RBH WM-24, WM-30, FM-45 First Impressions and Setup

Introduction

RBH Sound is a name familiar to all of us here at Audioholics. Reviews, forums and staff reference systems – it’s a company whose products we see again and again in these pages. I’d not heard for myself any of their offerings before having the sample WM-24, WM-30 & FM-45s delivered to my door and was curious to see what it was about the RBH sound that so often curried so much favorable attention in this corner of the Internet.

First Impressions

Right out of the box, its no-brainer obvious the WM-24s and WM-30 are on-wall speakers well suited for pairing up with flat panel displays (FPD). Whether you’re upgrading the factory installed speakers your FPD arrived with (and what genuine audioholic hasn’t thought about it at one time or another) or perhaps piecing together a surround sound system and prefer wall mount to floor standing, the WMs are tailor-made for the job. Though both the WM-24s and WM-30s can be used stand-mount, they come with wall mount hardware and an excellent template that’ll aid in making the install a trouble-free process.

It’s also obvious, right out of the box, the WM-24s, WM-30 and the FM-45s are well built, sturdy products. For example, pry off a front grill cover and you’ll discover it’s made of perforated metal stock covered by a thin, stretchable fabric. The latter is a particularly clever design feature in that the material can absorb the occasional snag and snap right back into place. Easy to clean, too.

Setup

Wall mount speakers necessarily require the extra effort, come setup time, of installing the hardware on the wall to which the speakers are to be affixed. So there’s going to be a bit more initial time & effort investment required than that needed when dealing with floor standing or stand mount speakers.

Installing the mounting hardware can be a tricky challenge and success demands careful attention to the details. (This holds especially true when dealing with masonry). On the other hand, if it’s to be a DIY job you’re likely in the fortunate position of having available a variety of placement options to explore prior to bolting the things permanently in place. Similar to floor standing or stand-mount speakers, it often happens the final location is nevertheless a compromise between sonics and aesthetics. Taking the time to explore or rather audition the sonic merits of different locations is recommended.

The WM-24s and WM-30 were exceptionally well packaged, with both the products entirely encased within the shipping carton by the packing material. The quality of the packaging design is a key detail. After all, no matter how good the speaker, if it arrives busted up, its useless and now you have to deal with the delays and potentially hassle-rich process of returning the item to the manufacturer.

Both the WM-24s and WM-30s shipped with a manual, mounting hardware and a second grill cover and mounting template. The template is well diagrammed & annotated and is well worth holding onto should you need to move the speakers at some point in the future.

The FM-45s were packed likewise, with the system base & tower segments of the speakers well isolated from the carton walls. The system shipped with the usual accessories (manual, etc). Laying the cartons out flat before opening them is recommended; you don’t want to find out after opening them in the upright position that an FM-45 is upside down and about to topple out on your feet.

Once out of their shipping cartons, positioning the FM-45s was fairly straightforward, having previously identified the general preferred location by walking the room. “Walking the room” entails having an assistant, whose voice you’re familiar with, walk the room reading from a textbook. Sitting in the main listening position and listening to the tonal changes that occur in the voice as the assistant walks the room will help locate appropriate locations for the speakers. Once placed, some positional fine tuning will likely be needed. After that, time to listen!

The WM-24s replaced the original speakers supplied with my FPD (Plasma, 42” diagonal) and the WM-30 was positioned (and used) as a center channel