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RS Audio
Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2006 6:14 am
by OnYrMrk
Anyone ever heard these speakers? They look extremely well built, they have a pleasing look to them, and they are handmade. The crossovers look almost like art. I have never heard of these, yet someone on a UK forum mentioned them, and I thought I would take a look. They are a Berlin, Germany based company and seem to really make a sweet product. Just from their asking price, I would place their precision series components right up there with the Genesis Absolute, Rainbow Reference, Focal No7 Be, Alpine F#1 Status components. These are absolutely state-of-the-art! Check them out and give me your honest answers on build quality, materials and such. I am seriously considering pitching these to a couple of stores I know of to possibly carry them.
Joe
www.rs-audio.com
Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2006 7:32 am
by OnYrMrk
anyone?
Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2006 7:48 am
by Bwcad1
There Stuff Looks Pretty Sweet But We All Know Looks Can Be Decieving (sp?). Have You Heard These Yet?
Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2006 7:52 am
by kevinberry1
Where can you find prices for these?
Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2006 8:09 am
by OnYrMrk
there is only one retailer I know of so far, and he is an Ebay retailer.
the Precision Components are about $4,000/pr
the Pro components are about $1200/pr
the lowest line is about $250/pr.
I dont know anything about their subs.
Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2006 8:13 am
by kevinberry1
OnYrMrk wrote:there is only one retailer I know of so far, and he is an Ebay retailer.
the Precision Components are about $4,000/pr
the Pro components are about $1200/pr
the lowest line is about $250/pr.
I dont know anything about their subs.
$4000/pair?Yikes
For that price the speakers should be able to make you a cappucino or satisfy you in some other way
I just don't understand paying that much for speakers, but if someone has the money I guess more power to 'em.
Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2006 8:32 am
by OnYrMrk
Well I have paid over 2 grand for speakers in my past so I will answer this to the best of my ability.
Someone who buys these types of speakers is not the "average" consumer. It isn't that they are rich, some are, but most (in my experience) are in search of the best sound possible. They may not be SQ competitiors but rather people with discriminating tastes. I am not rich but I do have about 25K tied up in my Home Theater setup. This comes from piecing my equipment over time. The consumer who is willing to buy this type of speaker, is one who desires the best sound from a set of speakers. Most of the markup on these speakers is build quality, type of materials used, most are handbuilt. So for CNC billet baskets, hand-built quality, Pure Carbon fiber cones, and handbuilt crossovers, they might be worth that price. You are darn sure you won't see these speakers in every tom-dick or harry's car. Buying this type of speaker at this price assures some degree of exclusivity that the buyer might be after.
My set were some custom built Protech Horns designed exclusively for my car. Along with that set came some custom 8" midbass drivers with crossovers for both sets of speakers. Total price was just over $2400.
but I was assured that no other car in the world had these speakers, custom matched for my specific vehicle.
When I sold McIntosh, the average customer would say, I can just get thes Premier amps and get the same sound out of them. While this is true, you don't get the exclusivity of owning some of the finest, if not the finest, crafted amplifiers on the market. So to a discerning customer, who had extreme quality in their home, may want the same in there car.
Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2006 10:24 am
by racerraul
OnYrMrk wrote:The consumer who is willing to buy this type of speaker, is one who desires the best sound from a set of speakers.
The term "The Best" should be clarified as the individual interpretation of each consumer. And not nessesarily as "The Best" as not able to be disputed due to supporting tests, blind surveys, etc...
Most of the markup on these speakers is build quality, type of materials used, most are handbuilt. So for CNC billet baskets, hand-built quality, Pure Carbon fiber cones, and handbuilt crossovers, they might be worth that price.
I would like a run down of the actual costs in materials & tooling, before I am to accept the costs of any high end Mobile Drivers... Until such things are disclosed, I think it obvious that given the cost of available highed raw drivers, everything mobile is grossly over priced & dare I say under engineered when compared to like priced products in the RAW market...
You are darn sure you won't see these speakers in every tom-dick or harry's car. Buying this type of speaker at this price assures some degree of exclusivity that the buyer might be after.
I stopped worrying about exclusitivity when it didn't directly correlated to what I perceived as good sound... I think most should practice the same... after all the sound is what matters most & not weather my neighbor has it or afford it...
My set were some custom built Protech Horns designed exclusively for my car. Along with that set came some custom 8" midbass drivers with crossovers for both sets of speakers. Total price was just over $2400.
but I was assured that no other car in the world had these speakers, custom matched for my specific vehicle.
