It’s almost a Saturday Speaker Shootout, except it’s Friday! I miss those earlier videos! I always appreciate your comparison videos-keep up the great content!
I knew you had it wrong with the miccas rb42. I have them and they are such an awesome value. I also have the Sonys ss cs5 and your descriptions are always pretty spot on, so i knew you had made a boo-boo. They sounded amazingly good with my Sansui G5700 receiver and now currently connected to my PS Audio Sprout 100 class D desk amp and those rb42 sound just as awesome. The sprout amp has a bass boost and when hit, the bass on the miccas rb42 defies logic for a 4 inch woofer.
I've had these RB42s for the past two years and they are fantastic little speakers. The amount of sound they put out relative to their size is almost comical. I liked them so much I bought a second pair to use as surrounds in my HT system. Yes, they require a little bit more power to sound their best, but any of the new budget class D amps (Ayima, Fosi, SMSL, etc) can provide enough juice to get them running nicely. Great looks and build quality as well - especially for the price.
Still in love with my Sony SSCS5's with my Emotiva PT-1 + A2, SE-8 sub, WiiM Pro and SU-1 DAC. This system is all I need to be happy. And I rotate my Wharfedale D320 bookshelves to switch things up. Found all these gems through this channel! Love these speaker shootouts!!!!!! Thank you, Randy!!!!
I've heard your previous comments about RB42's and it's one of the only speakers I've disagreed with you about. I bought a pair a few years ago and I was actually amazed how good they were in general, but especially for such a small inexpensive speaker. They aren't kicking my KEF LS50s off the stand anytime soon, but I have swapped them out a bunch of times just to listen to them. I'd recommend them as an entry speaker to anyone looking to get into real stereo cheap.
I've had these on my desk for years now and love them. Sountstage and imaging are fantastic on these. Outstanding in the near and mid field. They worked fine in my living room but I did find their limits, like you did. They do behave differently with different amps. Class D works well because of the control over the bottom end. If you go class AB you need something that has a lot of oomph. I prefer these over the SSCS5's because of the enclosure construction. The Sony's are fun and sound nice but one thing you can hear is its enclosure resonating with the music. I may dampen them someday but for now they're still enjoyable.
Well ... I know It's a hard for a man to admit that he could be wrong, especially in this age of so called progress. It's starting to become rare, but In doing so, my belief in your honesty and integrity has earned you my subscription ... Your sense of humor helps too. Keep up these very interesting and informative vids.
I've used both the Micca RBs and the MBX2s and the MBs are great in the near field but the the RBs excel as a surround set of speakers with a sub to supplement the already great bass. Thanks for revisiting these Randy cuz I did like them previously and think others will really like them in the right use scenario.
The Sony SSCS5’s have been $200 for a while now. I went with the Neumi BS5 running about half the cost ($109), which is an excellent product for the price.
I am still all over the place trying to decide. Thinking of getting these for the pc, and then at some point, figuring out something more serious for everything else. Have a very small budget and have to pick my battles. I will have to say, though, I love your videos so much, that even when I figure it out, I will still have to watch them❣
This is the first time I got a good idea of your living room and I think it's very helpful to know what space you're trying to fill. I also have an open concept in the same part of my house, but it is only one story and it's a smaller space. Now I have to go back to some of your reviews to see if you give an idea of how it fills that room. If it can work in your living room then it will definitely work in mine.
Those little guys rock so hard! Have had them in a bedroom setup for some time now and just "upgraded" them to a pair of rb42 centers and wow. Absolutely same sound signature but with that second driver in each they're less sensitive, fuller, and wider soundstage. When running them horizontal you do sacrifice a bit of imaging as well as very little wiggle room as far as towing them out but I actually prefer them that way. They look pretty cool on some custom stands I made a while back too 😊
I have to agree, had a larger speaker Fluance SX6 in a 2.1 config in the Livingroom, we got a bigger TV wife wanted a smaller speaker in there, I reluctantly swapped in my RB42 and we were both blown away. Sounds much better in Livingroom than on my desk.
