Overkill

To accompany my upgraded RF7's, Dean recently upgraded the network in my RC7. In a word...awesome!! Brought in the New Year with NIN DVD. If I hadn't been relatively sober, I would have thought Trent Reznor was in my living room. This morning I auditioned Saving Private Ryan. The dialogue during the front end action was crystal clear. In my opinion, it's a no brainer to have your networks done by Dean if you own reference speakers. I'm running mine with a McIntosh MX119 and MC207. The crossover upgrades resulted in a very audible improvement. The installation for the RC7 took me under 15 minutes and was very clean. Next, I'm having Dean upgrade my Dad's Cornwalls. Thanks Dean! Happy New Year everyone!

Actually the RF7's are not only toed inwards, but tilted down towards the listener (the rubber on the back end of the speaker is 1' while only 1/2' on the front end). Also, if you look at my first picture you will see that the center is actually still a few inches higher then the top of the RF7's due to the size of the TV. So, raising the RF7's in this case actually improved the soundstage by bringing the horns on the fronts in closer proximity to the RC7.

Here is a close-up of the RF7 / RSW12 combo stacker! I used 1/2" rubber between the two which helps to isolate the cabinets as well as protect the finish on the sub

As requested, picture #1 as attached.

I have recently made some serious upgrades to my system. Besides new transparent interconnects, have upgraded to a McIntosh MC207 (which sounds awesome...I think I'm now fully converted as Mac lifer!). Also, have a new MX119 en route. I am running reference series (5-channel) with two RSW12's. Most recently I intoduced Dean's most impressive cross-overs into my RF7's. I can now hear the words Lemmy from Motorhead is belting out, and I could have sworn that Norah Jones along with a grand Steinway was in my entertainment room! These speakers have really come alive. Even at extreme volumes the edge is gone, and no high-end fidelity is compromised at any volume. Next I will be getting my RC7 done. I would highly recommend that anyone with RF7's take advantage of this upgrade. For relatively little money this modification provides HUGE value. The installation is a snap, and Dean is very professional. Many thank Dean!!

Ok, so even though the capacitors are filtering out the LF in the HF designated channel, the LF channel is still pulling a full range load from the power amp. I think I get it now. So, without an active crossover a lot of energy is being unnecessarily wasted. Thanks for your help.

"If you used an active crossover between the preamp and the amplifer/s, you might see a difference in the output level meters due to the source material ( bass notes vs. treble ). But, both channels of the power amp are getting the same signal from your preamp, so the meters will show the same readings." These meters read power output to the speaker (not the strength of the signal coming in from the preamp). In a biamp config, the low frequencies should not be channeling through the HF channel using the passive crossovers in the speaker. Therefore, I expected to see the power output from this indepenant channel to be less than 40W.

I'm using the reference series with a McIntosh MC206 (6 CH Amp). Today I experimented to see what impact biamping the RC7 would make. My intention was to get more power (headroom) from my amp for the RC7. First, I ran the RC7 off a single channel on the Amp, at -11Db on the Preamp, and the power meter on the Mac was hitting 40W. Then, I ran the RC7 using two channels off the Mac with the Preamp again set to -11Db. I looked at the meter readings for each the HF Channel, the LF Channel, and summed. I expected that each, the LF, and HF meter readings would be significantly less than 40W (especially the HF designated channel!). However, each was still reading almost 40W. Combined, the meter was reading > 40. So, it doesn't look like I'm going to gain any more headroom from biamping the RC7 in this configuration. Anyone have an explanation as to how a bridged RC7 (single amplification) could be drawing as much power at the same pre-amp volume level as the HF channel (biamp)?? Next I will have to use a SPL meter to measure actual output under each setup. It is possible that the total summed output of the biamp configuration at a set volume is actually greater. In which case, I guess I would have to recalibrate the center channel output in the preamp settings to adjust for a biamping configuration. One other question: Are there any negatives to using a Y-connector from the center channel output on the preamp if I decide to go with the biamp setup? Sorry about being long winded here. Thanks for any feedback / advice you might have

Thank-you all for the feedback. I have my RF7's on top of my RSW12's so I can assure you that the sub cabinets are not moving around. Whether or not the sub remains stationary, the cabinet will vibrate a high volume. I might add the rubber feat and go with the granite or marble slab which sounds like a good idea.

Thanks for the feedback.

I am using two RSW12's, but am not using any feet / spikes. In fact, I don't believe I received any from the dealer when I made the purchase. I have these sitting on carpet in a basement. Was wondering if anyone has experimented with their sub using feet/spikes vs none and what impact it had? Thanks