KRK S8.4 Subwoofer review
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- Опубликовано: 27 июл 2024
- I recently added a KRK S8.4 subwoofer to my home recording studio to help my Kali IN-8 near field monitors out at the low end.
KRK: www.krkmusic.com
Setting up KRK sub: s3.amazonaws.com/gibson-pro-a...
KRK grill from Thomann: www.thomann.de/gb/krk_s8g4_gr...
KRK grill from B&H: www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc... 
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I just got the S10, well Ive had it for a couple weeks now and I LOVE it. These redesigned models are phenomenal. I have my sub paired with my Classic 7's, amazing all-KRK set up. Im sure I wouldve been fine with the S8 since I have a fairly small room but in all honesty I wanted to make sure I had enough bump and boy does that S10 bump! It's really tight, punchy, low, and powerful WOW.
The S10 certainly has a lot of low and thump :-) enjoy!
Very well done video - great info!!
Thanks, AgileBill!
Very Detailed. Thanks mate✌️
I have the KRK S8.4 sub along with 2 Rokit 7 G4s. Before I ever watched your video I had them setup the best I could get them in my studio and come to find out that you set your sub settings exactly as I set mine other than location. Mine is front facing just under the left audio monitor. I tried crossover at 70 Hz first but like it best at 80Hz. Tried a lot of different music in setup. Thanks for the video!
Thanks. Good to know ;)
@@tecraven I have the protective grilles on my Rokit 7s and the S8.4 sub. They are very easy to install and I notice no difference at all in the sound with them on.
@@goodearthrecordings1989 I've read mixed things about the grills and thought about buying one from Thomann in Germany (nobody in UK stocks them) but lots of folk say they are a bitch to fit and others have said they colour the sound so I decided to leave it in the end. Glad you fitted them into the gasket space easily enough and it is good to know they don't change the sound at all, which I believe as I find it hard to believe that low-end could be affected by such a thing.
@@tecraven The 8 inch woofer has a rubber trim piece at it's far edge that can easily be removed with a small screwdriver and must be removed or the rubber grill gaskets will not have a place to fit in. The trim piece comes out easily and then leaves a space to fit the grille. It's a precise and tight fit but that is good because there is no rattle or vibration once they are in place. I also added the Hosa FSC-384 Single-Latching Footswitch to turn the sub on and off. It works perfectly at about half the price of the KRK foot switch.
Cheers for this video all the information needed
Just got mine! Can’t wait!
It’s superb, you’ll love it.
@@tecraven gonna be great is my small bedroom studio with matching krk 5s!
@@guitarylife3062 Definitely, it will transform it.
Love the sub! Have em matched with Jbl lsr305's and a footswitch on a iso-200 substand. I also bought the grill but the seller didnt even know how to place them and it fellt a little risky placing so i skipped it.
@@intercontinentalballisticm2633 Nice set up. JBLs are nice little speakers. Yeah, the grill is a strange one!
I have the Kali WS-12 subwoofer to match my Kali LP-6v2s, really love it, but it is massive. Lucky to have plenty of room under my desk. It has a metal grill so no problem kicking it.
The Kali WS-12 looks like a beast of a subwoofer. Like the idea of the grill.
5:55 you are absolutely right, you have to feel the (dance)music 👍
I have 5 genelecs. 3 10" LCR, and 2 8" sr, lr. I am looking a sub. You think this can play nicely? I'm definitely looking for a +4 xlr input.
good day Nigel, great review! one question, I don't mix music but I got the Tannoy Gold 7 monitor speakers, is the krk S10.4 awesome just for music listening?or just general desktop use. I am a newbie in terms of music gear and I have been researching that you need a fast sub for music listening. is the krk a fast subwoofer? cheers!
Chad. Thanks for compliment on my review. I think the S10.4 will be overkill - it's a beast of a sub. I would go for the S8.4 instead, it will compliment your Tannoy Gold 7 monitors better and the S8.4 is perfectly suitable for rooms of small to medium size. You'd only look at the S10.4 if you had a massive space and wanted to really fill it out. The S8.4 is perfectly fine for both mixing and general listening. It's worth remembering that the main difference between studio monitor equipment like these KRK subs and your Tannoy Gold 7 monitors is that they are supposed to reproduce a flat response with the sonic performance i.e. not adding bass or mids or colouring the sound in any way. Domestic Hi-Fi speakers and subs colour the sound, but they are supposed to as manufacturers introduce their own flavours to their speakers, amps, etc.
