Moving into new house w/small living room, probably downsizing from RF-83s...

[White_Hawk]

Ideally I'd love to move to the P17-Bs, but after purchasing house, money is an issue. The 7 month old takes a wee bit of money too - who knew? =D

What would I notice moving from RF-83s to RB-81-IIs? I will be keeping the submersive, so I'm not really worried about the low end. And I'm just brain storming at this point, no final decisions have been made to sell the 83s yet, I just can't see how I could use them in the living room, and I feel like they might be wasted out in the shop where I'm planning on using my heresy's anyway.

Anybody moved from floorstanders to bookshelves?

[Bill H.]

Good choice...........with the sub you will still enjoy the sound..................

Congrats on the new house and bambino !....................that is where your priority is now !

[SuBXeRo]

I can't tell you how the 83's would sound to the new rb-81's since i havent heard either. I will say though, i had a pair of rb-5 II's and i have a pair of RF-3 II's and well, the sound was identical IMO. There was less bass in the bookshelfs of course but that was it. They both had that bold full sound, they didn't sound like they were missing anything at all which was great.

You have a submerssive which is great because that will definitly take care of the low end. The rb-81's can handle down to 44hz, thats not bad for a bookshelf at all and your submerssive should be able to sound good if you set the HPF to around 50hz or so. Personally, i don't like giving a sub a HPF setting that is too high. I think it muddies up the bass produced. I mean, going to 50hz isnt stretching it bad at all, its when you start stretching to 80-100hz and above that it really taxes the sub and keeps it from producing those solid lows. I played around with this with both my car subs and my old klipsch sub. 80hz is the xover standard for THX which i tend disagree with as being a good crossover point for home audio. Then again, i don't have anything THX certified and well, if it was then i assume things were desgined to work at those specific xover points. Again, personally, when i go to a harkins and hear the klipsch surround, i think it sounds clean, but i much prefer my home theater over a regular theater. I feel that my home system has more impact, plus i can tune things to how i like them to to sound.

I would say that keeping the 83's would definitly be beneficial sound wise as its a very very sturdy soundstage on its own, im very happy with what i have and well, add another woofer, newer technology and a deeper freqency range, well, it can only get better.

Bottom line, if you have to make the move to bookshelfs, the 81 II's would be a solid move if it is what fits, its what the wife accepts and its something that you can deal with and not get the upgrade bug. In the end, it is a change to deal with, nothing is perfect and i am sure you will notice a difference if you have a discerning ear for these things. How big of a difference, well, thats a very personal nature as everyone hears differently. I know i didn't 100% answer your question and you need someone specifically who has heard both but i hope the input helps in the end.