A great FRFR option?

R

RTL44

Member
I own many Carvin products (too many to name!) and I have been very, very happy with their quality and performance. They have a relatively new coaxial monitor that looks like a good FRFR option. It is the TRx12N


carvin.jpg


https://www.carvinguitars.com/products/single.php?product=TRX12N

Thoughts?
 
On the plus side, the enclosures seem to be made from hardwood, not ABS plastic. A well-behaved coax should work well for this use, but the driver quality and quality of the crossovers is a big factor, usually.

The HF driver horn directivity is pretty narrow, a much wider dispersion of high frequencies would be preferable. (Narrow directivity to acquire long throw is a fable.)

As to absolute sound quality, it's impossible to even guess without even a frequency response graph to view, and even then, it wouldn't reliably predict OK sound vs. good sound. (Most manufacturer's published frequency response graphs are extremely suspect, anyway.)

They're pretty inexpensive.

Bottom line - you have to hear them.
 
Click this viewtopic.php?f=13&t=2822
and scroll down to "don't buy cheap gear". It lists some of the problems that crop up when trying to dial tones with cheap FRFR. I recommend A/Bing those carvins against some FRFR in the next price bracket & see what you think.

From my experience, manufacturers who either build concert & theater systems, or provide drivers (but also build their own FRFR rigs) to those companies that build systems, those FRFR usually sound better than ones from companies that aren't involved in the concert/theater industry.

And often (as is with the axe-fx) the pricier stuff is made better and more importantly, sounds better. I've gotten into the habit of saying "buy the axe-fx version of an FRFR, not the line-6 version", and IMHO, I think that's good advice.
 
Yes, they are made from baltic-birch plywood. The top-end of Carvins P.A. cabs utilize B&C drivers. I'm pretty sure all of the TRX series do. Unfortunately, I have owned more crappy P.A. gear than I would ever care to admit, but the high-end Carvin stuff is hard to beat.


Inexpensive does not necessarily equal cheap.


Here are the specs:

http://www.carvinguitars.com/manuals/TRX12N.pdf

I agree that they need to be heard before we can make too much of a judgment - that's one of the reasons I posted - to see if anyone had these. Carvin does have a good return policy, but I'd still be out the shipping.
 
RTL44 said:
Yes, they are made from baltic-birch plywood. The top-end of Carvins P.A. cabs utilize B&C drivers. I'm pretty sure all of the TRX series do.
Here are the specs:

http://www.carvinguitars.com/manuals/TRX12N.pdf
Click to expand...
I poked around for a couple minutes. The b&c drivers were in their TCS series enclosures, but now it looks like TCS is TCSaudio.
http://www.tcsaudio.com/products.html a completely separate company (bragging that they use b&c drivers)

Here's what I've experienced with b&c drivers in another company's enclosures. If a company is putting them into their enclosures they make a point of saying so. I'd venture a guess and say that because there's no mention in the TRX specs or info---they're not loaded with them.

Those TRX are passive, so you'll need to buy a power amp too. I'd hazard another guess that the price is another giveaway that they aren't loaded with b&c. Hard to get that quality level for 350-400 complete with enclosure. I haven't found it. I think those b&c drivers alone are 200-300.

They're probably eminence loaded but with the carvin name on them.
Call them and find out.
 
solo-act said:
RTL44 said:
Yes, they are made from baltic-birch plywood. The top-end of Carvins P.A. cabs utilize B&C drivers. I'm pretty sure all of the TRX series do.
Here are the specs:

http://www.carvinguitars.com/manuals/TRX12N.pdf
Click to expand...
I poked around for a couple minutes. The b&c drivers were in their TCS series enclosures, but now it looks like TCS is TCSaudio.
http://www.tcsaudio.com/products.html a completely separate company (bragging that they use b&c drivers)

Here's what I've experienced with b&c drivers in another company's enclosures. If a company is putting them into their enclosures they make a point of saying so. I'd venture a guess and say that because there's no mention in the TRX specs or info---they're not loaded with them.

Those TRX are passive, so you'll need to buy a power amp too. I'd hazard another guess that the price is another giveaway that they aren't loaded with b&c. Hard to get that quality level for 350-400 complete with enclosure. I haven't found it. I think those b&c drivers alone are 200-300.

They're probably eminence loaded but with the carvin name on them.
Call them and find out.
Click to expand...

TCS Audio is owned by Carvin.
 
I would love to head about your findings. I am still on a quest to find a passive wedge monitor to complement my ultra/sla2 setup so far my boogie 4x12s sound better than any monitor. Someone please help my poor back.
 
IIIMK said:
I would love to head about your findings. I am still on a quest to find a passive wedge monitor to complement my ultra/sla2 setup so far my boogie 4x12s sound better than any monitor. Someone please help my poor back.
Click to expand...
+1, except we're talking about my THD 2x12 cab.
 
The TCS coaxial monitor with B&C driver looks interesting, but I'd think that by the time you add in a power amp you might as well get the FBT Verve.
 
steveb said:
The TCS coaxial monitor with B&C driver looks interesting, but I'd think that by the time you add in a power amp you might as well get the FBT Verve.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what you are able to get price-wise, but i can get 2 of the carvin monitors, plus a stereo amp for less than the cost of ONE powered Verve.
 
RTL44 said:
steveb said:
The TCS coaxial monitor with B&C driver looks interesting, but I'd think that by the time you add in a power amp you might as well get the FBT Verve.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what you are able to get price-wise, but i can get 2 of the carvin monitors, plus a stereo amp for less than the cost of ONE powered Verve.
Click to expand...

I meant the TCS monitor actually, not the TRX. For the TRX, yeah, its close to what you described.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom