and in the corner of a room next to a window as well which concerns me.  KRK's excelled with low end but suffered in the higher range but had a front facing bass port.  What do you like in that $400 range?

[Cocococo]

22 minutes ago, WarmEngine said:

Not familiar with iloud brand but will look them up.  Since I replied I've raised my budget slightly.  I looked at the Yamaha HS5 ($400/pr) and KRK Rokit G4's ($370/pr) in Guitar Center today to compare them side by side.  They didn't have the KRK Classic 5's ($300/pr) unfortunately so wasn't able to test those out.  The Yamaha's had really solid clarity and high/mid range but lacked low end and had a rear facing bass port and my speakers are within 1 foot of a wall and in the corner of a room next to a window as well which concerns me.  KRK's excelled with low end but suffered in the higher range but had a front facing bass port.  What do you like in that $400 range?

Kali lp6 v2 are some of the best PC monitors out there, I'd take them over a lot of bookshelves that cost double the price. Yamaha speakers haven't really impressed me lately, HS8 in particular are super bad for the price (there are headphones for cheaper that image better than HS8) JBL 305's are a great pic but within around 2 metres of listening room the Kali's are almost untouchable. JBL are cheaper and more widely available, they're just the two obvious choices for PC use

 

[rice guru]

1 hour ago, WarmEngine said:

Not familiar with iloud brand but will look them up.  Since I replied I've raised my budget slightly.  I looked at the Yamaha HS5 ($400/pr) and KRK Rokit G4's ($370/pr) in Guitar Center today to compare them side by side.  They didn't have the KRK Classic 5's ($300/pr) unfortunately so wasn't able to test those out.  The Yamaha's had really solid clarity and high/mid range but lacked low end and had a rear facing bass port and my speakers are within 1 foot of a wall and in the corner of a room next to a window as well which concerns me.  KRK's excelled with low end but suffered in the higher range but had a front facing bass port.  What do you like in that $400 range?

If you can afford the HS5 also co spider the Adam t5v should run about $400 as well as the JBL 306p mk2 both are great. I personally like the sound of the Adam t5v better as I find it more neutral. 

[WarmEngine]

44 minutes ago, rice guru said:

If you can afford the HS5 also co spider the Adam t5v should run about $400 as well as the JBL 306p mk2 both are great. I personally like the sound of the Adam t5v better as I find it more neutral. 

I wanted to test those in store as they were on a list I seen recommended quite a bit but the only Adam brand ones they had were $799 each.  How do they compare to both the KRK Rokit 5 and Yamaha HS5 in your personal opinion?  What are the key differences (pros and cons)?

 

1 hour ago, Cocococo said:

Kali lp6 v2 are some of the best PC monitors out there, I'd take them over a lot of bookshelves that cost double the price. Yamaha speakers haven't really impressed me lately, HS8 in particular are super bad for the price (there are headphones for cheaper that image better than HS8) JBL 305's are a great pic but within around 2 metres of listening room the Kali's are almost untouchable. JBL are cheaper and more widely available, they're just the two obvious choices for PC use

 

Thanks, I've seen these referenced elsewhere a lot.  I need to find a store with a demo pair to hear it sounds like.

[rice guru]

4 hours ago, WarmEngine said:

How do they compare to both the KRK Rokit 5 and Yamaha HS5 in your personal opinion?

Hard to say I don't really have them here to compare. Sad to see they are that overpriced they should $200-250 each. I find the krks far too bassy personally for actual production work whether it be monitoring but are really in speaker for stuff like DJ'ng or listening to hip hop or EDM. The t5v are closer to the HS5 both aim for neutrality but the HS5 is notoriously unforgiving it will reveal anything wrong with the mix and is not the most enjoyable thing to listen to for enjoyment but if your doing production work it's great. The t5v to me strikes a nuce balance between the 2 it's revealing enough to use for production but it's also musical enough for enjoyment.

[Heats with Nvidia]

Your old pair belongs in a museum. A pair of KRK Rokits that lasted more than 5 years is a milestone for this company.

 

Jokes aside, the Yamaha and Adam offerings usually not only sound better, but have a far better build quality and last longer.

10 years, for a pair of speakers, even powered ones, isn`t a long time. The oldest speakers, i have in regular use, are from 1974 and even good powered speakers should last more than 20 years before they need their first repair.