[jewishamerprince]

I'm considering a pair of RM40s and am somewhat bewildered by some of the options available. Could some of you please comment on the different capacitor selections, their sonic benifit and cost/value.

[CornellAlum]

Honestly, I look at the prices charged for those things as absolutely absurd knowing what I know now.  It is literally double the cost of the parts without any additional labor time involved whatsoever.  I will PM you something else.

[Skynyrd]

Thanks for your forthright response, Cornell!

My VMPS RM40 came with the $1200 caps.  Glad I bought them used.

Here's wishing the $ was spent on something better--like DSP correction or an electronic crossover or 2" thick cabinets.  

You've gotta wonder if there's any way for a prospective VMPS customer to hear the speaker they want with and without the expensive capacitors.  That'd be asking a lot of a VMPS dealer to carry all the different permutations of VMPS speakers.

$1200 for capacitors?!!  

Skynyrd

[ZMan]

VMPS offers 3 opportunities; Standard, Auricaps ($550) and TRT's ($1200).

The standard caps are excellent and significantly better than those in similarly priced speakers.

The Auricaps offer the best price/value and are 2 steps above the Standard caps along with being 85-90% of the TRT's.

The TRT's simply remove the grunge from the sound one step further and texures, nuances, palpability and a greater 3D image often become extraordinary.  (This occurs when the supporting equipment is at a high level- see my system on this site.) You won't find TRT's on other speakers below the $40,000 level.  I find even the offer of such options a telling statement that the maker considers the needs of buyer and has built a company in which flexibility (in the customer's favor) is important.

The choice is more obvious when one answers a number of questions.  What is the primary purpose of the system 2channel or HT?, What type of Music do you listen to?, etc, etc.

If you enjoy jazz, acoustic music, vocals and want an extraordinary experience at each litening then the TRT's might be the right choice.

If you want true outstanding reproduction on a budget then go for the Auricaps.  

If you have mid high-fi equipment and are not an overboard, obsessed tweaker then the Standard caps are the way to go.

I owed RM2 Neos with Standard Caps for 3 years.  Friends reported goose bumps and teary eyes when they listened to Elton John's acoustic version of "Candle in the Wind" on SACD.  I have, however, purchased the RM30's with all the upgrades and TRT caps.  Now everyday is epiphany, but recall that I am also a rabbit audiophile that has spent well into 5 figures to achieve such a result.

Take a look at CornellAlum's system on this site.  He has spent his money very wisely and likely has a good sounding system, but with a reasonable buget.

Good luck,
Z

[CornellAlum]

Thanks for that comment, much apreciated  

[ctviggen]

CornellAlum is correct that the cost of the tweeters is probably twice the cost if you wanted to put them in yourself.  The problem would then be that you'd have to analyze the old crossovers, order new capacitors, take out the old crossovers, and put in the new crossovers, including wiring everything yourself.   While that's not hard to do and can save you money, sometimes time is more important than money.  For me, my most limiting aspect isn't money -- it's time.  I simply don't have the time to go ripping out crossovers, ordering parts, and putting new crossovers in.  So,  as with everything in life, having someone do the work for you will cost you more money in the long run.  For some things, that's a problem for me; for other's it's not.  For instance, I just paid for someone to deliver and install a new dishwasher and haul the old one away.  It cost me $150 to have this done.  It would've probably taken me 1.5 days to do the same thing, as I'd have to go get the dishwasher, bring it to my house, take the old one out, put the new one in (and there would parts I'd have to get from Home Cheapo -- there goes 1-2 hours right there), take the old one to the dump, etc.  On the other hand, I insulated my attic, installed a soft water system, and performed another 20+ things on my own house.  Sometimes, though, I simply run out of time and don't want to do this stuff.  Thus, for me, the obvious choice was to have TRTs installed by VMPS.  Your choice may be different.

[CornellAlum]

CornellAlum is correct that the cost of the tweeters is probably twice the cost if you wanted to put them in yourself.  The problem would then be that you'd have to analyze the old crossovers, order new capacitors, take out the old crossovers, and put in the new crossovers, including wiring everything yourself.   While that's not hard to do and can save you money, sometimes time is more important than money.  For me, my most limiting aspect isn't money -- it's time.  I simply don't have the time to go rippi ...

I just did some work to my crossovers, and hence my attitude about the cost.  I do however certainly apreciate the above.  I do not have children, wife etc and am 27, so time is either spent at the bar working on the aforementioned, or doing something productive.  Thus, for me it would be worth the time to do it myself.  That said, I worked on them off and on for a month!  Just 2 more cents.  

Daryan

[Corbin Johnson]

I started with the standard caps and upgraded to the Auricaps and found the improvement to be well worth it.  I can only describe it as sounding smoother, especially on the highs.  I've heard both the 40's and 30's with TRT's but can't say I noticed an improvement over mine with the Auricaps, but my sonic memory isn't good enough to make the comparison without a true A/B test or in my case having listened to the standard caps for one year then upgrading to the Auricaps.  The upgrade is not easy to do, so I recommend at least going with the Auricaps.  See you Thursday night when you come by for an audition.

Corbin

[John Casler]

I'm considering a pair of RM40s and am somewhat bewildered by some of the options available. Could some of you please comment on the different capacitor selections, their sonic benifit and cost/value.

I think ZMan pretty much nailed the differences.

Originally we had the stock caps and the Auric Cap upgrade.  The Peter Montcrief "suggested" that Brian try the TRT caps in the RM40, which had just become extremely popular because of the Best  of Show Award.

They sounded so incredible that Brian felt obligated to offer them after the first listen.  And they are some of the most expensive caps out there.

In even a $6000 speaker Brian felt the caps a little decadent @ $1200 a set (which includes all the caps for each of the drivers), but felt he had to offer them.

Where he got his big surprise was when he placed them in the option line up, and people started selecting them for speakers "BELOW" the RM40, including the 626R, Which itself, at the time, was only $1598 for the whole speaker!!!

But, in the end, the ZMan's assessment is right on the mark.

[john1970]

Dear everyone,

I have to say that I am in the camp of CornellAlum, Skynyrd, and Campindog.  While the capacitors might be an interesting upgrade the price/performance increase is way too high (excpet maybe for the RM/X speakers).   I have listened to RM/X with TRT caps and RM30s with standard caps (Axon/Solen blend) and honestly I CANNOT TELL A DIFFERENCE in the midrange or treble.  The only honest difference between the two speakers was the much better bass extension of the RM/X speakers.  Remember two things:

1) Brian won the CES show in 2002 with the RM40s using standard caps
2) The Axon/Solen blend is the same capacitor combination used in Tannoy's $10K+ speakers

I hope that this helps. Remember everyone's ears are different; if you can't tell the difference in a double-blind A/B test there is no difference.

[jgubman]

Also, when considering the price of the capacitor upgrade, remember that Brian hand-trims each capacitor to a very specific value.

That adds time/cost and isn't something you'd get just by ordering the parts from Madisound or TRT.