@@tecraven Cheers for getting back to me! I appreciate your input and I do believe that the S10.4 is far too big for my small room! I would like to get a hifi sub unfortunately the tannoys are connected to a balanced DAC, the topping d30 pro and there is no sub out only a couple of RCA out. The Tannoys are connected to it via the balanced XLR. I know this is off topic but you recon I can connect a hifi sub like the SVS sb1000 pro and still incorporate it with the tannoys?
@@chadrymoncordova2964 If you want a 'proper' Hi-Fi sub I'd look at a used REL Strata 4 or a REL Strata 5. I'm a massive Hi-Fi nut and I one the Strata 5. Only difference between the two is the 5 has a remote for setting up, that's it, but this is not a big deal as once you set it up you never have to touch it again so the remote is only ever used once. That's it. Strata 4 go used on eBay in the UK for about £150, while the 5 goes for about £225. They were Made In Wales and to a high standard. Now, the later REL subs are made in China and a bit questionable in build quality so don't bother with those. Your Tannoy will connect up to either of the REL's I mention.
Hey, really well done review!
I have three, maybe odd, questions that I can't find info on anywhere:
1) what's the power consumption of this in the "stand-by" mode and
2) what is it when the "sub & hbf bypass (footswitch)" is used and
3) also can you use a switch instead of a pedal to allow for bypass on off instead of having to stay on the switch?
Reason being I want to use it to cut off the base during late hours to reduce noise for wife & neighbours and also being able to just leave it on all the time without it consuming large amounts of power.
Thanks in advance :)
Hi Kontoname. You're right, there is no spec anywhere that gives standby power consumption, but given (in the UK) that the power consumption for a domestic television consumes between 0.5 and 3 watts (with 1.3 watts being the average) of power in standby I have to assume that these subwoofers consume about the same as the standby electronics/switch mechanism is similar. So regarding power consumption in standby it would be adding about £1 per year to your energy bill so negligible and hardly recordable at all so I would not worry about that.When you use the bypass foot switch it will, essentially, be putting it into standby, if not something close to it. As it is not being used while the foot switch is in operation it will be about the same as in standby, perhaps marginally more by another 1 or 2 watts, but, again, not enough to notice any difference on an annual electric bill. Not sure about question 3.
If you’re that concerned about power draw, invest in a few Kill-a-watt meters. They’re around $20 bucks on Amazon and you can monitor power draw with them. I use one to know how much my variable power lights are drawing to determine intensity. Works pretty well.
Thank you so much for the video! I have the Focal Alpha 65 monitors and a DAC/Preamp that has a set of XLR and RCA outs. I use the XLRs for the Focals and I want to use the RCAs for the subwoofer. Is this connection better than routing the signal through the sub? Since this sub doesn't have a High Pass Filter, the monitors will play full range in any connection method, right? So why connect the source to the sub and from there to the speakers, instead of connecting the source directly to the sub (through RCA) AND to the speakers (through XLR)? Another friend asked a similar question in the comments below...
Also, I'm not sure if I should add a studio sub or a HiFi one (like SVS SB1000 or a REL like you suggested). I'm not mixing, only listening to music in a small, untreated room, so I'm looking for a fast, musical sub... I have read all the conversation in the comments and you said that eventually the 10" is a better choice for your 8" Kalis. I wonder if that's true for my 6.5" Focals as well.
Looking forward to your advice and sorry to ask so many questions! Thanks again...
I personally would route the signal through the sub and set the crossover on the sub. Given your Focal speakers (nice monitors by the way) go down to 40Hz (surprisingly, given the woofer is only 6.5") I'd set the crossover on the S8.4 sub to 70 - and this is as low as you can set it. However, I've just changed my S8.4 for the S10.4, which has a crossover setting down to 60Hz and, in hindsight, is a better match for my Kali monitors, which have 8" woofers and go down to around 40Hz and given the S8.4 has an 8" driver (goes down to 34.5Hz) I was only gaining about 4 or 5Hz at the low end, whereas the S10.4 goes down to 30 Hz, which means I'm reaching lower and I can set the crossover to 60Hz on the sub and the larger 10" KRK sub has ended up being an even better match - especially with some of the bass synth pads I compose. I can really hear them now and because I have the crossover set lower there is no more muddiness, which I didn't notice too much before, but now I've changed the sub I certainly do notice it.
