I purchased a pair of Paul Coupe’s latest creation, the RFC Rubato stand mount speakers, about 3 weeks ago, I think they are pretty well broken in now, so thought some people might be interested on my thoughts.
I had never been truly satisfied with any of my previous speakers. Some of the Proacs had their moments of magic, and the Spendor D7.2 had bass to die for, but everything left me wanting some aspect to be, well, better. Too much bass, too little bass, too much treble, not enough treble. I imagine many of us have gone through that.
I must have been one of the first persons to have bought an RFC Venus interconnect. It is the only component that has stayed in constant use somewhere over the last 14 years, so when I saw these new speakers for sale, well I thought there might be some chance there was be some hallmark of quality. The price seemed pretty keen - OK 2K is not cheap, but considering what you have to pay to get many higher end stand mounts, not at all unreasonable.
I sent an email in a hopeful punt to get a demo pair, fortunately Paul was very accommodating and sent me his personal pair to try out.
Now, this is a small company, so the packaging was very much a case of use what you can, as opposed to the custom sized and shaped polystyrene you usually get. Still, it did the job.
What was obvious was the care and attention taken with the speakers themselves, real wood finish, clean lines, nothing out of place, excellent back plate and binding posts. You would not want to drop them on yours toes, but not so heavy that you can’t handle them.
Of course, what really matters is the sound. Oh my, this is where they really deliver. In a medium sized room (15 x 18), the balance of bass and punch is just right, and in particular, the definition is just so good. To my great surprise, there was more bass weight than the Proac D18s, yet without the boom.
Just as sweet as the Tablettes, but with proper bass.
Soundstage is also excellent, it will vary with partnering equipment, but there is no sense of sound clinging to the drivers, it is hanging in the air.
Treble is refined, but not dull. Detail is really good, I am understanding lyrics like never before. As such, they are also great for TV.
Duly impressed, I ordered a pair in light oak. Paul explained the demo pair were entirely hand made, but production pairs would be made of machine cut panels, and be even more precise in build - and so it turned out to be.
Now the first 10 minutes had me slightly fretting, as they sounded thinner than the demo pair, but with a few hours on them, they started to warm up and the bass come more to life. I would say it took a couple of weeks to really settle. Good news was, they ended up sounding even better than the demo pair.
I took them down to Audiobarn, as I was in the market for upgrades in dac/streamer. The speakers could easily scale up (or down) with anything thrown at them. As it turned out, the internal dac of my Moon amp was pretty much at least a match for anything under 5K, but the Auralic Aries S1 took me to a whole other level compared to my Bluesound (and yes I did compare with Innuos and Lumin, but preferred the Aries).
So there you have it. In summary, I have never been happier with my system, it sounds natural yet with great resolution and punch. Music is a real pleasure to listen to, and long may it reign.
I am not here to act as any kind of salesman, I get no benefit at all. You might think they suck!
Still, it’s worth a demo if you are in the market for a pair of speakers. Paul has been a pleasure to deal with through the whole process.
I had never been truly satisfied with any of my previous speakers. Some of the Proacs had their moments of magic, and the Spendor D7.2 had bass to die for, but everything left me wanting some aspect to be, well, better. Too much bass, too little bass, too much treble, not enough treble. I imagine many of us have gone through that.
I must have been one of the first persons to have bought an RFC Venus interconnect. It is the only component that has stayed in constant use somewhere over the last 14 years, so when I saw these new speakers for sale, well I thought there might be some chance there was be some hallmark of quality. The price seemed pretty keen - OK 2K is not cheap, but considering what you have to pay to get many higher end stand mounts, not at all unreasonable.
I sent an email in a hopeful punt to get a demo pair, fortunately Paul was very accommodating and sent me his personal pair to try out.
Now, this is a small company, so the packaging was very much a case of use what you can, as opposed to the custom sized and shaped polystyrene you usually get. Still, it did the job.
What was obvious was the care and attention taken with the speakers themselves, real wood finish, clean lines, nothing out of place, excellent back plate and binding posts. You would not want to drop them on yours toes, but not so heavy that you can’t handle them.
Of course, what really matters is the sound. Oh my, this is where they really deliver. In a medium sized room (15 x 18), the balance of bass and punch is just right, and in particular, the definition is just so good. To my great surprise, there was more bass weight than the Proac D18s, yet without the boom.
Just as sweet as the Tablettes, but with proper bass.
Soundstage is also excellent, it will vary with partnering equipment, but there is no sense of sound clinging to the drivers, it is hanging in the air.
Treble is refined, but not dull. Detail is really good, I am understanding lyrics like never before. As such, they are also great for TV.
Duly impressed, I ordered a pair in light oak. Paul explained the demo pair were entirely hand made, but production pairs would be made of machine cut panels, and be even more precise in build - and so it turned out to be.
Now the first 10 minutes had me slightly fretting, as they sounded thinner than the demo pair, but with a few hours on them, they started to warm up and the bass come more to life. I would say it took a couple of weeks to really settle. Good news was, they ended up sounding even better than the demo pair.
I took them down to Audiobarn, as I was in the market for upgrades in dac/streamer. The speakers could easily scale up (or down) with anything thrown at them. As it turned out, the internal dac of my Moon amp was pretty much at least a match for anything under 5K, but the Auralic Aries S1 took me to a whole other level compared to my Bluesound (and yes I did compare with Innuos and Lumin, but preferred the Aries).
So there you have it. In summary, I have never been happier with my system, it sounds natural yet with great resolution and punch. Music is a real pleasure to listen to, and long may it reign.
I am not here to act as any kind of salesman, I get no benefit at all. You might think they suck!
Still, it’s worth a demo if you are in the market for a pair of speakers. Paul has been a pleasure to deal with through the whole process.
