http://www.studio-central.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=59561][/url]
Not long ago I bought
the KRK vxt4 monitors because I needed something small and portable for tracking on location. I was recording a local band and I realized that I'd want some cute little monitors that happen to translate well enough to do the job. I was surprised then to find out that KRK was phasing out it's V series and I was a bit hurt by that. Those had always been a great low cost monitor. I would have bought a pair of V series monitors anyway, they aren't that hard to find, but I learned that KRK had actually replaced them with something that was supposed to be better and that was actually based on their top of the line Expose monitors which I already had, mixed on daily and loved dearly. Enter the VXT range.
The VXTs are really a well thought out series of products that aren't nearly in the range of "strictly built to cost". The materials used are superior IMO to many "low cost" monitors, Kevlar drivers, silk dome tweeters, ABS structural foam filled shells, (they are crazy heavy for their size), a major departure from the almost ubiquitous MDF. Their shape is designed to reduce inner cabinet standing waves and resonances by having no parallel surfaces. Their features are usefull with a limiter circuit that you can switch off and a clip indicator as well as frequency adjustment for the larger two models. Their sizes are for specific applications or room sizes. In larger rooms or when working without a sub or in a midfield position the VXT 8s are a perfect choice. In smaller or poorly treated rooms working in a nearfield position with the VXT 4s is truly a great setup, (though if mixing on them I'd use a sub). The VXT 6s fall somewhere in between the two others.
As I mentioned before I needed something small but well translating so I chose the 4s. Recently I decided to try my hand at mixing on the 4s so that I could review them. Truthfully I was surprised. In the nearfield position the lttle 4s are killer. They have a beautiful midrange clarity that is so welcoming to me. The high end is clear without being unecessarily overstated as I tend to feel Adam monitors do often. The bass is not distorted or hyped at all. There certainly isn't much of it but I don't expect there to be because of the size of the speakers to begin with. To be fair I think these monitors could fairly well be used to mix with by themselves but I choose to use a calibrated sub. In short these monitors translate well. But the truth is that any monitor will require a learning period. I'm not going to say that they are as good as 5k serious loudspeakers but they've got the essence of that kind of engineering down quite well. They are some of the best small loudspeakers I've listened to in any price range. Details are clear and a bit forward. What you give is very close to what you'll get.
At $600 they're not as cheap as entry level monitors but if you're serious and you have the cash I think they're worth the investment, especially in smaller or poorly treated rooms. I'd pair them with the KRK sub for full range mixing capabilities. That puts you at $900 for a quality, full range monitoring setup. Not bad. You could definitely do worse.
