RM V60 is coming....7-6-5-4-3-2-1-0

Brian Cheney · « **Reply #60 on:** 12 Dec 2006, 02:49 am »

The VLA will have about three times the output level of a VSS, or about half the distortion for the same output level. Extension should be about the same.

James Romeyn · « **Reply #61 on:** 12 Dec 2006, 03:07 am »

Quote from: John Casler on 11 Dec 2006, 09:20 pm

PBS is now available with "all" new VMPS speakers that have separate binding posts for the the woofer systems.

This only excludes the 626 series...

All others can implement the PBS since it is now available as an "outboard" option.

Normal xo-onboard 626R have a QSO series xo between bass & mid, which prevents seperate inputs for these two drivers. When ordering the $450pr msrp OXO, one may specify seperate bass/mid inputs. This may cause another surcharge, must ask Brian. There is too little space inside the speaker cabinets for this upgrade.

James Romeyn · « **Reply #62 on:** 12 Dec 2006, 03:15 am »

Oh, how I love thee, in all thy glorious nakedness (no drivers)…let me count the ways. You shame all lovers that came before, for your goodness & beauty are much more, much more than skin deep…

Some history is in order, w/ all due respect for Monsieur Cheeney. Brian’s past assaults on the state of the art have met w/ mixed acceptance, and some might say for good reasons. VMPS’ B-52 of old, the SuperTower IIa/R was maybe decades ahead of the curve in bass & dynamics. This was not just my opinion but some of the most respected reviewers including Audio magazine’s Bert Whyte & Tony Cordesman. The late Mr. Whyte said in the late ‘70s-early ‘80s: “The question isn’t whether VMPS is ready for the digital age, it’s whether the digital age is ready for VMPS”. Tony compared its bass output to the then-$65k Infinity IRS III. The IIa/R’s upper range performance could be as smooth & integrated as the best I had heard at that time (IRS III), but only for farfield listening. And it must be said probably nobody ever could make them sound as good as Brian. At one CES he had them tuned so good (continuously tuning for 4-straight days) I could not believe it. Its drawbacks were size & looks. Later came the FF1 (Brian thankfully offered for awhile dual Scan Speak D29’s I suggested), then the FF1-Dynaribbon, then the FF1-SRE active.

The biggest milestones, though almost certainly lower selling than those mentioned above, were the SuperTower III SRE-active & the last VMPS supercar, the RM-X Elixir.
The III is just so big & heavy (450 lbs ea?) that, well, enough said there. I only heard it a couple times, but its dynamic capability was stupendous. Drum whacks & horn ensembles were just plain shocking. That leaves the X. I liked the sound above the lowest bass. But personally I thought & still do that the cavity for the woofers was too small, caused by the swooshes & the largish midrange subenclosure. Also, I was “impressed” by its physical shape, but I really can’t say I ever fell in love with it. It seemed remarkable, but not really worthy of a long term relationship. Again, too, it was too large for my room & too heavy to want to own it, though I did consider it a few times. Overall, now, soundwise, I’d take my RM30CDW w/ all options over any X even if it had the CDW.

I am supremely glad I trusted my intuition up to now. This new speaker my friends, is far & away the most beautiful piece of audio gear I have ever seen. It belongs in the Smithsonian as a statement of the best the field has to offer. It is under-priced. If D’Agostino (who I very much respect) made it, it would be well over an estimated $100k & the glossies would justify the price. You just won’t believe the looks of this thing. Our good audio engineer friend with whom we had lunch said it well when he said, while focusing his camera, “Good NIGHT these are beautiful speakers”. Every facet of them, front, back, both sides, up, down, invites the eyes to find more to take in. Brian himself said, looking at this corner

he has no idea how MLS wrapped the veneer around this arcing 90-degree corner shape.

I thought the satin rosewood finish was spectacular & would have bought them on the spot if cash was in hand. The grain in the rosewood on the side panels was so large & impressive that it shames the rosewood on my $5k Martin guitar-really. Then while we ate lunch at a nearby gourmet restaurant, drinking champagne in celebration ($3.99 Chinese lunch special in gorgeous downtown San Pablo) the crew took to the satin finish w/ the piano glazing compound. Upon our return the grain depth had increased so much that I could not believe it. How could it get better? Yet it did.

This speaker is going to rock the state of the art, both sonically & cosmetically, right on its ear. I would absolutely hate to be the owner of a $10k + boutique brand who walks into the VMPS room at THE Show ’07. I can’t wait to hear this speaker & get a pair home.

