RCF speakers

[Dave Ferris]

Does anyone have experience with the older discontinued RCF 522A ?

My application is FOH (on poles), smaller rooms, Jazz (no chest pounding low end or DJ speak here), digital piano, vocal and sometimes a Sax. Occasionally a line from the Acoustic bass amp and one overhead on the drums.

In the summer I got an excellent deal on an open box pair of the RCF TT08As--the 8" box.
I love them, they're great for Jazz piano and vocal-- detailed, clear and smooth. They've worked fine in about 65% of the gigs I've done. However outside, in larger rooms and on the isolated Rock/louder volume gig, I'm missing that extra throw and coverage. I'm also thinking the overall fullness of my digital piano (Yamaha CP-5 ) would benefit from the 10 or 12" woofer.

The problem is, RCF has a ZERO presence in LA and the West Coast in general. I was able to hear the TT08A by hounding the local rep for a demo. Since the summer, RCF has changed reps. The new rep hasn't gotten back to me yet.......

I do know the older 522A uses "powersoft" amp modules and on the new ART 700 series , they went in house with amps. The TT series uses B&O amp modules.
I know the ART boxes are plastic and the TT are wood.

So it is a weight vs sound quality vs price issue. How much sound quality am I losing on piano going "down" to the 5 boxes vs. the TT08A.

[GZsound]

You might want to post your question on the Pro Sound Web site. There are a lot of folks over there that are familiar with RCF stuff and live sound and they can help you.

www.srforums.prosoundweb.com

[hbphotoav]

I don't know about anything but the ART322As (I own four) and you can have them when you pry them from my cold, dead fingers. They do everything I ask of them (small-room trio work to outdoor events to the entire floor of Belmont University's Curb Center with 900 people in the room for a fundraiser). They, with a pair of Mackie 1801 subs, have replaced EV Sx200s, 500s, and Community XLT46s over CS52 subs for everything under 6-700 people with a full band.

I am particularly fond of the way the 12" bass driver works with the 2" compression driver in the horn. Smooths the vocal range (especially the 2.5kHz edge I was always fighting with the EV stuff). The only "usual" EQ that's necessary is a bit of cut at a 400Hz cabinet resonance point to clear up some kludge on the stage. And... they work really well as wedges or delays when the larger system goes out.

I am, BTW, 58 years old and work often without assistance (budgets being what they are, and me as parsimonious as I am). In and out of the trailer is a breeze (the 322As are cased in a rolling rack, and everything else is on wheels) and even hoisting them up onto the Applied Electronics 11' crank stands is (for now) do-able.

Also BTW... the new PreSonus StudioLive 24.4.2 has wonderfully replaced a Mackie Onyx 1604 and a heavy case of EQ, dynamics and FX processors... and I can get the whole system in with 5 or 6 pushes.

They also have no presence in Nashville, so I bought from these folks, with excellent result...

http://www.rmcaudiodirect.com/RCF-Sp...FcVe7AodnHPInA

HB

[Dave Ferris]

Mark-

I've posted over there a little and have gotten some varied user feedback but a lot of guys over there are DJs and their perspective still comes from HOW LOUD,HOW MUCH BASS and MORE BASS mentality.......so while not everyone is like that, I was hoping to find more acoustic/jazz/ non-rock/ opinions here of people that actually play music or at least do sound for musicians that play has opposed to playing CDs or MP3s.

HB, I have spoken to Erik over there, nice fellow. He actually prefers the FBT speakers over the RCFs.

[GZsound]

Originally Posted by Dave Ferris

Mark-

I've posted over there a little and have gotten some varied user feedback but a lot of guys over there are DJs and their perspective still comes from HOW LOUD,HOW MUCH BASS and MORE BASS mentality.......so while not everyone is like that, I was hoping to find more acoustic/jazz/ non-rock/ opinions here of people that actually play music or at least do sound for musicians that play has opposed to playing CDs or MP3s.

HB, I have spoken to Erik over there, nice fellow. He actually prefers the FBT speakers over the RCFs.

I agree with you about the "louder is better" mentality on PSW, but there are more live sound guys than DJ's on the forum.

I mostly just lurk over there because I am not going to buy a massive JBL SRX system with multiple subs for my acoustic music festival live sound gigs.

I have engineered on an RCF system, not sure what speakers they were, at a bluegrass festival in Canada and they sounded great. I haven't ever read a bad review of their speakers.

[hbphotoav]

Originally Posted by Dave Ferris

...

HB, I have spoken to Erik over there, nice fellow. He actually prefers the FBT speakers over the RCFs.

I bought a couple of db Technologies powered speakers from RMC for the church I attend a couple of years ago. They were half the price for a "similar" box. Not even. So... I've not yet heard FBT (nor the other speakers in the RCF range)... but after researching pretty much all of the available small, powered speakers in 2005, the recommendation of the house guy at the Nashville Symphony (and hearing their original 322s) combined with RCF's international rep (and the fact that they were the original OEM designers/suppliers for both G1 EONs and Mackie 450s) moved me off the dime. I've heard the QSCs, liked them, and the new G3 EONs, not so much, but am recommending the ART 322As.

I haven't been at all about LOUD BASS since my early DJ days (in the '70s)... room-filling fidelity for my small-form clients (I can rent d&b Q and J rigs if I need them... that's arena-filling fidelity, btw) is what I'm after, and the 322As deliver. End of (my) story.

HB