RBH Signature SV-61R Bookshelf Speaker Review

Signature SV-61 Introduction

RBH Sound launched their Signature SV series speakers in 2015 to high acclaim, and in late 2016, they released an upgraded ‘deluxe’ version of that product line called the Signature SV Reference series. The Reference series essentially replaces the standard Signature SV series drivers with premium drivers, with the woofer getting a fixed phase plug and the tweeter moving from a silk dome to a more powerful AMT design. The crossover has been adjusted to optimize the performance of these higher-end components. For this review, we look at a pair of their Signature SV Reference bookshelf speakers, the SV-61R. With a MSRP of nearly $1,900/pair, these are not inexpensive bookshelf speakers, but from top to bottom, they exude a sense of the deluxe, with an exquisite finish, high-end parts, shapely cabinet, and a heft that suggests real solidity. So now let us see what kind of two-way bookshelf RBH has delivered to us at this price point…

Appearance

The SV-61R speakers arrived at my doorstep packed fairly well. The box was lined with cardboard edge protectors on all edges. Two thick foam pieces sandwiched the speaker and protected it from shock or deep box punctures. It was covered with a white cotton back to protect it from moisture and scuffs. The speaker itself took me by surprise by the elegance of its finish when I unveiled it. The high-gloss rosewood may be the most luxurious finish on any speaker I have had in my home to date. It was very polished and high-end but without being over-the-top at all. The curvature of the cabinet side-panels made the appearance of the speaker all the more alluring.

However, the grille very much diminishes its charms. To be sure, the SV-61R does not look bad with the grille, but it does look quite a bit duller. I know a grille is a standard accessory to speakers these days, but so long as the drivers and baffle do not look too mechanical, grilles seem to serve little purpose outside of a minor amount of protection for the drivers. Grilles almost always hurt performance as well, by creating additional diffraction surfaces. Without the grille, the SV-61R looks sharp; against the lustrous rosewood baffle, the glistening aluminum cones, and the round, dark AMT tweeter frame serves as a staid counter-balance to the sparkling phase plug. With the grille on, front of the speaker just turns into a flat, black rectangle. Use this speaker without the grille if you can!

One small criticism I have is that I would expect a speaker of this price point to have magnetic grilles. That way you can rid of the grille guides for a cleaner front baffle, and it also makes for an easier attachment and removal of the grille. Hopefully, RBH will consider this small alteration in future production!

Design Overview

The SV-61R doesn’t look to make any radical departures in design from conventional two-way bookshelf speakers, aside from using higher-end components. There is certainly nothing wrong with that, since, if implemented well, it is a proven design that can bring terrific results. The SV-61R uses an AMT tweeter, which is a folded-ribbon design that has become a popular tweeter type in recent years. I will describe the AMT function by simply quoting from our description from the last Audioholics review of an AMT speaker (Monoprice Air Motion speakers):

 “AMT stands for “Air Motion Transformer”. As opposed to conventional dome tweeters that pistonically oscillates a little dome, AMT tweeters contract and expand the folds of a pleated membrane to produce sound. To explain using an example, imagine the folded surface of a half-closed curtain- then line the interior folds of the curtain with conductive rods on adjacent sides of the folds, and set two powerful magnets on the sides of the curtain. Run some alternating current through the conducting rods and their newfound electromagnetic field will rapidly collapse and expand the folds of the curtain, and, in doing so, squeeze air in and out of the folds thereby creating pressure waves that we experience as sound.

A major advantage in this design is that since the folds of the diaphragm are much deeper than they are wide, air is ejected out much faster speed than the vibration of the diaphragm itself- as much as five times faster. Another advantage is the very light mass of the diaphragm that makes it very easy to move and to change direction since it does not have the momentum of the weight of typical dome tweeters. These elements give AMT tweeters an extended response well into ultrasonic frequency ranges. Also, since AMT tweeters can have a relatively large surface coupled with the air, they can have a very wide dynamic range.”

