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Speaker Asylum: REVIEW: Joseph Audio RM22si Speakers by Chris S.

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REVIEW: Joseph Audio RM22si Speakers Review by Chris S. at Audio Asylum

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--- Background ---

My speakers before these were the much-hyped Legacy Classics. After living with these for well over a year, and gaining experience about what high-end performance is all about, I went through a process of re-evaluating my priorities, and decided it was time for a speaker upgrade. I wanted a speaker that was tube-friendly, relatively unfussy about setup, and suited to a smaller room. I was willing to give up the bass extension of the Legacies, but still wanted to preserve as much as possible. After months of research and dealer auditioning, and finding nothing that really moved me, I decided to give the RM22's a try. As I had no dealer in my area, I obtained a pair directly from the factory.

--- Build/Construction ---

I found the construction of these 2-way slim floorstanders to be rather interesting. Basically, I would describe this speaker as a 2-way monitor that has a long port and an integrated sand-fillable stand. The top 1/3 of the speaker is all 2-way monitor - the drivers, crossover, and binding posts are all found here. The rearmost portion of the lower 2/3 of the speaker comprises a wide, narrow port that opens out the bottom of the speaker. Other than the port, most of the lower 2/3 comprises a sand-fillable chamber (filled from the bottom) that allows approx 35 lbs of sand to be added to each speaker (making these little guys weight about 80lbs each when full!). There is a separate, solid base (with a cutout for the port) that is attached via wood screws that provides a mounting point for the supplied cones. From a performance standpoint, the cabinet is extremely inert/dead (more so than the cabinet on my Legacies). The build quality is excellent, and better than my Legacies (the JA wins on attention to detail). The rosewood finish is flawless, the driver cutouts are perfect, the drivers are mounted perfectly, the binding posts are substantial, and even the grilles are well made. The brass screws are a nice touch, as well.

--- Drivers/Crossover ---

The JA website gives all the techie info about these speakers, so I refer you there to read about the drivers used and unique crossover implementation.

--- Setup ---

I found that these speakers are very easy to set up to get great sound (a much welcome change from hyper-sensitive Legacies). When moving them around, they don't suffer from radical changes in tonal balance - rather, moving them produces very predictable effects that allow for quick experimentation and fine-tuning. Right now I have them roughly 7' apart, approx 3.5' from the front wall and about 2.5' from the sidewalls. I sit roughly 8.5' from the speakers, with no toe-in.

--- Sound ---

Bass:
The RM22's possess a very quick, tight, natural, and well-extended bass. I was expecting to lose quite a bit of extension with these over the Legacies, however I was suprised to find that the RM22's have output extending to at least 31.5 Hz in my room (I got 25Hz from the Classics). For reference, I've had guests (even one audio-enthusiast) who've asked me what kind of sub-woofer I'm using! The bass response in my room is much flatter that what I could ever obtain with the Classics. I can hear every bass note now, with no overhand or muddiness.

Midrange:
Very natural, clear, and grainless. Easily one of the best I've heard.

Treble:
Again, clear, grainless, un-etched, and non-fatiguing. Maybe not as extended as the Classics, but certainly less prone to harshness and beaming.

Putting it all together:
These are very well balanced speakers that simply let the music shine through. Nothing jumps out to call attention to itself. They provide very good resolution, accuracy, and detail, yet don't seem to accentuate the faults in a bad recording (you still hear them, but they don't draw attention to themselves). I'm hearing things I've never heard before in familiar recordings, yet I'm also now able to comfortably listen to pieces that were previously unlistenable. Listening fatigue is not an issue. I'm most familiar with how guitar (which I play), piano, drums, and bass guitar sound, and these speakers do a great job IMO at recreating those instruments (including the nuances I was missing with the Legacies). The minimization of driver interactions and the wide horizontal dispersion are no doubt responsible for the excellent soundstaging and huge sweet spot. In my setup, they can provide a deep, wide soundstage that starts just behind the plane of the loudspeakers. The sweet spot is huge - these speakers even retain most of their tonal balance standing up and walking around the room! One complaint I had with the Legacies is that they could sound compressed and unsettled when playing complex, dynamic pieces at decent volume levels (> 90dB sustained peaks). The JA's don't seem to suffer from this - if you turn the volume up, everything stays in place and simply gets appropriately louder. The dynamics are good for their price class, though not in the Watt-Puppy league. They can play as loud as I need, but they don't have the ultimate SPL capability of other speakers in their price class - so they may not be a good match for a larger room.

All in all, a very, very good speaker for the price. A great speaker to build a system with.


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Topic - REVIEW: Joseph Audio RM22si Speakers Review by Chris S. at Audio Asylum - Chris S. 10:28:46 06/11/99 ( 9)