RBH Sound MC-6CT Floorstanding Speaker First Look

A

admin

Audioholics Robot
Staff member
The MC-6CT are the flagship of the MC line and have won numerous awards over the years. With additional bass, a steader speaker, upgraded front baffle, identical pricing, and a better all around aesthetic, the only thing you're missing from the original MC-6CTs is a Cherry veneer. Seems like a fair trade off to us.


Discuss "RBH Sound MC-6CT Floorstanding Speaker First Look" here. Read the article.
 
ozmedia

ozmedia

Audioholic
Awesome product!!!

I have always loved teh MC-6CT as it really delivers the punch and detail you expect from RBH products. In fact, wih the MC series being so close (but stil different) to the Signatures, I am surprised that they sell for so little.

looking forward to your full listening tests.
 
J

jdmccall

Audiophyte
Thanks for the report on the new RBH MC-6CT. It has got to be one of the best looking loudspeakers I've seen in a long time. And the price looks more than fair. I've taken a chance and ordered a pair for my main two-channel rig. They are scheduled to arrive at the dealer (Audio Input -- Joplin, MO) on Friday, September 25th. I'll follow up with an impression later.
 
Matt34

Matt34

Moderator
I'd be interested in a shoot-out review between these, the Revel F12 and the Aperion 6T.
 
ozmedia

ozmedia

Audioholic
Cheery veneer?

the only thing you're missing from the original MC-6CTs is a Cherry veneer. Seems like a fair trade off to us.
No great loss really, they haven't had cherry veneer in years, the last few years of MC-6CT's were only available in black. I still have a few of the old cherry edition brochures kicking around (AVInteriors review from 2001), totally different look altogether! Personally I think they look better in black anyway. I especially like the new look with the full RDAB front baffle instead of the half cap for the upper drivers only.
 
ozmedia

ozmedia

Audioholic
Thanks for the report on the new RBH MC-6CT. It has got to be one of the best looking loudspeakers I've seen in a long time. And the price looks more than fair. I've taken a chance and ordered a pair for my main two-channel rig. They are scheduled to arrive at the dealer (Audio Input -- Joplin, MO) on Friday, September 25th. I'll follow up with an impression later.
Awesome! You will fall in love with them instantly, great build, incredible detail and big soundstage. I fell in love with the first pair i
I heard, dragged them around every audio store in town auditioning them against Mordaunt, Klipsch, Paradigm, Axiom, you name it, and they blew people's minds over and over again by equalling, if not outperforming, the others while still at a much lower price point.

Enjoy and feedback!
 
J

jdmccall

Audiophyte
the fun begins!

Well, I picked them up today and high-tailed it back home as fast as the law would allow. I got them moved from the driveway to my basement family room and began unpacking. These things are really packed well! A thick outer box with foam rubber and styrofoam inside surrounding another thinner-walled box. Once you get that box out and open, you're still not home: there's still a layer of plastic and then a layer of thin sheet foam. Definitely one of the better-packed speakers I've seen.

It's really surprising how such a compact speaker can weigh so much. Fifty-five pounds may not sound like too much for a 40" tall floor-stander, but for one that has a footprint of only about 8"x12"? Pretty solid little pups, I'd say.

The rich, black oak veneer looks real nice...if you like black (which I do). Fit and finish seems to be very good over all. Maybe just a notch below some of the best I've seen. The aluminum drivers look great and the grill is wood instead of plastic -nice, but the audiodork in me would like to have seen the inside front edge of the grill frame beveled or rounded off. Still, the grill looks very nice and would seem to be much more robust than many of the flimsy plastic ones I've seen.

The base plinth attaches very easily, and is finished in a kind of soft sheen black. I thought it would be more of a "piano" black gloss, but it's not. Still, it looks nice and is well made and appears strong enough to steady the speaker and even allow carefull walking of the speaker into place. Soft footers and spikes are also provided. These screw into threaded inserts in the bottom of the base.

And speaking of walking the speakers...I did just that, into my usual speaker locations more or less, with the front center of the speakers ending up about 4' from the back wall and a little over 4' 4" from the sidewalls...which left them about 7' apart and almost 10' from my big, fat head.

Next I hooked'em up with my generic 12ga. stranded copper wire. Now this is where it gets a tad...interesting: I've been using a pair of Velodyne DLS-4000R subs in my two-channel set-up for quite a while, so my current scheme is to feed the subs from my Onkyo amp's speaker output, then drive the loudspeakers from the subs high-level output. Which is all well and good, but that high-level output is high-pass filtered, switchable to 80 or 100 Hz, both with 1st-order slopes. And being in a hurry to hear the RBH's, I didn't want to fitz around too much, so I just set the low-pass to 80Hz, the high pass to 80Hz, and with the foam port plugs left in, I let'em rip...

Wow. These speakers sounded good right off the bat! Very surprising. My previous speakers, Energy RC-50's (which also have aluminum tweeters) sounded real edgy when new, but soon improved to one of the best-sounding speakers I've owned. I expected these RBH's to be similarly in need of a good break-in period. Not that there's no room for improvement, mind you, but still, very impressive. Immediate impression was the presence. Not a forward sound, but certainly not laid back, either. Just a very lively, in-the-room quality that serves much "popular" music very well. Classical and jazz or bluegrass? We'll see in time, but right now, my time is limited...gotta watch Mizzou play Nevada. I turned the tuner on to a classic rock station and et the volume low and just let them simmer while...

