Paducah Home Theater Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 (edited) Curious as to why my RF-7ii's and RC-64ii don't sound nearly as bright as, well, most anything else. Reference Premiere, standard Reference II, THX, even a non-Klipsch Cinema 88 are all significantly brighter, the treble is much louder and takes on a different and higher pitched tone on things like cymbals. It's not really a fluke as it's all three speakers compared to anything else with a horn, and I've been comparing without Audessey on as to be fair and feed everything the same signal. This is compared in the same room with the same equipment and media playing. I have subs boosted a bit but otherwise tone controls are flat. I have mentioned this before and it got dismissed and brushed off, so I did the same, but multiple knowledgeable people have noticed the lack of treble recently. Personally I don't mind it, and actually even prefer it, as it means my eardrums don't hurt as bad and my tinnitus doesn't flare up as easily, but now I really want to know what the difference is. You can see this response on an omni mic graph, the frequency response looks like a ski slope, much of which could seemingly be explained by room acoustics, but even directly comparing different models back to back is extremely different, plus I don't even have curtains or any other room treatment on the walls that would kill higher frequencies. So, was the tweeter attenuated on purpose specifically for music or for some other reason, or is there something goofy going on with my setup, or what? Edited February 17, 2015 by MetropolisLakeOutfitters Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrappydue Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 (edited) I know Marantz is supposedly a "warmer" sound. That could be it. Two other times I've heard the RF-7ii was on onkyo and then a parasound setup. And too me they both were much brighter than yours. In fact the onkyo setup pretty much ruined the rf-7ii impression for me. However I had no clue how these were setup at all. I remember on the onkyo running pure which should have been flat and large. And they were awful sounding. This was at a fry's out in San diego. Edited February 18, 2015 by Scrappydue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paducah Home Theater Posted February 18, 2015 Author Share Posted February 18, 2015 I know Marantz is supposedly a "warmer" sound. That could be it. Maybe but why would other horn loaded speakers sound significantly brighter if it was the receiver? It was the same receiver pushing all of them. I even tried running different speakers at the same time, big difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrappydue Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 well they may be brighter period. all i was saying is that your setup is the only time i have ever wanted to crank the treble up a few notches with rf-7ii out of my limited experience with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shiva Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 One reason is that your mains are a 2 way speaker, as are my Epic CF3's which I also think of as having smooth but not etched highs, which I like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derrickdj1 Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 The term bright for me has different meanings. Some describe the term has harsh, shrill, metallic, ect. A lot of people had trouble with the original RF 7's due to being bright and fatiguing. The lower XO was suppose to help address that problem. I personally like using EQ, since this helps achieve a flat response. When using un EQ'ed speaker, the speaker have a natural FR, and then you add the room and your chance for a flat response is out the window for the most part. A flat response is much less fatiguing and can be tolerated longer and at higher spl. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuzzydog Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 (edited) I've wondered if the perceived brightness has to do with horn loading the tweeter while the woofers are just direct radiating. I imagine that there is some trickery in the cross over to attenuate the tweeter. I love my speakers for movies, but I'm not such a big fan of them for casual music listening. The only exception to my music comment is when I'm playing an exceptionally well recorded/produced music CD or DVD...then they shine. Edit: I should add that I've used Onkyo (cant remember model), Marantz (NA1402), and Pioneer (SC-1323) receivers to power my RF-7II's. The Onkyo was brightest, the Marantz was slightly warmer and better balanced than the Onk., my current Pioneer is the smoothest and best of the three. Edited February 18, 2015 by FuzzyDog Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryant0086 Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 Best advice I can give you is add some EQ and if you still don't like them, find something else. The fact that you tried other speakers with the same exact setup that you have just means those speakers sound different. You have eliminated everything else. I add EQ to my speakers. It isn't super dramatic mind you, as I am not emulating the old "V" patterns from the 80's that we did with the graphic eqs, but it makes a big difference. Given the type of music I listen to, production isn't always stellar, so I find myself adding eq quite often. Bryant Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pite Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 Not sure if you have a chance to audition with high end Denon. Marantz is bit more laid back than Denon, but that's just how my ears hear! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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