**Official RBH Owner's Thread** - Page 14

Anyone here an RBH reseller that would be willing to sell RBH accessories (back plates, etc. ) at a reasonable price? I would like to be able to support someone that contributes to this forum. If not, anyone have a reseller they like using?

Please PM me.
Thanks!

I got a guy...

PM sent!

I'll take the reference too, I am looking for some basic accessories and the resellers I talked to did not carry them (nor would they take a small order).

btw, Does anyone know the thread spec for the mounting screws for the C-4 and MM-4 speakers (in the CT-5.1 series)? The online documentation does not seem to include that info (or if it does, can someone point me to it)?

FYI, RBH just released its 2009 price list to dealers. Most of the prices are remaining unchanged with the exception of the Signature series. In general the prices of the Reference line are increasing (as much as 20% on certain freestanding units), while the prices on a few Reference In-Walls are decreasing slightly. New prices go into effect 1/1/09. If you are thinking about Reference grade freestand speakers, call your dealer now to order at 2008 prices! If you are thinking about Reference In-walls, wait a couple of weeks.

I do believe it is a standard 1/4-20 thread.

You are right. That is the thread. Thanks.

Dave

I posted this as a general thread, but since I received no response and I own RBH, I'm reposting here:

I have three RBH T-1/R as left, center, and right speakers in the my theater. They consist of a four driver mid-woofer array and a three driver tweeter array in each speaker, and like a number of speakers with multiple drivers (so I've read), the mid-woofer and tweeter arrays are actually wired out of phase.

When wired "correctly" to my amp, the left and right show a polarity of + for the tweeter and - for the mid woofers. The center is opposite. So either the speaker is internally wired backwards, or there's some other issue. This is easily fixable of course by swapping the center channel positive and negative to match the L/R. But it got me thinking, what is "correct" overall match in the whole system? My four surrounds are all RBH 61-SE monopoles, wired in phase, and all with a positive polarity. The subs have a positive polarity.

Is it correct to think that the LCR midwoofers should also be the positive polarity, and the tweeters the negative, since this would potentially blend better with the subs (crossing over at 80 in the AVR)

I've emailed RBH, but I thought I'd post here.

Thanks

It's official.
I bit the bullet and bought the Status Acoustic Decimos

Though I have absolutely nowhere in the house to use them, I couldn't resist. After getting a chance to audition them back in July for my Florida GTG there was no turning back. I've been looking to replace my Canton Ergo system in the theater. The Status Acoustic line would be one hell of an upgrade. I just don't know if I could ever afford a complete Status system. (if they ever release them)

My RBH TK-5CT's are still pulling duty in the living room and the TK-5C's in the kitchen.

For those with TK-5CT towers, are you running them as full range, or crossing them over to the sub.

I'm trying to decide whether to set them to "large" or "small" on the receiver. I know THX recommends everything @80Hz, but wanted to see you all were doing with yours.

I previsouly had a pair of TK-5CTs on demo in my showroom. I've run them both ways. Stand-alone the TK-5CTs have a nice full sound and work well in a simple two channel system (set to large). In a 5.1 or 7.1 system, I'd set them to small if you have a good sub. Otherwise, if your sub is on the marginal side, I try them as large, especially if your AVR will allow you to set your LFE output to LFE+Main.

I've 61 lse and I'm sure you'll love those decimo!

IMO, LCR should equally matched. If possible all vertically positioned as well.

I'm contemplating joining the club. I went down to the RBH factory. It is about 5 miles from my house. I am trying to deceide between the MC series and the SE line. I am leaning to the SE line because it it quite a bit nicer. My friend has the MC series in the wall 616C & 616 (L&R), & MC 6 for rears.

Do the SE sound that that much better than the MCs?

I liked them when I listend to them in their demo room, I wish I had the budget for the T or the reference series.

I don't really think there is a big difference in some of them, but others,...?. See if you can set up an audition of the MC-616C vs. the 661-SE and see what you think. The MC-616C is a great value. Now if you want to compare,... oh say the MC-6CT vs. the 1266-SE, well that's another story.

So, would a setup with a MC-616C (Center) 1266-SE (L&R), 61-SE or 66-SE (Surround) & 1010SEP work well. Also, would buying these one at a time work OK as the price of the pair of 1266-SE is just about what it would cost for whole setup of MCs. Or would I not need a sub with having 2 12" subwoofers in the main speakers?

