Hi Trev,
I sent you a PM, but thought I might post a few things here too since there are some things suggested that might benefit from additional information.
First sorry to hear of your problems, in your new room, and I tried to contact you after our last conversation, but since you moved all the info I have didn't allow me to get through. Glad you surfaced here.
Also, it seems that you have worthy "goals", but on a whole it is difficult to know if any other speaker can or could produce what you want in the same room, or have the adjustment and flexibility to do so, like your RM-40's.
If it helps, I actually have the "exact" speaker and model you have in my system.
That said, we have to look at the issues you have to deal with no matter what speaker you end up with:
1) You have a "highly reflective" room with hard surfaces
2) You sit very far field at 19' away
3) You sit very close to the rear wall (if the room is 22' long)
4) You have sloping ceiling which can sometimes be a blessing or a bear
5) You have a "combo" system which can also produce issues
6) You are using the Tact which adds a whole new dimension of adjustments and equalization to deal with.
The what you want is:
1) HUGE sound
2) Loud Sound
3) Dynamic Sound
4) Deep Bass
5) Richness of Sound
6) Ease of placement
What your not getting currently:
1) Too small Soundstage (width and height)
2) Lack of imaging, definition and delineation (singer blending with guitars)
Hope that covers it.
Now strangely enough, what your not getting are generally thought to be some of the strengths of the RM40.
All speaker systems will perform based on their "interaction" with the room, coupled with their specific performance qualities.
Your RM40's have qualities and adjustments that will likely make them a speaker that will be hard to beat as you look at the overall picture.
Now that is not to say some other speaker might not actually "fill the bill" in some way, but here is what you are dealing with.
In that set up you have hard surfaces that are causing "significant" reflection at a 19' listening distance.
Additionally, the "sloped" ceiling no doubt also plays a large role.
And the kicker, is the closeness to the rear wall.
What does that yield? Huge amounts of reflected, sound, lots of comb filtering, and all of that adds up to "phasy, and muddy" imaging.
The reason for your "narrow" soundstage, is likely due to a less than "equilateral" triangle with a "long" listening distance. What this does, is create a sonic fog in the room, but because the ribbons have rather controlled dispersion (even at that distance) your soundstage width, is "limited" to only the width of the speakers.
I would bet that the ceiling is also causing issues with the soundstage height.
A higher dispersion speaker (dynamic cone) would not improved that except to have less clarity overall. This might seem to widen the stage, at the expense of overall definition, since even more sound reaching you would then be from reflection.
Again, it might be such that you might happen upon a speaker that "fits" but it is a lottery, since few can be adjusted as much.
Please don't take this as a discouragement to "listen around", I might (of course) suggest looking at the combination of elements I have suggested and see some of those might be adjusted to give you some improvement.
I would look at the following, in no particular order:
1) Move to more nearfeild position
2) Move further away from the rear wall (also accomplished by #1)
3) Widen the speaker placement if possible
4) Change the convergence angle to converge "behind you" rather than in front of you, or just the opposite (meaning play with toe in convergence a bit)
5) Add room treatment to all first reflection points
6) Add room treatment to rear wall
7) Consider alternative set ups reversing the current one, or even placement on the "long wall"
8 ) Tilting the RM40s back slightly
9) Making sure there are no coffee tables or other hard furniture between you and the speakers
10) Placing a rug on the floor, between you and the speakers if the floor is reflective
12) With a movable chair, try various listening distances, starting with 10' to more closely match the 12' speaker width, and then moving rearward, (in 6" movements) to see how soundstage is affected.
13) Also consider other room treatment behind and between the speakers.
I know, lots of stuff, but at that level with a room like that, I don't thing you'll find a "plug and play" speaker. In fact, at that level of speaker, the norm will be a more precision set up, rather than less.
Hope those ideas help, and feel free to contact me if you have any additional questions.
Have fun aa
I want to thank everybody for their help. Please keep the recommendations coming.
I have biamped my 40's in the past, but everytime I did, I lost some cohesiveness. I've used a Crown K2 and I can't remember the other pro amp that I used (it was another highly recommended French piece? RCS maybe?). I have also biamped with 4 Tact 2150s.
I have had multiple sets of VMPS speakers. The RM2, 626r paired with dual dedicated subs, and the RM40's paired with a larger. I am very accustomed to them and have been a very loyal customer to them, both Brian and John Casler, for a long time. Both of those guys have taken extremely good care of me. I think I have just gotten to the point where I want to try something new.
I really know what the 40's are capable of. I have had them setup where they were outstanding. Others heard the system and thought it was remarkable, but I had them setup perfectly. I don't have that luxury anymore. I really need a speaker that isn't as susceptible to placement issues. The speakers need to be setup relatively close to the wall.
I also gave up on biamping because I got tired of having so much gear all of the time. I decided to go out and buy the Mac 501's because I wanted to have a set of good, high power, high current monos. Also, so many manufacturers are actively amping their subs now. The 501's may be overkill for my use now.
I got into the tact RCS because I realized that I would not have the perfect room. My setup is always mixed use with my music and A/V for the rest of the family. This adds to my setup problems.
The last thing is that I am way too busy now to be constantly screwing with the system. Work has gotten really busy and I have been spending my free time doing many other things. When I want to change things in the system, I always really want to change the speakers. I don't know why. It's probably because it's usually the most dramatic and easiest change I can make.
Thanks for your continued support.
