ThereseFontaine
Auditioning
- Joined
- Jul 10, 2002
- Messages
- 9
Posted this a few days ago. as reading through a number of threads here looking for rocket reviews. This might be helpful....
Received: 2 RS750, RSC200, 2 RSS300, 2 VTF-3
The packaging was as described for the Diva’s. Please note I have never owned or heard the Diva’s. (Was considering – never worked out – ordered Rockets!)
While the packaging was incredible…the speakers themselves are just beautiful aesthetically. They are finished in an almost mahogany satin finish on rosewood veneer. The end caps are beautifully polished…similar to a baked piano finish. Every speaker was perfectly finished without a single mar. They all matched. As the speakers look so good with their grills off – we are now having arguments on this! Okay – looks are great, the center is HUGE. We built a center “box” about 1ft over the TV and it just fits! The towers are magnificent, they have a very sleek look, one could almost say “sexy”. The surrounds are 5 sided, with a center panel of rosewood, the two speaker sides and then two more rosewood sides. They are also very heavy, although there is a mounting bracket and we were able to mount them in the drywall, carefully! Did I mention the subs? I skipped my workouts, lifting those subs and speakers are all you need to do!
The looks are great…now onto the sound….Some caveats..Am not an “audiophile expert”, however have a strong musical background and am able to discern good, bad, great and extraordinary sound! The room that the system is in is a large rectangle (18*20) opening to another rectangle of similar size. Floors are all hard and the ceilings are 12ft. This is a very “hard” room and sounds tends to bounce and echo. While I auditioned many speakers the following are the ones that made it into the room as well as being auditioned in the audio shops. M & K 150’sand matching center/surrounds, Boston Acoustics VRM90’s – matching surrounds/center, Paradigm Studio 100’s same match up. (Used a Velodyne Sub/and Silver)
Musically the 750’s are very articulate. Used in pure direct (off a denon 5803) instrumentation was crisp, natural and from the lowest volumes to reference level was smooth with every sound being distinct. (Music used was Vollenweider, Streisand, Pocahontas Orchestration, Andrew Lloyd Weber(Michael Crawford) – as this was used on all the auditions as I know the music well). The tonal quality was true and immaculate to the recording. After speakers were calibrated, the soundstage was full, somewhat forward and enveloping. The sweet spot for this sound stage is huge and accommodated almost all the seating; peripheral seating had very little localization effect. Vocals were clear, again natural and non-fatiguing. I define bright as somewhat shrill and high ranged (fatiguing). The rockets appear to be warm, although not overly so. Was concerned about the sound bouncing through the rooms. With a little speaker movement, achievement of “theatrical soundstage” level was done. When I finally stopped fiddling, moving speakers etc and listened to the whole orchestration, there were tears in my eyes. The sound was wonderful. I do believe that the mid range is not quite as full…I’m sure that is due to break-in and is more noticeable because the bass (yea!!) and extension everywhere else is well done. In comparison on Music, the Boston Acoustics had much the same qualities, however tended to be slightly boomy, did not have the same bass extension and the sound stage was smaller. From a music standpoint, there simply was no comparison to the M & K's, the best way to articulate that would be, natural(for the rockets) to almost a digital quality(for the M &K). Very hard on the room. The Studio’s were close and in fact, at this time felt the mid range was better. This was particularly noticeable in piano pieces. Played with some of the other modes etc, 5.1 stereo, dts and the sound was just incredible. Those rear surrounds are some of the best musically I have heard. Prefer 2 channels for most music.
From a HT perspective… used the Red Violin, StarWars (because we love the Pod Race scenes!), Pearl Harbor and Jurassic Park. All were dvd’s we had seen too many times to mention, especially Star Wars! I need to mention the subs here, forgot to mention above how beautifully they mated with the rockets, was stunned at the musicality of them and simply LOVE my subs…nothing I have heard has come close! Okay…back to HT…obviously love bass – look at my selections!!! The rockets were wonderful musically – but they really shine in HT. Now y’all are going to pick me apart and say I didn’t like them musically, I cried for Pete’s sake, just that for HT they are superb! Left the BA’s in the dust, no more need said, Paradigms were a weak second cousin, I would say a close tie with the M & K's, with the M & K’s getting the slight edge in non musical movies. The rear surrounds are stunning in their clarity and ability to replicate a theater experience of many speakers. It’s hard to believe there are only 2. The center is crisp and images well. The sound is so enveloping, it is difficult if not impossible to localize any of the speakers. During the Pod race scenes, you literally felt as if they were going right around the room and you were there…okay a bit of a stretch, but had it been the Daytona 500, you would have felt as if you were there! In scene 41, during the Darth Maul fight, there is sub vocalization I have never heard before. On the rockets, it was as if I never had watched/listened to the whole movie before. Even the M & K’s were not comparable at this level of clarity. While Pearl has lots of boom, noticed on many systems that it was often difficult to hear the dialogue over the war – no problem with the rockets. The red violin was simply great. Now I have to go get all the movies I’ve rented and seen and watch them again!!
Overall, I am a Rockets Fan! They are great speakers, and AV123 deserves much credit, not just for the products but also for their customer service. Steve, Sean and Mark have been helpful beyond any of my expectations and that this is coupled with an outstanding product makes me wish they sold more than audio equipment! I apologize for the long read, but wanted to give some impressions on these out standing speakers.
