[mminutel]

I woke up early this morning and moved to the couch so I would wake up in case UPS came knocking early. Around 10 o'clock, I looked outside at the snow and noticed a big box out on the porch. Hmm... They did come early, but they must not have knocked or something. Anyways, I opened them up like a kid on Christmas.

The first thing I noticed was the look. I got the cherry finish, and they look a lot better than what I was expecting. As for the sound, I think they sound great so far. I have heard that they need some burn-in to sound their best. I haven't done a side by side comparison with my Denons yet, but I think the speakers are definitely going to get a lot of use. My Denon's are wonderful, but I have never had a good pair of speakers so this is kind of a flavor of th month for me. The deal I got on these even came with a free stand. I put them together, and, aside from the metal pole, they look great.

Now, a little bad news. I had routed my speaker cable through the stands and needed just a tiny bit more slack to get them to reach the binding posts so I tilted the stand about 15 degrees to push in the cable and a speaker fell off onto the other one that was sitting on the ground. The corner on one of them is slightly dented and the top on the other has a dent as well. It was my fault, so I cannot be mad, but I hate that I was that stupid. I am going to look for some touch-up paint that matches the color. I will still know it is there, but I want to cover it up the best that I can. The good thing is that it didn't effect the sound.

 

[mrarroyo]

If you have an indentation on the wood place a drop of water on the wood and let it stand until it dries. The wood will absorb the water and it will expand and with luck most of the indentation will be gone. Repeat if needed, then use wax to finish the job.

 

[mminutel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrarroyo /img/forum/go_quote.gif If you have an indentation on the wood place a drop of water on the wood and let it stand until it dries. The wood will absorb the water and it will expand and with luck most of the indentation will be gone. Repeat if needed, then use wax to finish the job.

When you say "use wax to finish the job" do you mean to make the wood flush with the rest before I refinish it? Like candle wax?

That's why I love this place. I would have never thought of doing something like that. I would have just polished over it and tried to forget about it. Thanks a lot.

 

[mrarroyo]

I use wax to do a "clean up" of the surface. BTW, I just used this method to significantly reduce some dings on one of my wood stands. Cheers.

 

[DeusEx]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mminutel /img/forum/go_quote.gif The first thing I noticed was the look. I got the cherry finish, and they look a lot better than what I was expecting.

Much better indeed.


Quote:

As for the sound, I think they sound great so far. I have heard that they need some burn-in to sound their best.

At least 50 hrs. Opens up quite well.

 

[tim3320070]

Definitely needs running in- sounds congested for a while.

 

[mminutel]

I have been listening to my speakers pretty much since I got them. I haven't put my headphones on since I got the speakers until a couple of hours ago. Keep in mind that these are very well regarded speakers, but they are still very much entry level.

I have never owned a good set of speakers before. I basically wanted to get them to share my music with others. Also, at times I find headphones fatiguing and, I hate to say this, but I would listen to music on my old RCA receiver almost as much as my headphones because I couldn't tell that much of a difference in the sound. To be honest, I hadn't ever really been able to tell very many differences going from the K81DJs to the D2000s. I liked them a lot more for the fact that they were a lot more comfortable and I could wear them for extended periods.

When I put them on tonight, I couldn't stop smiling. I am now a huge believer in what a lot of people say about having to hear music from different sources and such to "train" your ears. I can hear such a difference in the quality that it astonished me.

Given that the RC-10s are bookshelf speakers, they only go down to 65hz or so. Once I put on the D2000s, which have a lot of bass compared to some phones, I realized that I had been really missing the low tones. Also, the speakers don't give anywhere near the instrument separation that my phones give me. The Energy speakers seem kind of jumbled together. One of my favorite things to do is single out a certain instrument and try to block the rest of them out. This was very hard to do with the speakers. I have also found my headphones to actually be more forgiving of poor recording. Some of my rips are from when I was younger and didn't take care of my CDs. A lot of them are <192kbps, and I do not have a lot of the CDs to re-rip them.

A lot of this might change once I actually go back down to my house and put them in their final resting place, but I keep racking my brain because I keep hearing some buzzing at a certain frequency in the left speaker. I haven't taken the time to see if it is the amp yet. The only thing I know to do is switch the left and right speakers and see if the problem still persists. My first thought was that it was my recordings, because I can't hear them on a lot of my FLACs. However, I have found a couple of lossless files that I still think I can hear the rattle. It is possible that it is in the speaker itself or the files and I am over-analyzing, but I am paranoid about it since it is the speaker that I dropped on the first day. I cannot hear it in my headphones.

I still really like the speakers, though. The soundstage is amazing and they are not fatiguing in the slightest, but it took me until now to realize how amazing these headphones are. If I can tell a night and day difference now just by changing a few sources and components, I cannot wait until I can start demoing more and see what happens.

 

[endless402]

instrument separation issue more likely due to your amp. rc-10's are quite capable. also placement of speaker changes bass output. how far away are they from the wall. it also depends on how far you're sitting from them.

 

[DeusEx]

Quote:

Originally Posted by endless402 /img/forum/go_quote.gif instrument separation issue more likely due to your amp. rc-10's are quite capable. also placement of speaker changes bass output. how far away are they from the wall. it also depends on how far you're sitting from them.

+1 on both.

 

[denonfan]

You need a nice sub to pair with your speakers. Bookshelves just can't produce a prodigious amount of bass.

I was a fan of headphones for many years until I assembled my 2.1 setup. I haven't used my headphones much since.