Worth noting that RCA connectors are unbalanced too and more for domestic Hi-Fi than studio - XLR is the way to go.
DO NOT, I definitely repeat, DO NOT buy an SVS SB1000. I heard one recently (after doing this video) and it is crap for music. Many folk on RUclips might have you believe that the SVS is good for both Cinema and Hi-Fi and Studio - no way, it sucks for anything other than pure home cinema surround sound where the point of it is to put across the 'rumble' of an explosion but it can't reproduce bass notes and low end 'musically' no way. I personally own a REL Strata 5 - one of the last decent subs they made, but they are Hi-Fi and not studio so, again, I would not go that way either. Though I have never connected my REL up to my studio set up so I can't really advice too much on this.
To be safe I'd stick with a sub that is made with studio purpose in mind as I suspect they are just tuned up differently, especially the higher end ones.
Given how low your Focals go I'd kook at the KRK S10.4. It's £100 more but will be a better match for your speakers and I'd be hooking it up by going through the sub to your monitors for a more 'balanced' outcome.
@@tecraven You really clarified many things for me. Thank you! Yes, Focals are great, very analytical and accurate. Although in papers 40Hz is the lowest point, I can't say that I'm hearing that, unless I turn the LF Shelving knob all the way to the max (+6 dB). I miss a little more punchy bass especially for the genres I'm listening to (EDM, techno, house, etc). According to Focal's manual "the LF potentiometer "permits to activate a correction of the sound level under 300Hz". Out of curiosity, where should I set this knob once I add a subwoofer? Should I set it at the middle (0 dB) or maybe lower?
Btw I was wrong about the HPF! Reading the KRK's manual it says "The signal from balanced output is automatically high passed above the CROSSOVER frequency setting". So I guess the 4 crossover points are both Low AND High Pass Filter. Meaning that monitors will NOT play full range along with the sub. That's very good!
So I'm staying away from SVS and I will probably buy either S10.4 or Presonus Temblor T10, which has similar specs and price. But I'm leaning towards the KRK for a fast and smooth sub, as per your suggestion. I appreciate all your help!
@@cnkosm6536 Yes, you won’t hear 40Hz as these measurements were probably done in an anechoic chamber in a good room length. Regular rooms, even ones that have been acoustically treated and have bass traps etc, are destructive. It’s the nature of physics. Chances are your room can’t support the wavelength of 40Hz and realistically it’s probably closer to 50. But don’t overthink the these things, just aim to getting it sounding good with your ears and you can always use a Sonarworks system to fix anything that can’t be fixed physically in the room such as room shape and size and acoustic treatment and bass traps for example.
It’s impossible to advise on settings as I’d have to be there and listen.
But just remember the specs are typically don’t in an anechoic chamber and will be impossible for you to hear which is why most crossover points on subwoofers should always be set higher than the lowest that the monitors go for, example, if monitors go down to 40, set crossover to 5o or 60, but listen for muddiness at the crossover point and use your ears.
@@tecraven My listening area is a nightmare! It's not rectangular, it has many uneven surfaces and no treatment is possible... So Sonarworks or REW + Umik-1 is top priority, after I get the S10.4 and do sub crawling to place it as best as I can. Of course I'm not expecting wonders with EQ, just a very basic room correction. I'll let you know of the results! Thanks...
@ 2:05
🤣😂Thanks for the first laugh of the day.
“Muffle the low frequencies”😂🤣
So they mean there is a lack of high mid / treble in the bass…
The relevant response would be to adjust the volume balance
between the sub and the main speakers.
“I just had to laugh”
JL
I think there are two main points concerning placement.
One being the phase alignment in the overlapping frequencies.
Move it around, trial and error.
Be careful to asses the result from your main listening position.
The best placement being where it sounds the best (cleanest, phase wise).
The other one being the positioning of the sub.
