New RCF Art-9 Speakers

[bassmansam]

What does everyone think of these?🙂

Maybe an upgrade from Art-7 Series

 

[jrixn1]

I'm very happy with my existing 732-A - always sounds great, and I've never run out of volume - so I wouldn't trade it in for a 932-A.  If my 732-A was stolen and needed replacing, then perhaps; 932-A is £200 and 1kg extra though.  The 732-A has been perfect for me.

[EBS_freak]

I've been looking at these. Obviously they are nicer looking from the start... Don't know what drivers are in them - they could be the same as the 7 series but not clear at the moment... and obviously there's the amp upgrade. But to be fair, the amp in the 7 series is probably enough to see the drivers into destruction... so, I guess it's just headroom at this stage. Shalln't be changing at the moment but I guess it's a more visually appealing component for those looking to build a FRFR based bass rig.

[bassmansam]

4 hours ago, jrixn1 said:

I'm very happy with my existing 732-A - always sounds great, and I've never run out of volume - so I wouldn't trade it in for a 932-A.  If my 732-A was stolen and needed replacing, then perhaps; 932-A is £200 and 1kg extra though.  The 732-A has been perfect for me.

Same. We use the 732As with 8003 II sub. Plenty of volume 🙂

[Phil Starr]

I'd personally be surprised if they did use the same drivers as the 7 series. They make and sell a wide range of bare drivers and speaker driver manufacture is where they come from. They seem to have a very active design team and a policy of constant steady product development so this doesn't come as a surprise. They don't make a dud as far as I can see and I'm quite prepared to believe these are better than the 7 series. A more rigid cab would be an improvement and that may be contributing to extra weight. They may also have increased the bass driver's excursion, their bare drivers are often not spectacular in that area.

 

I had my 310's on poles to test and program my new mixer (also RCF) and they sound stunning on poles in a room with decent acoustics, to date I've only used them as floor monitors so getting them away from floor reinforcement really opened them up. vocals were stunning and that is just about their cheapest speaker. I'm looking at 732's as optimum for me at the moment. There's a point where cost increases give only marginal improvement and any band I play in wouldn't merit better rendition of a rubbish signal

 

I'd take the 2000W+ with a big pinch of salt, it will be music power or peak power or some such nonsense. The heat dissipation and excursion of the drivers mean that they wouldn't handle this power and the DSP will stop it reaching the speaker anyway. Class D watts are so cheap and light a lot of manufacturers are using a standard amp to power all their speakers and throttling them down with the DSP to match the drivers. The advertising departments love it because they can claim 2100W. Everyone is at it at the moment and there is a bit of an advertising arms race.

 

It looks like they are aiming these at the lower end of the hire and touring market. I've little doubt they sound better than the 7 series, they have a knack of introducing well worked out products and optimised designs. I can't wait to hear my first one and see what they've done this time.

[stewblack]

I don't know what my RCFs are (they live in our singer's garage) @Happy Jack might remember as I bought them from him.

I was horrified to hear our singer suggest she might look for a lighter alternative. Put simply, the RCFs provide the best sound quality I've ever heard.

[Happy Jack]

5 minutes ago, stewblack said:

I don't know what my RCFs are (they live in our singer's garage) @Happy Jack might remember as I bought them from him.

 

 

That was a pair of 735s and they were gorgeous. The trouble with them (as documented in many other places on Basschat) is that they are bloody heavy lumps to lift to shoulder height (twice) in a pub.

[stewblack]

2 hours ago, Happy Jack said:

 

That was a pair of 735s and they were gorgeous. The trouble with them (as documented in many other places on Basschat) is that they are bloody heavy lumps to lift to shoulder height (twice) in a pub.

This was her argument. I am taking back the job of driving and lifting them. 

 

[jezzaboy]

I use a 715 and have never had any problem with volume. The only thing I`m not keen on is it`s feckin ugly!

To be honest, most of the stuff in that clip goes right over my head.

 

But at least they aint as ugly as the 7 series!

[jrixn1]

3 hours ago, Happy Jack said:

The trouble with them (as documented in many other places on Basschat) is that they are bloody heavy lumps to lift to shoulder height

 

1 hour ago, stewblack said:

This was her argument. I am taking back the job of driving and lifting them.

 

Set up the stand's legs as usual, but then lay the stand horizontally on the floor, and insert the speaker while it's in that orientation.  Then raise the speaker up like a drawbridge.

[Happy Jack]

4 minutes ago, jrixn1 said:

 

 

Set up the stand's legs as usual, but then lay the stand horizontally on the floor, and insert the speaker while it's in that orientation.  Then raise the speaker up like a drawbridge.

 

So instead of lifting the speaker to shoulder height, you get to lift the speaker and its stand to shoulder height ...

 

😉😂

[Paul S]

I bought a pair of RCF EVOX 8 v2 and the heavy bit stays at ground level.  Fabulous sound.  Little-to-no feedback either - you place them at the back.

 

[jrixn1]

43 minutes ago, Happy Jack said:

 

So instead of lifting the speaker to shoulder height, you get to lift the speaker and its stand to shoulder height ...

 

😉😂

 

I suppose the issue with the 'normal' method is not just that you have to (1) lift the speaker, but also (2) find blind the pole socket and then (3) guide the speaker into place, all while still stabilizing and bearing the whole weight of the speaker.  This method eliminates steps (2) and (3).