So glad you came back to try them in a different environment! I remember disagreeing with your original comparison with the sony and now I feel like you are spot on to what ive expereience with them! Tip of the hat for you to come back and admit it. And the video was also very entertaining as a bonus. Thanks Randy.
I like the look of a speaker with the tweeter on the bottom. It reminds me of my little Mission speakers. It was the first time that i experienced what a imaging and depth was. It got me into hifi at the age of 25 or so.
Bought a pair and got them yesterday to maybe replace my 20 yr old Fluance AVHTB 5:1 set I paid $199 for, placed them on top of my Tower's and used the foam pads, first startup using my same age Yamaha 100 watt receiver was FM radio, was very poor sounding, FM Radio today sound's terrible being spoiled by the great sounding HD audio, so I turned the TV on and went to You tube and did some bass tests, they starting clipping early and there nowhere close to sounding as good as my Fluance towers with 6.5 woofers, this weekend I will do more testing including outside for use on my outdoor theater
So relieved Randy changed his view on this speaker that punches way above it's weight. I love these as well as my Sony's but I never got the feeling that he appreciated the 42's. Now, I can say I agree with Randy 100% of the time (usually, haha).
When you did your initial review, I was prepping to outfit my office in my RV. So size and weight were a critical consideration. Even though you said it wasn't for you, all of your very well articulated reasons literally ticked all of my boxes. I have been loving them since the first minute. I initially had them on the desk on the included foam pad. It was great. But I recently install some small shelves at head hight for these. The sound stage is scary good. I can no longer tell directly where the sound is coming from. It envelops me as I sit at my desk. This is my signal chain... Windows 11 PC -> Focusrite Scarlett 4x4 -> Mackie 402vlz4 -> Fosi TB10D -> RB 42s. I tweak the eq on the Mackie. I am super happy with my setup.
Lovely smile you have, Sir. Thank you for brightening my Friday with this review. A nice economical speaker, presumably for nearfield application, although you do have them in your lounge. Your time and efforts are always much appreciated. Have a great weekend. Take care.
I've owned a pair of Micca RB42, matching center speaker, and pair of Micca COVO-S coaxials for surround duty in 5.0 system for about 2 years. They're powered by a entry-level Denon S series AVR and DIY HTPC as the source. This combination is perfect for HT and gaming in my small condo where I can't crank the sound level. There's enough bass in the RB42s to sound like I have a sub, yet I don't get warning letters from my neighbors or condo mgmt. I have a separate 5.2 lightweight audio only surround rig based on the small yet mighty Schiit Syn surround pre-amp you tuned me on to Randy (thanks)! In short, very good sound for me at least in a very compact space.
@cheapaudioman, picking up a pair using your link, I have the SSCS5s and the Elac Uni-Fi UB5s from your earlier reviews. Excellent vid! Funny, no mention of the Neumi BS5, which are reputed to be very similar to the Elacs. Love the speaker shootout! 🙃
The problem with any speakers with lower to mid spl is that you will need high current amp to make them come to live period. And make sure they are listed in RMS not peak power.
Hee hee, Randy, it was what your reported in your lukewarm first review of the Micca RB42's that told me they were the speakers for my dining room + kitchen stereo system (about 400 square feet combined). An ancient 1977 Kenwood KA-3500 (40 watts RMS per channel into 8 ohms) drives them just fine. Flat tone controls. I stuffed a sock in each port to tame that high bass bulge in the frequency response. We listen to classical almost 100% of the time.
Was thinking when I saw the curtain moving like that. Stuff the port with some Poly Fill . Then get a sub and limit the bottom end on these at a fairly low frequency. How is the sound stage with these ...I would be hoping that it is very good or even excellent. Any way every speaker in my system has the ports stuffed including my small sub. I think that small loss in bass perception is well made up in clarity in the entire bottom end😊.
@@stevengagnon4777 Stuffing does help. In my case, the Miccas were close enough to the wall (maybe 12 inches, and nowhere else to put them) that they audibly "chuffed" on passages with bass. They're about six feet apart and fire in the long direction, the length of the dining room and into the kitchen. The sound stage is outstanding in the dining room; not quite as good in the kitchen.
