- Cube to cube streaming
- Integrated carrying handle
- Multiple streaming
- rCube - video connection
- Charging dock
Product Features |
Frequently Bought Together
Product Information
Technical Details
| Brand Name | Arcam |
| Item Weight | 11 pounds |
| Product Dimensions | 7.9 x 7.9 x 7.9 inches |
| Item model number | rCube |
| Number of Items | 1 |
Additional Information
| ASIN | B0047ZGFYY |
| Shipping Weight | 15 pounds (View shipping rates and policies) |
| Shipping Advisory: | This item must be shipped separately from other items in your order. Additional shipping charges will not apply. |
| Date First Available | April 13, 2011 |
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
Product Description
rCube is a listening revolution, delivering high fidelity from a single, beautiful package that's portable and has wireless audio streaming.
rCube offers amazing sound from a cube smaller than a football. It's powerful enough for a party, but engineered to deliver exceptional clarity even at low volume.
It uses cutting-edge technology and manufacturing excellence, as you'd expect from Arcam.
Using rCube
rCube is fully portable. You can move it from room to room, taking your music with you wherever you go.
Use it while you work - radio streamed over you network in your office
Use it while you play - while you cook, loll in a chair or relax in the bath
Use it anywhere - in the house, in the office, in the garden or at a picnic
The rCube's powerful battery eliminates the need for messy wires and is easy to charge, just like a mobile phone. You can play music from your iPhone or iPod using rCube's dock. With the rWand dongle you can stream music wirelessly from your iPhone, iPod or iPad.
rCube - Cube to Cube Streaming
Any rCube can wirelessly stream music to another rCube in the same vicinity, sharing music simultaniously with other rooms in a house.
rCube - Integrated carrying handle
A simple flap on top of the rCube opens to reveal the dock connector for your iPod or iPhone and a sturdy carry handle for transporting your rCube.
rCube - Charging dock
The dock connector on top of the rCube charges your iPod or iPhone while connected. Charging can be disabled using the supplied remote control.
rCube - Remote control
The rCube comes complete with a remote handset for control the rCube and its connected iPod / iPhone.
rCube - Rechargable battery
To offer true portability the rCube is fitted with a heavy duty Lithium-Ion battery delivering up to 8 hours of continuous playback before recharging is required.
rCube offers amazing sound from a cube smaller than a football. It's powerful enough for a party, but engineered to deliver exceptional clarity even at low volume.
It uses cutting-edge technology and manufacturing excellence, as you'd expect from Arcam.
Using rCube
rCube is fully portable. You can move it from room to room, taking your music with you wherever you go.
Use it while you work - radio streamed over you network in your office
Use it while you play - while you cook, loll in a chair or relax in the bath
Use it anywhere - in the house, in the office, in the garden or at a picnic
The rCube's powerful battery eliminates the need for messy wires and is easy to charge, just like a mobile phone. You can play music from your iPhone or iPod using rCube's dock. With the rWand dongle you can stream music wirelessly from your iPhone, iPod or iPad.
rCube - Cube to Cube Streaming
Any rCube can wirelessly stream music to another rCube in the same vicinity, sharing music simultaniously with other rooms in a house.
rCube - Integrated carrying handle
A simple flap on top of the rCube opens to reveal the dock connector for your iPod or iPhone and a sturdy carry handle for transporting your rCube.
rCube - Charging dock
The dock connector on top of the rCube charges your iPod or iPhone while connected. Charging can be disabled using the supplied remote control.
rCube - Remote control
The rCube comes complete with a remote handset for control the rCube and its connected iPod / iPhone.
rCube - Rechargable battery
To offer true portability the rCube is fitted with a heavy duty Lithium-Ion battery delivering up to 8 hours of continuous playback before recharging is required.