If you place it under/inside a “table” you risk creating a second outer enclosure,
with its own resonant frequencies / room modes.
Subs are free ranging species.
They don’t like to be boxed in😉
Proximity to a wall/ walls, will affect the volume level.
Anyway, thanks for the well presented info.
This one seems like the perfect companion to my Genelec M040’s.
And at a nice price.
Thanks. Very helpful.
Thanks, you're welcome.
Would the Krk 8" or 10" subwoofer be better for a 10 m2 room without acoustic treatment with rockit 5 G4? I need to feel the chest hit when I'm mixing with my dj controller.
Given the Rokit 5 only has a 5" woofer and you need to feel that chest slam I'd be looking at the S10.4. Even though, from a physics point of view it won't go that low in your room, you'll still notice the difference.
Is the KRK 8.4 sub good enough to feel it in the chest or would I need to get the 10s or 12s for that? I currently own a cheap 8 inch sub and I can't feel it in the chest.
If I crank the volume up and adjust the sub setting to be a little more bass heavy I can feel it for sure, but the next KRK up in size from the 8.4 will definitely slam into your chest harder and it will also feel like a tube train running under your house ;)
@@tecraven Do you think two 8.4 krk subs are better than one 12.4 krk sub?
@@marc3734 No, one 12.4 would be my option as it goes lower.
@@tecraven Alright, thanks a lot!
Hi thanks for video, excellent, what brand of leads did you use ?
My choice for XLR, Mic and Instrument cables are Roland (which I'm using from the sub to the audio interface and monitors in this instance), Klotz and Mogami. All three are as good as each other and I typically buy whichever brand is the cheapest for any given cable that I require. Don't get hung up on cables as there is zero difference in audio/sonic performance and there is little to no difference between electrical and radio interference between the cheapest and most expensive brands either. What you are paying for is the quality of the cable and the quality of the connectors. Although a £4.99 Amazon budgets range of Mic XLR cable will be sonically (and isolation) just as good as a £50 cable, I would not buy the former as I've heard too many stories from some of my contacts at Neumann and Sennheiser about expensive mics like the Neumann U87ai getting sent into them for repair because a cheap mic cable metal part on the end snapped away and got stuck inside the expensive mic. The repair bill in instances like this would be more than the cost of a decent cable to start with.
@@tecraven Hi thank you so much for getting back to me, I think the smallest KRK would be ideal for very small studio set up in my bedroom !!
@@modernman4269 Depends what your main speakers are? If they are 4 or 5 inch drivers, then yes.
nice stands for the monitors... IsoAcoustics ISO-130 ?
ISO-200 stands
@@tecraven NICE tomorrow my sub arrives, KRK S8.4
@@Aesop101 You'll love it, AESOP
Weird question: My power light/KRK symbol on the front of the sub doesn’t light up. Is that normal?
Nothing on the front lights up. The KRK logo is not a light. Only light is small green one on the back, that's it.
Hey man can I ask you a question , why does nobody in the active monitor field ever talk about dual sub setup ? Many people in the hifi community swear by this setup to preserve the stereo image better . Once you sort out any phase issues you should be good to go . Have you ever set up 2 active subs with some active speakers ? Cheers
Funny, I'm a Hi-Fi nut and a few years back I had Linn Isobarik floor standers with two REL Strata 5 subs, in diagonally opposite corners for good room compression in the bass department. YOu're right, I hardly ever hear about studio engineers talking about two subs, must be a Hi-Fi domain thing.
Will this be enough for my classic 5s or should I get the 10?
Depends on the room size, Time. But if you have Classic 5 monitors something tells me you are not in a massive studio so the 10 would be hugely overkill. The 8.5 kicks out a ton of really deep bass and can more than fill a medium size space.
@@tecraven ok because I just ordered the 8.4 krk sub woofer
@@TymeTraveling777 That's cool. You won't be disappointed, it really kicks out a nice fat low end for small to medium studio spaces.
@@tecraven awesome 👌🏽
Well if the audio on this video sounds amazing so your doing well
Hi, I have krk 7s monitors.. which size of sub would be good for this monitors? I make hip hop beats, my studio is 20m2 of size.
These S8.4 will be fine.
