[John Casler]

Brian Cheney to "unveil" RM50 in Las Vegas

Brian Cheney will "unveil" his latest creation at THE Show in Las Vegas. 

As I have "teased" for the last few weeks of Brian working on a NEW SPEAKER, I am proud to announce that it will be unveiled This next week in Las Vegas at THE HOME ENTERTAINMENT Show at the Flamingo Hotel.

This speaker is simply called the RM50, but that moniker does not begin to offer insight into the design Brian has employed and how exciting it is.  Its complete moniker is: RM50 "DUAL LINE SOURCE BIPOLE"

Over the years he has offered virtually every incarnation of speaker design.  Monopoles, Dipoles, Open Baffle, Scooped Baffles, Line Arrays, WMTMW, Folded Baffles, Free Swinging Tweeters, Ambiance Tweeters, and many others including different levels of Directivity.  All (except the 626 Stand Mount and RM v60 midbass module) have been anchored by a multi-driver BASS system including tunable combination of Active and Passive Woofer Drivers.

Brian has always been dedicated to the faithful reproduction of two channel music.  This has taken an even greater focus since last years "LIVE versus RECORDED" demonstration in Las Vegas.  Taking the lessons learned from that demonstration, B has spent the whole of 2009 shaping a new speaker that he feels will offer the State of the Art in realistic reproduction of a recorded event within the confines of your listening environment.

To that end he will introduce the RM50 "DUAL LINE SOURCE BIPOLE" this next week.


More info later today

[John Casler]

MORE INFO


The Speaker is a "DUAL LINE SOURCE BIPOLE".

That is, the front has twin (Dual) lines:

Frontal Tweeter Line is 7 Ribbon Tweeters
Frontal MidRange Line is 3 Neopanels

Rear is 2 neopanels and 2 tweeters.

Woofer Section is comprised of twin 12" UltraMegaWoofers and Slot loaded, Down Firing PR.

[John Casler]

RM50 LMR Information:

Speaker Type: DUAL LINE SOURCE BIPOLAR ARRAY

Frontal Driver Array/Line: Dual Line Open/Grill
Rear Driver Array/Line: equipped with CDWG

 
Driver Arrangement: Dual Line Source
Driver Compliment:
    Active Woofers: Pair of 12" UltraMegaWoofers with 18mm Xmax
    Passive Woofers: Slot loaded, Down firing 12" Passive Radiator
    Midrange Drivers: Frontal Array = 3 Neopanels, Rear Array 2 NeoPanels
    Treble Drivers: Frontal Array = 7 Ribbon Tweeters, Rear Array 2 Ribbon Tweeters
    Rear Array has CDWG for maximum directivity

Cabinet:
    3" thick front baffle
    2" thick sides and rear baffle
    Extensive Internal Bracing
CrossOver Options:
    1) Active/Digital D-OXO (active digital outboard cross-over)
    2) Active/Analog A-OXO (active analog outboard cross-over)

Performance: 8 Ohms/94dB/1W/1m, 20Hz-40kHz (-2dB.)

Dimensions:
    Height: 74"
    Width: 14.5"
    Depth: 19"

WEIGHT: 375# per side

Base Price: $12,900 pr high level options and upgrades available.

[MaxCast]

no pics ??  we want to 

[Brian Cheney]

The pix I took look bad, so you'll have to wait for the Show report.  Or just send money and you can look from up close.

[John Casler]

And another interesting "option" on this speaker that should "lather up" VMPS types;

The Poles are biamp capable. 

That is, you can run two separate amps on the two poles.

What does that mean?  It means you can "perfectly" dial the rear poles contribution to your room.  If you have a lively FRONT wall then you can dial it down.  If it is more sonically inert, you can dial it up.

All you need is a high quality "integrated" amp for the rears.

I might add that B, has said you can also "adjust" this frontal/rear polar balance by adding baffles to the CDWG in the rear, as a mechanical adjustment instead of electrical.

[John Casler]

Did I mention that they weigh 375#

Make sure your dealer has Strength Training Experience (hint hint )

[ka7niq]

This looks very exciting!
I have a few questions ?
1 -  are both 12's active over the full range, or does top one roll off like mid woofers once did ?
2 - I have never seen those tweeters before, what are they, and are they smooth like old spirals were ?
3  - If we are listening to old Steppenwolf and John Denver, can we induce a warmth curve easily for bad recordings of music we like ?
4 - If we plan to put them in a combo audio/video room with a large plasma, what option do we want to make sure they work with satellite dish TV ?
5 - Compatable VMPS Center channels speakers ARE planned, right ?
6 - How far out into room are they voiced for ?
7 - I prefer a warm lower midrange as opposed to a lean tonal balance, is this possible with RM 50 ?
8 -  Does one passive tune all woofers ?
9 - Is a CD waveguide going to be on the front ?
10 - Are the dual 12's Carbon Fiber or Poly ?
11 - What happened to phase plugs in the woofers, not needed anymore ?
12 - What Caps are standard, options, etc ?

