CSi3 with RM3000 ? Anyone?

kingsqueak

Got a trusty set of RM3000's I've had forever and love, I'm sort of guessing and have a CSi3 in the mail to become the center channel.

Curious if anyone has tried this combo, or what luck people have had with current choices of center channels combined with RM3000's ?

kingsqueak

Out of the box initial impression for those who may find this later.

I'd been running the RM3000's as L/R only and have never had any other speakers for HT use. The receiver is an old cheap Kenwood KR-V7080 that is early 5.1 but pre digital and no vid switching. The receiver has to run hard just to drive the RM3000 pair.

The CSi3 is FAR more efficient so in Stereo 3 mode with the center channel at -10 (the lowest it can be set to), it is much louder than the L/R pair. The lows and low-mids are much more prominent than the RM's, almost to the point of being boomy. The mid-highs and highs are pretty well matched to the RM's which was my main concern.

It's hard to say at this point how well the match will work as this receiver is not what I would consider a valid base as a test. I'm already pleased at the improvement a center channel gives for movies in general though. I can get the idea of how the HD programming in 5.1 is mixed and see right away that the L/R pair are more for ambient content with the center pulling most of the load. I trust that the CSi3 will carry that burden well, it has a lot of headroom even with this cheap receiver, it will handle much louder volumes than I generally use for watching movies.

I've got an HK AVR-435 receiver coming in the mail which will have a lot more juice to drive the RM's with. It also has an auto EQ feature and I expect better ability to balance the output levels. One of the reasons I picked the 435 was the advanced processor chip it uses and I'm anxious to see if it's 3 speaker mode sounds a bit better as well.

Next in the budget is a Hsu VTF-3 MK2 sub with rear channels for 5.1 planned as well. Whether the RM's get rear channel duty or not will be decided dependng on how they perform with the HK receiver.

aaharvel

You'll be thrilled with the h/k.
welcome.

kingsqueak

Thanks.

Another .02

A center channel like this one shows you exactly how lousy the post-production quality of most broadcast TV is. It's stunning just how inconsistent the programming production is, even on the same channel. When you move network to network it gets worse. MSNBC was running mono out of one channel only for hours last night. Don't people get paid to monitor this? My Name is Earl has amazingly inconsistent quality to their vocal tracks, sometimes in the same scene they have completely different processing for the vocal track of the same person from sentence to sentence.

Gotta wonder if I really wanted to hear these details ;-) Love the speaker, still waiting on the receiver.

kingsqueak

The 160/215 Hz range boominess is going away quickly with some use on the CSi3, it's become noticeably cleaner sounding which I had hoped it would. The level of presence is matching the RM's much better now.

Receiver still in the mail, and I pulled the trigger on an SVS 25-31 PCi sub, also now in the mail.

kingsqueak

Got the AVR-435 yesterday, got it all wired up and ran through the EZSet/EQ. It was a Harmanaudio.com refurb from ebay. It arrived in new condition and I got a great deal on it too.

The difference is stunning, as if I bought a whole new speaker system compared to the junky Kenwood I was running. For reference, the Kenwood KR-V7080 was rated at 100W per channel, including surround. The reality is, it was a really low quality drive. The Harman shames it, and it is rated 'only' 65W/ch.

I've got optical and analog feeding audio from the STB and the DVD. The receiver nicely switches between them if the optical feed drops. Even with only 3 speakers L/C/R running, the quality is night and day from the Pro Logic 3 speaker mode. The H/K Logic7 works nicely with the three speaker setup and the impact of surround material is much more defined now.

The auto EQ balanced the L/C/R channels and the CSi3 is pretty much lost in the image now. I put the satellites on stands and spaced them out more than they were. Now that it is all setup, I'm extremely happy.

The RM3000's sound as clear as I recall my showroom audition had them sounding years ago. I'd never really achieved that clarity all these years and I think it was simply because I was powering them with low-end receivers. One of those moments where I wonder what I was thinking. It's great to have them shine so well after all the years of use on them.

The SVS 25-31 is still in the mail, but I'm sure it will put the finishing touch on the system. Bang for the buck, I'm very happy with this configuration.

kingsqueak

I had been borrowing a Cambridge Basscube 10 from my brother for the last week or so. It made a huge difference, really rounded out the sound of the system. The power was pretty low though and it had some ugly resonances. It really has to be crossed below 80 to sound clean and it left a decent void between the RM3000 mains. Typical of what I've experienced with the cheap entry level subs be they JBL/Velodyne/Cambridge etc.

I just got the SVS 25-31PCi yesterday and it is a _monster_. It's easily 1/3 more power than I need with this setup and it's smoooooth accross its range. Very easy with a few hours of tweaking to get it to blend in with the whole system. Not bad at all with music ranging from modern jazz to metal too. Slightly boomy but with some crossover work and playing with the AVR speaker sizes I've got it very nicely smoothed out. I'm still tweaking the delay, but it's very very close now and the variable phase built into the amp should put the final polish on it.

The first movie I popped in was Doom, before I really got it calibrated at all. The gain was up too high and the first big explosion had a lamp shade accross the room visibly wobbling after it hit. Felt like a truck hit the side of my house.

The only resonance that is intrusive now is my whole house. I hit the resonant frequency for the walls, for the floor, I've got glass rattling in window panes. I'm relieved now that I've got it here, it's exactly what I expected for my use and it has turned HT into a whole new experience.

People that say the PCi series isn't powerful enough....you must really listen loud because this thing is an animal.

MrNightly

Do you ever feel like you are all alone in the world and no one is listening? Well.... umm, never mind.

Good reviews of your equipment. Keep it up Wish I had the cash to just drop like you do... making me jealous. Ha