Amongst a saturated pro audio loudspeaker market, RCF have discovered a way to cut through the noise, leading their designs to be preferred by professionals over similarly capable offerings from other manufacturers. RCF’s proprietary phase alignment technology, FiRPHASE, has been incorporated into a plethora of the Italian specialist’s recent loudspeaker solutions- adding definition, efficiency, and value, without an increased materials cost.
FiRPHASE technology has found its way into RCF products across the board, from their flagship lines like TT+ and HDL, to their world-renowned portable lines like ART, HD and NX. Where FiRPHASE’s inclusion has impressed most however, has been in RCF’s most compact systems, such as the portable column array line EVOX and their AYRA PRO studio monitors. Both EVOX and AYRA PRO regularly review as performing well above their price point, with FiRPHASE mechanics often being the feature bumping them firmly above the competition.
FiRPHASE is an advanced digital FiR technology, developed to ensure absolute clarity, transparent sound, and perfect sonic imaging for RCF loudspeaker systems. Custom DSP-based filters allow for coherent sonic distribution free from phase distortions, whilst keeping filter latency to a minimum.
The data needed for these filters is obtained from a highly accurate impulse response measurement of the loudspeaker in RCF’s anechoic chamber, with the results forming the references needed to time-align the output energy. During loudspeaker operation, this impulse response data is used in combination with a proprietary algorithm, calculating the best FIR filter coefficients needed to obtain a 0° linear phase signal.
The FiRPHASE algorithm adapts the loudspeaker’s phase through a Finite Impulse Response technique known as the ‘recursive method’ (or ‘least-squares method’) combined with RCF’s custom DSP software. This enables corrections to phase and amplitude only if necessary, by compensating for the known limitations in the loudspeaker’s cabinet design and component architecture. The end result is an accurate transient response, and an overall increase in the detail reproduced from the original sound source.
A practical example of this would be in the reproduction of a picked guitar string or snare hit: sonic events featuring a high amount of energy and frequency information in a very small amount of time. If the frequencies of the pick or hit arrive at the listener’s ear distributed in time, the transient loses energy, dynamics and detail. By ensuring the energy and frequencies arrive at the same time, RCF’s phase alignment technology is able to reproduce sounds that are perceived to have greater energy and accuracy, without additional load on the drivers.
This in turn leads RCF loudspeakers with FiRPHASE to be more efficient, and when combined with a set of additional power efficiency-oriented design features, these speakers are capable of greater perceived output and performance against competing alternatives.
