Rokit 6 10s Build Quality

While KRK may not be a well known name in the world of home theater, they do have a reputation in the studio market. One of the dangers of getting involved in home theater and high fidelity is that you become incapable (or at least unwilling) to tolerate poor sound. What you end up with is a desire to upgrade every speaker or speaker system in your home lest you become loath to use it. Many an Audioholic has started with little cube-like speakers that they paid an upgrade price for when they purchased their desktop computer just to decide that they weren't worth the plastic they were made out of when they discovered true high fidelity. Also, many are the spouse to grimace and think of all the things they can wrangle out of yet another speaker upgrade negotiation. In the end, everyone wins.

KRK has upgraded their Rokit line with their new Generation 2 offerings. According to the company:

The Rokit G2's curved front baffle was engineered to minimize diffraction of high-frequencies, resulting in a sweet spot that is significantly larger than products with square or lightly rounded baffles. The baffle also houses a molded front-facing bass port that minimizes low-frequency phase distortion and unwanted frequency emphasis typical of rear-facing bass ports. The end result is a harmonious yet accurate blend of low and high-frequency components that result in a more accurate speaker. Additionally, the Rokit G2's voicing has been slightly enhanced to provide even better mix clarity and precision.

So there you are - some of the Gen2 changes are cosmetic (though not without purpose) and some are in tuning and design. The color scheme is the same but other than that, there is no doubt which are the Gen1's and which are the Gen2s.

Build Quality

The KRK Rokit Powered 6 monitors (there is an unpowered version FYI) came in individual boxes as did the 10s subwoofer. Each speaker is wrapped in a thin foam fabric with foam endcaps. The speakers were all double boxed with the outer box still having all the branding. The speakers arrived in good condition with no damage. There are a few similarities across the entire line of speakers. First, they all have a rounded front baffle (including the sub). The finish is all a semi-reflective textured black. The finish resists fingerprints and stands up pretty well to dust. It seems very resistant to scuffs and scraps and promises to be very durable. All the speakers have a front firing slot-style port near the bottom on the cabinets. The woofers are all constructed out of glass aramid composite and are bright yellow with a black dust cap. Distinctive? Yes. Attractive? You decide. All the speakers weigh about as much as you'd think considering their size. They feel very quality in this respect without being overly difficult to move.

The 10s subwoofer is about the right size for a home theater sub which gives is a bit more bulk than you are used to seeing in an office. At 16" deep, 14" wide and 15" tall, you're not exactly going to shove this thing under your desk. You're definitely going to want to make sure you know what you are getting into with the KRK 10s. It sports a ten inch driver under a mesh grill. The grill is technically removable though it is a bit of a pain to do so, and the sub looks a little weird with it off. There are no feet of any kind nor are there provisions for such.

    

The back of the sub may look a little unusual to home theater enthusiasts but it all makes sense once you take a deeper look. Since all of the speakers have their own amp, the idea is that you'll need to run them all through the sub in order to take advantage of the crossover. Down the center of the sub, you'll notice a few more common controls - volume (-30dB to +6 dB), crossover (50Hz to 130Hz with a label at 80Hz), a 0/180 phase switch, and RCA line in and outs. I'll get to that 1/4" plug at the bottom in a minute. To the right you'll notice TRS (1/4") inputs and balanced inputs and outputs. A power switch (no auto-on function) and detachable power cord are at the bottom. Under a small plastic cover, there is a ground lift switch for those having problems with a grounding buzz. This is a feature I wish they had on all subs and is a welcome find here.

In order to use the 10s in a 2.1 configuration, you can use the RCA, TRS, or balanced inputs from your computer/soundcard. You can then connect your speakers by either balanced or RCA output. The any input can be matched with any output (you don't have to do RCA to RCA for example). But what if you don't want to use the sub, if only temporarily? Well, that's what that final 1/4" plug at the bottom of the center column is for. You can connect a foot pedal so that you can bypass the sub as you wish and send a full range signal to your monitors. Pretty cool.

Because the Rokit Powered 6s are studio monitors and not traditional home theater speakers, they have their own included amp. They are also completely lacking a grill, yet another in a long line of reasons to keep your kids out of our office. Personally, I would have preferred a grill of some sort even if it was perfunctory and throwaway. It just makes the speaker more versatile in placement and gives those that don't like the yellow cones a way to hide them. The Rokit 6s sport a 6" woofer (hence the "6" designation) and a 1" neodymium soft dome tweeter with ferro fluid. KRK Systems also makes a smaller 4 and a larger 8 monitors with the appropriate sized woofers. The speakers are a bit bigger than you might expect at over a foot tall, nearly a foot deep and almost 9" wide. The bottom of the speakers have a rubber mat covering nearly the entire bottom which means you can pretty much put them on anything. The mat didn’t stick or mar any surface I put them on including a cherry desk.

The back of the Roket 6 has the amp with a number of input and control options. You have your three different input options (RCA, TRS, and balanced). Only two of them (RCA and balanced) are compatible with the 10s sub (it doesn’t have a TRS output). There is a volume control (again with -30dB to +6 dB control) with a High Frequency adjust from -2dB to +1dB. This allows you to really fine tune your high frequency experience. Lastly, you'll find a power switch and a detachable power cord at the bottom.

Cracking open the Rokit 6s I needed to remove a large front plate which doubled at the housing for the tweeter. The woofers were shielded with stamped baskets. The magnet structures looked about right. There were some braces glued to the sides and along the edges but none across the middle other than the structure for the slot-style port. The knock test was sufficiently dead. The speakers had a layer of polyfill glued to the walls. The amp appears to be housed into its own compartment which I’d surmise it’s likely a Class D design.  They utilize a linear power supply with a fairly hefty torroidal transformer and a meaty power reserves.

The 10s sub shared many of the same features of the Rokit 6s including the cabinet materials, stamped baskets, and polyfill on the walls. The differences were that the driver wasn't shielded, there was an extra layer of polyfil between the woofer and the amp, and the knock test wasn't nearly as satisfying. With a sub the size of the 10s, I'd expect at least one substantial brace but there were none. The magnet on the 10s looked a little less beefy than others I've seen on drivers this size. The amp appears to be housed into its own compartment which I’d surmise it’s likely a Class D design. They utilize a linear power supply with a fairly hefty torroidal transformer and meaty power reserves.