0

Product Profile: KRK ROKIT 10-3 G4 Professional Studio Monitor

The KRK ROKIT 10-3 G4 is a professional-grade studio monitor and is suitable for a wide range of applications, including audio, film, television, and post-production uses. Featuring a re-engineered and redesigned MDF cabinet, a redesigned front firing slotted bass port and a newly designed wave guide, the KRK ROKIT 10-3 G4 is the largest member of the KRK G4 family of professional studio monitors and the only one with a tri-amp design. Driven by three Class D amplifiers, the KRK ROKIT 10-3 G4 is presented in KRK’s distinctive black and yellow speaker design and produces noticeable clarity and depth even at low volume.

The KRK ROKIT 10-3 G4 can generate 112dB maximum sound pressure level and frequency ranges between 26-40K Hz (±10dB). The 4.5 mid-range speaker and 1-inch Kevlar tweeter are driven by their own 75-watt amplifiers, the 10-inch woofer being driven by its own 150-watt amplifier. The 1-inch Kevlar tweeter sits in a newly redesigned wave guide that enhances the dispersion of the high frequencies and helps dial in the sweet spot for accurate monitoring. A built-in brick wall limiter keeps the speakers from overloading at high volume levels. A combo jack on the back of the speaker accommodates either balanced XLR or TRS cables.

Using Kevlar as opposed to more traditional designs allows for high structural rigidity relative to strength, which helps to enhance the KRK ROKIT 10-3 G4’s overall frequency response. The KRK ROKIT 10-3 G4 Glass-Aramid Composite Kevlar drivers are designed to be used for long sessions with minimal listening fatigue.

The KRK ROKIT 10-3 G4 is designed for flexible positioning either vertically as a mid-field or horizontally as a near-field monitor. The built-in removable ABS plastic front-panel baffle is attached to the speaker via a set of magnets allowing you to access the upper section of the speaker containing the mid-field and tweeter assembly. Once the front panel is removed, you can safely pull out and rotate the upper assembly containing the mid-field speaker and tweeter so that they are at the right horizontal angle to be used as a near-field monitor. The process to remove, rotate, and reassemble the speaker assembly takes about 10 minutes per speaker. 

A dimmable backlit control panel on the back of the speaker accesses menus for general setup as well as digital signal processed (DSP) EQ controls allowing you to fine-tune the correct high and low frequency response for each speaker, relative to your room’s optimal listening position. The onboard built-in EQ offers a total of 25 DSP combinations allowing you to dial in the correct high and low frequency EQ curve for your specific listening environment. The onboard DSP offers five selectable bass and five selectable treble EQ curves to choose from, for a total of 25 possible different DSP combinations that will help you dial in the optimal EQ curve for most rooms. Included in the presets are flat, treble, bass, boost, and cut settings as well as a mid-range parametric EQ setting, which helps to eliminate unwanted bass resonances when the speakers are positioned against walls or corners. Included in the general setup panel are controls to adjust the overall contrast of the control panel, a monitor sleep function, system lock, and factory reset functions. 

A free KRK Audio Tools app is available for download for iOS or Android and gives you a suite of tools to help select the optimal speaker and the correct EQ curve for your specific listening environment. Setting the correct EQ curve works best when running the included pink or white noise tone generators through the speakers. The included alignment tool lets you dial in an exact 30-degree angle relative to your listening position. Also included in the suite of tools is a level meter and a spectrum real-time analysis (RTA) tool. Using the app, I found that using the speaker alignment tool and following the EQ recommendations to dial in the optimal high and low frequencies definitely helped fine-tune my overall monitoring experience with the KRK ROKIT 10-3 G4.

At 12.95” wide, with a height of 21.50,” a depth of 14.6” and weighing in at 35 pounds each, the KRK ROKIT 10-3 G4 are too big and heavy to safely sit on most commercially available speaker stands. The pair I evaluated wound up sitting on a pair of equally sized up-ended 1 X 12 guitar cabinets about five feet away from my listening position and on the two included isolation pads. The KRK ROKIT 10-3 G4 features built-in acoustic separation that helps decouple the speaker from whatever surface they are placed on. 

The KRK ROKIT 10-3 G4 is available now for $499 MAP (for each speaker).