anyone ever used KRK Rokit 6's as stage monitors?

[chuck3]

Playing a place where space is tight to put it mildly, with a guitar-bass-percussion trio. Putting a couple of QSC's on the floor in front of us will take up too much room. But I have a pair of KRK Rokit 6's in the practice space as studio monitors. Anyone ever used them on a stage?

 

[Rick Auricchio]

I wouldn't. They're not designed to be cranked like stage monitors are, they're not built to handle repeated transport, and the drivers are not well-protected.

 

[walterw]

i have a really hard time believing little bookshelf studio monitors would be remotely loud enough on stage; maybe if they were balanced right on your shoulders...

 

[DWBass]

Funny. I have seen keyboardists use studio monitors (Yamaha NS10m's) but they were just for them mounted right in front of them. Def not the norm.

 

[s0c9]

If you put one up to each ear and wrapped duct tape around your head.. maybe! LOL
I'd have to say it depends on the type of music you are playing.. coffee shop/wine bar/piano bar type stuff... you might be OK.
Anything else, I would repeat what @walterw stated!

 

[EastCoastThump]

Years ago I played a small folk-music venue in Houston that had stereo speakers raised up on stage *behind the band* to serve as monitors and mains. I was hunkered down for a night of feedback and miserable sound; but with just the vocal mics going through the system, it actually sounded great. Goes to show: just because a concept's insane doesn't mean it won't work under the right circumstances.

That said, those Rokit 6's are awfully small. If your trio is extremely quiet on stage and you're expecting only a small and well behaved crowd, they might work for vocal-only monitors if you can get them off the floor and closer to your ears.

 

[two fingers]

If space is that tight, why do you need monitors? You'll be on top of each other. Hearing each other and yourselves should be a non issue.

 

[Ulf_Hansson]

Have been using M-audio near field monitors on stage for some small half-acoustic gigs. Mostly for keyboards and a little voice, so not really cranking them.

In my opinion they work well for this, but you have to be careful in transport and rigging as they are not really rugged.

 

[Pat C.]

There is a local jazz venue that I've played a few times and they were using KRK's for mains and monitors. I don't know the exact models, I think they may have had the 8" FOH and the 6" for monitors. They sounded fine, particularly for the low volume stuff. I didn't love the level of bass they provided when I played sans amp, but give it a go and see how you like it. FWIW, these were installed and were not being transported, I can't comment on their durability.

 

[Omega Monkey]

2 K10s won't really take up any more space on stage than 2 R6s on stands anyway. The difference is the K10s are designed to take the abuse of live instruments, and they're also about 100 times louder.

But yeah if the place is small, just use the instrument amps and be done with it. To not fit a trio and a pair of K10s, the stage would have to be approaching 6x6 or less. If they're just for monitors, guitar players and drummers always play too loud anyway.