Edward
29-06-2024, 16:23
Paul at RFC (https://www.referencefidelitycomponents.co.uk/) advised me over a year ago that he was planning on designing and selling a dual concentric stand mount speaker. Knowing and experiencing Paul's expertise on Tannoy products my interest was piqued as I reckoned that he will go the extra mile in producing something special. And he has!
Normally I would not purchase something unseen or unheard (unless buying second hand) but in this instance I did and very glad that I did as the Rubato (https://www.referencefidelitycomponents.co.uk/loudspeakers/rfc-rubato-loudspeakers/) speaker is something very special.
So several weeks ago I drove down to Paul's place near Bristol to pick up the Rubatos. At my request Paul did some enhancements to his design which involved several areas of improvement such as upgraded wiring, capacitors, inductors and resistors.
The Rubatos are available in various wood veneers - I chose crown cut oak. This is a special way of creating the veneer so as to give a very pleasing visual grain structure. It is often used in high end furniture pieces. Suffice it to say that the implementation for the RFCs Rubatos is flawless.
Before and after lunch which Paul and his wife very kindly provided we listened to a range of music such as Eddy Louiss (Sang mêlé - a copy of the vinyl I have since bought), Copland, Floyd, Eva Cassidy, James Blake etc. This was with CD and vinyl sources. I was speechless. Whatever was played the immediacy, insightfulness and dynamic response of the speakers were immediately apparent. Any fears that I had made a dreadful mistake buying blind were immediately dispelled.
Here were speakers that allowed one to listen deeply into the mix and conveyed the music in a wholly coherent manner. Obviously the point-source dual concentric drivers greatly help in presenting this coherent picture. But in addition to the insight the speakers demonstrated the bass response went deep and was very taut and fast. For its size I was not expecting this, nice to be pleasantly surprised.
From what Paul told me he has tuned the speakers via a technique called EBS (extended bass shelf) which lowers the bass response. For the Rubatos this has taken the bass response down to 40hz (- 6db). To demonstrate this we played everyone's favourite sub bass track 'Limit to your Love' by Blake. So whilst the Rubatos don't go all the way into sub bass territory it certainly is very representative (can be heard and felt!). We also played the Blake track on Paul's custom Tannoys which is tuned down to about 25hz. That certainly energised the room. :-)
Anyway I've now had the Rubatos at home for several weeks and they continue to impress. Previously my main speakers were Tannoy Berkeleys (part fettled by Paul) which were, to my mind, reference quality speakers - these now sit forlornly in another room with the Rubatos taking pride of place, One thing that became immediately obvious (beyond the qualities mentioned above) is the massive increase in soundstage (both width and height). Additionally the 'sweet spot' increased massively. Previously when someone came round and wanted to have a listen to music I plonked them down in a relatively narrow spot, now I'm confident that someone sitting (or indeed standing) in different parts of the room will still get a very believable image of the music being played. Paul certainly knows how to get the most out of these speakers.
My current setup involves two sources (Roon via a Metrum dac and vinyl via a Thorens/SME/SPU) going via an Advantage Bladilius pre and a Trilogy amp. I've also used the Rubatos with a Neurochrome amp. Without exception the Rubatos have performed brilliantly with whatever genre I've thrown at it. At times I've pumped up the volume (90+db), normally I would expect speakers to start wilting, not so the Rubatos, they simply give and give remaining true to the source, just at a higher volume. Equally so I often listen to a very low volume (~30db area) and again no detail is lost. I'm trying here to find fault with the speakers but really can't. Of course it would be nice to go into sub-bass territory but that is not a fault, simply a reflection that these are standmounts after all. Pumping at 40hz is plenty enough and bass at that area is clean and taut. Equally true for transients, these start on a dime and decay in a very natural way.
At my request Paul did a response curve of my actual speakers. This is as follows;
https://imapnet.com/aos/rubato/rubato_1.JPG
Anything below ~300Hz can be ignored as essentially that is dictated by the room the speakers are in. The test was done at ~90db reference @ 1m on axis. Overall THD comes to ~0.35%
Recently I took the Rubatos to a mate's house to see how they performed there. We plugged it into his set up. Normally his speakers are XTZ Divine's. Preamp is an Accuphase and power amp were Krell mono monsters. Joining us was a mutual friend, both guys have been in this audio malarky for ages so know quality when they hear it. They were astonished what the Rubatos did in the relatively large space. Not only being able to fill the space but with very clean defined sound yet still having that undefinable 'musicality'. My friend was a bit shy turning the wick up for fear of blowing things up seeing what his Krells can do, so I grabbed the remote and did it for him. We all had that knowing smile on our faces. :-)
I understand that several pairs of the Rubatos have been taken by a professional recording studio replacing their mastering monitors.
Some pictures of the Rubatos in situ.
https://imapnet.com/aos/rubato/rubato_2.jpg
https://imapnet.com/aos/rubato/rubato_3.jpg
https://imapnet.com/aos/rubato/rubato_4.jpg
and a picture of the Rubatos being driven by the Krell monos.
https://imapnet.com/aos/rubato/rubato_5.jpg
Bottom line - this speakers are world class worth many times what Paul charges.
