[GeorgeAb]

Thought I would update this post https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=171182.0, now what room is dialed in, active crossovers and provide listening impressions of the RM-V60.

Room is dialed in.  Ideal coverage of 25% with good balance of bass traps and acoustic panels.  Back half of room only has two panels so room stays alive. Proof is in the analysis of decay. Frequency response is pre-DSP, but still pretty close to “house curve”. Happy with room.





The Behringer DCX2496 is an excellent tool for dialing in crossover points. For my room and my ears my final crossover critical frequencies and slopes were 63Hz 24dB low pass for subs, 68Hz 24db and 233Hz 24dB slopes bandpass for mid-bass, 266 Hz 18dB for mid/treble, and treble passive crossover all the way to max position.   

I found going active crossover in the digital domain less than satisfactory, the soundstage decreased in depth and width, and instruments would move around the soundstage depending on note being played, so piano is over there, now there, and there. The looks of the unit was also not my cup of tea. I went with a non-digital solution using Marchand Electronics active crossover. Really like how it sounds (or more accurately does not effect sound) and looks. Our very own John Casler happens to be a Marchand Electronics dealer. For those interested and on a budget this may be of interest.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrrUhfV1bSU&t=931s.



Long term impressions of the RM-V60. The biggest difference between this speaker and the VMPS “house sound” of the RM-30 and RM-40’s is transparency and soundstage.  Transparency that you get from a bi-pole and wing is what makes this speaker different.  Coming from a listening session with the RM-40 thinking “that is really good”, to this and thinking “oh...... so that is what transparency is”.  The sound is layered deep and wide in the room, there are no aural clues that there are speakers in the room; hard to describe, but you know it when you hear it.   

Quibbles and potential upgrades. IMO the soundstage is lower than I would like, like in male voice (Gregory Porter is not 4'10"). Likely due to mid-bass being just a few inches from the floor, that and floor direct reflection that close to the speaker is potentially less than ideal. Placed some sonic barrier I had laying around in front of speaker, and may work with this more. I plan to raise speakers off the floor 5 or 8 inches with blocks. If successful, I will build some wood blocks as pedestals under bases.  I am also toying with the idea of tri-amping so I can crossover the mid-range and tweeters at 3.7K Hz so there will be no interaction between the mids and tweeters and the tweeters are used as tweeters vice super tweeters. This is more long-term and I would still have an interface for the ribbon tweeters with large capacitor (68uF) and voltage divider to protect against DC and startup spikes.

The RM-V60's are more than I thought they would be. This project motivated me to a dedicated two channel listening space and getting the sound as right to my ears as I can within all the limitations we work with, which continues. Really happy and enjoying this setup.     

[Early B.]

IMO the soundstage is lower than I would like, like in male voice (Gregory Porter is not 4'10"). Likely due to mid-bass being just a few inches from the floor, that and floor direct reflection that close to the speaker is potentially less than ideal. Placed some sonic barrier I had laying around in front of speaker, and may work with this more. I plan to raise speakers off the floor 4 or 5 inches with blocks. If successful, I will build some wood blocks as pedestals under bases.     

I'd love to hear more about how you deal with the soundstage being low. I have the same issue with vocals being too low and I'll bet a lot of other people do, as well, but won't admit it.

What might help a little bit is moving your subs to the outside of your speakers.

[GeorgeAb]

I'd love to hear more about how you deal with the soundstage being low. I have the same issue with vocals being too low and I'll bet a lot of other people do, as well, but won't admit it.

Per Shaukaut's RM V60 build thread, users Housteau (Dave) and Zakski288 (Ken) have double stacked bases which raises low bass speakers 15 1/2" off of the ground vice 5 1/2" as bases are 10" high (said another way 10" horizontally closer to your ear); so they have experience with this.  Ken did his recently, so he may have some more recent aural memory. I suspect the increased performance is from the height.  John Casler had posted about a tweak for the RM-30 which he called the "tall boy" where he also raised the speaker off of the floor. In that thread https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=22154.0 John mentioned, "All the images heightened and became larger."   

This is from Shaukat RM-V60 build thread:

Hello Shaukat, don’t wait to bite the bullet. I just added my second bases to verify the size. In my room the sound is another step up, and that was with no woofers installed yet. Ken

I will get around to raising my speaker; based on others experience and the logic of it I believe it will help raise the soundstage.  I am going to try 5 to 8" due to  tweeter ear height and 8' ceiling considerations.

[Early B.]

Per Shaukaut's RM V60 build thread, users Housteau (Dave) and Zakski288 (Ken) have double stacked bases which raises low bass speakers 15 1/2" off of the ground vice 5 1/2" as bases are 10" high; so they have experience with this.  Ken did his recently, so he may have some more recent aural memory. I suspect the increased performance is from the height.  John Casler had posted about a tweak for the RM-30 which he called the "high boy" where he also raised the speaker off of the floor. 

Thanks for your response. I'd like to try this.