Mackie SRM450 V2 vs RCF ART 710A

[BUF1E]

Hello welcome to my first ever post!!

 

I own some Mackie SRM450 V2's and was thinking of upgrading to RCF ART 710A's

 

My question is how do they compare for sound quality etc and would this be much of a upgrade ?

 

The Mackie is a 12'' and the RCF a 10'' but the specs for frequency response are 55Hz @ -3db for the Mackie and 50Hz @ -3 db for the RCF !!

 

Does the RCF really have better bass response than the bigger Mackie ?

 

If the bass was just hype, I could add a RCF 902as sub to help the little RCF 710A's

 

Another option would be to just get just 2 RCF 722A's and make do without a sub

 

The wild card option and most expensive option is to get 2 Verse insider 10 speakers and a Verse 15 Sub ???

I like the look of these, as they look more life HiFi speakers than PA speakers but cannot find much about them on the net

 

My aim is to build a high quality lightwieght system

 

Any advice or other options would be most welcome

 

many thanks,

 

Philip

[Sound In Gloucestershire]

hi, welcome to the forum

 

what will you be using them for? Its always a tricky one switching down to a 10" cab, if you are DJing etc, id say no, but for a vocalist, im sure it would sound great

[BUF1E]

I run a small dance playing mainly chart and pop music etc, we get about 60 in a room 7m x 18m. Ocassionally we use a bigger venue about 12m x 12m and we get 100 people.

 

The Mackies work fine but would just like some extra quality. I guess your saying that the RCF 10'' will not perform as well as the 12'' Mackie if used without a sub?

 

Philip

[madorangepanda]

Having recently hired in some of the Mackies to complement our Art 310A's in a long room. I would say that they where about on par. Even with less power and a smaller driver.

 

You could also look at the new ART 4xx series. Might be able to get something with a larger driver for less than the 7xx series.

[Sound In Gloucestershire]

if bass is the issue here, consider just adding a sub or two to the mackies, perhaps an EQ to remove the harshness

[BUF1E]

Thank you for all your replies.

 

I was just looking to reduce the weight of my speakers but improve the quality of the sound too. So I would like max quality with the minumum size and weight

 

I thought I could replace my Mackies 18kg's with RCF ART710's 11kg's and they would do the same job but with a even higher quality sound. These would be sufficient for with we have 60 people in a room 7m x 18m ?

 

When I do an event in a larger room about 12m x 12m with 100 people, I could also take the RCF 902as sub with me.

 

As a general point does only using one sub blend well with 2 satellites ?

 

So I guess what I'm after is 2 speakers of minumum weight to do a room with 60 people and then just add a sub to do a slightly larger 100 people event

 

Philip

[Alec]

Thank you for all your replies.

 

I was just looking to reduce the weight of my speakers but improve the quality of the sound too. So I would like max quality with the minumum size and weight

 

I thought I could replace my Mackies 18kg's with RCF ART710's 11kg's and they would do the same job but with a even higher quality sound. These would be sufficient for with we have 60 people in a room 7m x 18m ?

 

When I do an event in a larger room about 12m x 12m with 100 people, I could also take the RCF 902as sub with me.

 

All sensible objectives!

 

While I can't give a direct comparison with the Mackies, I have been hugely impressed with my ART 710s.

 

In the end it will boil down to your expectataions, as they will obviously not match up to a full sup+top setup. What they will do, however, is pump out high levels with an impressive tight bottom end, and be an easily lift which you'll never regret. I compared them side by side with the ART 722 and ART 725, along with the ART 325. To be honest, the 710 wasn't that far off the 722 or 725 - and the size/weight benefit is significant.

 

Your profile doesn't say where you are, but if you're near Herts, you're welcome to come along and hear mine alongside my ART 722s - and even, until I sell them, my ART 325s.

[BUF1E]

Thank you Alec for the offer, but I live in Shropshire and I've just updated my profile.

 

I am leaning toward's the Art710's with a 902as sub at the moment. I think for plastic speakers I will not find a much better small but powerfull setup.

 

How much better is the Art710 over the Art410 ?

 

Or what about the more expensive wooden RCF NX M10-A or RCF-TT08-A instead of the Art710 ?

 

The RCF NX M10-A seems to have the same components as the Art710's but in a wooden box ?

 

many thanks,

 

Philip

[Sound In Gloucestershire]

I thought you were trying to get the weight down?