RBH Sound had eschewed AMT tweeters until recently because they felt the available AMT tweeters were not outperforming the ScanSpeak dome tweeters that were used in their Reference speakers. That changed when they co-developed an AMT tweeter with Aurum Cantus which had performance characteristics that warranted inclusion in their flagship speakers. The tweeter used in the SV-61R is a part of Aurum Cantus’ ‘Aero Striction’ line of smaller AMT tweeters, which have relatively smooth, linear responses, high sensitivity, and very little stored energy, which makes for a good transient response.

The SV-61R woofer is also a noteworthy addition. It is based on a design that has been evolving since the mid 90’s that has an extended high-frequency response. RBH claims its aluminum cone has great damping properties that can maintain its pistonic motion at high SPLs. The version used in the SV-61R has a few differences from the standard version, with the most remarkable difference being the gleaming, mirror-textured phase plug. The phase plug is more than just a pretty adornment; it reduces interference of sound waves produced by different sections of the cone and so enables a smoother response. It also improves power-handling by reducing thermal compression by venting the voice coil.

The crossover also shows an attention to detail befitting a speaker of this price point. On the crossover board, we see four chunky propylene capacitors (two on top, and two on the reverse side of board), a polyfuse used for tweeter protection, two beefy-looking inductors, and two resistors. The crossover between drivers is spec’d at 2700 Hz with a 2nd-order (12 dB/octave) slope. RBH uses high-quality metalized capacitors, low DCR coils for the midwoofer, and 14 AWG cable for wiring to the drivers.

The cabinet is of sturdy construction. The front baffle is 1” thick MDF, and the other panels are all 3/4” thick. There is a ½” thick window brace between the tweeter and woofer. It is generously stuffed with Dacron. Supposedly, the curvature of the side-panels can help reduce resonant peaks from internal standing waves. The back of the SV-61R has a rear-firing port and a terminal cup with some heavy-duty binding posts. 

Listening Tests

In my approximately 24’ by 13’ listening room, I set up the speakers with stand-off distances between the backwall and sidewall, and equal distance between speakers and listening position, with speakers toed-in toward the listening position. Listening distance from the speakers was about 10 feet. Amplification and processing was handled by a Pioneer Elite SC-55. No equalization or room correction was used. A Hsu Research VTF-15h mk2 subwoofer with an 80 Hz crossover frequency was used to supplement the bass.

Music Listening

I decided to dive right in with the SV-61R speakers and play something with a large scope and well-rounded sound that stretches across much of the audible frequency spectrum without putting too much emphasis on only a few frequency bands. I found a recording of Mendelssohn’s Symphony No.3 along with Die Erste Walpurgisnacht conducted by Christoph Von Dohnanyi and performed by the Cleveland Orchestra on the famed Telarc label. This type of recording seemed to fit the criteria that I was looking for to evaluate these speakers, so I gave it a listen. This recording captured the scale of the orchestra without resorting to concert hall reverb to give it an artificially grandiose sound. 

While listening to this disc of Mendelssohn compositions, I found myself gradually turning the volume up, although not to hear a particular element of the recording better, but because I was enjoying the sound, and the louder I took it, the better it sounded. I don’t often listen to anything at a -5 dB point on my receiver’s gain dial, but the dynamics and scope of this recording compelled me to crank it to this level. It was loud and lively without being blaring. I don’t know how much of this quality was due to the speakers and how much was due to the recording, but I would guess both are responsible to some degree. Imaging was very good, with strings across the front stage and the illusion of brass in the rear and woodwinds at center. Vocalists also had nicely anchored positions within the soundstage. On the SV-61Rs, they were like disembodied voices; invisible singers in impossible positions my theater room, yet rendered lifelike through the magic of stereo imaging. 