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By cassdog
Amazon Verified Purchase
Firstly, I apologize for the long review but surprisingly there are very few reviews for this device, so I wanted to cover a lot. Once you get in to the realm of hi-fi and niche audio equipment you are dealing with users who have a very particular taste in what they want. They aren't willing to grab whatever ipod music player is on sale at Costco. Therefore, I'll tell you about my peculiar tastes and requirements in order to explain why I bought the rCube and why I am mostly satisfied with the purchase. First of all, money was no object in my purchase so I didn't take in to account price. I have a very nice standard hi-fi system in my living room, which does great for creating an immersive movie viewing experience or enjoying crisp, loud music. This system is hooked up to an AppleTV so I can use my iphone as a remote to instantly access my vast array of music from my computer. I love this part of my Hi-Fi; this is the type of music access that I have been dreaming about for 15 years when I had a slow, impractical 400 disc CD jukebox. This wireless access makes for the ultimate living room listening experience right from my pocket and I love being able to DJ from my iphone when I have friends over for dinner or dance parties.
But I realized that due to convenience and the need to temper my listening volume around my family, I ended up using my portable MP3 audio player the most. So I decided to upgrade to something that would have good sound quality. Specifically I was looking for something that would sound good at low volumes but wouldn't distort at high volumes, that had a nice design and bonuses for portability and wireless play although the latter two were not essential. I researched the B&W Zeppelin, Bose Sounddock 10 and the Harman Kardan Go+Play along with the rCube. Besides the rCube, the Zeppelin was my second choice. I liked the design and the airplay features of the zeppelin and I'm sure it would sound great. The HK Go+Play has the best design and it is portable but didn't have a rechargeable battery, which would be a pain. Based on reviews, the Bose Sounddock's best feature seemed to be a loud bass. Although I listen to a fair amount of electronic music that has prominent bass, I like a more subtle, blended bass. I have listened to many fancy, expensive soundsystems in cars and living rooms and I find that most of them are unbalanced in terms of boomy, testosterone-driven out of place bass. Ultimately I was driven to buy the rCube predominantly for the rechargeable battery and wireless play, something that wasn't present in the H+K and was annoyingly placed in the ipod dock of the Bose Sounddock. The uncertainty with the rCube was the sound quality.
I liked a lot about the rCube including the design, the ease of portability, the dock, the battery and sound quality. I notice absolutely no difference in sound quality when plugged in versus battery only. I thoroughly tested this by getting high, really getting in to a certain song's groove at high volume, and then unplugging it...No sound difference whatsoever. The battery appears to last a long time, I haven't had the problem with battery that others listed. Boy does it get loud. It's not 'whole-house-party loud but you can hear it at decent 'cocktail-party-levels' in the next room and in the same room, the sound is powerful, beautiful and crystal clear. Not excessively loud though, I have to wheel my ipod up to about an 8.5 out of 11 in volume for it to get real loud but each step to 11 boosts the sound volume a lot. I have a range of musical tastes from Jazz (Mingus, Monk) to indie rock (Sonic Youth, Sufjan Stephens) to folk (Iron and Wine, Joanna Newsome) to ambient (Brian Eno, Stars of the Lid) to electronic (Burial, Autechre). The rCube sounds good with all these types of music. The rCube sounds very good at low volumes too, which was important for everyday listening around my family but I could turn it up to uncomfortable volumes and the sound never wavered. The sound is well mixed with the full range of frequencies represented clearly. The placement of the speakers on the side does allow a wide distribution to the sound and it often sounds like the horn section of a song for instance will be coming from the corners of the room. Surprisingly, the bass is prominent in this small, portable device but not annoyingly so which I prefer. The design is really cool too. I love the handle and can carry this cube like an old-school boombox. It definitely turns heads when I walk in to a room carrying this sound machine. Overall I am very satisfied with this device, one of the best purchases I have ever made.
