There has been alot of talk about if the RM-30 compares to the RM-40. I think that it compared very well indeed. I would say that the RM-40 has more "volume" but sonically, and not having both to compare to at the same time, the sound of the RM-30 was wonderful at CES.
Now the room is a poor room and getting any speaker to sound good is a major feat.
The first selection was Miles Davis and "Miles Ahead'(Columbia 20 bit). This song has a wonderful sonic signature and the trumpet sounded like a trumpet and the snare and cymbels ,well, sounded like a snare and cymbel. There was a great amount of "air" around the instruments and the upright bass was clean and forceful.)
Next up...Cyrus Chestnut on the Alantic Jazz compilation cd(I don't have it with me now). Now this selection starts slow with great jazz and piano with brushes on the snare and gentle cymbal work. On great speakers you will here the vibration of the snare through out the 7 minute free ride. The bass was rythmic and again "air around the instruments". The speakers handled the gentle moments and the attack of the horns of this selection and laughed at them!!! And yes ,you heard the snare resonate throughout.
Now for the test....Fareed Haque and "aint no sunshine" on Manresa like you never heard before. It starts with a beautiful low bass line that really made the 215 sub come alive and again starts slow then builds up steam.There is a backround guitar with a melody line that should echo slightly. There is a part,about 50 seconds into it ,that has an attack with guitar,drums,bass and cymbals and the bass should hold on and last and the splash should have attack .
The Rm-30's played masterfully with authority when needed and attack or soft and beautiful when asked. I thought the 215 sub held it's own and sounded very much like the larger sub to me...but without comparison is hard to tell.
On my second visit Brian really did it. He had Holly Cole playing. I am a big Holly fan and Holly was in the house!! The natural sounding of her voice was amazing. Again the piano and bass were right on.
I think the newer crossover and overall design puts the RM-30 closer to the RM-40 then one might think!!!!
I am sure the Triurnal Processor had something to do with the sound and I did not hear it a/b's like last years RM/x demo.
I finally got sometime to do this. Now "Sponge Bob" with my son.
Larry
