RCF's ??

[onemanband]

Hi all, newbie here.

 

As age and years on the road (plus the associated aches and pains) are becoming an issue , I've decided to lighten my load and invest in a pair of RCF active speakers, either 522A (12") or 525A (15") only 18Kg.!!!

Question is, I read on a thread on this forum, that RCF claim "there is more bass from the 522 than from the 525", can this be so?

 

RCF admit that the 522 with its 12" driver can deliver better bass at a couple of hundred quid less? (quote)

 

I play acoustic guitar & banjo with simple drum & bass line tracks plus vocals, @ small (pubs, clubs etc). to medium size venues.

What would be the better option? I would appreciate any comments and advice from anyone with any experience of these speakers.

 

Cheers...........Brian

[csg]

get a demo, and choose for your self - forget specs, trust your ears!

[djandydee]

I have experienced the 525

 

The first impression was that it was unbelievably light in terms of weight. The sound was all right for a moulded plastic box, plenty of bite, plenty of dig but no boomph and the box rattled like crazy.......and as I said before it wouldnt surprize me if the mains lead fell out of the amp during a gig a few months down the road. The built in amp had a gain pot and line level only input and had a music/vocal/flat EQ selector button which you had to keep pushing until desired EQ was obtained with an indicator LED on the front which changed colour if the limiter kicked in. The overall output SPL was however excellent.

 

At nearly 800 quid a box and the knowledged that "RCF admit the 522 with its 12" driver can deliver better bass at a couple of hundred quid less?" I was not prepaired to part with my cash. I still use a very old rugged wooden box with a good 15, 8 and slot and with the right processing can obtain an unbelievable LF/Sub output....they are just ball bustingly heavy and need a seperate amp and processor.

 

From what I understand, the same plastic box is used for the 12" and 15" version. I think the box size is suitable for the tuning of the 12 but too small for the 15 so it suffers. The other potential problem is the 15 cant go has high as the 12 so there is a problem with clarity of vocals.

 

To sum up - Nice idea having a compact, light weight, 1 box solution that you plug in some power and signal and away you go. However if it was me, I would go for the 522 and add the active sub too.

 

Andy

[XclamatioN]

Personally buddy I would never buy any speaker without listening to it yourself, becuase at the end of the day its personal preferance. Having used RCF's and owning a few pairs I can say for the money the sound quality is second to none and in my opinon far better than any Mackie equivalent. Anyhow the 522A's are fantastic I have a pair and the responce is just as you would expect. In terms of volume there is little between the 522's and the 525's as there are both as effiecnt as each other with the 525 just beating the 522's by 1 db at a maximum SPL of 131.

[onemanband]

Thanks for the replies so far.

Yeah, I do have every intention of listening and comparing the 522's and the 525's, I am just hoping to hear other folks opinions and experiences of these cabs.

 

Cheers...........Brian

[noiseman]

Are the 525/522's really worth the extra money(£300each) compared to the 325/322's? Sure they're "digital" and 3 or 4 kilo's lighter but do they actually sound that much better because of it?

 

I've used the 325's and was very impressed in how smooth they were with no hint of harshness at all, with the 2" comp driver they are in a totally different league to Mackies (esp the crappy chinese ones) which I'd say is it's closest rival still.

The 522/525's use a 1.5" HF for some reason but the newly launched 722/725 use the 2" and cost the same. Confused, you will be?!?

[onemanband]

I suppose the question should be, no matter what make of active speaker one chooses, what is the difference in terms of sound between a full range, 2 way active speaker, one with a 12" and one with a 15" "woofer".

Whether a "digital" active speaker sounds better is not the issue, it's purely a matter of weight.

Cheers, and thanks for your input...................Brian.

[Greg RCF]

Hi All

 

Are the 525/522's really worth the extra money(£300each) compared to the 325/322's? Sure they're "digital" and 3 or 4 kilo's lighter but do they actually sound that much better because of it?

 

The difference between the 3's and the 5's is well worth the extra £300.00 they are some much more powerful and the clarity is a class above. The 5's have been one of our best selling products since there launch so that goes to show something.

 

The 325 are still great boxes but the 522/525 outclass it by quite away and then add the fact that its alot lighter (you can carry one in each hand to walk into a gig try doing that with the 325) makes it a great purchase.

 

I must admit it is confusing the different models but what we found with the 3's is that in the UK we sold more 310-A's and 322-A's in other geographical market areas they prefer the 312-A or the 315-A, so we have to cater for the whole world. Similar to the Car industry in the USA ford sell more pick ups than anything else, where as over here they sell more focus and fiesta models, we have to have a range that fits what the market wants in its respective area's.

 

Regards

 

Greg

[onemanband]

Thanks Greg.

 

I have now had the opportunuty to try both the 522A and the 525A, and for the benefit of other forum readers considering these, I can confirm that they are both absolutely SUPERB units.

As Greg says, the clarity, power and volume for such a compact and lightweight cabinet is truly amazing and I would recommend these to any gigging musician.

As it states in the specs. the 522 is a little more punchy in the mid range but the 525 scores with it's powerful bass response and is a little more rounded.

I settled for the 525A, as these suited both the instruments I play and the sound that I was looking for more than the 522.

I have gigged them this weekend in both a small and large venues and these speakers were truly amazing in both.

I am absolutely delighted at having made the right choice, and with the bonus of weighing in at only 18.5kg. per cab, these speakers are simply stunning!!

I would thoroughly recommend them!! *****

 

Cheers...........Brian