R30 vs. R50

reallybigafro

i know this might be a dumb question but i'm looking at the R50's and the new sale on the R30's. is there a world of difference between the two?? has anyone made the change from the two, with any noticable diferences??

i know the best thing to do would be to go down to fry's and listen to them myself but at the same time i want to get all the information i can, so thank you for your thoughts

shaddai

I guess what it boils down to is what you plan to do with the R30 or the R50. Use as mains or surrounds? The most obvious difference b/w the two is that the R30 only has one 6.5" woofer while the R50 has two. If you plan to use them as mains, then the R50 is a no-brainer as it should give you more bass and mid-range. The R30 would make good rear surrounds if you didn't want to buy stands. Both the R50 and R30 are about the same height with the R50 3" taller.

I own the R50 and can't really complain about it given that I paid $225 for a pair shipped from Fry's (Outpost.com)

As of this morning on Outpost.com:

R30 Black - $119.99 (not in stock)
R30 Cherry - $59.99 (in stock)

R50 Black - $89.99 (not in stock)
R50 Cherry - $89.99 (in stock)

If you live close to a Fry's and they have both, just audition them. You can get cherry colored pairs of R50's AND R30's for $299.96 before tax/shipping online. Unfortunately, there is no timbre-matching cherry colored center (Csi20 only comes in black). They do sell cherry colored CS1's though, which is a good second choice. Not sure if it's the same cherry as the R series though. Good luck!

halo

reallybigafro,

In my opinion the R50 is the better of the two. It puts out a lot more bass than the R30.

I purchased the R30s first (on sale) and had them for about a week when the R50s went on sale (for the same price I paid for the R30s). It was a no brainer for me to pick up the R50s but I kept a pair of the 30s for use elsewhere. If you are going to use a PSW than maybe the R30 will work just fine for you.

Initially I thought the 30s had better imaging but when I compared the two side by side and back to back I didn't notice a difference in that respect.

I feel that the best place to audition a speaker is in your own home - but don't let discourage you from going to the store (if possible) and checking them out.

Hope this helps you out.

Good Luck!

reallybigafro

thank you both shaddai and peersool for your response and info. sorry about the question it wasn't the clearest. i should have mentioned that i'm planning these speakers to replace the mains that i currently have. i live about 40 minutes from a fry's in phoenix, so i'll plan on going down there this weekend i think. thanks again for your replys.

halo

Happy hunting!

hljones821

I replaced a pair of r30 with the r50s. The R50 are definitely more efficient and have a more pronounced midrange thatn the r 30. I use the r30 in my bedroom now, i still love them for the price.