I've been listening to the RM50s from the 2011 CES for two years now.
Background. Before they came I had been quite content, and was most often delighted with the SuperTower IIIs dating from about 1990, with updated drivers along the way. What got me motivated to go astray and lust after the new was my experience of hearing exquisitely good things from speakers with ribbon midranges - from Brian's later STIIISRE ribbon edition, among many others. I knew I had to go to some form of them to get a jump in satisfaction- the ribbon midranges just seemed so awfully real. You should know I had RM40s in my listening room, for mostly testing purposes, for about a year. Though they had their good points I wasn't altogether moved. On the other hand, the reactions to the RM50 live-vs-recorded sessions at the show got me thinking more than a little. Still, I had heard the new statement STIIISREs and thought they were IT, for sure, if anything ever could be. Imagine my confusion and dismay when, after I sold the family pets and children, girded up my wallet and all but offered to go for the latest (and last) ribbon version of the ST3s, Brian hemmed and hawed, and hawed and hemmed, all but telling me that newer and better things are around - like the RM50. No, he wasn't so clear and forthright as that. Still. Hmm …
Together with Brian's cryptic hints, I synthesized my impressions of the listeners' impressions as a buy signal for the RM50s. But, wait, wait, wait! - after all, I reminded myself, they're nothing but souped-up RM40s, speakers which hadn't triggered much in me at all. Hmm … now I went into mental ferment and upped my drinking a bit. Rational or not, I charged ahead and plunked down for them, pretending to a casually raffish air on the phone with Casler. He'll remember.
And then, the set-up of these retire-and-go-to-Heaven speakers. With fingers and toes a-tremble and ears a-twitching I set them up with 4 JC-1 amps and a JC-2 pre. And, and, the answer is ... They sounded bad. Not as in good b-a-a-d-ass, but just as in very, very bad. Ai-eee! I thought, "so much for intuition and semi-rational inference." What happened? Short story: a number of the drivers were damaged somewhere in-transit (I live on the east coast), which Brian happily corrected.
Fast forward to new drivers and a re-start. Though not yet placed with more than a guess from the old STIIIs, they sounded good, as in really, really good, with lots of promise. After the old room shuffle here, shuffle there, and tweaking the external crossover a bit, I found what I've been looking for and haven't changed a thing.
Sadly, I don't have the wherewithal to describe their sound a-la Sterophile reviewers. Happily, you won't have to read such bilge, either. Suffice to say, they are accurate in the sense which brings me and many other auditors to say - "why, that's what it's supPOSED to sound like" - pretty much whatever IT is. Voices immediately are heard as true-to-life in the sense that the rendition seems to be the summation of the best part of all the test listens you've heard before on a given voice. I've never been cheek by jowl with Julie London, but this is my listener-only way of approaching and describing accuracy. The bass, while authoritative, doesn't intrude at all - no surprise there - the crossover has 48 dB/oct settings here, so they certainly can't intrude much, and they stop just when they're supposed to. The midrange is all I dreamed of and, with the mostly baroque and classical string music I favor, they are about the end of the line of what I could hope for. They handle large-scale orchestra very well. I've been told by some that they "rock on" pretty well. I'll take their word for it. They image both absolutely and outside the speakers for appropriate material.
That's as close as I'm ever going to get to a rave. They are, by turns, exquisite, forceful, delicate, layered, authoritative. For me these speakers are the best yet - yes, even better than the emotionally draining experience of hearing the STIIISREs, and I am having the listening experience of my life. It's a good thing I retired recently or I would have been a truant and very bad boy.
Some questions. I know somebody grabbed the 2012 edition with the 15" side-mounted passive radiator, with consequently more bass oomph. I'd love to hear from you, whoever you are. I don't know how we can compare notes accurately, but we can at least form a small club - a nano-pico club of RM50 owners. Another question: it really IS just a souped-up RM40, but it sounds better than that would lead you to think. Another: the parts are good, but mundane. The job the out-of-production ribbons do can't be done well by the BG ribbons nor by any others that I know of - this seems surprising. The ribbon tweeters and the woofers are both off-the-shelf from Parts Express. What I'm getting at is, the speaker is SO much more than the sum of its parts. Maybe that was part the genius of Brian?
Rather than say any more, I welcome questions. Meanwhile, here's a picture.
