RM40 Owners; what did you demo them against ?

rblnr · « **Reply #20 on:** 29 Oct 2003, 02:41 pm »

Not the made-to-order; speakers from the Nautilus line. I think it's the 80x series.

James Romeyn · « **Reply #21 on:** 3 Nov 2003, 02:40 am »

Quote from: Tyson

...I've also heard the Legacy Whispers, and I would not put them in the same class as the Dunlavy's, let alone the 40's.
...

Tyson
I have been curious for a lont time about them. Would you post a review & include the room & treatment, electronics & setup? Where'd you hear them? I assume your reference is the 40, so if you want to compare to that, all us 40 owners will probably find that enlightening.

James Romeyn · « **Reply #22 on:** 3 Nov 2003, 02:50 am »

Quote from: Iguana Man

Thanks jgubman, John and Tyson,

Has anyone compared these to B&W's, say the Nautilus 800's ?

I'd like to hear more.....so keep it coming folks!

I am an absolutely biased source, having owned only VMPS (or my own custom speakers) for close to 20 years. But if the N800 is the $11,000 15" woofer model, the RM2SEs ($2690 MSRP) beat them, handily. I don't know about the other VMPS owners, but I generally disregard any & everything out there with a cone or dome midrange. I may like the cone/dome very much, but since the Neo TRTs arrived, have never heard anything I'd seriously consider to replace them.

SWG255 · « **Reply #23 on:** 4 Nov 2003, 01:11 am »

I can probably arrange to audition the Whispers since there's a dealer near me, however i didn't before choosing the RM40s because they're over double the MSRP of the RM40. I was originally interested in the Legacy Focus 2020 with Steradian processor, but what I read here and in other audio forums convinced me to put the Von Schweikert and VMPS speakers at the top of my listening list. When i found the local Legacy dealer didn't have the Focus speakers to audition, that sealed it for me.

I have to say that I admire and agree with mr. Duddleston's design goals for the top of the line Legacy speakers, i just suspect he doesn't carry them out with the attention to crossover details that Brian does. Again, I must stress that this is pure speculation on my part, since I haven't auditioned his speakers, and they have received good press too over the years.

Tyson · « **Reply #24 on:** 4 Nov 2003, 01:24 am »

Actually the owner of the Whispers went on a factory tour of Legacy and agreed that the crossover is one area that could be improved (with better parts quality).

As for the sound, what can I say that they sounded really big, really dynamic, and a but unrefined. I thought they were good speakers, but I like the Dunlavy SC-V's better, the V's are a more refined speaker, IMO. And the 40's are a clear step up over the V's, so there you have it. . .

Tyson · « **Reply #25 on:** 4 Nov 2003, 01:41 am »

SWG,
I was following the replies to your shootout over on AA, and I did find it amusing - you see, VS is a bit of a darling over there, and I think your review made some people feel threatened

I mean it was like they were pulling out every excuse they could think of as to why the comparison was not valid instead of just accepting that you simply thought the 40's were a better speaker (and thus much better value for $$).

Honestly, after having the 40's, it's difficult to really be much impressed w/cone & dome speakers.

Iguana Man · « **Reply #26 on:** 4 Nov 2003, 12:03 pm »

SWG255 & Tyson

I cannot follow the mentioned comparison thread @ AA because my workplace blocks the that part of their site. On top of that, I am not hooked up yet @ home to surf the net. Is there any chance you could post some of it here, or email me the shootout and some of the responses?

Thanks

Edited; I think I just found the shootout thread - my apologies, I should have looked around here a bit more before I posted the above request.

Q · « **Reply #27 on:** 5 Nov 2003, 01:49 pm »

Having owned the Legacy focus, the Classic, and heard the Whisper at Legacy's factory, I can tell you this. If B. Duddleston would put some profit into drivers, crossovers, and build quality, he would have some really hard to beat speakers. As it is, the drivers used are typically mediocre at best, except for those nice Eton mids. Personally, Ive never heard a speaker image as well as the Whispers, but at the sacrifice of a really crappy freq response, less than good upper end, and resonant bass. What the Focus and most other Legacy speakers DID do nicely is have plenty of upper bass (70-250Hz) capabilities which are hard to come by in most systems.
Q

Iguana Man · « **Reply #28 on:** 13 Nov 2003, 04:07 pm »

I bought.........ready ? I know what your thinking...

........

Well, I finally bought what I've been dreaming of owning for some time.

The downside is, no RM40's for me....at least not in the immediate future.

Thanks for everyones input to my questions, but for now, I'm the proud owner of a mint, 1970 RT Charger with a 440 4bl Magnum !!!

John Casler · « **Reply #29 on:** 13 Nov 2003, 04:19 pm »

Quote from: Iguana Man

I bought.........ready ? I know what your thinking... ........

Well, I finally bought what I've been dreaming of owning for some time.

The downside is, no RM40's for me....at least not in the immediate future.

Thanks for everyones input to my questions, but for now, I'm the proud owner of a mint, 1970 RT Charger with a 440 4bl Magnum !!!

Well, there's always the 626Rs

They go well with a Charger

Iguana Man · « **Reply #30 on:** 13 Nov 2003, 04:22 pm »

Quote from: John Casler

Quote from: Iguana Man
I bought.........ready ? I know what your thinking... ........

Well, I finally bought what I've been dreaming of owning for some time.

