Fnr rnc

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Terra

Scholarly Gentleman
anyone heard of the FNR Audio's RNC (really nice compressor)?

I looked it up and was surprised that it was under 200 and with such great reviews.

Anyone use it? The only thing that looks like a short fall is the lack of xlr connections, however, an easy fix with an adapter.
 
Yes it's a great....or really nice compressor. Just mono though, but can be used on a stereo source such as overheads and channel one will be universal in controlling channel two.





:cool:
 
Terra said:
anyone heard of the FNR Audio's RNC (really nice compressor)?

I looked it up and was surprised that it was under 200 and with such great reviews.

Anyone use it? The only thing that looks like a short fall is the lack of xlr connections, however, an easy fix with an adapter.
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I use and sell them. It's my go-to unit when I want to control dynamics with little to no color added.
 
Also take a look in the recording technique forum under the "Golden Age 73 or RNP which is better"? we talk about all of the "really nice" stuff on that thread. ;)







:cool:
 
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Oh there he is now, go ahead and ask RRuskin any questions you have.






:cool:
 
Terra said:
anyone heard of the FNR Audio's RNC (really nice compressor)?
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I have 2 off them mounted in a Funk Logic rack, they are great. Sound much more expensive than the retail price.

However it takes a while to get the best sound out of them and so there are plenty of second hand ones from people that don't know what they are doing and give up.

Cheers

Alan.
 
thanks for the replies. what would y'all say is the best outboard compressor for about $200? It would be awesome if it was dual channel...:cool:
 
Terra said:
thanks for the replies. what would y'all say is the best outboard compressor for about $200? It would be awesome if it was dual channel...:cool:
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The RNC is the only game in town, imho.
 
I had and RNC and got rid of it for a few reasons

First of all the whole balanced gear into the unbalanced RNC back out to balanced gear got to be a nuisance.

Second I found it was kind of slow to react especially in Super Nice mode

Third I got a second hand ART Pro VLA which cost me less money than I sold my RNC for, and with some new NOS tubes in it I found it was far more useable and sounded much less bland than the RNC

This is all completely subjective of course since it all depends on what kind of sound you like, just wanted to throw in an alternative point of view
 
moresound said:
Also take a look in the recording technique forum under the "Golden Age 73 or RNP which is better"? we talk about all of the "really nice" stuff on that thread. ;)
:cool:
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I sell both and have to say, you can not say better or worse. You can only say different.
The RNP give's that more edgy sound. Like said before "sounds more expensive" Uplifting some high.
The Pre 73 got more that vintage feel. Mid focussed, but keeps the high end open. What is great about the pre 73 is you can go "dirty" Put some overdrive in the sound and give's you still plenty of headroom.

But on topic:

The Rnc is realy a great deal. A fine working compressor. Gives not realy a flavour to the sound but works "realy nice"
 
Bristol Posse said:
I had and RNC and got rid of it for a few reasons

First of all the whole balanced gear into the unbalanced RNC back out to balanced gear got to be a nuisance.

Second I found it was kind of slow to react especially in Super Nice mode

Third I got a second hand ART Pro VLA which cost me less money than I sold my RNC for, and with some new NOS tubes in it I found it was far more useable and sounded much less bland than the RNC

This is all completely subjective of course since it all depends on what kind of sound you like, just wanted to throw in an alternative point of view
Click to expand...

The unbalanced gear is and will be a problem if I were to get this, I'm def going to check out the ART VLA, I use some ART stuff, it's cheap and good. Cheers, :drunk:
 
Bristol Posse said:
I had and RNC and got rid of it for a few reasons

First of all the whole balanced gear into the unbalanced RNC back out to balanced gear got to be a nuisance.

Second I found it was kind of slow to react especially in Super Nice mode

Third I got a second hand ART Pro VLA which cost me less money than I sold my RNC for, and with some new NOS tubes in it I found it was far more useable and sounded much less bland than the RNC

This is all completely subjective of course since it all depends on what kind of sound you like, just wanted to throw in an alternative point of view
Click to expand...

Assuming the use of a patch bay, balanced to unbalanced isn't a big deal if you wire everything properly.

I've never found the RNC "slow to react" for any use needed here. I will concede that the metering is less than stellar in Super Nice mode and suspect that this is what you're referring to.

What you call "bland," most would call transparent, a trait many happen to appreciate even if you don't.
 
RRuskin said:
Assuming the use of a patch bay, balanced to unbalanced isn't a big deal if you wire everything properly.

I've never found the RNC "slow to react" for any use needed here. I will concede that the metering is less than stellar in Super Nice mode and suspect that this is what you're referring to.

What you call "bland," most would call transparent, a trait many happen to appreciate even if you don't.
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My experience as well
 
Many years ago, I bought one of the first RNC's, based on Fletcher's recommendation. He wasn't even a dealer for them at the time.

I didn't know Mark McQuillken at that point, nor had I talked to him. I happened to have a Neutrik A2 test station here (on loan from the Neutrik rep) when the RNC arrived. I had no preconceived ideas of what the results would be, and I just decided to test the unit to see if the RNC met its specs (and have a chance to play with the Neutrik test station).

