Arron H
Second Unit
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2002
- Messages
- 332
Setup: I have my Rava placed about 2 feet from the back wall and about 1 foot from the side wall, directly behind my listening position. I used the S&V setup disc test tones to calibrate. I have the Rava at 89Db with the rest of my speakers at 85Db. My mains hit 85Db at -18.5 on my Yamaha Rxv-1200 receiver. Mains are B&W603s S2, surrounds are 601s S2, & center is LCR6 S2. All speakers are set to small. The sub level on my receiver is set at -20Db while the LFE level is maxed out at 0Db. I have the crossover on the sub set fully clockwise to bypass the sub's crossover. The Yamaha's crossover is set at 90Hz. The gain on the Rava is at about 11 o'clock (about 40% of max).
Home Theatre: My biggest question regarding the Rava was regarding HT. Enter Saving Private Ryan. Most of the time, I cannot listen to this movie much louder than than (-40Db) and still feel comfortable. As I mentioned above, (-18.5) is my receiver's reference level for calibration. The explosions are extremely lifelike. I can not only feel them very strongly anywhere in my living room, but other rooms throughout the house as well. The tanks in the bridge seen feel like they are rolling through the living room. I have not done any testing for SPL at different frequencies. I think it would be fun to try out the stryke disk.
The soundtrack. The Rava really shines on soundtracks. Some of my favorite soundtracks are Oceans 11, O Brother Where Art Thou, Ghost Dog, Charlie's Angels, Moulon Rouge, Boogie Nights, and the Fifth Element. I never feel like I need to adjust the bass on anything. Punchy, articulate, accurate, clean, smooth, seamless, etc. All of these adjectives seem to capture the capabilities of the Rava on . . .
Music: The Rava really does blend seamlessly with my mains. So much so that I have all of the speakers set to small. I really resisted the concept of setting the mains to small but the Rava has allayed all of my doubts. I feel very comfortable allowing the Rava to handle the bass management of my system. I leave it as is for both 2 channel stereo or 5.1 channel music listening.
Overall: This is a very good all around sub. It is especially capable for music but brings plenty to the table for HT. This is my first sub but I purchased/returned several others and auditioned countless others before purchasing. The Rava probably falls in the category of "a steal" for only $399. I hope this review helps others who are wondering about the Rava. These are my subjective observations and are not really scientific but they are real world. As I mentioned above, I would like to do some further testing with more advanced disks but overall, I am very comfortable with this sub.
Home Theatre: My biggest question regarding the Rava was regarding HT. Enter Saving Private Ryan. Most of the time, I cannot listen to this movie much louder than than (-40Db) and still feel comfortable. As I mentioned above, (-18.5) is my receiver's reference level for calibration. The explosions are extremely lifelike. I can not only feel them very strongly anywhere in my living room, but other rooms throughout the house as well. The tanks in the bridge seen feel like they are rolling through the living room. I have not done any testing for SPL at different frequencies. I think it would be fun to try out the stryke disk.
The soundtrack. The Rava really shines on soundtracks. Some of my favorite soundtracks are Oceans 11, O Brother Where Art Thou, Ghost Dog, Charlie's Angels, Moulon Rouge, Boogie Nights, and the Fifth Element. I never feel like I need to adjust the bass on anything. Punchy, articulate, accurate, clean, smooth, seamless, etc. All of these adjectives seem to capture the capabilities of the Rava on . . .
Music: The Rava really does blend seamlessly with my mains. So much so that I have all of the speakers set to small. I really resisted the concept of setting the mains to small but the Rava has allayed all of my doubts. I feel very comfortable allowing the Rava to handle the bass management of my system. I leave it as is for both 2 channel stereo or 5.1 channel music listening.
Overall: This is a very good all around sub. It is especially capable for music but brings plenty to the table for HT. This is my first sub but I purchased/returned several others and auditioned countless others before purchasing. The Rava probably falls in the category of "a steal" for only $399. I hope this review helps others who are wondering about the Rava. These are my subjective observations and are not really scientific but they are real world. As I mentioned above, I would like to do some further testing with more advanced disks but overall, I am very comfortable with this sub.
