kmanick
Fractal Fanatic
Review Seismic SAX-12M-PW 12" powered coaxial monitor vs RCF VS CLR
So Jay came over today and we did this comparison, first off I'd like to thank Jay for lugging this stuff over here and for that JMP1 patch
so how did this thing stack up against the "big boys"?...................Pretty freaking good.
Points of notice during the comparison.
the power amps that come with the RCF and the CLR seem to have about 25% more power to them than the one
that comes with the Seismic, the CLR will rip your head off so if you need high volume to gig the CLR is a clear winner in this category.
Sound wise the Seismic and the RCF were very close right out the gate
now one thing to keep in mind during this comparison is that the Seismic is physically the smallest of the 3, (you really notice this against the CLR)
With a little EQ-ing we got the Seismic and the RCF to sound almost identical, the RCF sounds a little bigger (which it is) but besides that,
side by side they were very close.
When we switched on the CLR to compare the first thing you notice is how much bigger the CLR sounds ....and physically is, so
not much of a surprise there, the thing that comes with that though is more clarity and the dispersion of the CLR is unrivaled by anything I have tried yet.
The CLR also had a little better note separation than the Seismic did when we cranked them up, but at lower to moderate volume the Seismic sounded
did a very good job holding it's own and sounded very good.
Early on in our testing I stated to Jay that I thought the Seismic sounded very much like a 10" version of the CLR. Tonally very close just not as big sounding.
Winner here is clearly the CLR.................but for $299.00 the Seismic is a giant killer. It held it's own well enough that I am going
to get another one so I can play W/D/W with my JSX ->Recto 2X12 in the middle (which we also did today).
We also tested these in wedge position and on their sides in back line position, I prefer this for at home playing as it doesn't shoot the highs into my face.
The Seismic did not suffer in either position, either did the CLR.
Lastly we tested the Seismic with my 5 string Fender bass. the sound was very good, but we did hear a couple of snaps at higher volume.
Now there is something floating around inside of mine , I have to open it up, so that may have been what I heard , but if I was going
to get one of these for Bass, I would go with the 15" just to be on the safe side. The Sound quality with the bass was excellent though.
For someone who is only playing at home or is on a Budget these things kick some serious butt, also for $299.00 you don't have to
worry as much about someone tripping over them of spilling something on them like you would with a $1,000.00 monitor.
for $600.00 you can get a pair and run them in stereo and be very very happy with your rig.
If I had money to burn I would get 2 CLRs to run this type of rig, but since I don't play at very loud volume, 2 of these will do quite nicely
for a hell of a lot less.
Lastly I stumbled on something that puts a big smile on my face. When I create patches I usually use one or 2 of the OH IR's for out1
I add a GEQ and an FX loop for output 2 and try to match my out2 to my out 1 sound as closely as possible, but today we used 2 patches (one of Jays and one of mine) that
use the Basket Weave TV cab and it matched almost exactly with the power section of my JSX going into the Recto 2X12, I had to add zero EQ to get it to sound good.
we ran the Seismic and the CLR left/ right from output 1 wet, and output 2 into my JSX dry and it sounded really good.
I'm going to have to make some new patches specifically to run this way now as the Darker amps (we used the JMP1 and the Euro Red Modern) paired with the TV
sound really good in this type of set up.
Feel free to ask any questions I will be happy to share my thoughts, I think Jay and I were pretty much on the same page during this testing
I'm sure he will post his thoughts soon enough.
So Jay came over today and we did this comparison, first off I'd like to thank Jay for lugging this stuff over here and for that JMP1 patch
so how did this thing stack up against the "big boys"?...................Pretty freaking good.
Points of notice during the comparison.
the power amps that come with the RCF and the CLR seem to have about 25% more power to them than the one
that comes with the Seismic, the CLR will rip your head off so if you need high volume to gig the CLR is a clear winner in this category.
Sound wise the Seismic and the RCF were very close right out the gate
now one thing to keep in mind during this comparison is that the Seismic is physically the smallest of the 3, (you really notice this against the CLR)
With a little EQ-ing we got the Seismic and the RCF to sound almost identical, the RCF sounds a little bigger (which it is) but besides that,
side by side they were very close.
When we switched on the CLR to compare the first thing you notice is how much bigger the CLR sounds ....and physically is, so
not much of a surprise there, the thing that comes with that though is more clarity and the dispersion of the CLR is unrivaled by anything I have tried yet.
The CLR also had a little better note separation than the Seismic did when we cranked them up, but at lower to moderate volume the Seismic sounded
did a very good job holding it's own and sounded very good.
Early on in our testing I stated to Jay that I thought the Seismic sounded very much like a 10" version of the CLR. Tonally very close just not as big sounding.
Winner here is clearly the CLR.................but for $299.00 the Seismic is a giant killer. It held it's own well enough that I am going
to get another one so I can play W/D/W with my JSX ->Recto 2X12 in the middle (which we also did today).
We also tested these in wedge position and on their sides in back line position, I prefer this for at home playing as it doesn't shoot the highs into my face.
The Seismic did not suffer in either position, either did the CLR.
Lastly we tested the Seismic with my 5 string Fender bass. the sound was very good, but we did hear a couple of snaps at higher volume.
Now there is something floating around inside of mine , I have to open it up, so that may have been what I heard , but if I was going
to get one of these for Bass, I would go with the 15" just to be on the safe side. The Sound quality with the bass was excellent though.
For someone who is only playing at home or is on a Budget these things kick some serious butt, also for $299.00 you don't have to
worry as much about someone tripping over them of spilling something on them like you would with a $1,000.00 monitor.
for $600.00 you can get a pair and run them in stereo and be very very happy with your rig.
If I had money to burn I would get 2 CLRs to run this type of rig, but since I don't play at very loud volume, 2 of these will do quite nicely
for a hell of a lot less.
Lastly I stumbled on something that puts a big smile on my face. When I create patches I usually use one or 2 of the OH IR's for out1
I add a GEQ and an FX loop for output 2 and try to match my out2 to my out 1 sound as closely as possible, but today we used 2 patches (one of Jays and one of mine) that
use the Basket Weave TV cab and it matched almost exactly with the power section of my JSX going into the Recto 2X12, I had to add zero EQ to get it to sound good.
we ran the Seismic and the CLR left/ right from output 1 wet, and output 2 into my JSX dry and it sounded really good.
I'm going to have to make some new patches specifically to run this way now as the Darker amps (we used the JMP1 and the Euro Red Modern) paired with the TV
sound really good in this type of set up.
Feel free to ask any questions I will be happy to share my thoughts, I think Jay and I were pretty much on the same page during this testing
I'm sure he will post his thoughts soon enough.
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