Just got some KRK ST6's

  • Thread starter Thread starter Yareek
  • Start date Start date
Well I just borrowed my buddies BX8's for a few days. Sound reports forthcoming.

Initial responses: flat bass, but they are some "forward" speakers.
 
damn, your goin after it...thats good stuff.
in your house is the ultimate test. that extra effort usually pays off.

in your own place...with all those damn nodes and moving molecules and hums. :eek:
 
COOLCAT said:
damn, your goin after it...thats good stuff.
in your house is the ultimate test. that extra effort usually pays off.

in your own place...with all those damn nodes and moving molecules and hums. :eek:
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Yeah, I sure like to know what I'm getting myself into...especially with speakers. I have WAY too much pride to end up with some hi-fi crap :D

Tonight we're going to have the battle royale. I'm pulling out the Test CD and going to do a detailed listening session with each, maybe listening to either my "decent" JBL 10" 3-way floorstanders, or Athena 8" 3-way floorstanders, or my car system. I'll be taking lots of notes and all that good stuff.

After mixing with the BX8's last night, I'm about 90% sure I'll be returning the M1's and ordering a pair of the BX8's. Whereas the M1's sound relatively impressive and allow you to hear a great range from about 200 Hz on up to about 2 kHz, they are a bit too quiet from that part up. Almost as if the internal crossover has the tweeters down too far. Also, the 6.5" puts out more bass than the 8" woofers of the BX8's, but the bass sounds hyped and tubby in comparison. It seems like mixes would end up lacking bass and with a bit too much high end with the M1's. The BX8's have kind of a strange transition from the woofer to the tweeter; I just can't get them sitting right with the high frequency switch. Sometimes I want them down 4 dB, sometimes I want them flat. I think it's because the high-end cone breakup of the 8" woofer doesn't extend quite high enough to mate with the tweeter, and it's causing some phase or frequency discrepancies. BUT, the rest of the monitors are quite impressive. Guitars sound like guitars with plenty of pick attack and the speaker curve is very apparent. My drums actually sound like my drums with stick attack and the depth of tuning, but with that slightly hollow sound that birch shells and die-cast hoops give. Also, the bass response makes you kind of want to crank it because it sounds good, but it's present enough that you realize you shouldn't.

More reports coming...
 
Yareek said:
I think it's because the high-end cone breakup of the 8" woofer doesn't extend quite high enough to mate with the tweeter, and it's causing some phase or frequency discrepancies.

More reports coming...
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interesting input. it makes logical sense and probably is challenging to a designer with an 8" driver going to a tweeter while trying to maintain the difficult mid-freqs for studio monitoring/mixing (goal of flat freq response).

i noticed you said you thought the RP6 would be your favorite of the KRK.
for a small room you may be right, and your ears are your preference.

so the BX8's were better than your Alesis....

what's the next model? RP 6's... alot of the rock n' rollers like the KRK's.
 
Yareek said:
Yeah, I sure like to know what I'm getting myself into...especially with speakers. I have WAY too much pride to end up with some hi-fi crap :D

Tonight we're going to have the battle royale. I'm pulling out the Test CD and going to do a detailed listening session with each, maybe listening to either my "decent" JBL 10" 3-way floorstanders, or Athena 8" 3-way floorstanders, or my car system. I'll be taking lots of notes and all that good stuff.

After mixing with the BX8's last night, I'm about 90% sure I'll be returning the M1's and ordering a pair of the BX8's. Whereas the M1's sound relatively impressive and allow you to hear a great range from about 200 Hz on up to about 2 kHz, they are a bit too quiet from that part up. Almost as if the internal crossover has the tweeters down too far. Also, the 6.5" puts out more bass than the 8" woofers of the BX8's, but the bass sounds hyped and tubby in comparison. It seems like mixes would end up lacking bass and with a bit too much high end with the M1's. The BX8's have kind of a strange transition from the woofer to the tweeter; I just can't get them sitting right with the high frequency switch. Sometimes I want them down 4 dB, sometimes I want them flat. I think it's because the high-end cone breakup of the 8" woofer doesn't extend quite high enough to mate with the tweeter, and it's causing some phase or frequency discrepancies. BUT, the rest of the monitors are quite impressive. Guitars sound like guitars with plenty of pick attack and the speaker curve is very apparent. My drums actually sound like my drums with stick attack and the depth of tuning, but with that slightly hollow sound that birch shells and die-cast hoops give. Also, the bass response makes you kind of want to crank it because it sounds good, but it's present enough that you realize you shouldn't.

More reports coming...
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Hey yareek looking to buy some monitors as well. Looking at the KRK's Rokkit 5's or the bx8's or the bX5a's.

You seem to know your know stuff through trial and error. So what you think I should go for?
 
guitardude said:
Hey yareek looking to buy some monitors as well. Looking at the KRK's Rokkit 5's or the bx8's or the bX5a's.

You seem to know your know stuff through trial and error. So what you think I should go for?
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Hey man,

I by far am not an exhaustive resource, just a guy who's spent way too much time dealing with car audio, home audio, and pro audio in the last 6 years :)

I don't like the BX5a's at all. AT ALL. They have way too much high end and don't have the adjustments of the previous BX5's. I'd wait until I post my in-depth review of the BX8's versus M1's tonight and compare them against my previous comments about the other monitors.

I liked the Rokit series, but I just didn't hear that midrange detail out of them. They sounded okay for a couple hundred bucks, but I know there's better monitors out there.

As for BX8's versus BX5's, I think that BX5's would work better for smaller rooms because I believe that they would have better midrange detail and you wouldn't have to worry about the bass issues of the large speakers. And the BX8's are HUGE! BUT, I'm really digging their sound.

I wish I could compare them against the Wharfs and Yorkies, but there are no dealers ANYWHERE around here and I don't want to buy and sell monitors for the next 6 months.
 
Yareek said:
Hey man,

I by far am not an exhaustive resource, just a guy who's spent way too much time dealing with car audio, home audio, and pro audio in the last 6 years :)

I don't like the BX5a's at all. AT ALL. They have way too much high end and don't have the adjustments of the previous BX5's. I'd wait until I post my in-depth review of the BX8's versus M1's tonight and compare them against my previous comments about the other monitors.

I liked the Rokit series, but I just didn't hear that midrange detail out of them. They sounded okay for a couple hundred bucks, but I know there's better monitors out there.

As for BX8's versus BX5's, I think that BX5's would work better for smaller rooms because I believe that they would have better midrange detail and you wouldn't have to worry about the bass issues of the large speakers. And the BX8's are HUGE! BUT, I'm really digging their sound.

I wish I could compare them against the Wharfs and Yorkies, but there are no dealers ANYWHERE around here and I don't want to buy and sell monitors for the next 6 months.
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Cool. Thanks. I think I saw the BX8's for $300. For reason I dont think there that cheap. However I noticed the high end in the BX5a's. I though it sounded really crisp compared to the KRK's rokkits. Im starting to realize i might get tired of that sound though. Not to sure what to do .

This is goign to be for acoustic music morely....so I really dont know if I should even worry to much.....but maybe I should haha.
 
I had a trip to Guitar Center this weekend myself. I HAD to have some monitors, but I had some odd requirements. I had to have powered, they had to be small, they had to be extended enough to do rough mixes on. I have to be able to carry these all over the place with me. Something with a huge heavy cabinet is going to be in the way and get really beat up.

I actually had a really helpful guy at the Cincinnati Guitar Center. He dug through his own CDs to find me a non burned MP3 CD of materiel with some decent rock bass and good cymbals. I had forgotten my own refrence CD at home.

I'm really used to the Mackie HR824, so we played those for a couple songs so I could try to get used to the sound there a small bit. Looking at what was small, I knew the BX5a or the KRK RP5 would best fit the bill in the size department. We listened to the BX5a for a bit. I owned the BX8's for a week or so, before deciding the set I had was giving off too much self noise. They really do have alot of top end. Moreso than the Mackie HR824, which I have always thought was very top end detailed itself. We switched over to the little KRKs and the bottom end really opened up. It sounded like there was 100hz more of bass extension in them. The top was not bright or exaggerated, but it was full, in that I didn't hear anything missing from the HR824 mix.

