Energy Owners Thread - Page 1159

How are you going to regret your purchase of RC-10s? Either you have a $1000 budget or a $400 budget? Only you can decide what you can afford... If you can swing the money for the 70's, then by all means get them! But, if your budget just won't allow for it, then the RC-10s are very good in their own right!

You can pre-order the rosenut RC-70's for $599 each if you want.

http://www.vanns.com/shop/servlet/it...res/542209126/

Not trying to sway your decision...... just pointing out other options for you.

Aww crud. With the prices of the RC-10s and RC-LCR right now, this makes me want to buy them so bad.

I would just have a situation where I need to sell my current pair of CB-10s and the CC-10 center speaker. They are only about 2 months old too.

Oh man. I've been telling myself I don't need the 70's because I don't really have the best space for them. But at that price I couldn't resist. I guess I'll start looking for a new house now, haha.

Damn, that's a pretty nice deal right there. If I could have been patient for a couple of weeks I would have saved $200 on the pair I just purchased.

If you just purchased your RC-70's call Vanns. They may price match their own sales.

hah! glad to know I'm international! thanks guys....

EDIT: I just checked my google analytics data, and unsurprisingly Canada is #2 to the USA in number of visitors to my site (edging out those pesky Brits ), but India is #8, and #4 among non-natively English speaking countries (it's hard to top those tech crazy northern Euros).

The Micros will be WAAAAAAAAY better than your TV speakers and should be plenty given your budget, room size, and the fact that you live in an apartment and can't crank it up. They are definitely a good "starter set" as you say. You will be shocked at how good tiny speakers like that can sound.

You have to understand that this is a real "enthusiasts" forum and there will always be push towards bigger, better, and more expensive... but that doesn't mean that a little sub/sat micro setup cannot sound really darn good. It's all about balancing your budget and expectations. A setup of tiny speakers like that cannot pound a big dedicated theater room and make it feel like you are in the movie theater, but they can sound really darn good in a small room and especially if you don't have a frame of reference for what bigger/better speakers can do.

If you find you want to upgrade in the future, you can always move the Micros to surrounds and get new front 3 speakers and a bigger subwoofer later on down the road.



I would actually recommend you get an even cheaper receiver, given your budget. Unless there are specific features you want in the fancier model, you shouldn't be spending more on the receiver than on the speakers.

In terms of receiver, your needs are pretty basic -- you just need a 5.1 model that can handle HDMI switching. Every modern receiver will do this and will also provide an auto setup program to help you calibrate your setup. Then, you just have to decide what other features you want.... do you need 3D support? networking? a USB cable to plug in your iPod? or the ability to stream music wirelessly to it from your iPhone?

I would recommend watching out for open box clearance deals or steep sales going on right now, I bet you can get a really nice receiver for $250 or less.

For example, this Denon 1612 is a very nicely featured 5.1 model for $230 as a refurb from A4less (which is an authorized dealer so you still get 1-yr warranty): http://www.accessories4less.com/make...eceiver/1.html

Dammit Vanns, tempting me like this...

They absolutely will, Vann's has a holiday price guarantee Nov 1-Jan 7. Get your $200 back!

I was just given a credit for my 3x LCR purchase.

Has anyone determined yet whether the newly available RC-70's are equivalent to the older RC-70's?

Absolutely incredible!!!! I called vanns and they refunded me $200 from the RC-70's I just purchased!!! How do you like that? I recommend anyone else who did like me give them a call and get a lil cash back. This made my day. Vanns is the best :-D

If you decide to go with the RC-10s, there are a few stands that will accommodate them and bring the tweeters up to ~36-40" high. They have been mentioned on this thread in the past week or two; I can't find the posts at the moment to get the links for you (I believe they were Sanus & OmniMount brands), but if you need help finding them, let me know.

Also, these wall mounts run about $60/pair and are (again, according to past posts) capable of holding the RC-10s:

Pinpoint AM-40B
http://www.amazon.com/Pinpoint-AM-40...3807163&sr=8-8

The nice thing about them is they rotate +/- 90 degrees horizontally, and +/- 7 degrees vertically, so fairly configurable while still accommodating large speakers (upto 50 lbs). I ordered a pair of them to mount my RC-10 surrounds, which I will be working on this weekend.

I ran Audyssey on my RC-50s and LCR today with the ports plugged on all speakers for the first time. It set the 50s as large, the LCR as small with the crossover at 40Hz. This certainly is outside what people commonly think these speakers should be set at. Would setting the 50s to small and crossing them as well as bumping the LCR crossover point up defeat the purpose of running Audyssey in the first place?

no, crossovers have nothing to do with Audyssey and changing them most certainly does not defeat the purpose, in fact it is recommended.

read up: http://batpigworld.com/fadq.html#audyssey

and: http://www.audyssey.com/blog/2009/05/small-vs-large/

Hi.
Planning to upgrade my Ascend 340SEs to PSB Image T6/C5 or Energy RC70/RCLCR. Is RC70/RCLCR considered step-up speakers than PSB Image T6/C5? The actual selling price is almost same but MRSP for Energy is much higher.
I'm not a critical listener. 80% movies and 20% music. But want better(warmer or laidback) music performance and a bit larger soundstage than what Ascend 340SE can offer. I would love to try Sierra Towers but it's out of my budget.