For something that is more focused on vocals and a solitary human voice, I turned to Loreena McKennitt’s ‘The Mask and the Mirror.’ ‘The Mask and the Mirror’ is a 1994 album that puts a more medieval and middle-eastern spin on McKennitt’s Celtic themed music. Loreena’s vocal range makes any of her albums good for demonstrating how well any sound system can execute vocals. She is best known for her sonorous soprano singing which can be positively operatic at times, but she also engages in much softer and more delicate whisper-like singing, and she has other styles as well. However, ‘The Mask and the Mirror’ isn’t only notable for McKennitt’s vocals; it also uses an array of conventional and exotic instruments such as the Cello, Dumbeg, Uillean Pipes, and Tabla. The album is diverse, haunting, sumptuous, and cleanly recorded, and it is terrific music for music lovers as well as demo material for high-fidelity sound systems.

Listening to ‘The Mask and the Mirror’ on the SV-61R speakers, I found the speakers lacking in nothing for the reproduction of this album. Loreena’s voice was crystal clear, and instrumentation was convincingly rendered. The soundstage was wide and enveloping, but the imaging was precise and unambiguous. Revisiting this album on the SV-61R speakers revealed a sense of depth in the presentation that I had missed up until then. It certainly isn’t something you can get from headphone listening. It’s an album that is lush but without washing out detail or definition. Music lovers would be doing themselves a favor by listening to ‘The Mask and the Mirror’ on a system of comparable fidelity from speakers on the level of the SV-61Rs.

I decided to use a simpler recording for a clearer listen to individual instruments. For this, I turned to a new album of Bach compositions by Chris Thile, Edgar Meyer, and Yo-yo Ma called ‘Bach Trios’ on Nonesuch Records. Famed cellist Yo-yo Ma is joined by mandolinist Chris Thile and bassist Edgar Meyer in bringing to life an array of Bach works as a trio, so the recording has the more intimate feel of chamber music as opposed to an orchestra. The playing is impeccable as would be expected from such a capable group of performers.

The SV-61R speakers gave ‘Bach Trios’ a detailed and balanced recreation. None of the delicate timbre of the bass violin and cello were lost, and the picks of the mandolin spotlighted the superb transient response of the SV-61R. The instruments sounded like they were recorded with close microphones, so imaging was very broad, but the speakers cannot be faulted for that. This recording technique may well have captured more of the character of the individual instruments at the expense of a precise soundstage. The overall sound was as if the listener was situated in the middle of the group rather than seated in a distant audience, and perhaps this was done to give the listener more of an experience as would be heard from one of the players in order to accentuate the harmony and rapport of the group. This is a type of recording that would work very well, perhaps even better, on headphones rather than loudspeakers, but the SV-61R speakers did an exemplary job nonetheless.   

For something on the opposite side of the music spectrum, something loud and raucous, I turned to a disc of hard Drum & Bass music from the late 90’s. ‘66 Minutes of Sickness’ is a mix of tracks by various artists by Drum & Bass DJ and producer Panacea that was done for the short-lived German D’n’B magazine Resident. ‘Drum & Bass’ is a genre of electronic music featuring very aggressive percussion and heavy bass, as its name would suggest; what death metal is to rock music, Drum & Bass is to electronic music. The reason why I use this music to evaluate speakers is partly as a stress test, and also partly to get a sense of the speaker’s dynamic range in mid-bass and also excess or dearth of treble energy.

On a speaker that has overly-hot treble, music like this can sound very harsh (even harsher than it is supposed to sound), but the SV-61R speakers presented ‘66 Minutes of Sickness’ plentiful high-frequency energy without becoming searing to the ears. On a middling sound system, the high-frequency percussion instruments such as the various hi-hats and cymbals can blend together into a sizzling mess, but the SV-61R kept them separate and distinct. Mid-bass capability was good for a bookshelf speaker, but it could not get ‘chest-thumping’ loud, not that anyone should expect 6” woofers to achieve that. Raising the subwoofer crossover to 100 Hz helped in this regard. In the mid-range frequencies, the speakers were very capable. They could play mids and highs cleanly at loud volumes, perhaps as a consequence of the AMT tweeter’s above-average dynamic range. All-in-all, the SV-61R speakers did not disappoint with this heavy-duty music.

