KPA with Rokit rp5 g3

  • Hi,
    I've been using my KPA for about a month now and I am really happy with it. At the beginning i ran it through the aux input of my Peavey rage 258 (8" speaker). As i know that the speaker of the Peavey colors the sound quite a bit, I got a pair of Rokit RP5 G3 FRFR Speakers. Now after two weeks of testing I am kind of disappointed, because the sound out of the Rokits is just very harsh and fuzzy. I expected the Rokits to be a huge upgrade to my sound, but now I find myself running the KPA through the Peavey again, because that sounds a lot nicer to my ears (and i turn the Cab Sim on, without it, it sounds really bad).


    Kept messing with EQs and stuff, but nothing really helped. Were the Rokits the wrong choice? I like listening to music through them quite a bit, although my cheap 2.1 Logitech speaker system gives me a lot more bass.


    Anyone having a similar experience and know how to upgrade the sound?


    /Edit: Recorded a short clip with the Boogie Mark V MK2C+ Profile. This sounds quite fuzzy on my rokits, but don't know if it's specific to the rokits or if its simply the signal chain to the Kemper. Can you affirm the fizzyness?: http://www.filedropper.com/test_34

    Edited 4 times, last by Thodin ().

  • I just tried my KPA with the Rokit 5´s once and I really did like the sound of it (compared to my current Samson MediaOne 5a). The sound wasn´t any different than when I tried the Yamaha HS80 speakers. They don´t colour the sound and give a nice representation of how the rig sounds in reality - at least imo.

  • Didn't you have a lot of fuzz in the high frequencies when playing high gain profiles? I almost can't get a warm sounding lead out of the KPA in combination with the rokits. Clean sounds are okay.


    /Edit: I have them connected to the main out of the KPA with 2 of these cables: http://www.thomann.de/de/the_sssnake_spp2030.htm Anything wrong with that?

    Edited 2 times, last by Thodin ().

  • Didn't you have a lot of fuzz in the high frequencies when playing high gain profiles? I almost can't get a warm sounding lead out of the KPA in combination with the rokits.


    Actually no. Unless the rig I selected was a fuzzy one, then of course yes. I did like the sound of the KRK6s more but the difference wasn´t that huge really. About the warm sound - I really can´t tell because I just tried them for about 2 days and didn´t play any leads during that time. But all my standard high-gain rigs (gain setting 8+) did sound great. If you have the chance try to play your KPA with KRK6 or the yamaha HS series and see if there is a difference!

  • Hm, i think it's not about nuances on how they could differ from rokit 6 or so, it's more like that I don't like the sound at all, although many people are satisfied with them as Monitors for Guitar modelers.

  • Music is lacking a lot of bass and punch, compared to my 40 € logitech 2.1 speakers. But the Rokits are more transparent. However, there is no fuzz when I listen to music.


    Anthing wrong with the cables or so, which i posted before? Got everything connected to my Alesis MultiMix4 USB. But did also try to connect the Rokits directly to the Kemper, which made no difference in the sound.

    Edited once, last by Thodin ().

  • Any chance you have the cab sims turned off? As it sounds like they sounded good through a guitar oriented speaker could be a possibility


    that it was accidentally turned off.

  • Music is lacking a lot of bass and punch, compared to my 40 € logitech 2.1 speakers. But the Rokits are more transparent. However, there is no fuzz when I listen to music.


    Anthing wrong with the cables or so, which i posted before? Got everything connected to my Alesis MultiMix4 USB. But did also try to connect the Rokits directly to the Kemper, which made no difference in the sound.


    The lack of bass and punch seems kind of wrong to me, when I tried them there was plenty of both. Any chance you can check out a second pair of the rokits to see if theres just something wrong with yours?

  • I have the Rokit 5s, not the G3 ones though. I run my Kemper into an Alesis ion Express interface (which connects to my Mac), and the Alesis has speaker outs to the Rokits. It sounds great with the Kemper, no harshness or missing like you're describing. Are plugging directly into them? With 1/4 outs? Or XLR cables? And you're using the output from the "Main Output" section of the back of the Kemper? (That's what I'm doing)


    I also have a Yamaha DXR10, which for home use is overkill, but the Kemper sounds great through that. I like the setup with the Rokits because the Alesis has a 'Monitor Mix' knob that lets me mix the direct and USB output (from the Mac), so I can play along with songs online or iTunes and adjust with what's coming out of the Kemper. All at low volume, sounds great.

  • I tried several connection types: 1/4 and XLR main out of the Kemper, 1/4 Main out of my Alesis Multimix 4 USB, even tried it through the output of my onboard soundcard, all with the same result: The Rokits lack a lot of low end and have some harshness in the more gainier sounds. So the KPA is probably not the problem, because I also have that lack of low end when listening to Music from my PC. The Alesis Multimix ain't a problem either, as i connected the KPA directly to the Rokits and have the same problems. Also tried only one speaker at a time, didn't change anything.


    So there's two possibilities left:
    1: My ears are stupid and like the better sound less than a bad one or
    2: The Rokits, that came in the same box from the same company at the same day are both damaged. (In one of the two boxes, a bag containing the little plastic balls was broken and they were all over the place, though the speaker itself was wrapped in another piece of packing and none of those balls got into the speaker)


    Sadly these are my only FRFR speakers so I can not compare them to some others, so I will probably never know...


    /Edit: I sent a mail to the company where I ordered the Rokits to see if they have a solution to this problem.

    Edited once, last by Thodin ().

  • Got the Rokits set on factory settings, so LF and HF on 0db, Volume on +6db. Setting HF to -2db won't help either.


    Should i maybe trim the Kemper Main Out to cut the high frequencies a bit? But that would also infuence the sound I am recording...

  • I'm using KRK VXT4's and they sound absolutely great. I'm running out of the main output jacks into my Eleven Rack - onto a blank patch. I'm only use the main outs and cab/volume controls to get a great sound - my 'Master Volume' is set to zero. If I turn this up, it adds extra distortion and starts to clip the output, making this sound messy.


    Depending on you interface, is there any difference between XLR outs, 1/4" jack outs or SPDIF? I run my SPDIF around -6 to -3 to get a good tone also.


    Hope you get this sorted, I found the volume setup a little confusing at first - find what works, and lock it down. Good luck!