I have these for my desktop for near field. I had issues with the rear port bass bouncing off the back wall and muddying the sound. I couldn’t bring them more forward because of limited desktop space and my desk is mounted to the wall. I saw a RU-vid video suggesting to push the rear port closer to the wall and it worked. I also added acoustic treatment to the wall, and brought the tweeter to ear level with Kanto SP9 stands. Also rather than bringing up the trebles I brought down the bass.
In my living room, I have a pair of old pair of Boston Acoustics CR6 bookshelf speakers coupled with a cheapa** Yamaha sub, powered by a trash picked Yamaha receiver. The speakers, sitting on my fireplace mantle are white as are my walls so you don’t see them; the sub is hidden behind a smallish flat screen. In this setup w/ the sub correctly dialed in, the Boston’s sounded pretty good but no matter what, the highs seemed muted; they sounded dull. Why? Because they have rear firing ports. They were only about 6 inches from the wall and that reflected bass was “stealing” some of the quality of the upper frequencies. Solution? A little air conditioner foam weather seal rolled up and stuffed in the ports! Tamed that reflected bass perfectly and now the overall balance is spot on. Also, the imaging is terrific. Cheap setup sound great!
re: The billowing curtains - That's why I miss my front ported Energy C-3 bookshelf speakers. To feel that puff of air on your skin from 10 feet across the room provided almost as much visceral impact as a subwoofer.
I had the RB42's and hated them... sounded like a constrained box-- a little constrained box. So I bought 13 small bookshelves off Amazon to take advantage of their generous return policy. The RB42's came in middle of the pack but, the Kanto passive 6's where great and clearly better than the rest. Just my opinion of course. They were also the only speakers cheaper in Canada than the U.S... under $140. CND
they blow peoples minds that hear these when i tell them, uh...my sub isn't on. they freak out. now, they will not go past 80-85 db w/o breaking apart but man, these things are crazy good!! crazy good! if you love this hobby, get a pair. you will love them. they are a ton of fun. edit: i run them with my Emotiva A2 BasX amp, they need plenty of clean power to demo them the right way.
I have these, and I lean more toward your first review. You mentioned my two issues: 1) there are too rolled off on the top end. I found myself having to bump the treble two or more notches to put the sparkle in them. 2) The woofers bottom out too easily, they just can't produce lots of volume unless you use a sub and cross it pretty high to tame the woofer down. I still like them, they worked very nicely in my bedroom, but I just couldn't make them work in a larger room. Frankly, I like their "little brother" the OoOs better. They will produce more volume and have just a touch more on the top end. If you haven't reviewed them, you might want to.
i mean putting mics up near speakers will just demonstrate what the room sounds like. it’s not going to help anyone tell how something sounds. i’m sure his room sounds like trash too either way
I like the RB42, but honestly I can see where your first impression comes from. As much as I like them, I do feel they need the "for the price" or "for the size" affixes for most things when talking about them. Like, you called them "a little bit warm", to me it sounds borderline muddy and boomy. When using them for movies/youtube etc, ive had instances where I had to pull 80-100hz down by 7 dB just to make female voices not sound like male voices. Which then ofc destroys their music performance and have to be consantly changed. I havent gotten around to it yet, but I really do think these need a subwoofer. I bought mine to keep as desk speakers, like alot of people did. Im generally happy with them, but if you buy cheap speakers like this (from scratch) to put on a desk, and you need a dac, amp, cables and possibly a subwoofer + possibly a filter unit to handle crossover, just to make them sound decent... Then I cant help thinking why not just buy something like a Logitech Z-906 set of PC speakers for half the total cost of getting the miccas up and running properly? Sure prepackaged PC speakers arent very impressive, but they come with everything they need right out of the box, satellites are much easier to place on a desk with monitors etc on it, and while I think the miccas are much nicer for music, I think a 5.1 PC speaker system is waaay better for videos and games, which are very typical activities at a PC desk. Dont get me wrong, im still happy with mine, but after getting them for myself I do think they are a bit over hyped. If I didnt have all my headphones at this desk that compensates for any and all shortcomings of the RB42s, I dont think I would be as happy with them.
