Got £700 for an active speaker- what to get?

jonnyguitarman

jonnyguitarman

Inspired
Title says it all really. Had a QSC K12 for a while and got rid a little hastily as wasn't convinced with the FRFR thing. Then went for an Atomic Reactor fr monitor which I hated. (Not loud enough and really lacked bottom end)

Don't really know what to get now. Thinking of another Qsc k12 as looking back it was good butis there anything out there in that price range that's better and y?

Cheers
 
It's pretty ironic than an Italian made speaker is cheaper in the US than in Europe. If I had your 700 lbs (don't know pound symbol on keyboard) converted, I could definitely get an NX10 and maybe an NX12.
 
Try to check out a db flexsys 12 Coax monitor. Got one since 2 weeks, and after intensive testing in a bigger rehearsal room at stage volume it's by far the best you can get for your 700 bucks. It's using RCF-Drivers (RCF and db belong the same company, and the "better" db's like the flexsys use RCF-drivers. In Europe you get a flexsys 12 for about 550 - 600 €

Deeper review is following in a few days.....

Andy from Red Bull Country
 
I have K12's as my main FOH speaks and have used K8 & K10 as monitors. They are nowhere near as good sounding as the RCF, I found them very bright, and due to the dual speaker set up, when you have them really close to you (I.e. on the floor at your feet) you only have to move a few inches and you get more or less highs etc, where as coaxial it's consistent.

I'd at least test them out
 
The RFC 10" gets really good reviews if you cant stretch to the 12s - though there still £940 over here :(

TBH - the RCFs are "next level" compared to the K12s - and pretty much the cheapest of that next level. If you cant stretch to the RCFs and know/like the K12s - there probasbly as good as any, BUT try some others if you can. I went though a few PA speaker trials when I considered FRFR, and TBH the only sub £1k box I liked was also an RCF - byt the Art 9 series which are in the £900s. i found the K12s lifeless by comparrison to the 912s (and Codas at nearly £2k!!!).

Im at the poiont I want to try FRFR, and have set my goals on either the Matrix or Atomic (CLR) Passive speakers as I already run mny 2x12 with a Matrix Power amp - OR and RCF NX (12 or 10 - need to try them both0 for powered. Anything else I feel will be highly dissapointing. The exception is the Carvin cab that uses the same co-axial speaker as the Matrix. Its cheaper (in the US) but over here? Carvin are hard to get hold of here so it may not be an option (or if it is - not a price competative one).
 
Oh - Co-axial means the tweeker is susspended in front of the woofer - so the sound eminiates from the same central point (as opposed to two different sound sources if the speakers are one above the other). That lead to a more consistant sound from any direction by drastically reducing phase issues.
 
Lookimg at those bds - they may be worth a look. They are very similar in look to the RCFs (nor surprising as there the same parent company) and would appear to be the "cheap" version. Less power (300w vers the 700 of the RCF12", and even 300w of the RCF 10"), and presumably an inferior driver (though still co-axial).

At £473+delivery (from either soundslive or Digital Villiage) and probably other outlets as well - thatws quite tempting for an active option.
 
DB Flexsys 12: Believe me - check 'em out. You're gonna love them. They have tons of bottom end, maybe you have to lift up the high freq a bit (from 5 khz up) but they are very accurate in the mids. And even at very loud volume they don't sound harsh or boxy.
Yesterday we did a very intensive test with them (about 2 hours of measuring, equing and playing) and I'm still thrilled about the sonic quality of this little bastard ;-) Conclusion of the test: bass frequenzies are hyped a bit and the high frequenzies lack a little. We
built an EQ-Curve after the measurement and with the usage of 2 ParaEqus in the signal chain they sound so much "in your face" without beeing harsh.

We didn't spend too much time by checking out the onboard dsp-eq-settings, IMHO they are useless, if you just
want that monitor for guitar-purpose (which is exactly what I do - and you get the terror of a heavy, fat 4 x 12, even when you stand 5 m away, when turned up loud)

I would call 'em "the RCF-NX12 for the poor man" ;-)

Andy from Red Bull Country
 
jonnyguitarman said:
Footprint & weight not an issue as I'm use to 4x12's & heads. Coaxial? As in the cable?
Click to expand...

Paul's explanation is correct, moving around in the sound field of a coax design especially at close range (5-6 feet) is so much better. Once you experience the difference between the two you will understand. The Mackie description is fairly close...

 
Looks really interesting. Will be cool to see a review of these, by someone like Scott.
Anyone know the max SPL. I assume 2000w is peak.
 
Looks like 127 dB. A shoot out next to an RCF would be great.
They seems well priced too, and I wonder how they would compare to my K12 & K-sub PA as the pricing seems similar. But they look a lot smaller and lighter.

Interesting times.
 
That db coax monitor looks really similar to my RCFs. I'll be curious to hear what people say about it. As far as what RCF offers vs QSC and others, it just sounds good. The sound is unhyped and I get the impression that I'm hearing what the Axe and my guitar are putting out. I don't eq anything to compensate for it. The biggest thing for me is that I never think, "oh, if I had xyz hooked up then it would sound that much better" which I did with all the other solutions I tried (RCF 310a, Mackie SRM450-originals by RCF, Power Engine 60s, Peavey Classic 120 amp into various cabs). I'm too caught up in "what flavor of awesomeness do I want today?".

I'm still working at how to get that awesomeness projecting properly in smaller venues, but when the RCFs are pointed at my head, my tone options bliss me out in a way I've never experienced and they do it at fairly quiet volume levels and at levels that deafen me. I'm sure there are even better sounding options for crazy $ and maybe for similar $ if the various makers with FRFR in development get their stuff out. For me though, the combination of fantastic sound with amazingly compact size and weight have me happy for the first time in my Axe life with my FRFR.

Before the RCF I would periodically and sometimes often get the feeling that I was living with my FRFR solutions until something really great came along that would bring out the greatness of the Axe. For me the RCF is that great thing and if other things come along, fine, I always have my ears open, but they're going to have to be pretty amazing to get me to give up my RCFs.

If the dbs are 80-90% of the RCFs, they'll be a welcome solution to many I bet. The overall form factor looks almost identical.
 
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