I went back and forth between the 3 sets of speakers really listening for differences. The little KRKs really suprised me and the guy who was working at GC. He said "This really suprises me". He said he had been recommending the BX5a's to alot of people, but that after listening with me for a while side by side the KRKs were just alot better overall. I hadn't really told my opinion out loud, but it was a clear winner. One thing, too, was that it really held a good response at low volumes, where the BX5a was dropping out alot of midrange. I also really like the rubber pads on the bottom. I can actually feel them helping quite a bit with isolation from the desk. So I grabbed a set of the RP5's and hit the door.

They sound good so far. I'm going to run several of my projects through them today and then start on a few mixes tommorrow. That will tell how really good they are. But so far I really like them, especially for their size and price. When I get my other stuff set up again, I'll be able to put them side by side with my long trusted Yorkvilles.

H2H
 
Hard2Hear said:
The little KRKs really suprised me and the guy who was working at GC. He said "This really suprises me". He said he had been recommending the BX5a's to alot of people, but that after listening with me for a while side by side the KRKs were just alot better overall.
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You know, that's part of the problem with monitors. You WANT nice sounding speakers with lots of bass and treble, but you NEED flat sounding monitors that can be somewhat dull and flat. However, those flat speakers, once you get used to them, generally translate much better because no one set of frequencies is jumping out or masking anything else. Doesn't suprise me much there!

So why am I drudging up my old post?

I'm actually getting a pair of BX8's from a user on this forum. They will hopefully arrive sometime late next week, depending on when I send payment and receive them, etc.

Not that you care, but the $325 or whatever it was I spent on the M1's overdrafted my checking account, resulting in me losing about $160 in money that I didn't have. So they went back and I missed out not only on the $300 BX8's, but the $230 BX8 closeout as well :(

And thirdly, I didn't post the results of my "shootout" between the M1's and the BX8's. I don't have my listening notes, but I gave up halfway through the BX8 listening because I knew they were the ones. Long story short, the M1's had lots of bass, but they were boosted up above the rest of the frequencies (I'd assume due to tuning the port too high, say around 60-70 Hz or so). The midrange was really good, but the high-end was a bit laid back. And with the excessive bass, it would result in bright mixes with lean bass.

The BX8's had much flatter bass response. Yeah, they're 8" woofers, and yeah my room is small and untreated (except for all the furniture and crap), but I know that they did not have the bump the M1's had, and they went down further frequency-wise. So at first listen, I thought they had less bass than the M1's...after a while, I realized the bass was just right and it was the M1's that had too much bass.

Lastly, the detail of the speakers was pretty good. I wanted speakers that were perhaps a bit forward in the midrange rather than lacking (and I realize that in this price range I can't get both). I felt the BX8's were definitely in the "forward" category. Fortunately, I played around with the "Acoustic Space" switch on the back, and that smoothed them out quite a bit. I think it's a bit of a dip around 800 Hz (a little lower than I would expect for the midrange peak), but it works wonders. After engaging that switch, I was pleased as hell.

Note: I prefer laid back speakers, but for some odd reason I like these as well, and they are supposed to be more forward. Is it because many years of drumming have finally deteriorated my heaing? I don't know, but keep that in mind with my "reviews."
 
your putting in the effort for sure. so the BX8's it is.

monitors are tricky, we hear what sounds "good" to the ears, but
being flat is different after years of stereo and car listening.
and then you also want something that doesn't cause ear fatigue...but you need the mids there, which are known for causing ear fatigue?
its like un-training your ears from scooped HiFi...to flat. :confused:

the BX8's for $230 just surprises me, thats alot of speaker even if for hifi or a computer setup! $230 for a pair of well powered speakers. damn...
i haven't done the switch on the back of speakers much, but i read it can be a nice option.

sounds like you had a pretty good set of tests.
hell i got to second guessing myself so much, i did the rta thing.

i didn't have the high end stuff to compare to like Hard2hear mentioned 824's, or even mixing experience,
so it was like Why do I like this one over the other one?? whats flat?

like guitars, its a very bad habit to get used to hearing out-of tune chords, as you'll start thinking its right! same with monitors...and unfortunately most friends and family won't ever tell you it sounds like ASS.
 
Musicians Fiend was doing some kind of really cheap closeout on those, but I forget how much. I don't think it is still going on anyway. I have seen other places that still are selling the old BX8's list them at around $230 per speaker, so make sure you aren't misunderstanding.

If anyone is interested, I have a pair of BX8's that I am looking to get $300 (plus shipping to wherever) out of, or my friend is going to get them. Around one year old(?) and I have all the original packaging. I have done many successful mixes on them and I think they are great. But they barely fit on my crowded desk, and I am looking to upgrade to some Dynaudio BM6A's (Aaaall Riiiiight, giggiddy giggiddy!)
Lemme know: reddog1299 (at) hotmail.com

Sorry if this is spam, but it seemed related. :o
 
Yep...I bought them used from a member on this forum. I missed out on the $300 and finally $240 per pair with shipping deals...

Oh well.
 
guess you could have called your thread...
Just got some BX8's for $240 pair. ;)

now your ready for some bass traps and diffusors?
 
COOLCAT said:
guess you could have called your thread...
Just got some BX8's for $240 pair. ;)

now your ready for some bass traps and diffusors?
Click to expand...

No, I should have called it "Finally got some BX8's for $490 used if you count the overdrafts that I incurred after purchasing the stupid Alesis monitors that I brought back two days later which prevented me from getting new BX8's for half as much money."

I printed up the Ethan Winer stuff, read through it at work, highlited and underlined, and I'll be dropping some bling on that next year. The main problems is that my bedroom studio literally is my bedroom. So I have a bed, dresser, desk, and a huge closet that turns my room into kind of a fat "L-shape." It's a disaster area.

Anyways, I'm moving in a few months, and I plan on building some membrane absorber bass traps. I'll probably make 5 of them; one for the front wall behind the desk, and one for each corner. I figure I'll have enough crap in my room to diffuse it properly, and I'll probably have carpeting to help the initial reflections.

My desk is also way too small, cramming me into a really narrow field. I'm building a really nice big desk for mixing, which I can't wait to use.

Finally, I've got the monitors (from Giganova - VERY fast shipping and great condition), and listened to them a few days. My ears are burned out on those stupid hi-fi's so I'm getting adjusted to normal amounts of treble.

As I did before, the best way to use these was to reduce the acoustic space switch to -2 dB. Helps the midrange peak.

My mixes sound kind of dull (because of my ears), but they are WAY clearer. I can actually start focusing on balancing the EQ of the instruments as opposed to just doing levels. Suprisingly though, most of the frequencies that I found for cutting and boosting on the hi-fi's still stand on these speakers. The cuts and boosts are different, but the frequencies didn't change.

Regarding bass, if you stand about 6 feet back from these speakers, there is a ton of bass (not hyped, just there). I can't hear it right now as I'm way too close to them and the room isn't treated, but it's nice to know I can stand up and walk back and check the bass without burning a mix for my car.

Anyways, I'm experimenting with volume automation, vocal tuning, parallel compression, sidechain ducking, and all that fun crap now, so hopefully my mixes don't sound too gimmicky.
 
Alright, bit of an update.

The speakers are working great. Mixes are going very smooth.

I might kick that acoustic space switch back in. I'm finding that a lot of my mixes require almost no subtractive EQ. Maybe I got lucky during tracking, maybe I'm just getting used to the sound of raw tracks, or maybe my ears are playing tricks on me. I've been doing "quickie" mixes lately where I set up an old project I'm redoing. I whip the low end and high end into shape, and move on. If there's any really obvious problem frequencies, I hit those, but most of it's basic shaping to give the instruments a bit more presence.

Hopefully I can do some before/after comparisons on MP3.
 
thanks

i may be going about this the wrong way, but thanks for all the detailed comments. i'm piecing together a home studio and i damn near drove myself crazy over the last 16-24 hours trying to decide what monitors to get. i've done a few class projects on my old PC and everything was rather thick on the low end. i later realized it was because i only have some club speakers with 15"'s to use for monitoring.

so anyway, i'm building a brand new 64bit AMD system, and i wanted to get some monitors. i'm going to try the BX8's for now...

any recommendations for some tight passive monitors for under $500?
 
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ok, here is my two cents. my choice for favourite studio monitors are the yorkville ysm1p2 for under 500. i think this is the best kept secret in monitors. they sound amazing, you hear what you are supposed to hear and it sounds great. just trust your own ears, many people have different taste as what sounds good so the best thing to do is to test monitors side by side and pick the ones that sound best to you. check out these monitors, they are great. thats my two cents. enjoy the music!
 
I read the whole first page before noticing how old it was. DANG!
 
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