wuzzzer Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 I recently picked up a few speakers as a package deal from craigslist. Included was an RC-3 center speaker. I hooked it up to my receiver to make sure all the drivers worked correctly. They all did. I decided to experiment and see how badly it would match up to my Forte IIs. I had to lower the glass shelf in my TV stand to make room for it. I took the rubber feet off the back side of the RC-3 and put a couple black pieces of wood under the front to prop the front up so that it would be better aimed at my listening height. Ran my Onkyo's Audyssey to distance and level match it. I put in a couple audio CDs. Hmm, not bad. I put in the Eagles Hell Freezes Over DVD. Hmm, still not too bad. I watched a few scenes from Transformers. Man, this center doesn't sound too bad. So far everything I've thrown at it sounds good to my ears and it doesn't seem to have the "stick out like a sore thumb because it isn't an Academy/Quartet/Forte II" sound that I thought it would. I wonder if the fact that my Forte IIs now have titanium diaphragms helps blend them better with the RC-3 that also has them. I got to thinking, the Academy (which is the recommended center for Fortes) doesn't have a horn midrange, doesn't have a tractrix horn, doesn't have a titanium tweeter diaphragm, etc. The RC-3 doesn't have a horn midrange but does have a tapered array design which is more of a 2.5 way design compared to the 2 way design of the Academy, the RC-3 does have a tractrix horn and it also has titanium tweeter diaphragms. I know that speakers are 'voiced' differently and that given an A/B test between an Academy and an RC-3 there is a good chance that an Academy might sound better with my Fortes. I'm just surprised (read: very pleased) with my experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators dtel Posted June 2, 2009 Moderators Share Posted June 2, 2009 Not sure about your hearing but it's possible you just ran across something that sounds close. Did you try the pink noise receivers send out to balance speaker volumes, that's a sure giveaway if something sounds different. It's possible the RC-3 is just voiced where it sounds close enough for it to work as a center with the Forte's ? The main thing is if it sounds good to you it's close enough ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wuzzzer Posted June 2, 2009 Author Share Posted June 2, 2009 Yeah, doing the speaker equalization setup on my receiver that sends pink noise through each of them showed not much difference to my ears between the RC-3 and my Fortes. I'm glad I tried hooking it up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockOn4Klipsch Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 I had an RC 3 for quite sometime and it did it's job very well, the only place I was not satisfied was in the music deparment, the RC 7 has it there no doubt. It was matched with RF 5's so the sound was similiar. all in all the RC 3 is a good center channel and I think is adequate for most HT applications. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colterphoto1 Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 "I wonder if the fact that my Forte IIs now have titanium diaphragms helps blend them better with the RC-3 that also has them." I'd say yes if you replaced both tweeter and midrange diaphragms with titanium. That K79 tweeter only lives from 7K up, so if you still have phenolic in the mid, there's only the upper octave where the two have similar materials. I've always thought that some of the primary items that make up timbre were: # way speaker (2 way v 3 way) crossover points (if voice is coming from horn in the mains vs woofer in the center it's going to sound very different) driver materials (diaphragm and woofer) cabinet construction (horns vs direct radiator) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 I think the timbre thing is a bunch of BS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colterphoto1 Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 shut up Dean [] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 I think the timbre thing is a bunch of BS. I think it's at least "some"BS,I use an rc3 with klf's,only till I found deal on a matching center.Difference is so minor I quit actively searching,,nobody listening ever complains. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wuzzzer Posted June 3, 2009 Author Share Posted June 3, 2009 "I wonder if the fact that my Forte IIs now have titanium diaphragms helps blend them better with the RC-3 that also has them." I'd say yes if you replaced both tweeter and midrange diaphragms with titanium. That K79 tweeter only lives from 7K up, so if you still have phenolic in the mid, there's only the upper octave where the two have similar materials. Haven't touched the midrange, but I was thinking more about the Academy versus RC-3 than the RC-3 versus Forte. The Academy is a true 2-way design (as far as I know) and the RC-3 is a 2.5-way design. So since the Academy doesn't technically have a midrange driver and the RC-3 sort of has one I can see where the midrange has at least the chance of sounding halfway decent with a 3-way speaker like the Forte II. If I ever come across a great deal on an Academy locally I'll probably buy it to compare, but then again I'll probably have to replace the Academy's tweeter with a titanium diaphragm to make it timbre matched to my Forte IIs, right? Sheesh, why can't this stuff ever stop?!?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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