But I'll focus on the things I was disappointed in so you know the limitations. The wireless feature is designed poorly. There are two ways to connect, the Arcam rWand, a dongle for the iphone/ipod which allows wireless control; additionally the Arcam rWave can supplement this product, by connecting to your home computer. The former allows your ipod/iphone to control/play the music and the latter allows your extensive computer library to play over the Arcam rCube. These products are all below the product description for this item. The ipod dongle rWand connection type is less than ideal. I don't want to have a dongle connected to my ipod/iphone that would be cumbersome on my iphone or not allow me to charge my battery on my ipod. I opted for the USB dongle (rWave), although I will probably buy the iphone/ipod connector too. The USB dongle works perfectly but I have to manually go to my computer and change the audio output from the soundcard to the USB dongle. I can't control the music with simply my iphone as a remote like I can with the appleTV, instead I have to go to my computer and change the settings first. Neither option allows instant access, although with all my griping these wireless options are still quite convenient.
Pros: Great subtle design, wireless play, good rechargeable batteries, great sound when unplugged, convenient portability, refined, well-blended and spacious sound.
Cons: Wireless play is not as convenient as Airplay devices or AppleTV.
Update: A software called Virtual Audio Cable will allow you to output a single audio source to multiple outputs. Therefore I can play music on my computer and to the Arcam rCube. This is enough to upgrade the device to 5 stars.
Update2 (in response to a question): Virtual Audio Cable is not an actual cable but a piece of software for the computer. Windows 7 only allows you to output one audio source at the same time. The Arcam rCube rWand requires you to choose it's own software as the audio output, rather than the computer's own output to the computer speakers. Therefore, in essence if you regularly listen to music on your computer speakers and the Arcam rCube, you have to manually change the settings on the computer. In essence, switching the audio cables between a mixer with only one audio out. Virtual Audio Cable is like a mixer, that allows multiple outputs at the same time. Unfortunately the software is quite finicky and a pain the butt to use, I can't really recommend it. But this is really a minor gripe, as getting off my butt, going to the computer and changing the audio output to the rCube is not that much of a pain.
But I realized that due to convenience and the need to temper my listening volume around my family, I ended up using my portable MP3 audio player the most. So I decided to upgrade to something that would have good sound quality. Specifically I was looking for something that would sound good at low volumes but wouldn't distort at high volumes, that had a nice design and bonuses for portability and wireless play although the latter two were not essential. I researched the B&W Zeppelin, Bose Sounddock 10 and the Harman Kardan Go+Play along with the rCube. Besides the rCube, the Zeppelin was my second choice. I liked the design and the airplay features of the zeppelin and I'm sure it would sound great. The HK Go+Play has the best design and it is portable but didn't have a rechargeable battery, which would be a pain. Based on reviews, the Bose Sounddock's best feature seemed to be a loud bass. Although I listen to a fair amount of electronic music that has prominent bass, I like a more subtle, blended bass. I have listened to many fancy, expensive soundsystems in cars and living rooms and I find that most of them are unbalanced in terms of boomy, testosterone-driven out of place bass. Ultimately I was driven to buy the rCube predominantly for the rechargeable battery and wireless play, something that wasn't present in the H+K and was annoyingly placed in the ipod dock of the Bose Sounddock. The uncertainty with the rCube was the sound quality.
I liked a lot about the rCube including the design, the ease of portability, the dock, the battery and sound quality. I notice absolutely no difference in sound quality when plugged in versus battery only. I thoroughly tested this by getting high, really getting in to a certain song's groove at high volume, and then unplugging it...No sound difference whatsoever. The battery appears to last a long time, I haven't had the problem with battery that others listed. Boy does it get loud. It's not 'whole-house-party loud but you can hear it at decent 'cocktail-party-levels' in the next room and in the same room, the sound is powerful, beautiful and crystal clear. Not excessively loud though, I have to wheel my ipod up to about an 8.5 out of 11 in volume for it to get real loud but each step to 11 boosts the sound volume a lot. I have a range of musical tastes from Jazz (Mingus, Monk) to indie rock (Sonic Youth, Sufjan Stephens) to folk (Iron and Wine, Joanna Newsome) to ambient (Brian Eno, Stars of the Lid) to electronic (Burial, Autechre). The rCube sounds good with all these types of music. The rCube sounds very good at low volumes too, which was important for everyday listening around my family but I could turn it up to uncomfortable volumes and the sound never wavered. The sound is well mixed with the full range of frequencies represented clearly. The placement of the speakers on the side does allow a wide distribution to the sound and it often sounds like the horn section of a song for instance will be coming from the corners of the room. Surprisingly, the bass is prominent in this small, portable device but not annoyingly so which I prefer. The design is really cool too. I love the handle and can carry this cube like an old-school boombox. It definitely turns heads when I walk in to a room carrying this sound machine. Overall I am very satisfied with this device, one of the best purchases I have ever made.
