Purchased a pair of these recently and want to provide some feedback for others who are considering these speakers. This is an initial review after 1 day. I will report back at a later date to provide additional info after getting used to these speakers.
= Setup =
NAD M51 DAC
Nuforce STA200 amplifier
Rel T7 subwoofer
Prior to this I had been using PMC OB1 speakers. First off, the Rhea's have a tremendous amount of bass. Reviews on the net describe the bass as 'exceptional' and this is not an exaggeration. They need at least 20 inches from the rear wall in my small room to tame the midbass. This was a huge change from the OB1, which I had found lacking in bass. The Rhea soundstage is set back farther behind the speakers, whereas the OB1 soundstage tends to be focused at the plane of the front speaker baffles. At this point, the T7 is a paper weight with these speakers because the Rhea's put out so much bass. If you're pairing a sub with these, make sure it can reach below 30 Hz otherwise you simply will not need it.
There is no harshness whatsoever. None. Period. Coming from the OB1 this is a massive change. At first I thought the sound was dull and it took a while to adjust to the sound signature of the Rhea's. Now I realize the OB1 were simply bright, as PMC are known to be tipped up beginning around 5k. This is great if you're engineering or mixing, but I just want to listen to music and not have my ears seared off by incisive treble frequencies.
The soundstage is not nearly as tall as the OB1, but the horizontal dispersion of the Rhea's ribbon tweeters far outpaces the OB1. The sweetspot for listening is massive compared to the narrow range of the OB1. This can be attributed to the ribbon tweeter.
Overall I'm very happy with the Rhea's at this point and will report back again in the near future.
