RBH Sound Impression 85-1 Floor-Standing Loudspeaker Review

[TLS Guy]

The link to the old catalog didn't post, could you please attach again, I'd love to look at it.

Sorry about that. You can download it here. The file is too large to attach to this site. But you can download it from that site.

 

[everettT]

Sorry about that. You can download it here. The file is too large to attach to this site. But you can download it from that site.

Thanks!

 

[gene]

Actually the wood is oak veneer. The speaker are built from high grade MDF, carefully damped and braced.

The tweeters are Dynaudio D 28 AF, the bass mids and fill drivers are Dynaudio D17 EXTs. Those were, and still are highly renowned drivers, and from a time when Dynaudio were at the top of the game. The speakers were designed using the software of Bullock and White.

When I was monitoring concerts in the Chester Fritz auditorium orchestra members would crowd into the green room at the Chester Fritz auditorium and were highly complimentary of those speakers. They were good speakers in 1984 by any of todays standards and they are still good speakers and there is zero reason to trash them.

That was a time when many manufacturers made their drivers available. It is retrograde that they still don't.

You can down load the 1980s driver catalog here. It is too large to attach. You will see what superb drivers were available at that time.

So the speakers may be 40 years old but are still superb speakers giving excellent results as my surrounds.

Yes, I'm not impressed with what is basically a small bookshelf speakers perched on top of passive subwoofer fed with an insanely large series inductor.

Sorry but I won't take your word on any of this. Arguing that 40 year old driver tech is as good as today's modern drivers is like saying performance cars from 40 years ago can handle and be as efficient as today's cars. It's simply ridiculous and displays a level of nostalgia over reality. Believe me, I still have a fondness for vintage audio gear I grew up with and 8-bit games from my Commodore 64 and Colecovision. But, they are no match for today's tech.

The fact that you're still using Omni-mic is another example of not pushing forward in embracing new and better tech and tools. You only show in-room highly smoothed measurements at the main listening position and no serious anechoic measurements of your products. Like what you like, but be careful making ASSumptions on products you've never heard. There's a whole world out there of great gear and loudspeakers are getting better in the modern age, NOT worse.

 

[TLS Guy]

Sorry but I won't take your word on any of this. Arguing that 40 year old driver tech is as good as today's modern drivers is like saying performance cars from 40 years ago can handle and be as efficient as today's cars. It's simply ridiculous and displays a level of nostalgia over reality. Believe me, I still have a fondness for vintage audio gear I grew up with and 8-bit games from my Commodore 64 and Colecovision. But, they are no match for today's tech.

The fact that you're still using Omni-mic is another example of not pushing forward in embracing new and better tech and tools. You only show in-room highly smoothed measurements at the main listening position and no serious anechoic measurements of your products. Like what you like, but be careful making ASSumptions on products you've never heard. There's a whole world out there of great gear and loudspeakers are getting better in the modern age, NOT worse.

Those Dynaudio drivers with 3" voice coils are essentially still in production and very well regarded.

In 1975 there was a split of Dynaudio and Meir Mordechai bought out Skaaning's and Richter's shares. They all had the right to the patents. Dynaudio has had Chinese owners for sometime now, but Meir Mordechai formed Morel which is still in business and still manufactures those 6" drivers with 3" voice coils.

I used them in my in wall system.

My front three speakers all use drivers from still current production from SEAS. Those same drivers are used by many current manufacturers. I built those speakers in 2005/2006. I have absolutely no desire to replace them.

I really don't like the update craze. I prefer, "get it right the first time." Yes, I could update the test equipment, but I have no desire to change a thing. In the last year I have attended a number of concerts that were put on line. What I hear in my room is a very faithful rendition of what I heard live.

Longevity and reliability are major design goals for me. Upgrading is essentially wasteful and costly.

One of my favorite drivers of all time the KEF B 139 has been back in production the last few years from Falcon acoustics.

I am not aware of any bass driver that can give that performance in a slim cabinet.