@@tecraven I have a pair of KRK Rokits 8 G4's, would the S10.4 be a good match for them?
@@janainalott50 Yes. Better than 8.4 for sure. I have 10.4 now if you watch the record I just did on that yesterday.
hey just wondering if i can use different subwoofer to my s5 g4 speakers
Course, you don't have to use a KRK sub with KRK monitors, but why not as the KRK subs are a good price, well made and work really well.
@@tecraven im only asking becasue i have to conect my krk speakers with scarlett 2i2 to my pc by cable and i want to use cable only with out the scarett 2i2 becasue they started makeing sound on my pc with out even playing anything on them whcih my brother told me that is the fans i have on pc because he have the same problem on his pc with his headphoens so ye :)
@@kasia-katdj-flukes7044 Makes sense.
@@tecraven so i was thinking how can i conect to my pc with out useing Scarlett 2i2
@@kasia-katdj-flukes7044 Hmm, not sure about this one. I'd probably come out of the two unbalanced inputs (the two red and white phono ones) on the subwoofer and from the headphone output on your computer using a mini headphone jack 3.5 to two phono/RCA cable.
I run 2x 10.4 subs and 2x R8 G4.
Couldn´t you do a sound-test ?
Would be absolutely pointless as the microphones would colour the sound and there is no way a microphone can pick up my room tone etc. The only way you could hear what it truly sounds like would be to sit at my mixing seat in the mixing position.
Looks like 90 hz in video?
Ah, can't remember. I. have the S10.4 larger one now and I set that to 60 Hz.
A grill that muffles the low frequencies? really? Whoever said that has no understanding of how sound works.
Anyway, this KRK sub is a great sub but I don't think it should be matched with 8" monitors. It is simply too small for that. I think that you really need the 12" to get a proper matching with the 8" Kalis, Even the 10" would be small. The 8" should be matched to 4" and 5" monitors.
Replacing (below 80Hz) two 8" drivers that go down to 45Hz at -3db and 37Hz at -10db, for one that goes down to 34.5db at an unknown level, doesn't sound very promising. It feels more like a downgrade to me. I believe you should try lower crossover points too. The only benefit, I see is the increased room gain at low frequencies that you get from the floor placement compared to the on-desk Kalis and the improved IMD and THD on the main monitors since they no longer play the low notes.
I totally get all of your points here. Yeah, that's what I thought when I read about the grill muffling the sound. However, the muffle is only very slight and I've read it in a few places around the web, but, like you, I still can't get my head around how the grill could muffle such low frequencies but hey ho. I also get where you care coming from with the larger sub, which I bought and tried also. I bought both together to try them both and returned the one I didn't want. For the size of my (small) studio the large one was overkill and caused problems. Don't underestimate this S8.4 - it balances nicely in my set up and I do notice when it is not there. I will take your advice though and try some lower crossover points to perhaps match my Kali monitors better. Having said that, now that I've had the 8.4 in place for nearly a year I think I'll get the 10.4 and see how it fits in with the larger 10" woofer. Thanks for input, Spiros.
@@tecraven I am prety sure that this 8" sub is great for its size, Perhaps two of them would be a better match for your main monitors and your small room but honestly, I would choose something that goes lower than 34.5Hz even if that means more trouble. Lower frequencies bring up problems you didn't know existed and those problems usually have complicated solutions like room treatment (lots of absorption) multiple subwoofers, EQ, and careful placement and you will definitely need to measure it with a measurement mic and REW.
Take a look at the Harman White paper about multiple subs or Earl Geddes paper on the same subject. Two subs (even different-sized ones) will always be better than one. You will get a smoother response and a larger sweet spot, If your room is rectangular use REWs room sim to figure out the best possible positions for your subs and yes, I said subs. Use two no matter what, thank me later.
P.S. Bass is never too much when it's right. And there is no such thing as too much bass. If that's what you are experiencing then you need to fine-tune it with better placement, better matching, more subs, and last but not least, EQ. But you will need to measure. It can't be done by ear.