When I sold McIntosh, the average customer would say, I can just get thes Premier amps and get the same sound out of them. While this is true, you don't get the exclusivity of owning some of the finest, if not the finest, crafted amplifiers on the market. So to a discerning customer, who had extreme quality in their home, may want the same in there car.
There is a very wide range of products available in the RAW market, allowing for quite a wide range of combinations resulting in unique sonic characteristics depending on the combinations used... How is that for exclusitivity? At a more reasonable price & arguably better engineering...
Clearly a high price tag does equate to good sound. This has been argued here before. And I understand that in general higher priced mobile drivers are associated with better performance & compared to other mobile drivers they are, for the most part.
But gents... when you are considering a $1k, $2k or even $4k set of mobile components, you owe it to yourself to know what you are buying.
I have personally owned Brax components when I sold them in the past... And I can tell you, the exclusitivity of me owning that set did not satisfy my needs. And the dealer cost of that set exceeded the cost of my current 3 way setup by double the amount...
Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2006 11:21 am
by OnYrMrk
Raul, although I appreciate your comments, the bottom line on the worth of a set of speakers is what a consumer is willing to pay for them. I don't claim to be an authority on the build quality of speakers, or the whether they are the best in the land, all I can come up with is personal experience.
Your needs are going to be different to everyone else's needs. Does that make your needs better or more important. Only to you.
I sold McIntosh car audio for 3 years. Out of those three years, I would say I sold probably 4x as much Kicker, 2x as much Pioneer Premier and Canton than the McIntosh. But when a buyer comes in to buy the "Elite" of car audio, Kicker and Premier just won't suffice. And through those McIntosh consumers, I managed to sell over $200,000 worth in 3 years.
My clients included a doctor, a lawyer, a kid who just got an inheritance, a college student, a traveling business man and alot in between them, middle class and upper middle...It appeals to everyone.
To most, the best equipment we offered was the ONLY thing they wanted to look at. To the others, the reputation of the product was what they were after.
The only thing that truly makes a speaker worth the price of admission, is the reputation, warranty, and the desire the customer has for that product.
Examples of High End Components and Raw components:
Focal: Reputation alone could keep this company afloat. The fact that their line sounds good, is just a plus.
Seas Lotus: Reputation in the car audio forums is huge, they sound fantastic but not sure on the warranty
Morel: Reputation, Sound in car audio is huge
Dayton: Raw drivers used in home and mobile environments. People don't know of this outside the car/home market. Average consumer has no idea.
Vifa: Home Raw drivers, can be used in the mobile market. Low price, great sound.
Brax: Excellent reputation, excellent sound, excellent build quality...but low saturation in the field.
ScanSpeak: Argueably the best speaker maker out there. Incredible reputation in Home/Mobile markets, low saturation due to lack of dealers
there are more but you get the idea. I have never heard of the RS Audio brand before today, but evidently they have quite the following in the Euro market. ScanSpeak has a small but dedicated following here in the states and abroad, Morel as well, Seas Lotus too. I believe that the F#1 Status even uses the ScanSpeak tweeter and it cost $5000 for the set.
what am I getting at, I can only offer what my experience has produced. I see many installers on these forums who have no idea what is said in the front room during a sale. And others have both sales and install experience, like you seem to Raul.
I don't care about the particulars about what makes the speaker a speaker, I care about the sound that is produced by them. It has been noted by myself that I will not buy any speaker based on it's reputation, I will instead listen to it first and make my decision based on overall satisfaction from the music.
Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2006 11:51 am
by racerraul
Joe... I can't argue with your statements. Indeed the consumer will spend what they want to spend on what they think is best for their money. And while I was in business I was wise to not let my opinions or knowledge get in the way of a potential sale for Brax (my top brand at the time).
I frequent the forums because I thirst for more knowledge & want to be kept up to date with the new. I think most of us do, in addition to the comradery of the hobby. So, I always like to point out on the forums "the value", since I assume that most are here looking for more for their hard earned buck.
So in this manner I picked your post appart to provide a different point of view & not to discredit anything you said. It certainly was not an attack towards you... just a different perpective on our hobby...
I think in the forums there is definitely room to expose the details of value vs performance. In the very least for those that are more concerned with sound vs what's the most expensive piece of gear they can afford.
Afterall, I think you would agree their is a diff between High End price tags & High End performance...
And I will admit that I am particularly disgusted with the hefty premium that seems to be associated with tagging a product as mobile.