Compact budget PA set-up to put bass through (without back-line).

[Al Krow]

RCF have launched the NXL 14A speaker. Looks innovative!

[warwickhunt]

1 hour ago, Al Krow said:

RCF have launched the NXL 14A speaker. Looks innovative!

 

I'd like to hear those!  

 

[JPJ]

2 hours ago, Al Krow said:

RCF have launched the NXL 14A speaker. Looks innovative!

I like the look of the 44A - 3x10 that allegedly goes down to 45Hz. Could be a solution to my single box per side ambition.

However, I don’t like the look of the price 😬

[warwickhunt]

45 minutes ago, JPJ said:

I like the look of the 44A - 3x10 that allegedly goes down to 45Hz. Could be a solution to my single box per side ambition.

However, I don’t like the look of the price 😬

 

Our sub is 30% lighter than one of those and our pair of 10" QSC tops are lighter than one of those... no gains in weight or ease of transport but I'm 100% sure they'll sound great! 

 

[Greg Edwards69]

9 hours ago, JPJ said:

I like the look of the 44A - 3x10 that allegedly goes down to 45Hz. Could be a solution to my single box per side ambition.

However, I don’t like the look of the price 😬

I had a pair of Wemm 4x10 columns many years ago in my first band. I can t remember what happened to them. I sometimes wonder how well they would perform with a modern system. 

[Chienmortbb]

13 hours ago, Greg Edwards69 said:

I had a pair of Wemm 4x10 columns many years ago in my first band. I can t remember what happened to them. I sometimes wonder how well they would perform with a modern system. 

Probably better than you think, although there will not be a lot of either top or bottom. That sounds like a contradiction but the 4x12s stacked vertically aim the beam and those early 12s, rated at only 25-30 watts went higher than most modern 12s.

[Greg Edwards69]

7 minutes ago, Chienmortbb said:

Probably better than you think, although there will not be a lot of either top or bottom. That sounds like a contradiction but the 4x12s stacked vertically aim the beam and those early 12s, rated at only 25-30 watts went higher than most modern 12s.

Correction, yes, they must have been 4x12 stacks - my memory is hazy, it was over 30 years ago! And it was Wem, not Wemm.  

[warwickhunt]

15 minutes ago, Greg Edwards69 said:

Correction, yes, they must have been 4x12 stacks - my memory is hazy, it was over 30 years ago! And it was Wem, not Wemm.  

 

Don't correct yourself too quickly...   

 

When I was a teenager I pulled a pair of Wem column speakers (my first foray into amplifying an instrument) out of a bin and they could well have been 10" or LESS!  

[Chienmortbb]

5 minutes ago, warwickhunt said:

 

Don't correct yourself too quickly...   

 

When I was a teenager I pulled a pair of Wem column speakers (my first foray into amplifying an instrument) out of a bin and they could well have been 10" or LESS!  

Wem did both 4x10 and 4x12 columns.

[Greg Edwards69]

1 hour ago, warwickhunt said:

 

Don't correct yourself too quickly...   

 

When I was a teenager I pulled a pair of Wem column speakers (my first foray into amplifying an instrument) out of a bin and they could well have been 10" or LESS!  

We acquired ours from our old CO when my brother and I were in the Air Cadets. He mentioned he had a couple of PA speakers that he wanted to get rid of, and if we could collect them we could have them for nothing. Thank goodness our dad had a Volvo estate!

[Al Krow]

Have been using a pair of RCF 912As for a couple of years. One of them seems to be on the blink - giving out a worrying hum but no output at a recent gig, so we had to do the gig on one speaker! Not ideal, but a couple of comments about being too loud at one point put my main worry about a lack of volume to rest!

 

I've got the possibility of picking up a used single 932A to replace the faulty 912A. Essentially same woofer, but better mid range coil which will be better for vox and guitar.

 

Bad idea to mix two speakers even when their specs are pretty close? Or will the overall impact be a slightly better mid range from the two PA speakers, despite the mixed mid-range 1" and 3" coils/horns and potential interference? I'm guessing the interference may not be too bad, given the greater directionality of the higher frequencies, and not something the audience at a given location will notice, whilst benefitting from the better vox?

 

Or should I just get a replacement 912A, instead?

[Woodinblack]

1 hour ago, Al Krow said:

Have been using a pair of RCF 912As for a couple of years. One of them seems to be on the blink - giving out a worrying hum but no output at a recent gig, so we had to do the gig on one speaker! 

 

Not that I can help with your speakers, but I woudn't call that 'on the blink' - that is way beyond the blink, that is full on broken!

[jrixn1]

4 hours ago, Al Krow said:

Have been using a pair of RCF 912As for a couple of years. One of them seems to be on the blink

 

You've probably already checked, in which case apologies - but don't they come with a three-year warranty, although perhaps it might depend on which retailer you bought it from and if you registered the purchase?