@@spiroszaharakis2648 Spiros. I took delivery of the S10.4 (10" version) and hooked it up. I also set the crossover lower, (60, the lowest setting), to lose a little of the muddiness, but had to increase sub volume to compensate for the fact that less information is going to the sub. The lows are more obvious now, for sure, and with the crossover lowered to 60 on this new sub certainly makes things clear and less muddy. You are right, in hindsight, although I thought the 8.4 was superb and a really good match, this new 10.4 is an even better match and given my small room size I feel it's about as much as I can go (my room is only 7 foot by about 11 so tiny).
@@tecravenI am glad you saw an improvement. I suggest that you also give a try to both subs running together. Most of the times the optimal position for the second sub is at the complete opposite position in the room. i.e. if first sub is in lower right corner on the same wall as the speakers, best position for the second sub will most likely be the upper left corner at the opposite wall. Run a room simulation in REW, if your room is rectangular the prediction is very close.
@@spiroszaharakis2648 I had my Hi-Fi in my living room running like this. I'm an old Hi-Fi buff and I had Linn Isobarik speakers and two REL Strata 5 subwoofers in opposite corners in a triangular fashion to get nice even room compression and it sounded amazing. In my small studio I don't have another corner to put the 8" sub, impossible. Also, somebody just left my house 15 minutes ago having given me £190 for it ;) Love the new one though, definitely punches lower and tighter now I've changed the crossover point to something that more matches my Kali monitors. Upgrade only ended up costing me £150 after selling the others!
You should really be using KRK monitors.
Rubbish, KRK Rokit monitors suck. They are not natural at all, they are coloured and bass-heavy so if I do a mix on KRK monitors I dial out bass with EQ to get the mix to sound good then on my hi-fi or in the car or on anybody else's system there is hardly any bass in the final mix. Also, I've since changed the KRK 8-inch sub to a 10-inch sub, but Kali monitors p%ss all over KRK monitors for anything that could be considered 'serious' studio production work. KRK monitors are for gamers and people who don't know any better and I an always tell a mix that was mixed and mastered on KRK monitors.
only 29 Hz :( Expected 20
dont think i can lift 294 pounds
Monitors always set to 10 ppl…
Explain, ppl...?
@@tecraven why would you ever set monitors to anything other than 10 if you're using an AI to adjust volume? Would make absolutely no sense to have then lower than full blast.
@@BAND-MAID-USA There are many good reasons (and I've read a truckload of books on the subject and I have worked many recording studios over the years). All monitors, even very expensive ones, have some element of distortion when set to maximum volume, as do audio interfaces. That’s just one reason for not setting the monitors/sub to maximum volume and then relying on the audio interface for volume control. Second, anybody that knows anything about mixing and mastering knows that you should only mix and master at a volume that if there was a person sitting next to you, you could carry out a conversation at a regular speaking volume, comfortably, without having to shout and still hear the person sitting next to you, comfortably, without having to strain to hear them over the music. A mixer or master would only push the volume up from time to time for evaluation purposes and to gain another perspective while mixing and/or mastering, but even then it would never be at full volume.
@@tecraven I disagree 100% and after 3 and a half decades in the field I'm pretty confident in my comments. Okay, put them on 9, not 10 if you're scared.
@@BAND-MAID-USA ;) That's a fair point, Anthony. Personally I never have monitors set to 100 percent as there is always a little distortion at that end. Another reason for only having sub/monitors set to less than max is in case somebody accidentally turns the AI volume up all the way (perhaps when it is even turned off) and thus not having monitors set to max volume will protect them from potential overload and I can't ever remember when I've needed to mix and master anything at maximum volume with 'near field' monitors also.
great video man, why did you use nominal??? i hav-e yamaha hs 7 with same sub at 90hz with high input, volume at 2 dots and some...
2 dots and some? I have larger monitors, 8-inch, and I found these settings worked just enough. I like to have the sub set so you can't hear it, but if you turn it off you would notice the difference. But then I use them for mixing and mastering and I don't want 'added' bass colouring the sound and, thus, affecting my mixes. Remember, if you are using for mixing and mastering and you have the sub cranked too high, beyond 'flat' then your final mix will have too little bass when you listen on other devices as you would have mixed according to the overloaded bass you would have been hearing. If you are a DJ or just have it hooked up to you TV for movies, then fine, crank that bass up and make the house shake ;)
@@tecraven thank you for replying bck but that wasnt my questions... yes two dots at volume knob :)