The downside is, no RM40's for me....at least not in the immediate future.

Thanks for everyones input to my questions, but for now, I'm the proud owner of a mint, 1970 RT Charger with a 440 4bl Magnum !!!

Well, there's always the 626Rs

They go well with a Charger

Thanks John, but it's going to be the RM40's or nothing! I'll be back, don't you worry!!

audiojerry · « **Reply #31 on:** 13 Nov 2003, 04:50 pm »

Quote from: Iguana Man

I'm the proud owner of a mint, 1970 RT Charger with a 440 4bl Magnum !!!

Very cool.

Isn't one of these worth a lot of money? I bought a '67 Coronet R/T 440 back in '69 for $1900. I went through lots of rear tires. A couple years ago, I read where one in mint condition was worth around $30k!.

Iguana Man · « **Reply #32 on:** 13 Nov 2003, 05:24 pm »

Quote from: audiojerry

Quote from: Iguana Man
I'm the proud owner of a mint, 1970 RT Charger with a 440 4bl Magnum !!!

Very cool. Isn't one of these worth a lot of money? I bought a '67 Coronet R/T 440 back in '69 for $1900. I went through lots of rear tires. A couple years ago, I read where one in mint condition was worth around $30k!.

30K is a drop in the bucket compared to what a fully restored, mint, just like it's off the showroom floor 69 Hemi RT Charger can go for. I saw one on ebay that you could buy for $85,000 !!!!

ekovalsky · « **Reply #33 on:** 13 Nov 2003, 05:34 pm »

85K? That's nuts. I paid less than that for my Lexus SC430 with a Mark Levinson sound system plus my not-so-shabby home rig...

The mobile Levinson sound system is fantastic, I like it better than there home products. Car's not too bad either

Iguana Man · « **Reply #34 on:** 13 Nov 2003, 05:50 pm »

Quote from: ekovalsky

85K? That's nuts.

Actually, it's supply and demand. The older (68,69 & 70) mopars if in mint condition are rare. More so with a 426 Hemi 6 pack motor. This motor epitomized the "muscle car era". I know it's a lot of bread, but the cars demand a high price because there are so few around in fully restored condition. My Charger RT is in damn near mint condition and I paid less for it than 3 VMPS Super Towers

Hmmmm, it's funny you say it's nuts. Think about what non-audiophiles would say about how much you spend on audio equipment !

PLMONROE · « **Reply #35 on:** 13 Nov 2003, 07:58 pm »

Hummm! In late 1958 I traded my '54 Corvette in on a 58 Plymouth for $600. Pretty shrewd of me eh?

Iguana Man · « **Reply #36 on:** 13 Nov 2003, 08:01 pm »

Quote from: PLMONROE

Hummm! In late 1958 I traded my '54 Corvette in on a 58 Plymouth for $600. Pretty shrewd of me eh?

As they say......Hindsight is 20/20

Redbone · « **Reply #37 on:** 13 Nov 2003, 08:23 pm »

In 1974 I bought a 68 383 Roadrunner, dark metallic green, somewhere around $1000. Black interior, bench seats, no AC, but very fast. I've always thought that the 383s had an edge over the 440s, although I have no emperical evidence for that statement, I just felt that they would go faster. Nice cars, very sexy.

I now have a 281 ci Mustang GT. It has electric windows, leather seats, decent stereo and AC. It does 13.8 - 13.9 in the 1/4 mile and is easily as fast as the 383 Mopars, stock. It is 1/2 second faster than the 400 ci GTOs of that era. It handles twice as well as any of those cars and regularly gets 20mpg with almost zero emissions. Try that with a Mopar.

The Roadrunner was a total loss, I don't want to talk about it, what a fool I was. I've managed to make it 3 1/2 incident free years with the GT, although she is now in the shop for body work after I spun her out hitting 3rd on an entrance ramp and went through a chain link fence backwards.

Nice thing about hi-fi. I don't think that I can crash one. I can probably break it but it's not the same as, say, spinning out at 85 mph.

doug s. · « **Reply #38 on:** 14 Nov 2003, 12:50 pm »

redbone, what color car is that mustang? as a resident of fredneck county, yust west of fredneck, i wanna make sure to keep clear, when out i'm cruisin' on one of my 'cycles, or alfas or pantera...

i, too, like to have fun on the road, but i also know to keep it sane. mite wanna save the wild stuff for track time at summit point.

doug s.

John Casler · « **Reply #39 on:** 14 Nov 2003, 03:00 pm »

Pantera? did you say Pantera?

The VMPS of Performance Cars.

I had two of them, which I used to race the last one (club racing) in Class A Production, against the likes of TurboPorsches, Jags, Lotus, and Vettes basically.

Balanced and blueprinted, 351 Cleveland Ford engine, 4 bolt mains, Torquer Hi-rise intake manifold, Holley 850 double pumper, Isky roller Cam, 12.5:1 TRW pistons, Boss High Compression Heads, Equal length tube headers, Transitorized ignition, and a few other goodies that took it to a rated HP of around 440. It would easily hit 7500 rpm without to much sign of strain (although I didn't make it a practice)

60 mph in first gear!

with 4 more to go.

And I agree, once you have really "let it eat" on the track, street hijinks loose some excitment.

Had to let the car go though

.... Seems the ex-wife liked to dance too much....

with me in the coutroom