Members heath_eld Posted June 13, 2016 Members Share Posted June 13, 2016 I'm looking for some new monitors... I had my heart set on some art310a. My church uses these as little multipurpose speakers and they do that job well. But I have got thinking about the DBR10. It's substantially cheaper. It's lighter and the claimed SPL is 2db more. Reviews online are pretty good. So what gives? How would they compare? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members abzurd Posted June 13, 2016 Members Share Posted June 13, 2016 The Yamaha's are better looking and have a lot more features on the back, which could come in handy. I have not experience with them, but have read the plastic the box is made out of is pretty thin. Maybe easily scratched (?) Curiously it looks like Yamaha doesn't make covers for them so you'd have to go 3rd party there. I saw some sold on ebay for around $70 with shipping for a pair. So you would save around $70 on the covers as they are about that a piece for the official RCF ones. Speaker wise, the RCFs can be picked up for $400 a copy relatively easily. The same places that would discount MAP on those would also discount the Yamaha so you should be able to buy those for around $320. Output wise, I'd not worry about the published 2 dB specs. Historically I've found Yamaha to be pretty liberal with their specs and RCF relatively conservative by comparison.What really matters is how the integrity of the sound holds up when the speaker does get loud. Again, no experience with the DBR, but as you've probably experienced, the RCFs perk up quickly with volume but then stay pretty constant, EQ wise, after that until they start to limit. That's something you usually don't get at that price point as a lot of lower priced speakers will get pretty harsh when pushed. The good thing is the DBRs should be easy to find versus the 310A, but you already "have" that one. Obviously best to go audition a DBR, and if possible, take an 310A with you for comparison. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members heath_eld Posted June 13, 2016 Author Members Share Posted June 13, 2016 The au price difference is $815 (best price I can find) vs $549 (without trying hard)... So significant... But not a deal breaker if the Rcf would do a better job. The DBR does look cheaper to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members abzurd Posted June 13, 2016 Members Share Posted June 13, 2016 Ah, forgot you were down under. Tougher call indeed. Can you audition the DBR? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members heath_eld Posted June 13, 2016 Author Members Share Posted June 13, 2016 Yeah - I can hear it (not next to a 310 though). Thing is I've got no doubt it will sound good playing canned music - live use is a bit more challenging. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Al Poulin Posted June 14, 2016 Members Share Posted June 14, 2016 The Yamaha does offer more flexibility as mentionned and the price is better as well. You would want to set it to the "monitor" setting, since it produces pretty strong low freuquencies out of the box, which is generally undesireable in monitors. The RCF would sound better out of the box as a monitor in my opinion and would likely also get a little louder / clearer overall in spite of the published specs. The RCF is the better quality speaker between the two transducer Wise, again IMO. So ,each box does have its pros and cons. How is RCF or Yamaha service down there should there be an issue? That is another question I would look at. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members heath_eld Posted June 14, 2016 Author Members Share Posted June 14, 2016 Hard to say. Never owned an RCF product. I've owned a few yamahas and never needed service. Yamahas 7 year warranty is definitely a selling point Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RoadRanger Posted June 19, 2016 Members Share Posted June 19, 2016 My RCF 310a's still amaze me every time I fire them up - even as mentioned above when pushed hard. You do have to tighten them up once in a while if you start doing stoopid stuff with them like large outdoor concerts running them solid in the red but I can't imagine any other speaker holding up better or sounding better at extreme SPLs. OTOH the Yamahas are tempting for their better looks - and for most of what I do the 8's would be smaller and lighter than the RCF 310a's - and louder and most probably better sounding than the Behringer B208's I've been using in my small rig. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members loco_p_man Posted June 20, 2016 Members Share Posted June 20, 2016 I took Abzurd's advice and bought 4 RCF 310As as monitors. So far, so very good. They need to be cranked up to get loud enough, but the sound quality is good and there's not been a single problem with them so far. (Bought 2 used and 2 new). Haven't compared with a DBR10, but our drummer bought a 312A III which we compared side by side with a DBR12. Not quite the question you are asking, but possibly relevant. To our ears, the RCF was a clear winner - but Al's reviews might place the DBR a little closer than we found it. I suspect we didn't do the Yamaha justice, but on the day, the RCF sounded a lot better to us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Al Poulin Posted June 21, 2016 Members Share Posted June 21, 2016 I really like the 312As speakers as well. Have never compared them directly to the DBR12, but I have a feeling the RCF does sound a little better in the mids and highs while the Yamaha will have better deep low frequencies. It should be noted that the DBR does seem to require a little more signal from the mixer to produce a given SPL (lower gain sensitivity than the RCF), so if you were switching back and forth with the same signal without properly matching the levels first, the RCF would likely have been a little louder so might have sounded better simply because of this. I know both of these cabinets have very good sound quality overall and do own 310As, so am well aware of the quality of RCF transducers. I've used the 312As a few times and they are excellent speakers - just not ver ysexy for wedding use... Al Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members abzurd Posted June 21, 2016 Members Share Posted June 21, 2016 As much as I don't really care for the old or new style ART series aesthetics, I've done around 150 weddings and another 80-ish other private gigs using RCF 310A, 322A, 522A, or 745A speakers, and the only second looks I've gotten are, from what I'm guessing, DJs or musicians who walk up to inspect them like "what are these things". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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