But I'll focus on the things I was disappointed in so you know the limitations. The wireless feature is designed poorly. There are two ways to connect, the Arcam rWand, a dongle for the iphone/ipod which allows wireless control; additionally the Arcam rWave can supplement this product, by connecting to your home computer. The former allows your ipod/iphone to control/play the music and the latter allows your extensive computer library to play over the Arcam rCube. These products are all below the product description for this item. The ipod dongle rWand connection type is less than ideal. I don't want to have a dongle connected to my ipod/iphone that would be cumbersome on my iphone or not allow me to charge my battery on my ipod. I opted for the USB dongle (rWave), although I will probably buy the iphone/ipod connector too. The USB dongle works perfectly but I have to manually go to my computer and change the audio output from the soundcard to the USB dongle. I can't control the music with simply my iphone as a remote like I can with the appleTV, instead I have to go to my computer and change the settings first. Neither option allows instant access, although with all my griping these wireless options are still quite convenient.
Pros: Great subtle design, wireless play, good rechargeable batteries, great sound when unplugged, convenient portability, refined, well-blended and spacious sound.
Cons: Wireless play is not as convenient as Airplay devices or AppleTV.
Update: A software called Virtual Audio Cable will allow you to output a single audio source to multiple outputs. Therefore I can play music on my computer and to the Arcam rCube. This is enough to upgrade the device to 5 stars.
Update2 (in response to a question): Virtual Audio Cable is not an actual cable but a piece of software for the computer. Windows 7 only allows you to output one audio source at the same time. The Arcam rCube rWand requires you to choose it's own software as the audio output, rather than the computer's own output to the computer speakers. Therefore, in essence if you regularly listen to music on your computer speakers and the Arcam rCube, you have to manually change the settings on the computer. In essence, switching the audio cables between a mixer with only one audio out. Virtual Audio Cable is like a mixer, that allows multiple outputs at the same time. Unfortunately the software is quite finicky and a pain the butt to use, I can't really recommend it. But this is really a minor gripe, as getting off my butt, going to the computer and changing the audio output to the rCube is not that much of a pain.
6 of 8 people found the following review helpful
This holidas I wanted to pick a great sounding dock that also looks good for daily use. So, looked at high end Sony RDPX500iP, Bose SoundDock 10, and B&W Zeppelin Air. Just when I was all set on Bose, I listened to Sony and thought it sounded better than Bose for almost half the cost. Before I decided on Sony, I continued my search and checked out B&W Zeppelin Air, Monster Beats iDock - yes, even Monster :-), Philips, Yamaha, etc. All this time, I had Arcam rCube in my thoughts but the box look put me away from considering it until I read couple of reviews and also the rWand wireless option it has for iPod made it all the more appealing along with B&Ws Zeppelin Air. Since I already am aware Arcam makes some excellent high end audio products I decided to buy it over B&W as the over design of B&W might bore me over time.
The setup of rCube is a breeze. As soon as I connected rWand to iPod, it downloaded the required app, and I followed the instructions in the manual to set up the wireless playback. After few hic-ups, I got it all working smoothly and the sound it produced was just unbelievable for it's size. I placed it in corner as recommended in manual. Even at max volume that cube sounds distortion free.
Don't hesitate to pick this one if this item is on your watch list. It won't disappoint you. I also used 3.5mm audio cable and used it with Android phone and it sounds great. I hope they will come with some wireless rWand like option using 3.5mm jack for Android phones soon as Bluetooth option sucks compared to KLEER it uses.
