KRK V4 Series 4 Review: Small Monitors with Staying Power

A long-term owner’s review of KRK’s compact V4 S4 monitor.

I originally bought the KRK V4 Series 4 for desktop monitoring. I wanted a compact, reasonably accurate powered speaker that could sit directly on a work surface without requiring a complicated installation. The V4 turned out to be an excellent choice, and although that desktop system has since been retired, the speakers remain in use in a home theater and for general listening.

Small but serious

The V4 is the smallest of the Series 4 family, alongside the V6 and V8. The three share a broadly similar active two-way, front-ported architecture, with Kevlar woofers and dome tweeters, separate amplification and DSP-based response adjustments. The cabinet and woofer sizes, power, crossover and bass extension differ.

One of the V4’s most practical features is the isolation pad integrated into the cabinet bottom. It’s particularly welcome on a desktop, where vibration transmission into the supporting surface can be a problem. The rear-panel low- and high-frequency adjustments also offer considerable flexibility for placement and tonal balance.

A different kind of KRK

I remember some early KRK monitors, particularly designs with inverted-dome tweeters, as sounding rather harsh. These do not. The V4 has a cleaner, more civilized high-frequency presentation, with a reasonably balanced overall sound. It’s not my first choice for a primary monitoring system, but that doesn’t diminish how well it performs in the role for which I bought it.

The amount of output available from a speaker this small is genuinely impressive. It also sounds cleaner than a number of low-cost powered speakers I’ve heard. To be fair, the V4 isn’t an especially cheap powered speaker itself, but it offers a useful step up in performance and flexibility.

Value beyond the original application

KRK’s compact GoAux portable monitors are another interesting offering for people who need small, practical powered speakers, although they serve a different purpose. The V4 feels like a more substantial professional design.

KRK has since introduced the V-Series Five. We haven’t listened to the new generation, so I won’t claim that it sounds better. It will be interesting to hear what has changed.

Conclusion

The best endorsement I can give the V4 is that I still use it. It performed its original desktop-monitoring job extremely well, and it remains useful long after that system was dismantled. With good output for its size, a non-fatiguing presentation, useful rear-panel adjustment and integrated isolation, the V4 Series 4 is a very capable little speaker.

The bottom line: A compact, flexible active monitor that delivers more than its dimensions suggest and remains worth considering, especially for desktop and secondary systems.