Harsh highs with RTi10s

dcacc

Does anyone else who owns RTi10s experience harsh highs? I feel like I've tried everything, and I can't seem to soften them.

I'm powering them with a Carver TFM 35, 250 watts per channel, which I just added recently. It has made a huge overall improvement in their sound -- I mean, night and day -- over my Onkyo 805, which I'm using as a pre-amp.

I'm using good cables (14 gauge). They are bi-wired. I've tried tackling room acoustics -- I recently put down an oriental carpet with a thick pad, which covers about 80 percent of the floor. And I hung drapes over our sliding glass doors.

But still I'm getting a lot of sibilance and just plain unpleasantness in the highs.

Is this a characteristic of the RTi10s? Has anyone else struggled with this? Any suggestions for what to try next?

suprafantx

I have the same problem with my RTi10 before. Lsi series will solve that problem. Still some people really enjoy the harsh high.

Lowell_M

I can't stand that generation of RTi's because of the harsh highs. Not sure what you can do to help it out, although in my experience the Carver TFM's are a little on the bright side as well.

dcacc

I have a chance to by some LSi7s for around $300/possibly less. Do you think they would be an improvement in my large family room? Paired with my HSU STF3, which is a pretty beefy sub.

leroyjr1

dcacc wrote: »

I have a chance to by some LSi7s for around $300/possibly less. Do you think they would be an improvement in my large family room? Paired with my HSU STF3, which is a pretty beefy sub.

Large room no. If your leaning toward the LSi series in a large room I would be looking at the LSi 15's. If you do a lot of music listening with your rti 10's then you may also want to look at POlKS older vintage speakers SDA's or Monitors.

timmythugs

My rti12's are set to negatives in high frequency and that seems to do the trick. Plus, lsi to me seemed awfully bright when I heard them. It is all opinion though!

pablo_rodz

I have RTi10's and dont consider the highs to be an issue.

Don't know if it matters, but I power them from my Pioneer Receiver.

ViperZ

You need a "soft-sounding" amp . I tried my RT1000p with Adcom GFA-5400 and Carver TFM-24, and they sounded too bright/harsh on the higher end.

Switching to Harman Citation 24 really softened the highs.

steveinaz

I'm assuming your bass/treble are set at 0dB correct?

dcacc

Yes, they are/were at 0. I've been experimenting with bumping the treble down a bit, which seems to help a bit but leaves vocals sounding kind of recessed.

steveinaz

The Lsi series are more laid back in the treble, as well as Energy's Connoisseur line of speakers.

danger boy

it was talked about several years ago.. that the RTi line of speakers were not a good match for Onkyo gear = harsh highs. the old timers around here will remember discussing this at length.

the conclusion was for some odd reason pairing RTi speakers with Onkyo receivers was deathly shrill highs.

F1nut

Sibilance can be a pain to tame and you made a good start with the room treatments. Adding some tubes to the mix will help also, but those speakers are just bright to begin with.

What are you using for a source and are you listening to music or HT?

dcacc

I'm listening to music, using my Oppo DV 980H as a CD player (it's quite good with music). How does Harman Kardon pair with the RTi's? I have a line on a HK AVR for a reasonable price.

Fongolio

I've got the RTiA7's (next gen of RTi10) running with a Carver TFM-25 amp and Carver CT-Seven pre-amp and they sound fantastic. No sibilance problem at all. Even when I switch them over to the Yamaha receiver and any source they are not overly sibilant. Could be the HK as a pre. Even though when I bought the A7's I first listened to the RTi10's which were considerably less expensive due to the new line coming on and I found them harsh and fatigueing in the highs. It's why I spent the extra and went with the A7's.

dcacc

I don't know if it's placebo effect or what, but I just switched back to basic hookup instead of bi-wire and they seem to have calmed down. But at this point, I've been tweaking for hours and I think my ears are just too fried to tell the difference.

F1nut

dcacc wrote: »

I'm listening to music, using my Oppo DV 980H as a CD player (it's quite good with music).

Try something different.

I just switched back to basic hookup instead of bi-wire

Good move.

ViperZ

dcacc wrote: »

I'm listening to music, using my Oppo DV 980H as a CD player (it's quite good with music). How does Harman Kardon pair with the RTi's? I have a line on a HK AVR for a reasonable price.

Try a different CD player, maybe even an HD-DVD player. Toshiba's XA1 and XA2 had excellent decoders built-in.

Regarding Harman, I really prefer when my RT1000p towers are hooked up to the separate amplifier (Citation 24), not to the HK AVR, which is driving center and surrounds. When I had Adcom GFA-5400 hooked up to the mains, they sounded so harsh on the highs, I was getting tired after listening to the music in less than an hour.

Carver TFM-24 was better than Adcom, but not as soft and smooth as Citation, so I moved it to a 2-channel setup to drive Maggies .

I used to have a monoblock (Outlaw M200) driving my center, but it did not make much of a difference on that channel.

Ern Dog

I had the same problem when I had Rti10's. In stages, I added a warm sounding B&K amp and a tube pre which helped. Upgrading my source from a $200 Onkyo DVD player to a $500 NAD cd play also helped. But in the end I decided to upgrade the speakers. It really depends on your ears and how far your are willing to go to have the sound you want. If I could do it over again, I would have started with upgrading the speakers first.

thsmith

Try some Owens Corning 2" 705 acoustic panals behind and to the sides of your mains.

Friend has the 10s and when he added more power to them and treated the walls it helped tremendiously.

Try running Audyssey in flat mode and see what that does for you. Are you using all 8 measurements in Aud? If not this will help.

Good Luck,