...Mizzou notches another W!:)

It's now post-game and I'm too pooped to listen to music.

More later!
 
gene

gene

Audioholics Master Chief
Administrator
I recommend running these speakers full range and using a split line level subwoofer out to run your subs. If the bass is too intense either use EQ on the sub channels or try running the speakers small using your receivers bass management.

Also just try running the RBHs full range with no sub just to get a level set on their true performance.

Good luck.
 
J

jdmccall

Audiophyte
I recommend running these speakers full range and using a split line level subwoofer out to run your subs. If the bass is too intense either use EQ on the sub channels or try running the speakers small using your receivers bass management.

Also just try running the RBHs full range with no sub just to get a level set on their true performance.

Good luck.
Yes, I agree. That would probably be the best for sound quality, but I do kinda like the idea of keeping extreme deep bass limited to those "little" 6.5" drivers. And the slope is only 6dB/octave, but I'll try them every which way. Problem is, when they sound as good right off the bat as these do, all I wanna do is listen to the music! No time for playing audio-weenie!!

After leaving them on all night, they seem to be mellowing out a wee bit already...or it could be my imagination.

One thing that strikes me about them already, even though it's much too soon to make grand pronouncements, is the detail these bring out without sounding analytical...they just sound like they will measure flat to me. No smile, no frown, no upward tilt or downward slope. Of course, when I actually get around to doing some measurements, that may not be the case.

Sensitivity is a little low, so they may not be the hot ticket for headbangers with big rooms to bang their heads in...but I think they'll suffice for me. I do like to approach "life-like" levels now and then, but not too loud for too long; gotta preserve what's left of my hearing ability.

Another thing: imaging, with the speakers pointing directly at the sweet spot is very tight...maybe a little too tight. I will probably try angling them back out a bit. Depth is good but not def...as in Definitive Technology def.

They are not laid back, and not forward. To my ears, they sound neutral in that regard, which I consider a very good thing, especially if you like many different kinds of music and don't want your speakers to be one dimensional by favoring one style over another. Shouldn't all high fidelity products be neutral? Otherwise, are they really high fidelity? Hm...

More later.
 
gene

gene

Audioholics Master Chief
Administrator
Yes, I agree. That would probably be the best for sound quality, but I do kinda like the idea of keeping extreme deep bass limited to those "little" 6.5" drivers. And the slope is only 6dB/octave, but I'll try them every which way. Problem is, when they sound as good right off the bat as these do, all I wanna do is listen to the music! No time for playing audio-weenie!!

After leaving them on all night, they seem to be mellowing out a wee bit already...or it could be my imagination.

One thing that strikes me about them already, even though it's much too soon to make grand pronouncements, is the detail these bring out without sounding analytical...they just sound like they will measure flat to me. No smile, no frown, no upward tilt or downward slope. Of course, when I actually get around to doing some measurements, that may not be the case.

Sensitivity is a little low, so they may not be the hot ticket for headbangers with big rooms to bang their heads in...but I think they'll suffice for me. I do like to approach "life-like" levels now and then, but not too loud for too long; gotta preserve what's left of my hearing ability.

Another thing: imaging, with the speakers pointing directly at the sweet spot is very tight...maybe a little too tight. I will probably try angling them back out a bit. Depth is good but not def...as in Definitive Technology def.

They are not laid back, and not forward. To my ears, they sound neutral in that regard, which I consider a very good thing, especially if you like many different kinds of music and don't want your speakers to be one dimensional by favoring one style over another. Shouldn't all high fidelity products be neutral? Otherwise, are they really high fidelity? Hm...

More later.
Yes the MC line measures very linear. When I measured a pair of MC6 bookshelfs in my room at 1 meter, they measured like they were in an anechoic chamber, very scary!

Don't be afraid to run those towers full range, they have a natural rolloff that prevent's them from bottoming out. I couldn't get the MC6 bookshelfs to bottom regardless how loudly I played them full range.
 
F

fredk

Audioholic General
After leaving them on all night, they seem to be mellowing out a wee bit already...or it could be my imagination.
Nope, its your brain. Music on a good system has that effect on people. :D
 
J

jdmccall

Audiophyte
I've done a fair amount of listening to the new rbh's, but to be honest, I'm just enjoying them too much to do the "tweak, measure & tweak tango". I put on some Nelly last night -whoa, these things will flat get it on! 'Course, the two Velo DLS4000R subs help. ("Yeah, I know; I'm supposed to be reporting on the speakers, not the system, but I can't help it!) I did try them full-range and while they did fine on their own, the subs just really free them up to shine! They sound cleaner and more dynamic with the subs handling the deep stuff. Right now, I'm using the 80Hz/1st order high-pass filter to the speakers, while the subs are set to roll off above 60Hz. I could probably get by just fine with the subs rolling out at 50Hz for that matter.

