Rockville APM5B - Has Anyone Ever Heard of These Monitors?

[Mossman]

I've been (finally) getting my recording rig together and I've been looking at studio monitors for the last couple of days. I'm not looking for anything too "Joe Pro" or expensive, but something decent and relatively cheap with a 5" driver. When I started adding qualifiers like "budget" and "under $300" to my searches, I came across the Rockville APM5B. https://www.rockvilleaudio.com/apm5b/

I've never heard of this company before, but apparently, they make a lot of live sound, lighting and recording gear. I was considering getting a pair of Monoprice speakers, which are rebranded M-Audio B5X monitors (at about half the price), and they get good reviews. (https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=625880),

The Rockville speakers have good specs (with some features that the Monoprice speakers don't have), and are a little cheaper (!), but I can't find any useful reviews about them. The only spec that concerns me about the Rockvilles is that they use a class D amplifier instead class A/B like everybody else. I thought that was kind of an odd choice for an application where you want as little distortion as possible, but they say they use class D because it's more efficient and generates less heat.

I've never heard a class A/B and a class D amp side by side, so I don't even know if it's even worth worrying about. Is this an "Energizer vs Duracell in your stomp-box" kind of difference? (i.e.; something no human can hear), or is it more noticeable? Does it color the sound? And has anybody heard of this company, if not these specific speakers? Do they have a good reputation, or do they make crap?

Does anybody know?

[Mossman]

Well, after failing to find any detailed reviews of these particular Rockville speakers, I decided to look at reviews of their other products, and their reputation as a company, and it doesn't look good at all. They have a dismal rating with the BBB, and Sitejabber.com with copious complaints about their products falling apart after a couple weeks of use, or being defective on arrival.

Apparently, their customer service is terrible. They don't respond to emails or phone calls, and if you do manage to arrange a return, it takes several weeks to several MONTHS to get a refund or replacement. And they don't even cover return shipping of the defective product.

I did manage to dig up a few more reviews of these speakers, and a couple of people said they're hissy. Probably due to the Class D amplifier.

At this point, I would avoid ALL Rockville products like a fungus.

[mozz]

Class d is more efficient, but should sound the same. If the reviews are bad stay away.

[Chocol8]

For under $300 and 5" I would get a pair of the JBL 305P MK II and not mess around with an off brand with questionable support.

[Mossman]

Class d is more efficient, but should sound the same. If the reviews are bad stay away.

It's been my understanding that class D amps are noisier, and are commonly used in car systems (which I think is Rockville's bread and butter) where pristine audio isn't as much of a concern. Granted, we're talking about "audiophile" standards, but if the speakers are noticeably hissy, that would bother me.

At any rate, it looks like everything they sell is poor quality. I saw very few positive reviews, and of those few, I got the feeling they were written by people with "NTS' (new toy syndrome) who rush to crow about their savvy purchase five minutes after opening the box. That's why I never put much stock in customer reviews when researching a piece of gear, and tend to seek out pro reviews.

For under $300 and 5" I would get a pair of the JBL 305P MK II and not mess around with an off brand with questionable support.

Those speakers are on my short list, as well as the Presonus Eris E5 (the 3.5" version gets a lot of love too). But I haven't ruled out the Monoprice speakers. Their gear seems to have earned a reputation of being decent quality, and if M-Audio is the OEM, that gives me some confidence.

[Mossman]

Well I drilled down on the JBLs and PreSonus monitors, and the JBLs look like the superior speaker in terms of specs, and they cost the same as the Presonus, but they also have a much bigger cabinet, and I don't think I have the real estate on my desk to accommodate them. I figured I could just about fit the Presonus speakers, but barely. I looked on the JBL website to see if they had a smaller version of the LSR 3 series, and it turns out the 5" is the small version. They only have 8" and 10" from there.

Now I'm thinking, maybe I'm shooting above my needs. I have a tendency to do that. I'm not in a large space, and I'm not going to be doing any film scores, or anything "professional" here. The 3.5" version of the Eris is very highly recommended for beginners out on the interwebs, and there's also a 4.5" version. The only thing that bugs me about the smaller monitors is less bass response. I have a pair of Beyerdynamic 770 headphones that have lower bass response (50 Hz) than both of those monitors (actually, the 5" version only goes down to 52 Hz), so maybe I should just use the headphones.

I do still need some decent speakers for my computer, though. The shitty Logitech speakers I bought rattle and fart out when someone speaks with a deep voice at moderate volume. I don't know if they're defective, or if they just suck, but it's too late to return them, so I figured if I gotta buy a pair of speakers, they might as well be monitor speakers.