RBH 61-SE Build Quality

I was surprised to find the same motor structure of the Decimo's in the less costly Signature 61-SE's. This cast basket, huge magnet motor structure system is rarely found in speaker systems of this price range. This is one of the major attributes to the impressive bass response of these speakers. The other is the internal volume of these speakers. At first, it troubled me that these speakers were so deep, as it made them difficult to place in the tight constraints of my listening room. However, when I heard their authoritative bass output, I soon realized in a moderately sized living room, there would be no need for a subwoofer for 2 channel music applications. Coming from me, that is a notable statement, as I tend to always be way too critical of a speaker's bass capabilities.

Another impressive point about these speakers is that the internal wiring is 14 AWG from woofer to tweeter. In addition, the wire is twisted to eliminate potential crosstalk between woofer and tweeter signaling. I was equally impressed with the choice of crossover components RBH has implemented into these speakers. The crossover is not pictured here because I would have had to remove the entire roll of insulation to do so, and I feared RBH would not have been happy with me messing these little gems up too much. In any event, they employed all air core inductors, metallized polypropylene capacitors in series with the tweeter (as opposed to electrolytics) and 1% film resistor pads.

Internal Cabinet of the 61-SE

I was stunned to see baffled bracing in such a small cabinet. RBH could have taken the cheaper route by using strips of wood to brace the cabinets as many of their competitors do. Instead, they choose the more expensive and better performing approach. This is yet just another example of commitment to quality of craftsmanship.

Allright, so I was blown away by the bass capabilities of these little giants. But how did the rest of the frequency spectrum sound? After all, good bass is nice to have in a speaker, but it is useless without articulate midrange and silky smooth, detailed highs.

The answer to my question took several days of scrutinizing to conclude, as I am very critical of how a speaker should sound. I listened to familiar songs over and over again to ensure that I was not being swayed by initial impressions, improperly broken in drivers, alignment of the sun and moon, etc.

So What's the Scoop?

The Signature 61-SE's have seductive abilities to capture your attention. They persuade you to listen to their uncolored presentation of music. I found the 61-SE's ability to convey a very wide soundstage with pinpoint imaging and focus and plenty of bottom end to be amongst their strongest virtues. Grant it they are not as open sounding as the Decimo's, but at 1/3rd the price, I can accept that!

They retained so many of the qualities that I loved from the Decimos that I almost felt a presence of Deja Vu. Oops, am I talking about those little Decimo's again? Sorry about that; my bad.

I was overtaken by the smooth and controlled nature the 61-SE's. They absorbed oodles of power from the Harman Kardon amp, remained extremely musical and begged for more. Let me forewarn you that even though these speakers are small in appearance, they are not so small in sound. They require quality amplification, and will truly sound there best if it is provided. Since they are moderately sensitive (87dB/1watt) with an 8 ohm impedance, they can be powered reasonably well with midfi receivers. However, watch out, these babies will hit hard if connected to a high end rig and they will squeeze every ounce of performance out of your electronics.

Instrumentation such as trumpets and saxophones from the Steely Dan CD " Two Against Nature" really shined on these speakers. I really got the illusion as if the musicians were standing right in front of me.

I was very impressed with the midrange of these speakers considering their price range. Usually companies tend to take the easy way out by attenuating the midrange to hide the deficiencies of the drivers and/or crossover components utilized. This in not the case however with the 61-SE's. The midrange of these speakers is slightly forward and very uniform and linear in sound from 200Hz up to about 3KHz. The cymbals and high hats sounded clean and smooth without fatiguing the listener as so many loudspeakers tend to do. I did notice that the highs sounded a bit thin for the 1st few listening hours, but after a few days, the speakers really opened up and my initial worries about this matter disappeared. In addition, I felt that these speakers sounded and looked their best with the grills off. I just loved the appearance of the aluminum woofers contrasted with the woodgrain cabinet and black silk dome tweeters.

I can't tell you that these are the best sounding bookshelf speakers I have ever heard, not since my experience with the Decimo's, but they are about the best value is bookshelf speakers I have come across. In fact, they do so many things right that countless floor-standing speakers costing 2-3 times more could never dream of doing. For under $1000/pair, you get a handsomely crafted pair of loudspeakers with high quality drivers, crossovers components, and internal wiring, that gives you a sense of pride of ownership, awarding many years of listening enjoyment, as well as envy from your friends.