Not happy with Renaissance 80's..what next?

motrctyman

Active Member
A couple of months ago, I picked up a pair of black Ren80's. I was very keen to get them, read tons about them, and when I first got them thought they were the best ever.

Now, after living with them, playing with them, moving them, I have a problem. There just is not enough capability of low frequencies. I have them in a rather large room, and playing at what I consider a moderately loud volume, the woofers leave zero indication that they will "blat"....then they do. I am fearful to turn them up after that happened.

I like to listen to various classic rock mostly, and that is the music that it leaves a lot of performance on the table. I also mix in a lot of Jazz, Blues, and Folk music too. Knowing that and that I adore the midrange and tweeter section of the speakers:

What should I get? I posted this in the infinity section because I figured folks here would have a more objective impression of the speakers performance. If it is in the wrong place, I apologize.
 
what are you pushing them with...?

I know some consider the Ren90's some of the best they ever made...
 
I have used a few different amp combinations. All have been controlled by a NAD 1300 preamp. I have used a NAD2100, a Hafler DH-220, and an Ashly FET500.

My other thought would be to get a subwoofer to go with them. From about 80Hz on up they are quite possibly the best speakers I have ever heard.
 
the FET should have enough power to run those but the other 2 not so much...Do they both go "Blat" ?

If I remember they only have a single 8 inch woofer right...?
 
I prefer the RS 2.5 over the Ren 90s I heard.
Perhaps adding three dedicated subwoofers in a "distributed bass" configuration would easily change my mind.
 
After thinking about it last night, I think I am heading towards the subwoofer route. Like was suggested, I don't know if I am going to go multiple smaller subwoofers or possibly one very efficient, rather large one.

I will say, the midrange and tweeters on these things are freaking magical. I wish they would have thought it out when they made these and incorporated either a second woofer or possibly have used a 10". Would have been immaculate.
 
Also, now that you mention it, I think the right was the one that went "blat". It has happened twice. Probably time for an inspection of that driver....
 
If you love them otherwise, subwoofer is the obvious answer. My dad has ren80s with a sub and they sound fantastic.
 
Also, now that you mention it, I think the right was the one that went "blat". It has happened twice. Probably time for an inspection of that driver....


+1. Inspect the drivers.

I had a pair of ADS L570s, that went blat, at fairly moderate volume levels. It turns out, that the rubber surround of one woofer had seperated from the driver frame, and the surround would blat on heavier bass notes. I reglued the surround, and fixed the issue!

As to the 80s, if they were mine, I wouldn't dream of selling them! Add a sub, if needed. Just don't high-pass the Ren 80s, bring the sub in at a lower frequency instead. Makes for a better blend between the two, and you retain more of the sound signature of the Infinity's too.

Now, if I wanted a speaker like an 80, with more bass, I'd look for a pair of VMPS speakers. Used, since the company is no longer in business. Probably a pair of RM-2s. No sub needed for those, or for pretty much any VMPS speaker, for that matter!

Good luck.
 
There's several evolutions of RM-2s. The best used dual 8" Neo mids. Also, some used 2 Emit-R tweeters, and there was also an upgraded version that used a single Aurum Cantus ribbon. Bass was provided by a 12" woven carbon fiber woofer, with a downward firing 12" passive radiator. Bass Q could be tuned by adjusting putty, loaded to the center of the passive. They were good into the low 20s.


VMPS_RM2_Spiral.jpg


VMPS RM2 fst.jpg
 
There just is not enough capability of low frequencies.

When my brother was an Infinity dealer back in those days, I had looked at the 90 as another pair of speakers to own and live with a while, but that is the reason I chose the 9.1 back then over the Rens.

If Infinity would have made say a newer version of the Kappa 9.1 with the EMIM and some of the Rens cabinet features, they would have had a truly truly awesome speaker for that price class.
 
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Everyone keeps thinking Ren 90's but the OP says he has the Ren 80's, which are a step down and a smaller speaker than the 90's if I recall.

The larger the room for the most part you need larger speakers, or more of them. I would think Kappa 9's, RS 4.5's, RS1b's or Betas should do the trick.
 
2.5's will go blat (bottom) if driven hard without a subsonic filter. They are MUCH happier, and sound better, (like almost all speakers) rolled off at 50 Hz into a sub swarm.
 
If you like what you're hearing from upper bass all the way up through the high frequencies and low frequency reproduction is what you're having issues with then simply relieve the 80's of the burden of reproducing the low frequencies and assign that task to a few subs. If you truly want to do this right then get a few quality subs (you really don't have to get extravagant) and, this is important, get a digital room correction device so the room's acoustic issues can be corrected electronically....every room suffers from this and getting it corrected appropriately ensures the subs offer a nice, balanced, musical response that is easy to integrate with the main speakers. Using two subs is beneficial in a few important ways...the digital room correction device will have a better chance at achieving a flat low frequency response and pair of subs simply does less work than one to achieve the same output which means distortion is avoided. I'd look for subs with drivers of at least 10" or larger. For a digital room correction unit this is the way to go....

http://www.dspeaker.com/en/products/anti-mode-8033.shtml
 
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