No,... I would not suggest that. But if you wanted to save some money, I would highly recommend three MC-616C and a pr. of MC-44C or MC-6C. In fact, next time you visit RBH, ask Roger what he thinks of the 616C. For the money they compare very favorably to the 661-SE, 61-SE, 66-SE.

As for the 1266-SE,.... I own a pr. and love them. Do they NEED a sub,... probably not but I'd still recommend one. If you wanted to go with 1266-SE's I would definitely go with the 661-SE over an MC-616C. If I didn't already have two complete RBH set-ups (one SE and one MC) I would go for three MC-616C, two MC-44C and an SVS sub. I do have two RBH sub's that are pretty good but for the money I think you'd get a better sub from SVS or HSU.

Right now, I have two 12" subs Powered. Warfdale (Not sure of the model) & Boston Acoustics w/ 300 watt amp. They are pretty good with movies, but on music they lack. I also have a Boston Acc. A-150 II for (L&R) and a Boston Center (Not sure of model #) (It has 3 mid base and 2 Tweet) and then 2 Bookshelf Boston Rears, and 2 Tower Boston Surrounds.

I really wanted to try the RBH as they are a local company and as they seem to be a step above Boston Acoustics. would the Subs I have work in the meantime if I the 1266-SE and use my center channel and surrounds and then buy the center and the surrounds?

You could probably use your subs to fill in with the 1266-SEs, since the 1266-SEs already do a pretty good job on the LFE. I wouldn't use the BA center with the RBH L/R. You need the front speakers to be timbre matched. As 11427 points out, if you are leaning toward the 1266-SEs go with the 661-SE for the center. All three are in the Signature line and are designed to work well together. I would agree that the MC Series speakers are a great deal. They are 85+% the perfromance of the Signature line at about 60% the cost. Moreover that last 10-15% of the performance you would enjoy with the Signature line is IMO primarily realized if you have a treated room and intend on applying some power to the SEs. If this is not your situation, you should consider the MC units. I like the MC-6CT but it doesn't compare to the 1266-SE, in perfromance (or price). You will definiately want a seperate sub with the MC-6CTs.

BTW- I'm not sure that the MC-44 are still available.

after more concideration, and talking with Jon Fenn, Customer Service, I have decided to go with the MC line, as the 1266SE don't have a built in amp for the sub, like I thought. They would need serious power to run those speaker to actuall hear what they could do.

On question I have is. Has anyone compared the sound quality of the in wall speakers vs. the ones in the cabinet. I am leaning to the ones in the cabinet, so that I can experiement where to place them, but are the in wall ones as good. or even better?

In my opinion, the freestanding units are slightly better than the in-walls and obviously easier to reposition. That being said, I really like the in-wals and routinely install them for customers because they provide a nice clean appearance in the room -- WAF (the grills are paintable). If you go with the in-walls, I'd recommend the back boxes. IMO, they improve the sound and help isolate the sound from from the ajoining room. You won't go wrong with either.

Well I went back down to the RBH to get a couple templates and Roger happend to be walking by and he showed me a few different configurations. and I ended up getting a pair of the T-2/R, a 661-SE/R and 4 of the 61-SE/R. He made me an offer that I couldn't refuse. I guess the planets were alligned or something. He is a great guy and took the time to talk to me and my wife, even as busy as he is. His cell phone rang while we were talking and he told the person he wold call back. I thought it was his wife. Then he just said "Who is this". My wife said yes. What a valentines' day present. A dream come true. Looks like it would be a fun place to work.

I don't have them home yet, but I am excited to set them up. I will pick them up next week. One question I have is will the T2s overpower the 661 center channel so that I can't hear it, or would it better to ask if they would upgrade to a T1-R. I shouldn't really worry about this, but I am just curious.

Yup, Roger is a good guy as is John, Daren, Jared, Shane, Allen and the rest of the guys and gals there at RBH.

As for the 661 center,... I would not worry too much about it, it is a very good speaker, it'll hold it's own with the T1/R,... for the most part. So, if you can do it, I'd move up to a T1 center if possible, but don't sweat it too much if you can't.

First, congratulations - you're setup should be outstanding, and is very similar to what I have

When I had conversations with Shane at RBH, his feeling was, (and I agree), to NOT undersize the center - a local dealer loaned me a pair of 661-SE/R's prior to my ordering the T1/R's, and though I couldn't compare side by side, there was a difference.