It’s the new standard! First we had the Imperial System, then we had the Metric System-and now we have the Paw Patrol System. My B&W 606 S2s (Yes! The worst speakers B&W ever made. I own a pair. They’re not that bad, but not as good as the Klipsch RP-600 Ms in the bedroom.) are about 2.75 PPs high. I myself am 14.5 PPs tall. I used to be 14.7 PPs high but I have shrunk with time.
I wish youtubers including you would stop hyping the Wiim amp. For less you have a nice Yamaha receiver with many features and better and more powerful sound.
I think any speaker would sound warm in your living room Randy.Your room reminds me of my son's living room with blankets, stuffed animals and pillows. How did my grand children get so many stuffed animals? LOL
Hey Randy, if you had to pick speakers for four height channels in a surround system, would you pick the Micca RB42, Elac BS41, Jamo S803, or Jamo S801 ??
HI Randy, could it be that the previous time you tested the RB42s you were using bad or suboptimal electronics for this speaker? Did you try the same setup as before? The thing is electronics can sometimes make all the difference in sound quality.
I had them for a while. Sounded fine for an entry level small bookshelf as an upgrade for desktop computer systems but they have too much midbass. If you absolutely need to have something decent in a small space, they're not a bad choice at all.
I just wanted to suggest to check out the Tangband fullrange drivers made out of white bamboo paper, you must make a kabinet (wel damped) but the sound supurb. With a dsp digital roomcorrection they are a must to hear because of the lack of filter parts. They must break in for some weeks but after that...
I would go with some Klipsch bookshelf speakers. But I like sensitive speakers and 83db is just too low. I bought a pair of Klipsch R-51M and run them off a Cary Audio CAD-300SEI integrated amp. When you are only pushing 15 watts sensitivity can be a concern. They also can be found on Amazon for $150 often.
02:10 - Wellllllllllll.... You COULD use non copyright tracks like 'Dankpods' tests - 'Track Tribe - Walk Through The Park', or 'Otis McDonald - Scarlet Fire'' 😉 😎🇬🇧
@@brucestanley9656 the Sony sscs5 speakers are good. You can buy a preamp which will connect to your amplifier. This can add a lot of gain to the signal making it louder
If the biggest 'pro' for these speakers is their bass output for such a small size, why bother hi-passing and adding a sub? Are there not just better speakers to choose at that point? These are best for a small 2.0 bedroom/living room imo.
I'm finding same with these.. desktop listening levels don't quite wake them up. might have to put them as a B speaker set in the garage and blast em' more. Pick something else for the desktop I think.
You should Try to demo both Michael Jackson's Morphine (96) song as well as Dirty Diana as they are both rock songs with great bass. Morphine is quite biographical and dirty Diana as well, a rock version of Billie, Jean about groupie love but the cool thing about that is that dirty Diana's intro bass was an invented bass by MJ and his B team for the BAD album. I promise you won't be disappointed
I just got some Klipsch R-41M for $169. Nice AMERICAN company that is still in operation. I put these on my 30+ year old Techniques system and WOW. My old speakers are REALLY tired. These little guys put out nearly the same amount of sound as the three way towers with nine inch woofers. Not the low end so much, but some new Klipsch towers will fix that.
Total newb here. If I use these as front R/L paired with the Klipsch 5.1 reference theater set for 5.1.2, will they be wildly out of balance? Or can I adjust settings to that they won't overpower the cheaper speakers? Probably will be using the Pioneer VSX-LX305 ($630 on sale - insta-buy at that price after watching your glowing review) to power the set.
What up Cheap! I absolutely love my Sony SSCS 5 speakers I purchased on your recommendation. They are my only speakers right now, but they are fine for my now elderly ears. I do plan on upgrading as soon as I finish my office and the Sonys will then be in there. Good reason to keep up with whats going on!
Have had RB-42's for a long time. Amazing speaker for the price. Only downside is they are power hungry. Beyond that they sound great and I am not easily impressed.