I predict it will not need a large space for optimum performance. It will probably work well in anything from a smaller than average to very large room. In my future (God willing) 17x27' room they will be the cat's meow. The great news is that cosmetically they will also fit fine in an average sized room. The previously mentioned models above all needed significantly larger than average rooms, for both cosmetic & audio performance reasons.

The show amplification should have excellence similar to the 60: each channel powered by an Atmosphere 200W OTL monoblock. The ceiling bounce inherent in the performance last show should be banished, courtesy of technology in the speaker itself (hate to brag but I advised using this technology way more than a year ago).

BTW, I’m a dealer again. As Brian says, send money, soon & often.

Oh, BTW, the new woofer options will offer similar audio excellence, if not maybe breaking new cosmetic barriers.

More to come later as Brian allows.

Brian Cheney · « **Reply #63 on:** 12 Dec 2006, 03:24 am »

The finish is seamless and flawless. How you do that with rosewood veneer is beyond me. Glaze and buffing for two hours add a depth and tactile quality I haven't seen from veneers sprayed with multiple coats of clear lacquer.

It now remains to be seen if we can post photography that does the speaker's beauty justice.

warnerwh · « **Reply #64 on:** 12 Dec 2006, 06:12 am »

Well for only 19k you get two of the Very Large Monster bass towers and the V60's. That's alot of quality hardware. Glad my room isn't big enough for these because I can't afford them.

Judging by Jim's description now I'm foaming at the mouth

in anticipation of just seeing them. If there's anybody in the Northwest who needs speakers please buy a pair of these so I can see and hear them first hand

For the life of me I can't figure what the wings will be for. This is a cdwg design and you'd think there will only be one line of midrange drivers. The V must be original as I don't believe I've seen anything with this shape in a speaker over the last 35 years. Maybe a row of midranges with two arms of tweeters? Or maybe vice versa.

I'm pretty sure an early release of photos is in order

James Romeyn · « **Reply #65 on:** 12 Dec 2006, 06:30 am »

Warner you kill me....

I second your response that it's good your room won't hold them. Along these lines, anyone who has a medium to very large room, who can not scrape together about $8900 minus courtesy discounts (don't need a sub if you already have one): Do not visit the VMPS booth at THE Show. You will regret it.

I'm going to demand Brian put bright lights on them at THE Show. (His normal practice being a very dark audition room.) He should even rent spots if necessary.

warnerwh · « **Reply #66 on:** 12 Dec 2006, 06:47 am »

Jim: Will you be getting a pair of the V60's?

James Romeyn · « **Reply #67 on:** 12 Dec 2006, 06:57 am »

I'm not like the others. I don't kiss & tell......

PLMONROE · « **Reply #68 on:** 12 Dec 2006, 02:14 pm »

Quote from: RibbonSpeakers.net on 12 Dec 2006, 06:30 am

Warner you kill me....

I'm going to demand Brian put bright lights on them at THE Show. He should even rent spots if necessary.

Hay, maybe a blimp over the show building illuminated by a anti aircraft spotlight

PLMONROE · « **Reply #69 on:** 12 Dec 2006, 02:52 pm »

Ok, OK forget the blimp and spotlight. However for once I have a serious suggestion. How about T-shirts? Some with a picture, or at the very lest "VMPS RM-V60" would give you lots of 'walk around advertisement"' at what I would think would be a very cost effective price.

seadogs1 · « **Reply #70 on:** 12 Dec 2006, 04:02 pm »

Okay the V60's sound too good to be true. Would anyone who gives courtesy discounts PLEASE PM me on what price I could get them for?

James Romeyn · « **Reply #71 on:** 12 Dec 2006, 04:12 pm »

PL
T-shirt is slick idea. Wonder if there's time to do it still. We still have to get a decent picture of it. We don't have a studio & it's pouring rain now.

Our audio eng buddy suggested nice microfiber cleaning cloths w/ the vmps logo. I though that was nice too!

Brian said he will send pics to his audio publishing associates to pique their interest & get them in the booth to take pics & do a write up.

Best regards people!

James Romeyn · « **Reply #72 on:** 12 Dec 2006, 04:38 pm »

Brian said yesterday that MLS can supply any finish. I suppose this includes wood or automotive. I estimated 6 month lead time as Brian previously mentioned, but lo & behold he said "3 months". Add 1-3 weeks at the Plant to get them stuffed, tuned, packed in their wood crates & in the truck.