A little aside: At the outfit from which I purchased these, Audio Input, of Joplin MO, they sell Paradigm and Klipsch and RBH. ALL the guys working there own RBH. Make of it what you will. :cool:
 
gene

gene

Audioholics Master Chief
Administrator
They sound cleaner and more dynamic with the subs handling the deep stuff. Right now, I'm using the 80Hz/1st order high-pass filter to the speakers, while the subs are set to roll off above 60Hz. I could probably get by just fine with the subs rolling out at 50Hz for that matter.
If you are only running 2CH that is fine but be careful if you're running 5.1 as if you set the Xover for the sub too low, you will truncate LFE info.
 
J

jdmccall

Audiophyte
2-channel here, thank you very much!

I still intend to write a more detailed impression, but I'm having trouble getting time to even listen, so when I do, I just want to enjoy...and enjoy I do.

I'm really lovin' these things so far! They have a way of making even average recordings sound really, really good. I don't know how they do it; I don't know what factors are coming into play here, but I like it! Yet they don't seem to limit resolution on better recordings either...well, maybe a little compared to say, the B&W 703's I had for a year. But I consider that a great trade-off that I would gladly take every time because so much great pop music is of rather shabby recording quality. But make no mistake, I don't feel cheated of detail! I feel I'm hearing things I haven't heard before, or at least, that I haven't heard for a long time. I tend to think it's due to that aluminum mid/bass driver, but I'm not sure.

Another observation: These speakers are rated only 87dB sensitivity, but they "play" loud, if you know what I mean. This, I definitely attribute to what sounds to my ears like a flat in-room response. I had a pair of Mo-Fi OML-2's that although they sounded wonderful, they just couldn't rock! They were so laid back in the mids that no matter how much I cranked them up, they just never would sound loud enough. And I was driving them with an Adcom GFA5500! I have merely a little (conservatively rated) 85W Onkyo integrated pushing the RBH speakers.

Also, these speakers sound really nice at low volumes. That may sound like faint praise, but I do a lot of late-night listening at low levels, so as not to disturb the lady of the house and the three upstarts. And one of my biggest gripes with the klipsch la scala II's I had for 9 months was that they did not sound too good at these low levels. Coulda been an amp thing, though. Whatever the case, these hold together well.

And yes, they get loud well, too. Although to be honest, I really haven't pushed them too hard, yet. But so far, so good, they have remained clean and "at ease" at the loudest levels I have attained -probably in the 90-95 dB range. Again, I credit those aluminum drivers, although that's just a hunch.

Let me put it like this: Since ending my six-year relationship with a beautiful pair of oak klipschorns in '03, I'm now on my seventh pairs of speakers in my main two-channel system (B&W 703; a/d/s/ HT400; MoFi OML2; Klipsch La Scala II; Polk LSi9; Energy RC50 and now the RBH MC6CT)...and yes, I do feel like such an audio slut...I really should seek help. -hahaha ...but I digress...
...the point is, this little $1369 (msrp) pair of speakers can run with the big dogs! No, they don't have the clarity and slam of the big klipsch full-range horns, and no, they aren't as refined as the B&W's, or as lush as the Mo-Fi's, but DAY-UM!! ...these things just flat sound great!!! I think the biggest compliment I can pay them is just the simple fact that I am listening ALL THE TIME, to the limit my schedule will allow, at least. I hate turning the system off. I listen for hours on end with no listener fatigue. I just sit there in front of them and grin like the village idiot, wondering how they can sound this good...especially for for the money I paid.

I know auditory memory is notoriously bad (maybe a good thing?), but I'm having a hard time imagining anything I've heard, even at multiples of their price, knocking these "little" RBH floor-standers out of my family room any time soon!
 
ozmedia

ozmedia

Audioholic
I tend to think it's due to that aluminum mid/bass driver, but I'm not sure.

Another observation: These speakers are rated only 87dB sensitivity...
I'm big on 2-channel too! I actually don't like 5.1/7.1 at all, except for in the highest quality, large home theatre rooms where you can really pound out high SPLs.

I just added a pair of the new model to my soundroom too, in place of the older MC-6CTs. You are right in that aluminum offers the detail but it also offers incredible power handling. RBH has pretty ,much perfected using their proprietary aluminum cones. A steep curve allows them to roll of the upper lows so they cross over before the cone begins to ring, the result is an almost seamless FR, no holes as found in many others.

These speakers will almost never bottom out on you, as many others at far higher process will do. As for headbangers, these speakers kick butt, I throw everything through them from Bach to Black Label Society, and Johann rocks them as much as Zakk Wylde does.

Don't be mislead by the sensitivity rating, ALL RBH speakers like power, and can take everything you throw at them without bottoming out, but they are still really nice and very full at low levels too, anyone can drive a set without the need for monoblocks.

RBH specs are extremely misleading and I often wish they would play everyone else's game and start offering their FR based on some ridiculous curve that shows them all as 20-20 because so many people actually judge speakers based on such silly, advertised, specifications.

NOTE: The new plinths are MUCH better than the ones used for the TK's!!

Enjoy!
 
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