Thanks – Therese
Systems Used: 2 RS750, RSC200, 2 RSS300, 2 VTF-3, Denon 5803, Panny RP91, Sonance 1230, Onix Cable/Interconnects. HTS5600
Received: 2 RS750, RSC200, 2 RSS300, 2 VTF-3
The packaging was as described for the Diva’s. Please note I have never owned or heard the Diva’s. (Was considering – never worked out – ordered Rockets!)
While the packaging was incredible…the speakers themselves are just beautiful aesthetically. They are finished in an almost mahogany satin finish on rosewood veneer. The end caps are beautifully polished…similar to a baked piano finish. Every speaker was perfectly finished without a single mar. They all matched. As the speakers look so good with their grills off – we are now having arguments on this! Okay – looks are great, the center is HUGE. We built a center “box” about 1ft over the TV and it just fits! The towers are magnificent, they have a very sleek look, one could almost say “sexy”. The surrounds are 5 sided, with a center panel of rosewood, the two speaker sides and then two more rosewood sides. They are also very heavy, although there is a mounting bracket and we were able to mount them in the drywall, carefully! Did I mention the subs? I skipped my workouts, lifting those subs and speakers are all you need to do!
The looks are great…now onto the sound….Some caveats..Am not an “audiophile expert”, however have a strong musical background and am able to discern good, bad, great and extraordinary sound! The room that the system is in is a large rectangle (18*20) opening to another rectangle of similar size. Floors are all hard and the ceilings are 12ft. This is a very “hard” room and sounds tends to bounce and echo. While I auditioned many speakers the following are the ones that made it into the room as well as being auditioned in the audio shops. M & K 150’sand matching center/surrounds, Boston Acoustics VRM90’s – matching surrounds/center, Paradigm Studio 100’s same match up. (Used a Velodyne Sub/and Silver)
Musically the 750’s are very articulate. Used in pure direct (off a denon 5803) instrumentation was crisp, natural and from the lowest volumes to reference level was smooth with every sound being distinct. (Music used was Vollenweider, Streisand, Pocahontas Orchestration, Andrew Lloyd Weber(Michael Crawford) – as this was used on all the auditions as I know the music well). The tonal quality was true and immaculate to the recording. After speakers were calibrated, the soundstage was full, somewhat forward and enveloping. The sweet spot for this sound stage is huge and accommodated almost all the seating; peripheral seating had very little localization effect. Vocals were clear, again natural and non-fatiguing. I define bright as somewhat shrill and high ranged (fatiguing). The rockets appear to be warm, although not overly so. Was concerned about the sound bouncing through the rooms. With a little speaker movement, achievement of “theatrical soundstage” level was done. When I finally stopped fiddling, moving speakers etc and listened to the whole orchestration, there were tears in my eyes. The sound was wonderful. I do believe that the mid range is not quite as full…I’m sure that is due to break-in and is more noticeable because the bass (yea!!) and extension everywhere else is well done. In comparison on Music, the Boston Acoustics had much the same qualities, however tended to be slightly boomy, did not have the same bass extension and the sound stage was smaller. From a music standpoint, there simply was no comparison to the M & K's, the best way to articulate that would be, natural(for the rockets) to almost a digital quality(for the M &K). Very hard on the room. The Studio’s were close and in fact, at this time felt the mid range was better. This was particularly noticeable in piano pieces. Played with some of the other modes etc, 5.1 stereo, dts and the sound was just incredible. Those rear surrounds are some of the best musically I have heard. Prefer 2 channels for most music.
From a HT perspective… used the Red Violin, StarWars (because we love the Pod Race scenes!), Pearl Harbor and Jurassic Park. All were dvd’s we had seen too many times to mention, especially Star Wars! I need to mention the subs here, forgot to mention above how beautifully they mated with the rockets, was stunned at the musicality of them and simply LOVE my subs…nothing I have heard has come close! Okay…back to HT…obviously love bass – look at my selections!!! The rockets were wonderful musically – but they really shine in HT. Now y’all are going to pick me apart and say I didn’t like them musically, I cried for Pete’s sake, just that for HT they are superb! Left the BA’s in the dust, no more need said, Paradigms were a weak second cousin, I would say a close tie with the M & K's, with the M & K’s getting the slight edge in non musical movies. The rear surrounds are stunning in their clarity and ability to replicate a theater experience of many speakers. It’s hard to believe there are only 2. The center is crisp and images well. The sound is so enveloping, it is difficult if not impossible to localize any of the speakers. During the Pod race scenes, you literally felt as if they were going right around the room and you were there…okay a bit of a stretch, but had it been the Daytona 500, you would have felt as if you were there! In scene 41, during the Darth Maul fight, there is sub vocalization I have never heard before. On the rockets, it was as if I never had watched/listened to the whole movie before. Even the M & K’s were not comparable at this level of clarity. While Pearl has lots of boom, noticed on many systems that it was often difficult to hear the dialogue over the war – no problem with the rockets. The red violin was simply great. Now I have to go get all the movies I’ve rented and seen and watch them again!!
Overall, I am a Rockets Fan! They are great speakers, and AV123 deserves much credit, not just for the products but also for their customer service. Steve, Sean and Mark have been helpful beyond any of my expectations and that this is coupled with an outstanding product makes me wish they sold more than audio equipment! I apologize for the long read, but wanted to give some impressions on these out standing speakers.
Thanks – Therese
Systems Used: 2 RS750, RSC200, 2 RSS300, 2 VTF-3, Denon 5803, Panny RP91, Sonance 1230, Onix Cable/Interconnects. HTS5600