 

If I recall, you have the Markbass equivalent of the Evox, which seems like a lot easier setup.  We have K8s which are easy enough to pole mount. I haven't actually myself hoiked a 20kg speaker onto a pole for many years; there are indeed better alternatives these days.

[Al Krow]

18 minutes ago, Paul S said:

I bought a pair of RCF EVOX 8 v2 and the heavy bit stays at ground level.  Fabulous sound.  Little-to-no feedback either - you place them at the back.

 

Those do look really interesting Paul. But I've just checked and they're a lot heavier than my RCF10As and a lot more expensive too! Looks like the old kit is going to stick around for another day yet...

[Trueno]

1 hour ago, Happy Jack said:

 

So instead of lifting the speaker to shoulder height, you get to lift the speaker and its stand to shoulder height ...

 

😉😂

Leverage… innit?

It’s a class 3 lever if I remember right… fulcrum at the tripod end, load at the speaker end, force in the middle (that’s you).

[stewblack]

2 hours ago, jrixn1 said:

 

 

Set up the stand's legs as usual, but then lay the stand horizontally on the floor, and insert the speaker while it's in that orientation.  Then raise the speaker up like a drawbridge.

Brilliant!

[Bassman Sam]

On 15/07/2021 at 15:17, bassmansam said:

Same. We use the 732As with 8003 II sub. Plenty of volume 🙂

I have a twin.

[itsmedunc]

I’ve got a pair of 745’s and they are great. To be honest, due to Covid, they are the best ever unused active cabs in human history. I’ve owned the same pair twice! 
Geddy’s Nose (BC name) bought them, then bought some Evox 12’s and so sold the 745’s to me. Covid came and  Geddy missed them so he bought them back. I missed them then and so I bought them back. 
To and fro like a wayward partner 😂

They now lie under my desk, exactly where they lay the first time and they lay under Geddy’s desk the twice that he owned them too. John Wayne saw more action 😂

However, hopefully things will change very soon!

 

[duke71]

Just got the rcf915a, its not loud as im expected my old dxr15mk1 is much louder and excellent lows at 12 o clock, these new rcf915 a at 12 o clock are not loud as my old dxr15..

[warwickhunt]

I'm pleased to see the older RCF310 still gets some love.  I've just bought four of them... for the same price as I sold a pair of 8" Headrush and one ALTO TS310, which I initially bought to get the max output for minimum weight... didn't really work like that though.      

 

The RCF310 are great as vocal PA for my duo and acoustic trio (inc as monitors) and a step above the FRFR for that application, with the added bonus I now have 4 vocal monitors for my Cheap Trick tribute band; result! 

[Al Krow]

5 hours ago, duke71 said:

Just got the rcf915a, its not loud as im expected my old dxr15mk1 is much louder and excellent lows at 12 o clock, these new rcf915 a at 12 o clock are not loud as my old dxr15..

I think that's because they are more "linear" ie they will continue to get louder as you turn them up after 12 o'clock, whereas not sure whether your dxr15s will get much louder once you have got to 12 o'clock?

 

If you give that a go, be interested to get your feedback. 

[jrixn1]

 

They will go 10 louder if you turn clockwise 😁

 

Seriously though - what does it mean on Yamahas when 12 o'clock is indicated as 0dB?  In reference to what?

 

[AxelF]

I had a pair of 935s arrive yesterday - only used them individually at low volume with the bass direct into them last night to try and stay on the neighbour's good side! They sounded fantastic though, I plugged in direct initially to see how they were, expecting them to be a bit harsh on the top end maybe but they sounded great. I then put my normal pedal board in between which has a NUX NBP-5 preamp/cab SIM and it sounded fantastic - very punchy with a ton of low end available. I had them on the linear mode, will try the stage and boost settings when I can run them at a decent volume.

 

Will use them in anger at a gig on Friday night - we stick everything through the PA and have a silent stage so it'll be a good test for them, I can't wait to hear them.

[Al Krow]

My 912As arrived a week back, which I'll be using for larger venues in a month or so's time.

 

Have to fess I'm still enjoying drummers / guitarist taking the band PA to gigs, which they've been doing over the past 6 month after I sold my 310A PA set-up to one of them, and just being able to turn up to gigs with my bass and a Zoom B1-4. I was the band PA gofer for the 8 years prior to that, so I feel I've done my time!

 

[EBS_freak]

2 hours ago, AxelF said:

I had a pair of 935s arrive yesterday - only used them individually at low volume with the bass direct into them last night to try and stay on the neighbour's good side! They sounded fantastic though, I plugged in direct initially to see how they were, expecting them to be a bit harsh on the top end maybe but they sounded great. I then put my normal pedal board in between which has a NUX NBP-5 preamp/cab SIM and it sounded fantastic - very punchy with a ton of low end available. I had them on the linear mode, will try the stage and boost settings when I can run them at a decent volume.

 

Will use them in anger at a gig on Friday night - we stick everything through the PA and have a silent stage so it'll be a good test for them, I can't wait to hear them.

It’s because you’ve probably not had a PA speaker with the quality of horn that the RCF has. It really has a massive impact on the quality. When speaker designers make a cost saving, it will always be the horn that gets hit first. That's why the middle number of the most interest as that indicates what horn is in the unit. The more you can crossover and send to the horn, the more you free up the woofer... and vocals through a decent horn will tend to outperform vocals through a woofer.

Edited October 19, 2022 by EBS_freak