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RCF 4PRO 8001AS vs JBL PRX 718S vs EV SBA760 vs Any other active sub at this price


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I have RCF ART705AS subs and I'm very pleased with them. However, if I could go back in time I would probably go with the 4PRO 8001-AS subs because they're a bass reflex design instead of a bandpass box design of the 705s. Looking at what's available now, I would probably go w/ the 4PRO 8003-AS sub if there wasn't a big difference in cost compared to the 8001s. And again, if it wasn't a terrible jump in price, I'd go w/ the NX stuff. No idea what cost is, so I'm not sure I'm comparing apples to apples here.

 

For what it's worth, something else to consider is customer support. RCF is based in Italy so I have a hunch their support is better in your neck of the woods when compared to most others you list or mentioned by others.

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I too own the RCF705AS subs and like them fine. Keeping in mind I'd need to stay small, if I were to buy now in a similar price range, I'd likely go with the JBL PRX71S. They are only 76 lbs and go down to 37Hz at -3dB. They are a front load single 18" yet still claim 133dB. They'd no doubt be more articulate, would go about 10 Hz lower than what I have now (which is considerable down that low), and be slightly louder. I've never heard them though so don't know if the paper supports the real world.

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The EV is being axed from the line up. While you may never have any problems with the subs, parts may be a issue sometime down the road. I would probably look at the JBL first. Ive never heard the PRX718, but the driver is basicly (few small differences) the same as the SRX/VRX subs.

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The EV is being axed from the line up. While you may never have any problems with the subs, parts may be a issue sometime down the road. I would probably look at the JBL first. Ive never heard the PRX718, but the driver is basicly (few small differences) the same as the SRX/VRX subs.

 

I guess one positive of it being discontinued is that they might go for cheaper prices sometime soon? However, it would be annoying if i wanted to add more of them to my rig and they suddenly became scarce.

 

It's quite funny how many posts i've read claiming the PRX718S 'will' be great but nobodys heard the damn thing in action! :p

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what is the EV being axed? It blows the RCF out of the water. Seriously, it is not even close. The EV is comparable to most 18"

 

 

And you've heard the RCF? Which one(s) are blown out of the water by the EV SbA760? I just read up on the EV and it looks like nothing special. It certainly doesn't go any lower. They only publish a -10dB spec and it's 42Hz, a bit higher than the RCF. My guess is no real bass comes out until around 50-55 Hz, which is typical of pretty much all small enclosure traditional subs. It has a published max SPL of 128, which isn't really all that impressive. Evey RCF sub from the 705AS and up goes louder (albeit on paper). They are also almost identically sized. I see no magic that would make the EV outperform the RCF. In fact, the bandpass design of the RCF would increase the output from that of a straight up front load, but at the expense of some articulation.

 

RCF 705AS 23.2

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The specs are not accurate.. When I first looked at this sub... I thought the same thing.. nothing special BUT THEN I heard them side by side, to the 705 15 vs the EV 15....

 

regardless of specs

 

The EV went lower louder, and sounded way better. It actually had a nice kick that I say is about even with the QSC HPR 18"

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also the EV is much easier to move around is is a tad smaller.

 

 

Assuming you mean because of the wheels on the back. Oddly though, there are no handles on the EV. I'll take handles over wheels. I can put the RCF's on a cart. The RCF's weigh a few lbs less.

 

I still don't see how there could be a night and day difference. I guess I'll never know as I doubt I'll ever hear the EV's and certainly won't ever hear them side by side.

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It just dawned on me why you think the EV hit so much harder. The only real compliant I had about the RCF's when I first started using them is that they need to be driven with a hotter signal than any other powered speaker I've used.

 

With powered speakers you really don't know what's going on inside those boxes as far as input sensitivity and the amps. In a test with full range speakers you can't simply plug 2 different subs into a mixer and A/B them. I agree, the RCF's will sound weak in this scenario because they need a hotter signal to drive them. If you're just looking at the sub you may be able to just go back and forth, however, you'll need to drive them both to the point of limiting to truly compare the 2. You'd see the difference in the signal needed by the Left and Right output sliders being in substantially different locations to drive each to limit.

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It just dawned on me why you think the EV hit so much harder. The only real compliant I had about the RCF's when I first started using them is that they need to be driven with a hotter signal than any other powered speaker I've used.


With powered speakers you really don't know what's going on inside those boxes as far as input sensitivity and the amps. In a test with full range speakers you can't simply plug 2 different subs into a mixer and A/B them. I agree, the RCF's will sound weak in this scenario because they need a hotter signal to drive them. If you're just looking at the sub you may be able to just go back and forth, however, you'll need to drive them both to the point of limiting to truly compare the 2. You'd see the difference in the signal needed by the Left and Right output sliders being in substantially different locations to drive each to limit.

 

 

 

BINGO.

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The Ev does have handles... not sure where you got that from.

 

Put it this way... the RCF clipped before the EV so the EV still had some juice in it, which meant it played louder.

 

Seriously, go listen to the sub and then get back at me. I question EV's specs on this sub considering that on paper, you are right, they do not not look impressive at all. IN fact, they do not look a whole lot better than SB122's.

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The Ev does have handles... not sure where you got that from.


Put it this way... the RCF clipped before the EV so the EV still had some juice in it, which meant it played louder.


Seriously, go listen to the sub and then get back at me. I question EV's specs on this sub considering that on paper, you are right, they do not not look impressive at all. IN fact, they do not look a whole lot better than SB122's.

 

 

I was looking on the EV SITE. Uponcloser inspection I see the handle is on the top, and I'd assume one on the bottom as well.

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JBL sells a box (Actually its made by Gator)--- for the 518 subwoofer series--that has wheels built in, for rolling the sub around.

 

 

I made my decision today -- Purchased the JBL PRX-718s

 

I've already owned the Eon 518s (similar to but not quite as good as the PRX-518s) -- and have been very happy with my purchases of JBL products in the past.

 

JBL carries a super-high resale value too! (See thread I started about the Eons I sold, yesterday).

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