Recording - November 2014 - 25

Listening
The first impression I had of the Resolv
RXA6 was of a very solid and believable
tonal balance. Cheap speakers make
themselves known with artifacts like weird
midrange, funky imaging, woofy or weak
or "one-note" bass, and the RXA6 had
none of the above.
Starting at the low end, I was surprised by
the detail and clarity of the bass. This is not
a bass-heavy speaker; Samson even
devotes a page in the nicely illustrated manual to adding a subwoofer if you really want
to feel that low extension. But what bass
there was felt right, with lots of really fine
detail that one isn't used to hearing down
there; fundamentals and overtones tied
together well when listening to low notes on
grand piano, acoustic bass, or synth bass.
There is just a touch of forwardness
around the crossover frequency; this has the
effect of lifting vocals and lead instruments
up and out of the mix and presenting them in
crisp relief, letting you pick out artifacts, tuning issues, and sloppy edits with ease. A fair
number of speakers out there tend to have a
slight smiley-curve frequency response to
them, with a bit more oomph in the bass and
zing in the treble at the expense of the mids
being a bit more laid back. I didn't hear that
as being true for the RXA6, which presented
itself as more of a "hear the critical mids
under a microscope" listening experience.

Balancing the clear bass and the forward
mids, the ribbon tweeter was delightful, presenting a vibrant and sparkly but not spitty or
harsh high end that showcased even the finest
details in cymbals, overtones on guitars and
violins, tambourines, and the like. I like ribbon
tweeters for the way they present lots of believable treble without working themselves too
hard; the result is less distortion, less ear
fatigue, and more trustworthy sound up high.
Perhaps the most startling aspect of the
RXA6 was how wide and deep its sweet
spot was. These speakers are quite forgiving
of listener position; if you have bandmates
crowding around to listen, they'll provide a
relatively reliable sonic picture with a strong
phantom center to listeners even a couple of
feet from the sweet spot on either side.
Do I have any complaints? Only one-the
quiescent noise of the built-in amplifiers is
noticeable as a faint hiss when the monitors
aren't passing audio in a quiet room. This hiss
isn't affected by the type of connection (balanced/unbalanced) or by the onboard level
setting; it's just there. The moment you start
passing audio at any level, it's masked, but
some listeners might find it obtrusive. Samson
acknowledges the issue and says that
improvements to shipping units are ongoing.
Tied up with a ribbon
As an entry point for engineers who
want to try a ribbon-tweeter active monitor,

the Resolv RXA monitors are a nearunbeatable entry in the current market.
Even as a second monitor for larger rooms
they have a lot to recommend them.
Check them out!

Prices: Resolv RXA5, $199.99 each; Resolv
RXA6 (as reviewed), $249.99 each
More from: Samson, www.samsontech.com

http://www.samsontech.com http://www.mil-media.com http://www.mil-media.com

Recording - November 2014

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