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After reading all of the positive comments about the VMPS RM-40 I am seriously considering a purchase. The only thing that concerns me is the fact that planer drivers generally have a very narrow horizontal dispersion, one reason I sold my Magneplanars. Do the RM-40's suffer from this limitation. Thanks, HiFi Guy
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They are amazing imagers.Standing up the sweetspot changes, but either way, sitting or standing, they are still impressive.
An upgraded pair of 645's are simply hard to believe for the money.
One more thing, most ribbon or planar speakers have very narrow dispersion because the drivers are physically wide. Since the ribbons used for the mids are actually very narrow, the horizontal dispersion is not bad at all.
Couldn't agree more about the vertical dispersion of the spiral tweeters on the RM-40's. That's my only complaint about this speaker, other than size and, perhaps, TOO many adjustments (mid levels, tweeter levels, PR mass loading).
The lateral or horizontal listening window is sufficiently wide for most applications, especially if the toe-in is set to cross about a foot (maybe 2) in front of your face. It's called a crossfire set-up.Vertical is different. Regardless of how the speaker is set-up, the vertical window is narrow. Of course, the farther you sit from the speaker plane the taller the window is. I sit about 8-10 feet away, and I'd estimate that the vertical window is no more than two or three feet at most. Hence, when you stand up, the highs are gone - completely.
In my opinion, a small price to pay for the quality of the music when sitting down.
Thanks for the info, there is a dealer about 200 miles from here and it would probably be worth the drive in order to audition them. The speakers will be placed about 10ft apart & I will be sitting about 15ft back. Vertical dispersion is not a problem as I do most of my critical listening seated. Horizontal dispersion is more important to me as I do not always sit exactly on the listening axis. Thanks again for the info. HiFi Guy.
Thanks for the explanation of window size.Do you loose the high notes when listening from another room? I rarely just sit and listen to music. This is one reason I like music better than TV. With TV you're glued in one spot.
Revel says they control first reflections which creates better sound in the sweet spot and maybe better sound from another room. Would the narrow window of VMPS be the same as Revel in limiting first reflections?
They sound great from another room (my 2 channel setup is in one room, my computer and desk in a cady-corner room. They sound about the same as my last speakers did from this spot - the nOrh 9.0's. Obviously listening from this far out of the sweet spot gives up a lot in overall sound, but the 40's aren't really any worse than other speakers I've heard. . .As for vertical window, about 12 inches up or down from the tweeters is about the size I've noticed in my own listening. One nice thing about the focused nature of the VMPS sound is that it interacts with my room much less than other speakers I have used (ie, less side wall reflections and floor/ceiling bounce). I have a pretty difficult room, and the VMPS speakers are one of the very few full range ribbon speakers that are monopoles. I really dislike the sound of bi and di polar radiating speakers, and on top of that they would never work well in my room.
Good comments regarding directionality and room interaction. The goal of wide dispersion can be a blessing, or a curse. Though it should be noted that bi-polars such as the Megnepan can actually be easier to place in some bad rooms due to the cancellation effects to the sides of the speakers.
Brian recommends they be used in a crossfire configuration, with the axes crossing in front of the listener. This widens the sweetspot considerably, and also offers the smoothest response. I found that it works very well with the 626Rs.
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