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Is there anything more easily identifiable when you walk into a studio than a KRK monitor? Seriously, that bright yellow cone is like the headstock of a Strat, or the grille on a '56 Ford.
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A pair of Exposé E8B's. We think you should get two of them. Two speakers, not two pairs. Unless you're building a surround room, in which case you do want two pairs, and another one to boot.
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Another shot of the E8B. The graphic artist calls this photo a 3/4 angle. We call it speaker porn.
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You may recall reading, a few years ago, about the new flagship of the KRK monitoring line, the Exposé E8. In fact, heh heh, you very well may have even read about them here at gcpro.com. We wrote a spotlight article on them because, well, they were great... certainly great enough to join the ranks of the world's finest monitoring solutions. The Exposé E8 went on to become a favorite of some of the world's leading mix engineers, and gave KRK some serious street-cred in high-end monitoring.
Well, companies that rest on their laurels soon find themselves yesterday's news, and KRK has always been a manufacturer that prides themselves on remaining innovative. So, 2007 saw the introduction of a new model to take the top-of-the-lne tier spot away from the original E8. No surprise that this yellow-drivered wonder didn't fall far from the tree; the Exposé E8B is an evolutionary step in keeping the KRK line at the height of the high-end, with some nice improvements on the original.
A Recipe for Greatness
I once asked my mom, who remains a terrific chef to this day, the secret to good cooking. She gave me an answer that I thought was pretty condescending at the time: if you want good food, start with good ingredients. And lo and behold, that $40 filet mignon actually does taste better after cooking than the $3.95 mystery meat. Who knew?
Apparently KRK was already aware of this rule of thumb. The new E8B utilizes state-of-the-art components to help achieve clarity and sonic accuracy that really does improve on the original. They made use of a unique beryllium/aluminum tweeter (AlbeMet) that provides smooth, lightning fast transient response. The advantage of using beryllium over the more conventional titanium tweeter is that beryllium is stiffer, resulting in frequency response extension, thus increasing the overall bandwidth of the monitor. Today's world of 96kHz DAW operation means that you can really take advantage of extended high frequencies... as long as your monitors are good enough to reproduce those frequencies accurately.
Ingredient #2: the woofer inside the E8B consists of two layers of Kevlar with a layer of Rohacell in between. The layer of Rohacell provides additional stiffness for the woofer and also functions as a dampener to eliminate unwanted resonances. The E8B copper pole cap and the aluminum shorting ring reduce motor induced distortions to an amazingly low level. The woofer's multi-layered construction also reduces distortion for improved reproduction accuracy.
The third ingredient in this speaker recipe are its two discrete, Class A / AB power amplifiers, 120w for the tweeter and 140w for the woofer. This is a bi-amplified system—one amplifier each for HF and LF—with symmetrical heat sinks built into the sides for cool running, reliable operation.
The Box That Matters
Lots of things affect speaker design, not the least of which being the shape of the enclosure cabinet. With the E8B, KRK increased the cabinet's radius edges to improve natural diffraction and provide a larger sweet spot. The cabinet's rigidity is an integral part of a speaker's performance characteristic; the E8B cabinet is designed with thick, non-parallel, internal walls which reduce the chances of standing waves inside the cabinet. The base of the monitor is made from a non-slip, sound absorbing rubberized material that eliminates vibrations transferring to the surface the monitor is resting on, ensuring the E8B will not move on its pedestal. Further, the E8B is video shielded to guarantee maximum protection against magnetic interference with video monitors. KRK engineers have also taken measures to significantly reduce distortion through the implementation of design concepts that reduce port turbulence and diffraction. Plus, it's one sweet-looking box. It's good to have some nice-looking speakers in your studio. Trust us on this.
The end result is one of the most accurate, transparent and truthful monitors on the market. When you mix, the last thing you need is some hyped frequency range that won't allow your mixes to translate well to other playback systems. The Exposé has been designed to be linear and as flat as technically possible so that what you hear reflects the true nature of the audio material.
Get Your KRK from GC Pro
Really, we're around great speakers all day long (it's a tough job, but someone has to do it). And while monitors are subjective, we can set up demos and comparisons so you can choose the solution that's right for your ears, in your studio. Contact us today!
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