Movie Listening

One film that I watched in my time with the SV-61R speakers was 2015 madcap actioner ‘Hardcore Henry.’ ‘Hardcore Henry’ is a unique Russian-American action film in that it takes place entirely in the first-person perspective. It is frenetic, unremittingly violent, and continually loud, so I thought it would serve as a good demonstration of an action movie soundtrack. It contains a wide variety of action set pieces, and nearly every way a person can have a sudden death is depicted in this film. It is a better exercise for an entire surround sound system than it is for the front left and right, which were the roles I gave to the SV-61Rs, but they still did a commendable job even at the ear-splitting levels that I viewed the movie with. All sorts of mayhem were given a visceral aural realization by the SV-61Rs: car crashes, machine guns, fist fights, tank cannon bursts, mortar attacks, shotgun blasts, fist fights, and a prolonged musical show tune bit. The SV-61R speakers did fine, but I was only seated 10 feet from them, so they do not need to be pushed really hard to get loud at that distance. For a bookshelf speaker with a 6 ½” woofer, their dynamic range was laudable.

Another movie that I watched was the 2007 remake of ‘3:10 to Yuma.’ I had long intended to watch it again since being so impressed with it after its initial release, and what better time to see it than with these thus-far excellent speakers still in my possession. ‘3:10 to Yuma’ has a very good sound mix with a nice balance of action, dialogue, and music. The score by Marco Beltrami is certainly among the better parts of his work and recalls the austere tension of the spaghetti western scores by Ennio Morricone. The SV-61R speakers were a good match for such a fine movie with its superb musical soundtrack. Dialogue intelligibility was never obscured by action, even amidst galloping horses and creaking wagons. Revolvers and rifle shots had a satisfying crack with the snap of bullet impacts abounding the characters. The music was vividly rendered; a lush but subdued orchestra backed the detailed twang of the lead acoustic guitar. In the end, I had no cause for complaint with the SV-61Rs on ‘3:10 to Yuma.” A terrific movie that sounded great on a great set of speakers.

Near-field Use

I should also mention that I did use the SV-61R speakers as my desktop PC speakers to see how they sound in near-field use (I am actually listening to them as I am typing this). Not every bookshelf speaker that comes into my possession sounds good with near-field use (let’s classify near-field use as less than 3 feet or so). Some speakers can sound very off at this listening distance but still sound good farther away., However, I can say that the SV-61R speakers sound very good and can be used as desktop speakers to good effect. It should be said that usually more effort is needed to get bookshelf speakers to sound good on desktops, and I would recommend raising them as far off the desktop surface as is possible while keeping the tweeters level with the user’s ears.

RBH SV-61R Measurements and Conclusion

The RBH SV-61R bookshelf speakers were measured in free air at a height of approximately 7.5 feet and gated at 9 ms. At this window gate, some resolution is lost below 250 Hz, and accuracy is completely lost below 110 Hz and so that range should be ignored. The microphone was placed 2 meters away from the speaker at a height level with the tweeter. All measurements are unsmoothed.

RBH SV-61R Bookshelf Speaker Response Curves 

The SV-61R speakers have a very good response overall. They are a tad soft in upper treble frequencies, taking a 3 dB dip above 7 kHz with respect to the rest of the response, but that isn’t an audible character that I noted when I was listening to them. Note the marvelously flat response from 600 Hz to 6 kHz. There is very little evidence of the 2700 Hz crossover point between the drivers. This is a crossover done right. One admirable trait is the similarities of the early reflections curve and listening window curve to the direct axis curve. This means the speaker will sound the same even well away from the direct axis angle. Another aspect to note is the very gradual rise on the directivity index curves; it is mostly pretty flat up to 5 kHz. This means that the directivity, or the off-axis energy, does not change substantially within that frequency band. More evidence of this property will be seen in the polar map graph below. For a good explanation of these curves and their significance, we refer the reader to this Audioholics article: Objective Loudspeaker Measurements to Predict Subjective Preferences.

