OWNER'S COMMENTS - Consumer reviews, speaker reviews, speaker owner comments.

Ribbon Loudspeakers by Newform Research.

OWNERS COMMENTS

BACK 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 NEXT

I received my R645's last week and have installed and set them up within my dedicated listening room. I am currently using a Cary SLP94 pre-amplifier along with a 65 watt/channel Cary SLA-70B Signature amplifier. A first order passive line level high pass filter sits between the pre-amplifier and amplifier with a crossover point of 55 Hz. I also use a powered subwoofer with a 3rd order crossover set at 50 Hz. My listening room is 16 ft. x 15 ft. x 8 ft., is fairly well damped with substantial acoustical damping in all corners and on the side and rear (behind the listening position) walls. The rears of the R645's are placed 48 inches from the front wall while the outer sides are about 40 inches from the side walls. The R645 centers are approximately 8 ft. apart with the listening chair also placed 8 ft. from each center.
Right out of the box I was astonished with the performance of the R645's ! Sound-staging was superb (as it was before with my former speakers). But I was not expecting the level of transparency and detail I experienced ! I was literally set back into my chair ! The frequency balance was much brighter than with my former speakers (Coincidence Super Conquests) and at first I thought it was too bright. But after several hours of listening to many different CD's, I realized that the tonal balance presented by the R645's is much closer to being correct than with the Conquests.
I've now been listening to the R645's for about a week with perhaps 20 hours of actual playing time. The R645's have become smoother and more refined during this time and I expect this to continue for the next 50 hours or so. Initially some music sounded "zippy" with perhaps some "ringing", such as on massed strings. This has greatly diminished already.
Bass & Mid-Bass:
I can't find the right words to describe how good these R645`s sound . Bass and Mid-Bass is so improved over my previous setup. Tight, tune-full, forceful but in correct balance with the mids and highs. Standup bass is superb as is tympani and bass drums. I can't imagine it being much better than this. Integration with my sub-woofer is extremely good with no tonal or spatial clues as to where very low bass is emanating from. My previous setup suffered from lower to mid-bass bloat, even though I have base traps. Not so with the R645's ! Only a slight boom at around 60 - 70 Hz remains (main room mode) but at a greatly diminished level. Kudos to the dual Scanspeak mid-bass design. And they haven't been broken in yet!
Mid-Range:
Fantastic ! Piano is truly amazing as are percussive and strings ! I still can't get over the transparency and transient capability these ribbons exhibit. Details are also superb. I now listen to my music at lower volume levels since the transient, detail and transparency performance of the R645's seem so much more linear with volume than my previous setup. Dynamic contrasts are also superb with no evidence of compression or distortion at higher volume levels. My previous speakers exhibited an annoying habit of "blurring" musical details when louder passages were played. Their manufacturer told me that this was due to the amplifier I was using. Perhaps so, but I doubted that conclusion. Now I know why! With the R645's I can listen deep into the soundstage during low level passages with ease yet clearly discern individual performers or instruments during loud passages. Quite simply, wonderful...
High's:
Astonishing detail and transparency. Cymbals sound like cymbals, the first home system I've owned that could achieve this feat. The ability to separate and provide space between individual sources of upper octave music is wonderful and beyond anything I've heard under $15K. Some passages sound a little "zippy" but as yet I'm not sure that this is the music itself (CD's) or the R645's. Also, some of the higher frequency instruments seem to be pushed slightly forward in the sound stage. Again, this may be what is recorded.
Overall I am extremely pleased with the R645's and am enjoying my CD collection all over again. I now have to tear myself away from listening sessions. Thanks for a superb product that is an unbelievable value.
Sincerely,
Bob W

Our speakers arrived yesterday and we could hardly wait to get home to put them together. A bit of a workout, I'd say but obviously worth it. I had no idea what everyone really meant by "the speakers just disappear". Wow!
Thanks,
Brad P

I had 2 friends over to listen the other night and they were very impressed. The soundstage is spectacular in the current setup with the speakers 7 ft. from the rear wall and about 3 ft from side walls. I started the listening session with some jazz played at a moderate level and they were immediately aware of the depth and solidity of the soundstage. At low levels these speakers present a complete sonic picture with excellent detail making low level listening an enjoyable experience. When sounds fade into the background they do so with a natural quality, maintaining there place in the soundstage, that I have not heard before from any other speaker. The Scan Speak woofers seem to have an ability to present low level detail with a delicate and slightly rich sound that I find very natural. These qualities are rare in conventional speakers. We listened to a wide variety of music and the sound was never less than excellent. On the other end of the dynamic scale I was able to startle them with the opening drum beats of Coplands Fanfare For a Common Man (I had my sub on for this cut). The 645's handled the high level horns in this piece with effortless ease. I am running them full range and the woofers do not lose control and start to flop around when deep bass is present like many other reflex designs I have auditioned. They can sort out the most complex music at high levels without the sound stage collapsing.
BP

BACK 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 NEXT

Text Size

Email: ribbons@newformresearch.com Tel: 705.835.9000