Normally I would not purchase something unseen or unheard (unless buying second hand) but in this instance I did and very glad that I did as the Rubato (https://www.referencefidelitycomponents.co.uk/loudspeakers/rfc-rubato-loudspeakers/) speaker is something very special.
So several weeks ago I drove down to Paul's place near Bristol to pick up the Rubatos. At my request Paul did some enhancements to his design which involved several areas of improvement such as upgraded wiring, capacitors, inductors and resistors.
The Rubatos are available in various wood veneers - I chose crown cut oak. This is a special way of creating the veneer so as to give a very pleasing visual grain structure. It is often used in high end furniture pieces. Suffice it to say that the implementation for the RFCs Rubatos is flawless.
Before and after lunch which Paul and his wife very kindly provided we listened to a range of music such as Eddy Louiss (Sang mêlé - a copy of the vinyl I have since bought), Copland, Floyd, Eva Cassidy, James Blake etc. This was with CD and vinyl sources. I was speechless. Whatever was played the immediacy, insightfulness and dynamic response of the speakers were immediately apparent. Any fears that I had made a dreadful mistake buying blind were immediately dispelled.
Here were speakers that allowed one to listen deeply into the mix and conveyed the music in a wholly coherent manner. Obviously the point-source dual concentric drivers greatly help in presenting this coherent picture. But in addition to the insight the speakers demonstrated the bass response went deep and was very taut and fast. For its size I was not expecting this, nice to be pleasantly surprised.
From what Paul told me he has tuned the speakers via a technique called EBS (extended bass shelf) which lowers the bass response. For the Rubatos this has taken the bass response down to 40hz (- 6db). To demonstrate this we played everyone's favourite sub bass track 'Limit to your Love' by Blake. So whilst the Rubatos don't go all the way into sub bass territory it certainly is very representative (can be heard and felt!). We also played the Blake track on Paul's custom Tannoys which is tuned down to about 25hz. That certainly energised the room. :-)
Anyway I've now had the Rubatos at home for several weeks and they continue to impress. Previously my main speakers were Tannoy Berkeleys (part fettled by Paul) which were, to my mind, reference quality speakers - these now sit forlornly in another room with the Rubatos taking pride of place, One thing that became immediately obvious (beyond the qualities mentioned above) is the massive increase in soundstage (both width and height). Additionally the 'sweet spot' increased massively. Previously when someone came round and wanted to have a listen to music I plonked them down in a relatively narrow spot, now I'm confident that someone sitting (or indeed standing) in different parts of the room will still get a very believable image of the music being played. Paul certainly knows how to get the most out of these speakers.
My current setup involves two sources (Roon via a Metrum dac and vinyl via a Thorens/SME/SPU) going via an Advantage Bladilius pre and a Trilogy amp. I've also used the Rubatos with a Neurochrome amp. Without exception the Rubatos have performed brilliantly with whatever genre I've thrown at it. At times I've pumped up the volume (90+db), normally I would expect speakers to start wilting, not so the Rubatos, they simply give and give remaining true to the source, just at a higher volume. Equally so I often listen to a very low volume (~30db area) and again no detail is lost. I'm trying here to find fault with the speakers but really can't. Of course it would be nice to go into sub-bass territory but that is not a fault, simply a reflection that these are standmounts after all. Pumping at 40hz is plenty enough and bass at that area is clean and taut. Equally true for transients, these start on a dime and decay in a very natural way.
At my request Paul did a response curve of my actual speakers. This is as follows;
https://imapnet.com/aos/rubato/rubato_1.JPG
Anything below ~300Hz can be ignored as essentially that is dictated by the room the speakers are in. The test was done at ~90db reference @ 1m on axis. Overall THD comes to ~0.35%
Recently I took the Rubatos to a mate's house to see how they performed there. We plugged it into his set up. Normally his speakers are XTZ Divine's. Preamp is an Accuphase and power amp were Krell mono monsters. Joining us was a mutual friend, both guys have been in this audio malarky for ages so know quality when they hear it. They were astonished what the Rubatos did in the relatively large space. Not only being able to fill the space but with very clean defined sound yet still having that undefinable 'musicality'. My friend was a bit shy turning the wick up for fear of blowing things up seeing what his Krells can do, so I grabbed the remote and did it for him. We all had that knowing smile on our faces. :-)
I understand that several pairs of the Rubatos have been taken by a professional recording studio replacing their mastering monitors.
Some pictures of the Rubatos in situ.
https://imapnet.com/aos/rubato/rubato_2.jpg
https://imapnet.com/aos/rubato/rubato_3.jpg
https://imapnet.com/aos/rubato/rubato_4.jpg
and a picture of the Rubatos being driven by the Krell monos.
https://imapnet.com/aos/rubato/rubato_5.jpg
Bottom line - this speakers are world class worth many times what Paul charges.