Articles and whitepapers

Product Article: Have We Sacrificed Quality for Convenience? (30/7/2008)

By Gary Tanner, RBH Sound

The RBH SX-4T and SI Range for High-performance Home Theatre Listening

Several decades ago, the majority of loudspeakers sold were floorstanding speakers or bookshelf speakers. These speakers were used by a dying breed of listeners called 'audiophiles'. Remember them? The individuals who didn't just listen to music, they experienced it. There is tremendous power in music, and when we listen to it through a pair of high-performance loudspeakers, we can understand and feel the emotions that transcend the notes. Memorex tried to capture the spirit of the audiophile in one of their commercials. The ad showed a man and his chair being blown towards the back of the room by the unbelievable audio quality of a recording on a Memorex tape. The ad smugly posed the question "Is it live, or is it Memorex?" I think it's interesting that today this ad is associated more with high-performance loudspeakers than with audio tapes.

Fast forward twenty years, and there's a whole new generation of speakers designed for applications such as home cinema and multiroom audio. You've seen these speakers. They are the small compact speakers which promise 'full' sound that is comparable to larger floorstanding speakers; or built-in speakers that promote simplicity and stealth. But for those who are seeking the power and beauty of a true high-performance floorstanding speaker, RBH Sound can help.

Now don't get me wrong. There are installations where an in-ceiling, in-wall or compact system are fine for the desired performance. At RBH Sound we offer and sell many quality in-ceiling, in-wall and compact speakers. After all, installing high-performance loudspeakers in a room that will be used for entertaining dinner guests would be overkill. And I certainly would not suggest spending thousands of dollars on high-performance loudspeakers for the patio. But when it comes to critical listening, as in home cinemas and two-channel rooms, I suggest you place a higher level of importance on performance.

I have seen way too many critical listening rooms that have been butchered because the main concern was decor and appearance. You have probably seen it as well. How many times have you done a demo of a home cinema system or two-channel speakers for potential new clients that have resulted in the client saying something like "My current home cinema system doesn't sound anywhere near this good".

The higher-performance options

Fortunately, many of the high-performance loudspeakers offered today look more like furniture than speakers. This may help, but if you are doing an install in a critical listening room, and you have been expressly forbidden to use floorstanding speakers, then consider these two alternatives:

1. Use cabinetry or the front facade of a home cinema to hide freestanding speakers. This will appease the wife or interior designer without sacrificing quality. One thing to keep in mind when doing this is to stick with front-firing and front-ported floorstanding speakers, such as the RBH Sound SX-4T. The SX-4T is the newest freestanding tower worthy of joining RBH Sound's Signature Series family. A major departure from the standard look and feel of the Signature series family, the SX-4T features a swept back, tear-dropped shape cabinet, and is supported by an attractive metal footing base. The SX-4T features a beautiful anodized aluminium baffle, and is available in black, rosewood or cherry wood grain finishes.

The RBH Sound SX-4T freestanding speaker, with and without grille.

The SX-4T is a freestanding tower speaker which features five 4-inch aluminium cone woofers and a 1-inch soft-dome tweeter. These proprietary drivers come together to give the three-way SX-4T performance tantamount to the award-winning RBH Signature Series. To prevent standing waves or cabinet vibrations, the SX-4T's thick, internally-braced MDF construction combined with the swept-back design leaves only the purest of sonic performance to be experienced by the listener. The SX-4T's enclosure employs a forward-facing tuned vent which helps to extend the speaker's response into the lower 30Hz region for full-range support. To appease audio purists, the SX-4T features two pairs of high-quality five-way binding posts, allowing for bi-wiring and/or bi-amplification. At nearly 42 inches tall, the SX-4T measures just over 5 inches in width, giving the SX-4T a sexy, slender profile.

The SX-4T incorporates RBH Sound's proprietary aluminium cone technology, and is designed for music and home theatre connoisseurs who need a slim and modern freestanding tower speaker which is more than capable of supporting their high performance needs.

2. Use a high-performance built-in speaker with an enclosure, such as the RBH Sound SI line of high-performance in-wall speakers. The enclosure provides the same benefit as the cabinet of the freestanding speaker, but allows the speaker to be mounted in the wall or in the facade of a home cinema system. The design of the enclosure on the SI line is such that the majority of the enclosure is concealed behind the wall. The only thing the homeowner will see is the grille of the speaker. This is one of the best alternatives for giving your client the high performance that they want, without taking up floor space with floorstanding speakers.

The RBH Sound SI-6100R in-wall speaker, without grille.

Conclusion

There is a time and a place for lower-priced, lower-performance loudspeakers, but don't lose sight of the higher profits and higher revenue that comes from selling and installing high-performance products. In parting, let me leave you with these thoughts:

* You will realise larger profits from one install of a high-performance job than you will from multiple installs of lesser-performing speakers.
* Economic slowdowns have less of an affect on purchasers of high-performance products.
* A customer whose main focus is performance and quality is much less likely to shop around and compare prices.
* The perceived value of installers who install high-performance products is greater than those who install lower quality, budget-minded ones.

Gary Tanner is Vice President of Sales and Marketing for RBH Sound. Since 1976, RBH Sound has been designing, engineering and crafting high-performance audio products.

www.rbhsound.com