I measure the RNC six ways from Sunday, and it delivered spectacular results, with specs way too modest, compared to actual measurements.

I had 6dB of compression showing on the display. Standard compression mode. I tested the RNC at the claimed settings to verify the performance. It beat every claimed spec easily.

Here are the specs I tested, both claimed, and actually measured. All tests were made using a brand new Neutrik A2 Audio Analyzer test station. The FMR Audio RNC "claimed" spec is in italics, and my "actual" test results are below that:

Claimed: "Noise Less than -90dBu over 20-20kHz"
Measured: It was more like -117dBu.

Claimed: "Frequency response 10 - 100k Hz ±0.5dB @ 0dBu"
Measured: It was actually 200k Hz before it hit the -.5dB point.

Claimed: "Clip point +22.5dBu @ 3% THD, 1kHz, greater than 2kOhm load"
Measured: I got almost +28dBU out of it before it hit 3% THD.

Claimed: "Distortion less than 0.5%, 6 dB G.R. @ 1kHz, 6:1, 6.0msec attack, 0.5 sec release, 0dB gain, 0dBu"
Measured: Following exactly those settings, I read something like 0.004% Distortion.

At that point, I called Mark for the first time because my readings were way better than the printed specs. He confirmed that my tests results were pretty typical for the RNC.

Since those early days, I've become close friends with Mark and Beth, and I can assure you that the RNC deserves all the great reviews it has received.
 
RRuskin said:
Assuming the use of a patch bay, balanced to unbalanced isn't a big deal if you wire everything properly.
Click to expand...

True enough however, never assume. Many of the home recording types (like me) don't use patchbays and it can be a problem.
I found, even with properly wired TS to TRS/XLR cables as detailed on FMRs website, I had noticable signal loss (More than 3dB). When I put it through a hum eliminiator to balance, the signal loss became less pronounced (about 1dB), but I had to get a hum eliminator and throw it in the chain.
So if you have to buy a patch bay or build/buy special cables and or hum eliminators/DIs to balance the thing in your network, then it becomes a less price attractive piece since you now have to factor in the cost of additional cables and boxes to get it to work right

RRuskin said:
I've never found the RNC "slow to react" for any use needed here. I will concede that the metering is less than stellar in Super Nice mode and suspect that this is what you're referring to.
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Yes super nice mode is unpredictable and difficult to guage. Running the signal through some properly calibrated VU Meters I found I was getting gain reduction long before the meters registered anything. It also has a very soft knee and the manual makes no bones about that. I just found it difficult to use and a lot of transients were not caught
There's no need to concede :), this is just my subjective opinion and to quote Douglas Adams, "I'd far rather be happy than right any day"

RRuskin said:
What you call "bland," most would call transparent, a trait many happen to appreciate even if you don't.
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Absolutely and I did also say that my point of view was entirely subjective and the whole opinion should be based on whatever sound you are individually looking for. If transparent is what you want then the RNC is a "really Nice" option. I'm not bashing it.

The RNC is a great compressor to learn about using a hardware compressor properly on, it's well made and the price (assuming you already have some equipment in situ to do the balancing for you) is very attractive.
In the end however it wasn't for me because of the "Balancing Act" involved and I was looking for a more textured sound

YMMV
 
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Bristol Posse said:
In the end however it wasn't for me because of the "Balancing Act" involved.
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That's kinda funny to me because almost every piece of rack gear made is actually unbalanced when you look inside.

They take the balanced signal, unbalance it, process the signal, then re-balance it at the output. That's two extra stages involved, which can contribute noise, distortion, and poorer specs.

Like me, most of my rack gear is unbalanced. :D
 
Harvey Gerst said:
That's kinda funny to me because almost every piece of rack gear made is actually unbalanced when you look inside.

They take the balanced signal, unbalance it, process the signal, then re-balance it at the output. That's two extra stages involved, which can contribute noise, distortion, and poorer specs.

Like me, most of my rack gear is unbalanced. :D
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Yes but the point is they do it, you don't need to get a bunch of extra stuff to take care of it on the way in and out

If you are using the RNC as an insert on a pre amp or mixer then it's great. Unfortunately my pre's don't have inserts and I mix on the DAW so if I want insert anyhing I have to go out and back (Balanced) through my AI.

Unlike me, my rack gear is balanced (the I/Os anyway) :D and I'd rather keep things simple
 
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You cannot use balanced cables on a RNC as the input jack is wired for single cable in / out operation (read the instructions) which would lead to a signal loss if balanced cables were used.

How many consoles (that home recording people can afford) have balanced channel inserts? Come to think of it I have only used 2 consoles in my life with balanced channel inserts. The whole everything needs to be balanced subject is over rated. The only time gear needs to be balanced is for long cable runs. Yes it is nice to have balanced gear but it's not always possible and adaptors are easy to make.

Cheers
Alan.
 
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