For multi-channel, your probably already know that the center is most important. I don't know your room size, and stand/cabinet configuration, but if you think you need the performance of the T1/R's for the L/R, then you need it for the center.

What I did, to keep things somewhat reasonable, was do the three T1/R's as LCR, and did the non-reference 61-SE's as the side and rears - Shane actually recommended this. Do I miss the R's in the rear? If I had a pair to compare, who knows... But I can't "tell", and there's certainly no change in the sense of envelopment. In my case, the sides and rears are mounted a few feet above the listening position, so the timbre match is excellent. If you where mounting the sides and rears at ear level, the differences in the tweeters (the reference ScanSpeak tweeters are a smidgen less bright) might be noticeable...

Anyway, good luck and post some pictures when you are done. What are you driving the setup with?

The room has several possibilities. 12' x 25', 9' x 25' 12' x 15', or 10' x 18'. Can't decide b/c the PJ isn't here yet, hence the many options. The PJ will be a Panny 200AU. 720P. Haven't considered screen size yet.
The receiver is an Onkyo Receiver (TX-SR702, it has pre-outs for all the 7.1 channels, and since these can handle quite a bit more power, I have two Onkyo amps that I could bridge to one channel to power the L&R. They are rated at 150 / channel for two channel at 8 Ohm. The current receiver doesn't have the HDMI, but, other than that it is great. John recommend an o-line amp company, Emotiva, for these, but said that the ones I have would run them pretty good.

So, if I bridge them to one channel, they should be more than sufficient for the area, especially, since the T2s are rated at 4 Ohm, or do you think I should upgrade the receiver / Amp to one that has HDMI?

One way to upgrade to the T1R center, would be to get just the signature back ones, or I could make it a 5.1 system. What do you think.

When I went in there, I was seriously only planning on getting a set of the MCs with one set of of subs. But, when I listened to them, and with what Roger told me, I just could not turn it down. He did say that they came with a catch. That I had to tell my friends about the company. I will be excited to hear them at home. I can't believe the clarity for listening to regular music.

One other question I have for the speaker wire I will be running behind the walls. I was planning on running 16 or 14 gauge, but do you think that these speakers would run better on 12 gauge. My friend said it would be better to run at 12. Frankly, I'm not planning on getting any of those fancy Monster, or Kimber cable that runs $2 - $10 / foot. I don't think they are worth it. I'm mean, copper is copper, but would the bigger speakers need a 12 gauge wire?

Yes, as I had noted, I think you'd not find so much of a difference dropping to the 61-SE's in the side/rear, and use that money toward the T1/R center - that would be the better place to invest if budget is a concern.

I do also think you have a bit of a mismatch now between the quality of your speakers and the quality of your processing and amplification.

The T-1/R's will thrive and breath on unrestrained power, so somewhere along the line, a better quality AVR or at least dedicated high quality amplifier would be beneficial. Your center should be as well powered as your L/R.

And I think most would agree that yes, you should plan at one point in integrating an AVR with HDMI (really for the latest audio codecs - DTSMA-HD and TrueHD) and Blu-Ray if you're looking at achieving the maximum sonic experience of the speakers you are getting (from a multichannel perspective). Alternatively, if the Onkyo 702 has multi-channel analog inputs, you could connect a Blu-Ray player that has multi-channel analog outs, though many find this less flexible since you are relying on the speaker setup options in the player and not your AVR

What are you doing for a subwoofer, or did I miss that...?

For speaker wire, don't go crazy - Blue Jeans Cable makes good quality speaker wire that's in the realm of reasonable. I would think 14 gauge would be fine; 12 if you have some long runs, perhaps 30/40 feet or more, or just to "feel good" - which is what I did!


You are now officially rollerblading down the hill toward Upgradeville, where the traffic lights are almost always green, rarely yellow, and never red...

OK. I'll call John and see if he could make that change to the setup 1 T1R for the center.

As far as AVR and aps are concerned, would an upgrade to a new Onkyo, or Integra be better or, NAD, Rotel, Emotiva and any other ones you could suggest. Have you heard of the Emotiva?

They are just an online company John said they were good, but they only sell online and they were having some good deals. Also, would getting a Onkyo receiver with 7.1 preouts work well with getting a high quality amp, or just get a better quality receiver be best?