RBH SV-61R Bookshelf Speaker horizontal frequency response +/- 100 degrees: 3D view

RBH SV-61R Bookshelf Speaker horizontal frequency response +/- 100 degrees: 2D view 

The above graphs depict the SV-61R’s axial response out to 100 degrees in 5-degree increments. Again, we see the terrifically neutral power response from 600 Hz to 6 kHz. The response drops a bit below and above that band, but still remains flat after the drop. The off-axis response beautifully mirrors the direct response and does not significantly change in shape except for a gradual narrowing of directivity. This dispersion behavior is textbook perfect for this type of design and design goal. The dispersion is wide and uniform in shape. This is a speaker that will sound the very close to the same on and off-axis. It will cover a very wide listening angle with essentially the same sound quality. If you have a broad listening area, this speaker is a great choice. Furthermore, the acoustic reflections of the speaker in the room, which is most of what we hear in normal listening situations, will not have deviations from the sound character from the direct axis response. So, this speaker will sound great in almost any room. You do not need a room with heavy acoustic treatments to get the SV-61R speakers to sound good. They are designed to sound good in any normal domestic environment.

The flattest response occurs on direct axis, but those who want to shave a little energy off the high frequencies for a warmer sound can toe them in or out by 20 or 30 degrees or so and that may subdue some of the treble energy. My advice is to listen to them on direct axis, and, if possible, with grilles removed. As with so many other speakers, the grilles do put some nicks in the treble frequencies from diffraction effects, although those negative effects aren’t really that audible. However, for the absolute best response, leave the grilles off. 

RBH SV-61R Bookshelf Speaker Polar Map 

The above polar map of the horizontal dispersion of the SV-61R speakers depict the same information as the two waterfall graphs above, but tells the story in a different way that can offer further insight regarding its behavior. We see again the fabulously controlled dispersion up to 6 kHz. Dispersion tightens a bit above 6 kHz but still maintains a respectably even response up to 20 kHz out at a 40-degree angle away from the direct axis. The story here is that the SV-61R speakers have a very uniform response over an 80-degree angle from the front of the speaker. If you listen anywhere within that angle, the speaker will not change much in sound character. These are not speakers that have a small ‘sweet spot’ or a single narrow position of good sound and not really anywhere else. All you have to do is sit somewhere in front of them and they will sound good. Again, listening on direct axis would be best, but you lose relatively little by sitting 25 or even 35 degrees off axis.

RBH SV-61R Bookshelf Speaker vertical frequency response +/- 90 degrees: 3D view 

The above graph depicts the SV-61R’s frequency response behavior on the vertical axis, so zero is directly ahead of the tweeter, -90 degrees facing the top of the speaker, and 90 degrees is facing the bottom. Uniformity in dispersion on the vertical axis isn’t nearly as important as it is for the horizontal axis, but it certainly does not hurt to have well-behaved vertical dispersion performance, and the SV-61R speakers do well on this front. We do see some notches centered at 2.5 kHz at the 20-degree angle that are interference effects from the tweeter and woofer canceling each other out. This is common and will affect any speaker that has drivers separated by a distance that lay on the same plane. As with many other speakers of this type, these should be listened to with the tweeters at or near ear level.

RBH SV-61R Bookshelf Speaker Electrical Impedance and Phase 

The SV-61R’s impedance curve exhibits an overall benign load. Impedance stays above 8 ohms until up to 3 kHz. At its lowest, it dips down to 6 ohms from 4 to 5 kHz, but the phase angle is not extremely steep around this minima, so this is not a particularly taxing load at any one point. All steep phase angles occur at high impedances, which makes for an easy amplification load. We can see from the dip in the low-frequency saddle that the port tuning frequency is 60 Hz. This speaker can be easily run on any amplifier and has no special amplification requirements at all. This is evidence of smart design and well thought-out engineering.