B said piano Makassar (zebrawood) & piano black are currently expected. The huge radius seamless corners on this thing will make your heart stop!

Brian Cheney · « **Reply #73 on:** 12 Dec 2006, 04:59 pm »

32pcs of the RM 60 cabinets (plus VSS and VLA cabinets and RM 2 samples) leave Guangdong end of January 10 days before Chinese New Year and arrive here 19 days later. We will ship first orders end of February. To start we offer piano black, macassar ebony and rosewood, satin or piano finish on the veneers.

We photograph outdoors in the late afternoon for best light and will post pix as soon as available.

John Casler · « **Reply #74 on:** 12 Dec 2006, 05:56 pm »

Quote from: Marbles on 12 Dec 2006, 04:35 pm

This was an interesting thread (April of 2005) regarding a product BC should bring out ...at least the top two posts are regarding that:

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=18135.10

Maybe it gives us some clues....

Quote from: Marbles

You know, the planars BC uses only need a cabinet deep enough to obsorb the back wave, and the Ribbon tweeter is in it's own cabinet. Why not have BC make you a custom speaker that is 6" deep for the Planars and ribbon and use the sub for the bass?

Quote from: RibbonSpeakers.net
Yes, as usual, you seem to have the best idea. All I'd need is like you say, about 6-8" depth stuffed with polyester batting or whatever. I'm sure the fact that the RM30 6-1/2" mid-bass is high-pass x'd at 80Hz or so means they require only a moderate enclosure volume for them also. But someone besides Brian would have to make them. He has about as much interest in custom cabinets as doubling his tax bill every year.

Actually, a speaker system as described above, with no PRs of course because they need no bass extension, paired with a top-notch sub that goes to 20Hz, would be about the best system on earth by my standards: moderate size with the best possible performance.

Hi Rob,

If my memory serves me correctly you and several others, had ask for "something" like this back in the Harmonic Discord days. Didn't you want a long tall "LINE" of Ribbons with a Bass Base ala Newform?

This speaker also has "roots" in the Super Tower III Special Ribbon Edition, in that it has the Ribbon array, the "outboard Bass Towers", and the OXO (although a passive one).

The new (and Brilliant) cabinet design is the incredible ingredient that makes this the great speaker it will be.

I have to bite my lip (fingers) to keep from saying more.

Dec 15th should hopefully tell the tale.

John Casler · « **Reply #75 on:** 12 Dec 2006, 06:13 pm »

Quote from: Marbles on 12 Dec 2006, 06:05 pm

Yes!!!

In the HD daze that was the design...this new design talked about in that thread was in reaction to Jim's need for a small footprint cabinet. Therefore we weren't talking about a sub acting as a base for the midrange panel, but rather as a seperate unit placed elsewhere in the room.

Seems like BC took the simple design talked about and made it much more than that....

Yes this speaker design as I said is "brilliant", in that it is a chameleon to your room in a far greater capacity, than previous offerings.

I'm very proud of Big B, truly living up to his "Sonic Sorcerer from El Sobrante" moniker with what promises to be a truly "Magical" sonic capability.

That "new" ingredient alone is something I look forward to hearing.

Brian Cheney · « **Reply #76 on:** 12 Dec 2006, 06:29 pm »

Er, I believe the moniker "Sonic Sorcerer from El Sobrante" was bestowed upon me by you.

If pressed to describe myself, I'd say I'm an audio nut with an engineering background and a lot of experience.

John Casler · « **Reply #77 on:** 12 Dec 2006, 06:49 pm »

Quote from: Brian Cheney on 12 Dec 2006, 06:29 pm

Er, I believe the moniker "Sonic Sorcerer from El Sobrante" was bestowed upon me by you.

If pressed to describe myself, I'd say I'm an audio nut with an engineering background and a lot of experience.

Actually that is correct, and again from the Harmonic Discord days.

I was going to post it as "Sonic Sorcerer, and audio nut with an engineering background, and a lot of experience, from El Sobrante", but it got truncated.

Brian Cheney · « **Reply #78 on:** 12 Dec 2006, 06:59 pm »

We megalomaniacs need a moniker as protracted as possible.

warnerwh · « **Reply #79 on:** 12 Dec 2006, 10:16 pm »

It's interesting as I'd wondered what you could do to significantly better what is offered now. You proved it doable. Now I'm looking forward to see the "Art in Architecture" part of your engineering abilities as well as the speaker engineering.