Buried in the aluminium base is a user replaceable rechargeable battery, so you can take the rCube anywhere you fancy and enjoy between two and eight hours of mains-free music, depending on volume. Recharging takes about one hour.
A bass boost option exists to suit music where these things matter most
Inside the cabinet are three amplifiers driving four speakers, two set into each side of the cabinet. That's a combination rated at 90W RMS – 35W from each mid-range driver and 10W from each tweeter – and is enough to fill even a large room with sound.
The rCube’s output has not been achieved at the expense of quality. No matter what I played on it – and I listened to everything from Nine Inch Nails to Carole King, and Tangerine Dream to Tannhauser – the reproduction was always a bright, clear, focused, taught, powerful and superbly detailed sound, that never failed to impress.
The eagle-eyed amongst you may have noticed the Bass button around the back. These boosters sometimes make everything sound just a little phony and muddy, but not in this case. Press it and the already impressive amount of bass acquires just that extra bit a depth and power, without getting woolly. Yes it's invasive electronic voodoo, but it’s voodoo that works and pays dividends when listening to bass-heavy musical genres.
COMMENTS
Tea plantation workers have a great amplifier
I visited a tea plantation last year and out in the fields you could hear the feint tones of the local music.
On closer investigation, many leaf pickers had their own personal, non-fruit, music reproducers. Not being loud enough to be heard un-aided, they placed their devices in buckets which made the music loud enough for them to enjoy.
Very 'Green', too, no power needed.
Aye
Indeed - I have made a few 'speakers myself in my time and they're all MDF. I read an interesting article recently by a pro designer who does his own DIY projects and made his own MDF/chipboard sandwich material to get the low density/high absorption benefits of chipboard plus the high density/low-resonance benefits of MDF - IIRC it was 12mm chip + 18mm MDF - going to give it a try one of these days.
Another thing too... there's every likelihood that, at the rCube's dimensions, 12mm is just fine. Wouldn't be my choice, but then I have to make allowances for the fact that I don't have even a fraction of the skill undoubtedly possessed by Arcam's designers!
Airplay anyone
guess it might have to late to include Airplay in their design, let's hope it get's in on the next version.
MDF
Hi Blackworx
I think that MDF Construction rather than molded plastic is the aping of traditional high end speakers rather than the thickness. MDF is usually the best material for speaker cabinets without going super high end - concrete, carbon fiber etc.
I am not doing any throat jumping I am just saying.
My thoughts exactly
I'm beginning to think an Airport Express of Apple TV hooked up to a decent set of active speakers is the best solution. Hell, get one of the none wireless (but with aux input) iPod docs if you need somewhere convenient to charge your iDevice from time to time.
