John,
I think you should give serious consideration(and auditioning) to using RM-30C's for your left, right and center speakers and 626 Ribbons for you surrounds. Below I have some of my posted notes on trying two 626 Ribbons togehter as a center channel. I found that two midrange ribbons were demonstrably better than one. I also believe that a single midrange ribbon for the center is inadequate if you are using multiple ribbons for you left and right speakers. The is particularly true with the typical surround sound modes for movies, but also with Meridian Trifield for music. Based on my experience with this, I have ordered three RM-30's for my HT system.
Experiment using two VMPS 626 Ribbon monitors for a center channelI have not used either the LCR or the RM40, but have recently done an experiment that may be of interest to you. I have tried using a single horizontal VMPS 626R as a center channel and then tried two 626R's together as a center channel. This is on top of a 65" RPTV, and driven by a 7 X 200 watt B&K amp. I had the speakers angled down slightly so they target the primary listening locations which are 17' from the TV. My experience suggests that the two speakers side by side where a significant improvement over one. Just about everything was better from bass to high's, but most particular the lower midrange was much fuller. The bottom line for me was that dialog was easier to understand. Also, using two speakers, with two midrange drivers, spread the sound so that it was less pinpointed and therefore easier for the listener to believe it was coming form one of the characters on the screen, rather than the speaker on top of the TV. I also had a slight preference for using a 60 Hz crossover point and/or running the center as a large speaker.
So, two midrange drivers seem to be better than one, therefore, three must be better than two. That is why I will be buying one of the new RM30C speakers when they are available. I guess the alternative for you would be for you to buy another RM<40 and use it horizontally as a center speaker.
See the pic of my experiment (AKA – The Poor Man’s RM-30C) and then try to imagine a RM40 it its place.
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?action=gallery;area=browse;album=147Also, these speakers are not shielded, but used on top of the 65" RPTV keeps them far enough away from the focusing mechanism on the bottom so there is no problem of interference. I did put one of the speakers on the floor in front of the TV for a moment while I was getting ready to put it on top, and it clearly messed up the convergence. When I moved it away the convergence was back to normal.
I have tried the following center speakers: Standard Cones – Audio Physic Celsius, Dipole Planar – Eminent Technologies LFT-12, Monopole Ribbons- Bohleneder-Graebener Acculine A-2(equivalent of the Radia X-1), Soundline SL-7, VMPS QSO 626 Ribbon monitors( one and two together). Of all of these the two VMPS 626 Ribbons together were clearly superior in clarity of dialog, natural sound and providing a broader midrange sound source that does not pinpoint the sound source location.