The setup of rCube is a breeze. As soon as I connected rWand to iPod, it downloaded the required app, and I followed the instructions in the manual to set up the wireless playback. After few hic-ups, I got it all working smoothly and the sound it produced was just unbelievable for it's size. I placed it in corner as recommended in manual. Even at max volume that cube sounds distortion free.
Don't hesitate to pick this one if this item is on your watch list. It won't disappoint you. I also used 3.5mm audio cable and used it with Android phone and it sounds great. I hope they will come with some wireless rWand like option using 3.5mm jack for Android phones soon as Bluetooth option sucks compared to KLEER it uses.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By golfmountain
Amazon Verified Purchase
I read all the great reviews online especially in British websites and decided to try it. The mid range and highs sounded perfect. The bass was a disaster. Not "tight bass" like they say in their manual but a hollow mess. No matter where you positioned it, even in a corner like the manual suggested it it distorted the great highs. I could have lived with this only to find out that the product was defective. The remote stopped working after 1 use. You had to keep adjusting the ipod position to get it to work. I had to return it when even the replacement remote turned out to be useless, suggesting that the cube itself was the problem.
After more online research, I bought a Philips Fidelio DS9/37. It was only $295 and sounded far better than the rCube. Tighter, more muscular base, but not excessive. Excellent midrange and highs. Quality sound, not some boombox type. No defects at all so far. I suspect that many people have returned rcubes and this may explained why so many refurbished sets are on ebay. Arcam must be such a small company that they have not understood quality control.
After more online research, I bought a Philips Fidelio DS9/37. It was only $295 and sounded far better than the rCube. Tighter, more muscular base, but not excessive. Excellent midrange and highs. Quality sound, not some boombox type. No defects at all so far. I suspect that many people have returned rcubes and this may explained why so many refurbished sets are on ebay. Arcam must be such a small company that they have not understood quality control.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic but needs to be played loud
Have had this for over a year and am very happy with it. Audio quality is excellent at mid volume upwards and it really goes very loud. Read more
Published 19 days ago by Tricet
2.0 out of 5 stars
Wireless Connectivity Failed
I purchased this item after a great deal of research. Let's start with the good points first.. and it has many.
1. Sound Quality: It simply sounds great. Read more
1. Sound Quality: It simply sounds great. Read more
Published 1 month ago by veesrock
5.0 out of 5 stars
Awesome
If you are looking for a premium iPhone speaker you wont be dissapointed. The sound quality is awesome, excellent tone balance and definition. Read more
Published 3 months ago by hector malagon hidalgo
5.0 out of 5 stars
Blew me away!
The music this little guy puts out ,is beyond amazing, it actualy gave me goose bumps, the clarity and depth will blow you away,the eight hour battery is a huge bonus,making it... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Robert Hawks
2.0 out of 5 stars
Battery performance is dismal...
I have to agree with others that there is a battery issue with this product. The first thing you have to realize is that it will not charge unless it is in 'on' or 'standby' mode. Read more
Published 9 months ago by S. Bresnahan
5.0 out of 5 stars
R Cube
This R Cube is the best sounding portable system I have ever heard, fills up a large area with clear sound. Read more
Published 11 months ago by elad
2.0 out of 5 stars
i cant understand how this got such good reviews
very disapointed with this and am returning it. The problem i have with it is the mid range sounds terable, totally flat and lifeless. Read more
Published 11 months ago by loz
3.0 out of 5 stars
Superb Sound but a battery problem!
I bought one from another retailer and had the same problem with the battery as another reviewer. I did find the sound to be spectacular for its size and I know quality as this... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Zeb
5.0 out of 5 stars
Drop Dead Performance
Out of all the iHome,iThis,iThat,itheotherthing,this is the most outstanding portable player for a audiophile. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Four Drums
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not as good as advertised
We have bought a pair of this rCube speakers. I am a little bit
dissapointed because the battery level goes to 0 after 2-3 days even
when they are off. Read more
dissapointed because the battery level goes to 0 after 2-3 days even
when they are off. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Jose