Thanks,
Chris

[Brian Cheney]

Let me answer in stages because it is difficult to remember all the questions.

The two 12" are both low bass, designed to extend to 220Hz.  They are sourced from Eminence who believe in using a very large rigid dustcap mid cone to inhibit breakup modes.  Thus no phase plug.  I didn't argue with them.  The woofer has 18mm Xmax, Kevlar/pulp cone, 120oz magnet and a 600W dual voicecoil which I usually wire for 8 Ohm operation.  For OTL amp use there is a 32 Ohm option. The bass system is borrowed from the old FF1, with updated drivers.  It is deep (-2dB/20Hz), thunderous, and tight.  Damping is user adjustable.

The tweeters are a HiVi type and are exceptionally low mass and smooth to 40kHz.  Their sensitivity is fairly low (87dB) but they are the ideal width (.67") for 180 degree dispersion to 20kHz and roll off rapidly in the low end.  They are also short, which improves vertical dispersion.  Listeners at CES were astounded by the tall vertical window of the RM50.  There is no waveguide on the front because of the side by side configuration.  There is one on the back to control rear directivity and allow mechnical adjustment of output level by covering part or all of any driver with a foam plug.  Seven tweeters are on the front, two on the rear.

The idea of a WTW layout with line sources between the woofers is not new with me, but works exceptionally well in this system.  There is no horizontal venetian blind effect, for example, when turning your head.

[John Casler]

no pics ??  we want to 

Although these are already in another thread, they should be here too for future searches:

[Brian Cheney]

Answering 3,4,5:
For satellite TV the speakers hook up like regular speakers, the controller comes after your preamp and requires two power amps for biamping.

The RM50 is compatible with the Large Ribbon Center equipped with a pair of the new tweeters, $950ea.

The nice part about the digital controller is that it allows an infinite variety of characteristics and EQ's.  You can program one of the spare EQ bands for "warm", "lean", or any tonal balance inbetween, with a spin of the dial.  The factory settings are a starting point.  For example, they include a cut at the floor to ceiling room mode (71Hz for an 8ft ceiling, 65Hz for 9ft ceiling, 56Hz for 10ft ceiling etc).  You control how much cut you want.  This is the only way to eliminate the one major room mode that does not respond to speaker or listening position changes.  Room treatment won't help either, even bass traps.

[satfrat]

Base Price: $12,900 pr high level options and upgrades available.

Would you like to go into all options and upgrades that are available along with the pricing for each? Thanks and awesome looking loudspeakers btw, to my eye the most desirable set you've ever had! 
 
Cheers,
Robin

[Brian Cheney]

Upgrades to controller:
Level 1 (direct coupled inputs, upgraded output caps, new analog IC's and op amps) $800

Level 2 as above, plus new digital section $1600

Level 3 as above, plus full remote preamp builtin $2800

Bolder Silver internal wiring $700pr

TRT or Auricap treble caps for internal analog xover $150pr

Exotic finishes (all kinds, South American rosewood adds $3000pr, birdseye maple $4000pr for example)

Bass amps, dual 500W monoblocks $800pr, others available including Wyred4Sound, Ampzilla

Four channel 300W rms amp by ATI $3500

[Brian Cheney]

Answering other questions:

The controller allows an infinite variety of tonal balances in bass, midrange and treble, 7 bands total.  Start with the default settings and go from there.  You'll get the hang of it quickly.

Placement distance from the back wall is not critical.  Like most speakers there is less reflected energy and image-confusing late arrivals when the speakers are 6ft or more from the back wall.  I used 12ft at CES with side walls 8ft away.  To compensate for the lack of boundary reinforcement, I boosted 32Hz (low C) 1.0dB.  This gave an ideal, accurate bass response for pitch, extension, transients and level (which is also adjustable in 0.1dB steps).

Take all adjustment in 0.1dB steps and you'll find the ideal settings in a few hours of listening.

Woofer cones are Kevlar reinforced pulp with big foam surrounds, 18mm Xmax, 120oz magnets, 600W voicecoils, 20Hz Fs and low Q.  One PR tunes the whole enclosure.  The factory pretunes everything, and if you buy a bass amp, we will use that to do make the default settings.  Remember biamping is required.

No phase plug because of the stiff mid-cone dustcap designed to inhibit breakup modes.