RBH SV-61R Bookshelf Speaker low-frequency response 

Since the 7.5 foot elevation of our free-air testing doesn’t allow us to get a sense of the low-end response of the SV-61R speakers due to the acoustic reflections of long wavelengths of low frequencies, we conducted ground-plane measurements which do give us a useful bass response. We can see the SV-61Rs have a slight 2 dB rise in the response centered at 100 Hz, but for the most part, the low-frequency response is quite flat. The low end starts rolling off at 80 Hz, so these are clearly intended to be used with a subwoofer with the normal 80 Hz crossover frequency. This is a very sensible design choice, since extending the low-frequency response lower would necessitate lower sensitivity or a larger cabinet and port.

Conclusion

Those who have read this far will know that I do like the RBH SV-61R speakers. They do a lot right and not really anything wrong at all. The question then becomes, are they worth the asking price? The $1,900 MSRP is a not insignificant asking price for a pair of bookshelf speakers, but, in my view, this is a fair price for the SV-61R speakers. They sound great, they look very nice, and they measure very well. Their build quality is also quite good; there is no evidence of shortcuts or penny-pinching in the parts selection or construction.

There are a lot of terrific choices in this price range, so why choose these from so many others? I would say these make a great choice for those looking for a bookshelf speaker that is on the ‘warm’ side, in that it doesn’t have accentuated treble but not without losing detail. Many times speakers simply use an elevated treble response to create a greater sense of detail. The SV-61Rs manage a nice sense of detail without heightened treble, and my guess is that is due to the relatively wide dispersion of the treble response. With these speakers, you can have detailed sound without scorching hot treble. 

The SV-61Rs also look pretty outstanding for medium-sized bookshelf speakers compared to much of the competition, especially in the Rosewood finish. This is a very classy-looking speaker and would not be out of place even in a luxuriously furnished environment. Any bookshelf speakers selling for nearly $1,900/pair better look nice, and these do, very much so. As was mentioned before, the grilles do them no favors in appearance as well as sound quality. Just leave them off if possible.

Due to their wide and even dispersion pattern, they can excel in a number of roles, not just as front left and right speakers. They would also make for excellent surround speakers where the user needs wide coverage over a short distance. As was said before, they do well as desktop speakers where their superb dispersion pattern makes any wide lateral movements of the listener have relatively little effect on the overall sound. 

RBH has released a very strong choice among loudspeakers of this type and price class. I can say that were I shopping for bookshelf speakers in this price range, they would definitely be one of the top contenders on my list. Even among all the very good bookshelf speakers in this range, the SV-61R is a welcome addition to this market. The world needs more great loudspeakers, not less, and RBH has made an excellent contribution in this respect.

The Score Card

The scoring below is based on each piece of equipment doing the duty it is designed for. The numbers are weighed heavily with respect to the individual cost of each unit, thus giving a rating roughly equal to:

Performance × Price Factor/Value = Rating

Audioholics.com note: The ratings indicated below are based on subjective listening and objective testing of the product in question. The rating scale is based on performance/value ratio. If you notice better performing products in future reviews that have lower numbers in certain areas, be aware that the value factor is most likely the culprit. Other Audioholics reviewers may rate products solely based on performance, and each reviewer has his/her own system for ratings.

Audioholics Rating Scale

• — Excellent
• — Very Good
• — Good
• — Fair
• — Poor

Metric	Rating
Build Quality
Appearance
Treble Extension
Treble Smoothness
Midrange Accuracy
Bass Extension
Bass Accuracy
Imaging
Dynamic Range
Fit and Finish
Performance
Value