Upgrades for RM85?

Strouty

Well, this is my first post so hopefully I won't embarrass myself too much...

I've always been more a video guy that an audio guy, but with my latest tv upgrade I decided that my Panasonic HTiB just wasn't going to cut it anymore.

I found a RM85 set, yamaha rx-v463 and psw10 for about $300 total on ebay and for the past month have been pretty pleased with the upgrade considering how much it cost. It's main uses have been for either gaming or movies in my 20x20 'man-cave'.

However, when I occasionally listen to music, the speakers struggle (due to the 2.5" woofers and lack of a good 'low-end'). My question is what upgrades are available for the RM series? Due to space / 'the wife factor' , upgrading to towers/bookshelf speakers isn't yet a possibility and there really isn't room on the tv stand for a full sized center speaker (cs1, cs20, etc)

I've been looking at upgrading the L/R fronts with either a couple OWM5s or a couple VM10s. Does anyone know how well these would mesh with the RM8 center and which would sound better? Or should I upgrade the center as well (3 VM10's or 3 OWM5's up front?).

I didn't really find much on RM series speakers in the forums, so any help/suggestions/other ideas would be appreciated. Thanks!

mystik610

Strouty wrote: »

Well, this is my first post so hopefully I won't embarrass myself too much...

I've always been more a video guy that an audio guy, but with my latest tv upgrade I decided that my Panasonic HTiB just wasn't going to cut it anymore.

I found a RM85 set, yamaha rx-v463 and psw10 for about $300 total on ebay and for the past month have been pretty pleased with the upgrade considering how much it cost. It's main uses have been for either gaming or movies in my 20x20 'man-cave'.

However, when I occasionally listen to music, the speakers struggle (due to the 2.5" woofers and lack of a good 'low-end'). My question is what upgrades are available for the RM series? Due to space / 'the wife factor' , upgrading to towers/bookshelf speakers isn't yet a possibility and there really isn't room on the tv stand for a full sized center speaker (cs1, cs20, etc)

I've been looking at upgrading the L/R fronts with either a couple OWM5s or a couple VM10s. Does anyone know how well these would mesh with the RM8 center and which would sound better? Or should I upgrade the center as well (3 VM10's or 3 OWM5's up front?).

I didn't really find much on RM series speakers in the forums, so any help/suggestions/other ideas would be appreciated. Thanks!

I think a lot of this depends on your expectations.

When it comes to music, anything short of a full-range tower speaker always seems to be lacking for me when it comes to playing music. There always tends to be something lacking in the mid/upper bass region where neither a subwoofer or mid-range driver are particularly strong.

I have a 90lb subwoofer and a pair of 2-way towers, and I have to admit, that my system doesn't play music as faithfully as I would like it to.

So I'm not quite sure than the RM8's or the OWM's will give you what you're looking for...but again, that depends on your expectations. That fact that you're hearing what you're hearing and its bothering you now, makes me think you have the budding ears of an audiophile....in which case, your wallet is screwed!

chuckt62

Have you considered an in wall/ceiling solution?

chuckt62

...20x20 is a pretty good size room & "man cave" means the wife might not care as much as you think. In fact she might be totally "in to it" once she hears what a full size surround sound effect is like. I know my wife had the "what ever, it's your toy" attitude during the latest upgrade. Now she's bringing home at least 3 or 4 movies each week and actually listening to the music I've put on, she seems to be "in to it"

Wall mount the TV and get the towers etc.

mystik610

chuckt62 wrote: »

...20x20 is a pretty good size room & "man cave" means the wife might not care as much as you think. In fact she might be totally "in to it" once she hears what a full size surround sound effect is like. I know my wife had the "what ever, it's your toy" attitude during the latest upgrade. Now she's bringing home at least 3 or 4 movies each week and actually listening to the music I've put on, she seems to be "in to it"

Wall mount the TV and get the towers etc.

You can do what I do....buy something and piss your wife off for a few days, but enjoy it for years to come

My wife appreciates our system more than she admits. She's always blasting episodes of glee or whatever musical things she's into.

Strouty

Hmm, all great ideas (although my wife hopes that the polk forum isn't going to be a bad influence on me ). I definitely plan to upgrade to L/R towers and a full size center sometime in the future and I'm certaintly not expecting to be blown away by any sub/satellite system (whether rm's, owm's or vm's). I'm more looking for a relatively cheap upgrade ($200-400) that will make music more tolerable until my next big upgrade. I think half the fun is making small, incremental upgrades so you can appreciate the subtle changes. I could go out and drop $5000 on a new sound system and never truly appreciate what I had! (as well as permanently be sleeping in the man-cave)

To answer chuckt62's question, I hadn't really considered in-wall speakers. I was under the impression that in-wall/ceiler speakers were used more for surrounds/backs then for front/center speakers (which is what I'm looking to upgrade). Definitely a possibility although it might look a little funny since my tv isn't mounted (yet).

TECHNOKID

chuckt62 wrote: »

Have you considered an in wall/ceiling solution?

+1 here however, I also read your post above.

If you are on the budget and are happy with the RMs for the HT times, simply focus on the audio SQ. What I mean is if your AVR has A & B speaker options, you could select the best in-wall speakers set on B channels for music or if you prefer in ceiling, you simply set the speakers above your listening area to provide for your music 2 channels listening. That should provide you with better audio SQ at budget pricing without the clutter and more likely granting you WAF :cool:

Cheers!
TK