[BUF1E]

I thought you were trying to get the weight down?

 

Yes I am. But its a compromise between weight and quality.

 

My current speakers Mackie SRM 450's V2's are 18 Kg's each

 

The Art 710's are 11Kg's each and even the wooden RCF NX- M10-A are only 15kg's each

 

I believe both of these speakers will be higher quality (and match the bass at least) but less weight than the Mackies but also more money.

 

If I add the subwoofer (optional) the RCF 902 30kg's then yes my overall weight would increase, but so would the quality and at least the pole lift weight would still be less

 

Philip

[oldskoolhead]

I go roadieing with my dj mate and he has just upgraded from the srm 450 to the 710a and let me say if you make the upgrade you certainly wont be dissapointed the bass response is equal to the much larger mackie the volume goes up loads more and the sound quality is much nicer as well.

when he bought them we a-b'd them in the showroom with the mackies and the qsc k12's and the rcf 710'a was most definately the best performer all round and to top it all off u can easily carry 1 in each hand and being so small u dont need a van to transport them I would recommend rcf over any brand speaker their light years ahead of anyone else

[Boltonguy]

I'm selling the 905as sub if interested. along with 2 X RCF 722s. Message me if interested. I may sell the sub on its own.

 

Gav

[Takeiteasy]

Could you PM me the price for those as well please :)

[Terry Steward]

My New RCF 710a Pa Speakers were an Amazing improvement on my sound last night,I always Enthused about my Mackie srm450's,,and Had already got what I thought,and have had Comments,On having a Good Sound,,But last night,As I was Playing,I noticed that all backing track Instruments and Backing vocals,Along with my Guitar and Main Vocal,were much more clearly defined,I usually have to mix on the fly and back the Bottom end off,and increase the Mids on certain tracks,to pull out certain things I wanted more Prominant in the mix,Then alter again for other tracks,but last night I was Able to Concentrate more on the actual performance,And I actually found myself Going beyond my usual parameters,As I had more confidance,and ess Worry About the mix and EQ being right !!

 

To Add,,My Srm450's are 4 year old,And I have used them on My solo and Duo gigs,,not sure By how much,But to be fair,they couldve deteriorated gradually over those years,thats About 500 Gigs,,,With my vocals my guitar and My Backing tracks,on my Solo,,But Adding my not so subtle Pal on very powerful vocals,and he bashes away on Guitar,Sax and Bass,,we cover Anything from Buble to Iron Maiden !!! But mostly The Heavier rock,we Do Add a Pair of Studiomaster 15 actives for frontline,on those Duo gigs,

 

My point is,Had I just done my Steadier quieter Solo Gigs,,and not adding my mate,Who really is the loudest bloke ive ever gigged with,,,maybe the Difference in sound,wouldntve been so so noticable,And with a Recone,My Mackies would be muchly improved to their former glory

[paulears]

The trouble is we're all subjective on this one. For playing back well known tracks, or even backing tracks of famous songs, we have in our head the 'hi-fi' sort of sound print - which for many is a smiley face graphic curve. PA systems, even hugely expensive ones, never sound like Hi-fis, do they? I know a very choosy classical guitarist, who uses an AKG, a posh pre-amp and a single Mackie 450 for his guitar, because he reckons it just makes it louder without changing the tone. I've heard smaller bands playing through them and didn't like what I heard, but other times I've heard them sound excellent. I seriously suggest that the only way to choose is to do a live swap between the two in contention - even a 1 hour separation starts to use your memory. This is obviously very difficult to set up, unless you buy both from a dealer who is willing to take back the ones you reject.

 

I honestly don't think there is a best - but more like there will be a best for you. The specs for loudspeakers rarely give any clues about what they sound like. I heard the HK Actor system playing CDs in a shop's demo area and thought they sounded really good - so good I was seriously looking at getting one, until a band toured to my venue with one, and were running it very loud (which the shop wasn't) and I decided I hated it. It seemed to struggle with the vocals when there was lots going on at the bottom. Then, six months later, another band turned up, doing 60s music and I thought they sounded excellent - so who knows? I've found all the plastic boxes I hear to have a common kind of sound - 10" through 15", and similar wooden boxes a different one. Even subs vary so much with some being tuned so they make a thud, while others let you hear individual bass notes - which others cannot seem to do.

 

The only rule should be let your ears decide.