Thanks.

Part of the (former) higher cost of the Energy RC set is that the cabinets are real wood veneer, whereas the PSB T setup is vinyl (I think). The RC set has nicer looks and better build quality, imho, compared to the PSB T series.

In terms of sound, the PSB set is probably more neutral, while the RC set is more "warm" (midbass emphasis, slight rolloff of upper mids/highs).

What makes you think these will sound better vs. the 340's? From their inception the Rc line was suppose to compete with mid level lines from the likes of Paradigm & Psb. How they all sound is purely subjective of course but I can tell you right now my Sierra 1 NrT'S sound much better than my RC or any PSB models(Image & Imagine B's) I've heard. I know the Sierra's are above the 340 but from all accounts 340 can pretty much hold their own...now if your basing this decision on aesthetic that is entirly a different story because the look of the 340 is ho hum.

My 2 cents...Bill

Thanks Bill for the comment.
Ascend 340SE is absolutely great speaker for its price, no doubt about it. I wouldn't be surprised if PSB T6 and Energy RC70 do not sound better than 340SE in terms of details, accuracy and whatever the terms to describe the sound quality. But I don't expect T6, RC70 are worse than 340SE as well, or are they? I just want speakers with bigger soundstage for my karaoke machine(don't laugh :P) and a little warmer, laidback sound for music. And similar performance as 340SE for movies. If spending $1300 for tower speakers won't achieve this, I'll probably wait until I have more fund.


I almost made up my mind to get RC70 but wasn't sure if the new stock at Vanns are same quality as old RC70 as they discountinued a while ago. And no one knows how they get them in stock. I don't really care how the speakers look, in fact I've seen T5 at my friend's house and it looked better than 340SE.

I ordered the RC-70 bundle that included the RCLCR, RC-10 and SUB when they were $1600 and they arrived today. I almost gave myself a hernia bringing the boxes inside. The towers are 60 lbs a piece. When I ordered them, I asked Vann's what speaker stand they recommended for the RC-10s to use as rears and he recommended the Sanus NF-36 which I also ordered.

http://www.vanns.com/shop/servlet/it...625/sanus-nf36

I have two things to figure out now. What gauge speaker wire and brand, and should I used connectors and if so, what type? Any suggestions? Connecting to a new Onkyo 709 receiver.

I can't really answer that question since I've never heard the 340's. The folks over at Ascend have always spoken very highly regarding the 170's and 340's. Form all accounts it is my understanding the 340's can really crank but like most owners of Ascends products they eventually gravitated to the Sierras....

I can only reflect & talk about my own experience here having owned RC30's vs the NrT's...I would see this as a lateral move imho.

Regards, Bill

The speaker wire guage depends on how long your runs are if you have to run really long wires you will need thicker wires. 14-16 should work fine unless you have a really big room. If you are wiring this behind the wall look into the in wall cables. I'd get bananna plugs for the reciever side of the wires and either bare wire or spade/banana plugs depending on how much room you have behind the speaker. For brands of cable just don't spend too much, monoprice or blue jeans cable have great cables at a great price (HDMI as well). If you need something locally the lamp cable at home depot etc actually looks and works good, comes in at a good price. I know that sounds strange but it really doesn't look much different than normal speaker cable and works just as good.

Thanks! I'm running along the baseboards which have a nice gap under them. Longest run is about 50 feet.

Hmmmmmmmmmm.

There is a pair of used RC-10s in rosenut color available on eBay.

Click Here

Good question, I too, would like to hear opinion from someone who heard both old build and new build RC-70s.

I must have missed noticing the price change on the Veritas 6.3 at Vann's -- it was 799 a month or so ago, but now I see it is 699. Hard to keep up with all this price movement. Also hard to pull the trigger when prices continue to move south.

What Energy components (and receiver) would you guys recommend for a ~$500ish (or lower) 2.1 system? I was also wondering about the Energy RC Micro 5.1 system. Mainly, can I use it as a 2.1 or 3.1 system? Also, what sub does it have and what receiver would be good for it?

^ Are you open to floorstanding speakers or just bookshelf?

And I assume you mean ~$500 for speakers, sub, and receiver all together?

What will you be using it for most? Music, movies, video games?

And where are you located? For the receiver, I would look locally on CL for a 2 channel receiver/amp.

Not open to floor-standing simply due to room limitations.

~$500 for everything. This amount is not set in stone, i.e. if there's a really good reason to spend, say $600, that's fine. However, I would prefer to spend less (ideally like $300, though that's probably not possible).

90% of the use will be for TV and movies.

I am in the US.

Thanks for replying.