Active speaker on the cheap

[Rothko 5]

Anyone tried a lower-end 10" £250-ish active speaker, something like the Alto TS310 or RCF ART 310 A MK III with a bass?

I'm not expecting miracles, or QSC K-type performance, just the FRFR equivalent of something like a Rumble 100 - good enough for home practising and moderate level rehearsals. But with a flatter and less boxy or coloured sound than most low-end combos.

[jrixn1 900]

Yes, definitely.  I gigged with an RCF HD 10-A for a while, which is very similar to the RCF 310-A mk4.  I once got away with playing to room of 200, where I'd brought it to use as a stage monitor but we had an unexpected FOH PA non-existence scenario.  It did really well although you could tell it was getting close to its maximum ability.

I don't know the difference between HD 10-A, 310-A mk4, and 310-A mk3.

[Rothko 5]

That's good to know. I think there's only subtle differences. RCF probably my pick in the low end.

But also just seen a very affordable Harley Benton FRFR jobbie, optimised for guitar, but with a 12" speaker https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_frfr_112a_guitar_dsp_monitor.htm

[Bill Fitzmaurice 909]

A 12" driver doesn't mean it's good for bass. If it's really optimized for guitar the xmax will be too short and Fs too high.

[naxos10 294]

I've put my bass through one of our Studiospares Auditorium MkIII 12A pa speakers and it sounded pretty good (at bedroom levels).

[Bill Fitzmaurice 909]

My 2x12 '65 Fender Bassman sounded good at bedroom levels too, but  being loaded with guitar drivers, as most bass cabs were back in the day, War Volume was more of a skirmish than a battle.

[Phil Starr 1,141]

I use a pair of RCF Art 310's with my duo, everything goes through them direct and they are absolutely fine. I use one of them alone for most rehearsals, I've had no problem with volume even with a drummer. I'd probably use the pair if we ever needed them at a gig but our drummer is stupidly loud at times.

[Dan Dare 2,034]

8 hours ago, Bill Fitzmaurice said:

My 2x12 '65 Fender Bassman sounded good at bedroom levels too, but  being loaded with guitar drivers, as most bass cabs were back in the day, War Volume was more of a skirmish than a battle.

I had a 2x15 Bassman cab of similar vintage. The drivers were pretty useless and looked cheap. There was a glued seam on the cones - it looked as if they had been made by bending a piece of straight card to shape. I blew one up, so replaced both with Peavey Black Widows (which were then considered pretty nice and certainly not cheap). Turned it into a very fine cab (by the standards of the day). Shame it was so big and heavy. I needed a Volvo estate to cart it around.

[skidder652003 827]

we had RCF 310's briefly as stage monitors but IMO they struggled at higher volumes, especially for bass. We swapped them for 315's and they're much better. Depends on your volumes I guess. 

[jrixn1 900]

On 18/03/2021 at 14:53, jrixn1 said:

RCF HD 10-A ... is very similar to the RCF 310-A mk4.

I thought I should correct my previous post.  I actually don't know how similar the 310-A and HD 10-A are, other than nominally they are powered speakers with 10" woofer and compression driver.

The specs do look similar-ish at a glance, but reading a bit more through the RCF website, one difference is the voice coil diameter and crossover frequency, and so I assume other corresponding internal bits too.  I am too layman to be able to suggest what differences they might make to the end user experience.

310-A mk3: 2.5", 1800Hz, £230
310-A mk4: 1.5", 1800Hz, £260
710-A mk4: 1.75", 1600Hz, £300
HD 10-A mk4: 2.0", 2000Hz, £395