I'm getting a Blue Ray DVD. When the PJ gets here. (Our whole basement and upstars is under construction and I did not want to have more boxes to kick around. That's why I was hoping RBH would hold the boxes for me.) I just haven't figured out which one to get. The blue Rays I have been looking at are the Samsung 2500 and the Sony S550. I just want to make sure they have the current software and that the FW can be upgrade for future proofing. Also, they ave the multi-channel output without HDMI.

I also have a Philips HDD DVR, and Sony

As far a Sub woofer, I thought that the 2 10" Subs built into the T2R as the 1010-SEPR would be sufficient. I really did not get to crank up the music while I was at RBH. Bu, I thought they could be separated to have them as the subs and the T1 part as the L&R. Would they not be sufficeint?

I also have two 12' powered subs, Boston Acoustics 400W and Warfdale (Older) 250W (I think).

Let me know your opinions and thoughts.

I didn't see the 1010 SEP's in the original post - that would be more than sufficient, though again, not sure if the cost for the Reference 1010 will be so audible vs the "standard" Signature. Maybe others can chime in on that point...

So you are getting the T-1/R and 1010-SEP/R powered subs as your left and right?

You can also look at NOT doing the 1010's and getting some other subs - I use two JL Audio Fathom 113's instead, and they are incredible. There are others of course - many seem to like SVS as well - that will go lower than the 1010's - but you can't beat the stacked "look" of the two T-1/1010 combos

Regarding AVRs/processors - I had an Onkyo 905, and while good in certain ways, especially for the money, it had it's quirks, and Onkyo customer support is horrendous (read the 905 thread). Integra is part of Onkyo, and I don't see a material (technology) difference between them

I've heard decent things about Emotiva, but have not heard their products. My biggest concern right now is who survives this economic downturn, and while I have not idea about Emotiva's state of affairs, I'm wondering if smaller companies have long-term survival capacity (not trying to cast FUD on Emotiva - I think it's a fair question for any smaller company given these times...)

Of the names you mention, some might position Rotel as the best of the bunch; NAD has a decent reputation as well. In my case, I went for the Denon AVP-A1HDCI processor - it is an beast (and expensive), but I got a great deal. The detail and nuance it revealed versus the Onkyo 905 is astounding. (I'm using an Earthquake Cinonova Grande 7 300 wpc amp with it).

Some of the newest Pioneer AVRs were also well received - each pre/pro amp has different characteristics, so as you did with the RBH's, try and listen as much as possible.

Sony and Samsung both do a good job with firmware updates on the BR players...

But curious - why 720p on the projector???

Again, good luck with this - it's a fun time getting all this stuff together...

Yes. The reason for not a different brand of sub, is that Roger put these as a package deal as it was a mismatched set. Black Oak T1R & black piano gloss 1010-SEPR. It was a great deal.



OK, I'll look at the Rotel, Denon and Pioneers for the AVR. I am probably leaning to wards the Sony Blue Ray as it has all the features that I want, and it has the analog outputs to go with my receiver for the time being.


Well, I thought that I would wait until the 1080P technology gets a bit cheaper before I buy a 1080P. The Panny seems to have great review from the fourms and even with a 720P I believe it will look good to me with a Blue Ray player. No other reason. Right now I have a tube TV. So, it will be a great upgrade for me.

I agree with Thrang. You just spent God only knows how much on speakers and nothing on the video or receiver aspect of an HT. I think you should slow down a bit and rethink your funds.

Just a thought...
I think the T1 for the center might be overkill and the r's aren't needed for the surrounds. Invest that money in a new HDMI receiver (I like the Denons also) and an extra amp to power just the T1's. Than look at the 1080 PJ's. At the very least, bump it up to the 1080p panny or better yet, a JVC RS?. Pioneer makes a rebadge of the RS2 and is selling it at a steal right now (see the Pioneer Kuro thread in the +3k projector thread).

I will look at a HDMI Receiver. Is the Denon model the only one that has a good processor that also has pre-outs for 7.1. Or are there others at the same quality. I've always had Onkyo, so I have just been accustomed to theirs.

Also, I will look at the Pioneer, and Panny 1080P PJs to see what they are like.

I will talk to RBH and see if I can get the T1. I really like that Idea. If I can't I think the 661 will be sufficient. But I also know I need a good amp to run these. I have never had speakers this nice. I'm looking forward to setting them up once the basement is finished. Would the surrounds and the center channel need a seperate amp, or would the receiver power be sufficient?

I looked at the price for the Denon AVR, and it took my breath away. It is nice, but you're right, it is expensive.