Romanca? I think I got ripped off slightly.

[Cygnus]

Hi all,

As some of you may know, I've been looking for speakers lately, and I finally went into an audio store in Edmonton that I like.

I was looking particularly at the Paradigm speakers, and they kept directing me to this other brand which I've never heard of before called Romanca.

I bought them because I thought the center sounded better than the Paradigm I was looking at previously. The salesperson also have me a huge discount on them ($1700 for the towers, rears and center, and the front speakers were listed at $1399.99 on their own).

I Googled quickly when I got home and apparently, according to their website are manufactured in Edmonton. Convinient, no?

CanuckAudio and AVSForum have also never heard of them. The towers are also 4Ohm. Is that a problem as well?

I got ripped off, didn't I?

EDIT: I also think they probably had the Paradigm's EQ'd differently than the rest (which were Romanca and Klipsch, which they didn't even have hooked up.) The Paradigms (Monitor 11's!) sounded tinny in comparison.

 

[zieglj01]

I think that company has changed their name 2 or 3 times. Is there
any type of return policy. Their website is not inspiring as well and
the look of the speakers do not look highend.

 

[Cygnus]

I think that company has changed their name 2 or 3 times. Is there
any type of return policy. Their website is not inspiring as well as
the look of the speakers.

Really? I hope so; the store said I could exchange them if I wanted to.

 

[sholling]

I don't see a 4ohm certification on your receiver anywhere in the website specs. If your receiver isn't rated for 4ohm loads it will overheat and shutdown. Either that store thinks these are the greatest thing since sliced bread, or perhaps they have the highest profit margin and spiff, or maybe they have too many in inventory. I don't know anything about them so I won't pass judgment but unless I missed something they may not be a good match your receiver. Perhaps someone with access to the receiver's manual knows more.

In my opinion the salesman should have put you into what you liked and then asked questions and warned you about any potential issues with your receiver before making the sale.

Edit: The only place I've found the brand listed on AVS is a subwoofer in a gallery shot on AVS. Google found a couple of threads similar to yours on canuckaudiomart.

Edit 2: It might support 4 ohm mains. See this thread.
http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=66434&page=2

 

[Cygnus]

I don't see a 4ohm certification on your receiver anywhere in the website specs. If your receiver isn't rated for 4ohm loads it will overheat and shutdown. Either that store thinks these are the greatest thing since sliced bread, or perhaps they have the highest profit margin and spiff, or maybe they have too many in inventory. I don't know anything about them so I won't pass judgment but unless I missed something they may not be a good match your receiver. Perhaps someone with access to the receiver's manual knows more.

The salesman should have put you into what you liked and then warned you about any potential issues with your receiver before making the sale.

The R8 Tower Speakers from their website:
NOMINAL IMPEDANCE : 4 ohm

My Denon AVR-1705 is rated at 8 Ohms.

 

[jvgillow]

There's a thread about Romanca here:

http://www.canuckaudiomart.ca/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=10939

 

[Cygnus]

There's a thread about Romanca here:

http://www.canuckaudiomart.ca/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=10939

I've read through that thread as well.

 

[Cygnus]

Also!! I believe they EQ'd the Paradigms to work in these Romanca's favour. There's no way that the Paradigms in my house could have sounded as bad as they did next to those Romancas.

 

[markw]

FWIW, when I shop for speakers I use two-channel music as my gold standard. If they can do music well, I gar-on-tee they will do well on HT. The opposite cannot be guaranteed.

Once that issue has been decided, I go for the matching center speaker.

Unless, of course, one does their music listening mainly through the center speaker.

 

[sholling]

The R8 Tower Speakers from their website:
NOMINAL IMPEDANCE : 4 ohm

My Denon AVR-1705 is rated at 8 Ohms.

Okay all I saw was the Yamaha and it seems to be a maybe.

 

[Cygnus]

FWIW, when I shop for speakers I use two-channel music as my gold standard. If they can do music well, I gar-on-tee they will do well on HT. The opposite cannot be guaranteed.

Once that issue has been decided, I go for the matching center speaker.

Unless, of course, one does their music listening mainly through the center speaker.

The Paradigms did music excellently, the Romancas did not. At all.

 

[fredk]

The Paradigms did music excellently, the Romancas did not. At all.

If a speaker can't 'do music well' they are not a good speaker. Sounds like you were pressured into buying the speakers and from the linked thread on canukaudio.com it looks like the store is owned by the manufacturer. I would see what you can do to exchange them for something that does music better.

As for that 4 ohm rated/certified nonsense, you will not find a consumer product that is rated or certified for 4 ohms. It is probably a liability thing. The Denon will handle a true 4 ohm load well, they always have.

The question with the rating is what it really means. It would be nice to see an impedence graph.

 

[Cygnus]

If a speaker can't 'do music well' they are not a good speaker. Sounds like you were pressured into buying the speakers and from the linked thread on canukaudio.com it looks like the store is owned by the manufacturer. I would see what you can do to exchange them for something that does music better.

The Paradigm Mini Monitors were just awesome when I put my 20 bit remastered version of Moving Pictures' "Limelight" on them. I'm planning on getting those for fronts, the Atom monitors for rears, and the CC-190, or CC-290 for a center. I think that'd make a pretty good setup for what I want

 

[Greg Douglas]

So Cygnus -how did this end up? I was just at what I can only assume to be the same store on Argyll Road and was listening to the same R8 speakers you were talking about here. They sounded really good, even with a cheaper amp they had in their demo room (low-end HK) -I'm looking at a new home theatre setup and these were not on my list until yesterday when they sounded really good. Was contemplating getting the whole surround & main speaker package they were demonstrating. Any thoughts???

 

[TLS Guy]

So Cygnus -how did this end up? I was just at what I can only assume to be the same store on Argyll Road and was listening to the same R8 speakers you were talking about here. They sounded really good, even with a cheaper amp they had in their demo room (low-end HK) -I'm looking at a new home theatre setup and these were not on my list until yesterday when they sounded really good. Was contemplating getting the whole surround & main speaker package they were demonstrating. Any thoughts???

If you can audition them at home and really like them go ahead. I would not write these speakers off. The mid range driver is by Fountek. The chassis has been slightly modified slightly.

Now a driver does not a good speaker make. It is the total package. At least that driver is not junk, in fact it looks very decent. The OP needs to remember, a speaker with more than one woofer will be four ohm whatever the manufacturer says. They have rated the speaker honestly with none of the nominal impedance nonsense.

I have heard quite a few Paradigm speakers now, and quite honestly that line is in my dreadful category.