RCF speaker drivers?

[geoffbyrne]

I picked up a couple of speakers cheap. The magnets have been painted black, but each has had 'RCF 300' written in black marker on it.

I've never heard of RCF drivers. Anyone tell me more?

G.

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

Google it, they're a major driver and speaker manufacturer in Italy.

[geoffbyrne]

Thanks Bill - maybe I did all right.

G.

[Bassnut62]

You may have just scored big.....RCF were some of the best speakers made back 20 or 30 years ago.
Are these the modern ones or old vintage ones?

Nowadays RCF are known more for PA gear. In fact Martin PA equipment used RCF drivers in the early days.

The vintage ones could be worth a bit if in good shape; though maybe not everyone would know about them, so that might keep prices down.
I have an old RCF 15" 8ohm in a vintage MusicMan cab and it sounds just fantastic. great warmth, clarity and punch.

[JTUK]

hmmmm... plate chassis.
Not likely to be what RCF built their name on...I'd guess.

[geoffbyrne]

I bought them off a local musician for £50 the pair - he reckons he bought them 20 years ago & they have been lightly used in a keyboard 2x12. He scrapped the cab years ago but kept the drivers. I bought them to go into a pair of wedge monitors, but they're maybe overkill for that at 300W each.

G.

[Bassnut62]

I say try them out; if they sound great, you got lucky....

[JTUK]

[quote name='geoffbyrne' timestamp='1395140947' post='2399035']
I bought them off a local musician for £50 the pair - he reckons he bought them 20 years ago & they have been lightly used in a keyboard 2x12. He scrapped the cab years ago but kept the drivers. I bought them to go into a pair of wedge monitors, but they're maybe overkill for that at 300W each.

G.
[/quote]

ok..go careful then. If they are in good working order, then £50 sounds ok,
but I am not sure many produced 12" at 300watts 20 years with that manufacturing
pressed plate.

The chassis would most likely to have been cast, with a edge wound voice coil of 2 or 3"
That is not to say they aren't any good, but I would be careful about assuming they would handle that sort
of power.
RCF were indeed a decent cab maker around that time and probably ranked along side
JBL and EV when they had their stellar names...i,e JBL chassis' were in virtually every creditable P.A system.
I might be out by a few years but pressed plate chassis were never used as high powered speakers, iirc..
they were always the cheaper option and therefore less able to hit high power ratings.

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1395223111' post='2399818']
ok..go careful then. If they are in good working order, then £50 sounds ok,
but I am not sure many produced 12" at 300watts 20 years with that manufacturing
pressed plate.
[/quote]A stamped frame doesn't indicate all that much, though from the picture it's not possible to be certain whether they're stamped or cast. The cast EV SRO from the 1960s looked quite similar.
The lack of a vented pole piece is far more telling, but that still doesn't reveal potential power handling. Not that power handling in and of itself matters, T/S specs are what one needs to determine the driver suitability.

[Bassnut62]

The vintage RCF I have in my bass cab is a 15" 8ohm and it can take the full throttle power of my Fender Bassman 135 head, when used for either bass or guitar; so I reckon those old RCFs can really take a lot of abuse.
It does start to break up in a wonderful way when being hit with the full 135w of Bassman valve power at 8ohms too!

[geoffbyrne]

I've put them in my wedges and they sound great!

Stamped chassis, but very heavy gauge, and a really big magnet. They are being fed by one side of a power amp rated at 300W/side, so each should handle 150W max. I reckon we're ok here.

G.

Edited March 20, 2014 by geoffbyrne