My dream speaker - RS1b

[egisjohn]

Dump the infinity active xover in a trash can and get A DBX. then you will have bass. If it were me id run the 2 carvers in mono on the bass towers and look fore sumthing better on the mid treb towers. I have rs1. I run 2 tfm 42 that way.

[Tedrick]

Congrats on scoring your dream speakers . Look forward to photos and impressions when you get 'em set up and singing.

[nailzgun]

Congrats on the great addition to your family!! The VTL's would be my choice if the price was right compared to the Carver. The high pass panels of Infinitys premier speakers are meant to be driven with tubes.

Enjoy

[siramazing]

Originally Posted by Ken Boyd

I for one would have to question the bass being on the puny side. I have seen others use two bass towers but for the life of me I don't know why.

I have never felt that the 1b's lacked in bass extension, but there has always been a hollowness in the upper bass. I have had them in three different houses in three completely different rooms, both with the original active crossover and then the DBX 223, and that hollowness or "boominess" if you prefer was always a constant. Power was always there, extension was always there, but I think the cabinets are a factor with the bass towers, which results in a peak in the upper bass which robs timpani of the sound of the mallet on the skin, or string bass of it's depth of it's timbre.
Bill

[Ken Boyd]

Originally Posted by siramazing

I have never felt that the 1b's lacked in bass extension, but there has always been a hollowness in the upper bass. I have had them in three different houses in three completely different rooms, both with the original active crossover and then the DBX 223, and that hollowness or "boominess" if you prefer was always a constant. Power was always there, extension was always there, but I think the cabinets are a factor with the bass towers, which results in a peak in the upper bass which robs timpani of the sound of the mallet on the skin, or string bass of it's depth of it's timbre.
Bill

I guess it all depends on what your comparing them to, but I still would not call the bass puny

[Hi-Ender]

Hello Klaus, My RS1B mid/high towers were rewired with Van Den Hul by a UK high end retailer. I was told that it was a large improvement, I have no complaints.

Mike

[Hi-Ender]

Hi RS1B owners,

I am considering the Manley Neo-Classic 250 Monoblocks for the mid/high towers. The problem being that the UK importer doesn't do auditions as the amplifiers are built to order. I have never bought without an audition before, especially at this price point!
From researching it appears to be a safe sonic bet BUT its a lot to pay if its not right.
Has anyone heard the Neo-Classic 250's driving the RS1B's here...if so I'd very much appreciate your opinion. Thanks Mike

[waudio]

I picked up the RS1b shipment yesterday from Boston. It barely fit in the Durango. I had been busy with work and other things - did not get much chance to play. Just unwrapped them - will take pics and post tomorrow.

The original owner - soldered all the emits and emims wiring, so we had to unsolder them before shipping. I should have had the foresight to ask the seller to label each wire - but he told me that he already took many high resolution pictures so that I can put them together. I was too excited at that time to think twice. Turned out - after close examination, I have no clue on what to do and how to connect them back. I have the pictures but the cables are of the same color (??). So, for the mean time, I picked up a pair of RS1b passive crossover (latest edition) from ebay. I plan to use this first until I have time to study more on how I can rewire the first pair of the crossover.

I spent about $250 just on the bubble wraps and another $250 on shipping the emims, emits, mid/high cabinet bases, passive/active crossovers separately by UPS. The shipping of the base towers and the mid/high panel is another $500. Total shipping from Seattle to NH is $1000. No damage during shipping.

For now, I am planning to use Carvers tfm-45 and -42. I have a pair of each model and I plan to use them as "mono-blocks". I will use just one channel out of each of the four amplifiers. Any comment about this configuration? I read that in this mode, the one channel can "borrow" from the other unused channel if needed.

[SicMan]

wow ! just wow! I really would like a set of those but can't, congrats on the purchase I'm sure you will enjoy them. Take your time now that you have them.



John M

[siramazing]

Wow, you are a brave, and lucky man shipping that UPS. I had mine shipped from Mass. to Florida, and had them packed by Craters and Freighters and trucked on pallets. No damage, but it cost me a couple of grand. Didn't have to unsolder anything, though. Enjoy them. I love mine. Nothing else comes close to an orchestra at full blast. Just ask my neighbors.

Bill

[Ken Boyd]

Not sure if I understood you correctly on your plans for driving these with your carvers. Not sure about if you plan on using your amps wiring them parallel or bridged but you might want to ask someone who is a bit more knowledgeable them me. I think that it might be a problem with speakers that might have lowerer impedance ratings and the amp won't be able to supply the needed current at those lower impedances when wired that way. Just think my might check on that. Now if you plan on using one amp say the 45 to run the bass towers using one channel for each tower that would work, and then the other amp the 42 for the mid/hi panels than that would work as well, except for one very inportant thing, neither of these amps from what I see have any gain controls on them. I personally would not want to use a pair of amps for these speakers if they didn't have some gain or attentuation controlls to get your bass and mid/hi panels balanced. You can get opinions from others but in my personal use of these speakers I want to be able to have complete ablity to get a good balance between the bass and mid/hi panels and the only way that I have found is for the two amps that you use is to have a means to control their outputs.

[Sovereign]

Congradulations! RS1b is my vintage dream speaker so I can understand your excitement.

PS... The pic with you grinning from ear to ear is priceless.

[waudio]

Pics below.

[waudio]

Another set of pics.

During shipping, I disassembled the mid/high towers. I shipped the bases separately - and strapped the mid/high panels to the woofer towers. That is why there are only two packages.

As you can see, the passive crossover has been significantly modified. The active crossover consisted of two units (not shown), with the power supply in separate metal box.

These 1bs are in my basement now. I will be putting in area rugs to reduce the effects of the tile floor. I moved the IIbs upstairs. There are also pics of the IIas that I am still restoring. I have been somewhat disappointed with the 2.5s - after the DIY refoaming, they just do not sound right - but I could not find any rubbing of the voice coils.

@kenboyd - I see what you are saying. The followings are the reasoning - let me know if this makes sense or not. I am a novice, so please feel free to point out my incorrect thinking. The 45 and 42 are basically the same amps (different meters - one VU and and LED) and Rolland has matched the gains on them. The 1b manual said that it is not recommended to use an amp in the bridged mode. To be safe and have more controls, what I can do is to use two DACs (GF DAC 09 and 11) that have gain controls. Say that the pair of 42s for the base towers and receiving signals from the DAC 09. The pair of 45s for the mid/hi panels and receiving signals from the DAC 11. To balance the base and mid/hi - I can use the gain controls from the DACs.

It will be sometime before I can listen - as I am finishing the basement at the same time.

[Ken Boyd]

I wonder what ever happen to that other AK members RS-1a's that he got that were brand new in the boxes, with walnut panels instead of oak, those were some really outstanding looking speakers.