KRK V4 S4 Studio Monitor 4 2 Way

As a hobby speaker designer, KRK has always been a fav of mine, as a great, price vs performance, brand. People see a yellow cone and immediately think "ROKITS", a budget model, hence, the bad rep of being a boomy bass brand. The V series has always been one of the best monitors, in their price range. Thier design philosophy hasn't always been nuetral voiced speakers (ROKITS) but the V series have always been generally flat. All the V series have large followings, but this last series (4) is particularly focused on flat voicing and combine that with KRK's tendency to make powerful speakers and you have win win win! 4-5" speakers are the max size for optimal mid range, same reason why you'll see so many genelec's in this size range, with 6.5 being the biggest size, ... MoreAs a hobby speaker designer, KRK has always been a fav of mine, as a great, price vs performance, brand. People see a yellow cone and immediately think "ROKITS", a budget model, hence, the bad rep of being a boomy bass brand. The V series has always been one of the best monitors, in their price range. Thier design philosophy hasn't always been nuetral voiced speakers (ROKITS) but the V series have always been generally flat. All the V series have large followings, but this last series (4) is particularly focused on flat voicing and combine that with KRK's tendency to make powerful speakers and you have win win win! 4-5" speakers are the max size for optimal mid range, same reason why you'll see so many genelec's in this size range, with 6.5 being the biggest size, considerable,for acceptable, midrange performance. These 4-inchers, in particular, are exceptional! You won't find another 4incher on the market that have the bass extension & spl that these guys get, combine that with the inherent great midrange of a 4" driver and the nuetral voicing and be prepare to amazed! The Kevlar tweeter is great, sounds reminiscent of a ribbon tweeter. I've used these speakers to create a way system by mating each channel with subwoofer, crossing them over at 200hz, taking away the bass duty from the 4" to let it's mid clearity be all it can be. A lower than average xover leaves vocals unaugmented. The result is the performance you'd see in a prestige 3 way like focal, but so much cheaper. You could actually do this with whatever your favorite brand 4-5" monitor, a DIY sub and a balanced miniDSP🤦🏻‍♂️ 🤷🏻‍♂️😂 and have the same or better performance than any of the super expensive 3 ways but for a fraction of the price....it's design philosophy and design character that create a great sound system, not a brand name, but I digress. By itself, this 4" inch speaker is about the best one, on the market, of any brand name, by a couple points. Good job KRK 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼🥇🏆

The sound is quite clear, kind of Rock / Metal sounding. Analytical and cold. The depth of field is definitely smaller than on the equivalent Genelec's, and lacking a bit in the lower-midrange section in my opinion.Still, if you live in the US, that could have made a good substitute for overprice Focal or Genelec speakers.However, the build quality seems very despicable : after less than one year of very moderate use, one speaker has stopped working. The amplifier within is apparently dead. I have been talking to Gibson / KRK for days, and they originally tried to get BH-Photo-Video to handle the repair. Now that they have, at last, assumed responsibility, they do not want to cover shipping, and expect to pay $100 of shipping for a faulty speaker... Their ... MoreThe sound is quite clear, kind of Rock / Metal sounding. Analytical and cold. The depth of field is definitely smaller than on the equivalent Genelec's, and lacking a bit in the lower-midrange section in my opinion.Still, if you live in the US, that could have made a good substitute for overprice Focal or Genelec speakers.However, the build quality seems very despicable : after less than one year of very moderate use, one speaker has stopped working. The amplifier within is apparently dead. I have been talking to Gibson / KRK for days, and they originally tried to get BH-Photo-Video to handle the repair. Now that they have, at last, assumed responsibility, they do not want to cover shipping, and expect to pay $100 of shipping for a faulty speaker... Their customer service is terrible. I would not recommend buying KRK products, because although failures can happen (never has on several Genelec's over ten years of use, but...), it will cost you a lost.