[Al Krow]

25 minutes ago, jrixn1 said:

 

You've probably already checked, in which case apologies - but don't they come with a three-year warranty, although perhaps it might depend on which retailer you bought it from and if you registered the purchase?

 

They do indeed, thanks John. And I'm planning on getting it repaired under warranty, but will involve shipping to Germany which could take a couple of month for the round trip and we will be needing a full PA in the meantime. Happened once before 5 months back - they couldn't find any fault with it and sent it back and seemed to be working fine since Jan, but 2nd time this has happened, so I'm thinking I may have a definitely faulty unit.

Edited April 13 by Al Krow

[Al Krow]

On 13/04/2025 at 18:02, Woodinblack said:

 

Not that I can help with your speakers, but I woudn't call that 'on the blink' - that is way beyond the blink, that is full on broken!

 

Hmmm...just tried all possible combinations of desk outputs, PA speakers and PA leads and both the 912As seem to be working fine.

 

The hum was there on both when I had the PA lead plugged into the speaker but not into the desk, so I can only guess that this was user error on my part and I / bandmate had not properly connected the desk to the PA speaker.

 

All's well that ends well, fingers crossed!

[Jack]

Ground loop? Wouldn't explain the lack of output though.

Edited Thursday at 13:56 by Jack

[Woodinblack]

1 hour ago, Al Krow said:

Hmmm...just tried all possible combinations of desk outputs, PA speakers and PA leads and both the 912As seem to be working fine.

 

One of those issues that I am sure can be fixed by using a Behringer CT100, my most valuable item of gigging equipment!

[Al Krow]

52 minutes ago, Jack said:

Ground loop? Wouldn't explain the lack of output though.

 

I'm guessing someone hadn't properly connected the lead to the desk output, which would account for both the hum and the lack of output. Didn't occur to me on the night it could be something as basic as that... but now noted for future reference!

[Steve Browning]

15 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

 

One of those issues that I am sure can be fixed by using a Behringer CT100, my most valuable item of gigging equipment!

They are an excellent addition to the lead bag.

[Phil Starr]

21 hours ago, Al Krow said:

 

I'm guessing someone hadn't properly connected the lead to the desk output, which would account for both the hum and the lack of output. Didn't occur to me on the night it could be something as basic as that... but now noted for future reference!

We've all been there The obvious still trips me up and the adrenaline flowing when something goes wrong at the start of a gig makes it hard to be entirely rational. It's good to see a happy ending

[Chienmortbb]

21 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

 

One of those issues that I am sure can be fixed by using a Behringer CT100, my most valuable item of gigging equipment!

Does it check TS leads correctly? Most Cable Testers I have tried only cater for TRS.

[Al Krow]

5 minutes ago, Chienmortbb said:

Does it check TS leads correctly? Most Cable Testers I have tried only cater for TRS.

 

Good question - I was about to place an order following Woody and Steve's recommendation!

 

12 minutes ago, Phil Starr said:

We've all been there The obvious still trips me up and the adrenaline flowing when something goes wrong at the start of a gig makes it hard to be entirely rational. It's good to see a happy ending

 

Haha thanks Phil. I think I may have ended up with B stock RCF 932A coming tomorrow as the fall out (as we can't be gig ready with only one working PA speaker!) 😂...may actually have saved me a few quid and I'll see if I can bag another used / B-stock one at some point soon - as it was definitely my plan to upgrade the 912As --> 932As at some point this year, having seen how much better for vox the 732As are than the 912As, but with the 912As delivering a fuller bass.

 

Does come back to the question of whether mixing and matching a 912A and 932A is going to work? - I guess I'm going to be best placed to find out! Another mate of mine pointed out that given how close the speakers are in many aspects any downside should be, fingers crossed, limited and we can get some improvement in vox until I bag another 932A to get the full benefit.

[Woodinblack]

16 minutes ago, Chienmortbb said:

Does it check TS leads correctly? Most Cable Testers I have tried only cater for TRS.

 

Absolutely, it shows you what is there. So unlike the more complicated and fussy CT200, the CT100 just has a grid of 3 leds that shows you what is connected to where, and 3 showing intermittant. So if you connect a TRS to TRS lead it will show you a straight line, pin1-pin1, pin2-pin2 etc. If you plug in a TS to TS it will show you 1-3 to 1-3, 2-2, so you can see it is fine.

Also when you plug something in, then you shake the lead and if the lights flicker (something loose) it will show on the intermittant line.

 

It is basically so dumb it is faultless and fast. Also you can do TRS-TS, Jack to XLR, 1/8" to ¼", Midi - Midi, Phono etc.

And you can also send an audio signal down the cable if you want to check where it is wired to, which has helped me a couple of times with 10M PA cables 

[Woodinblack]

Like this in fact - although I dont' know why he connects the mini jack with an adapter as you can connect any out to any in and it will work fine

 

 

[Al Krow]

Ordered 😊- just £20.50 on Amazon Prime.