Alta Audio Rhea

Update to my initial review after listening to the speakers for over a week.

Since my initial review, the tubes in my VTA SP14 have been swapped from RCA 6SN7 to Sylvania 6SN7WGTA. The Sylvania tubes have transformed the sound again. The RCA tubes were rolled off on the high end too much for my liking. The Sylvania's have restored the high end extension and brought the soundstage closer to the front.

2-way speakers cannot match the midrange presence that the 3-way PMC OB1 with dome midranges offer. For those who have heard PMC's offerings with dome midranges, surely you will be able to relate to that statement.

For what I paid for the Rhea's, I'm completely satisfied. They have great bass and extend low enough in the frequency range to provide a great sense of presence. The ribbon tweeters have eliminated all harshness from the system and I can listen for hours without fatigue. The Rel T7 will probably be placed for sale in the near future as I no longer have a need for it with the Rhea's.

The other speakers I was considering were Revel F208 and Focal 1028be. Both would have cost around $3600/pr from the local dealer. For that price I was able to purchase the Rhea's, VTA SP14 preamp, Sylvania 6SN7WGTA tubes, and DIY Furutech power cords. The markup on offerings with beryllium is beyond what I'm willing to pay at this point.

To provide context, these are other speakers I've owned:

Paradigm Monitor 7 v1 - my first hifi speakers
NHT 2.5i - Still under the radar after all these years. Great speakers.
PMC TB2i - Didn't have them long enough to form an opinion.
Paradigm Studio 40v2 - Typical Paradigm hifi sound. Good value speakers.
Paradigm Active 40v2 - Legendary. I should have never sold these.
PMC OB1 - Accurate studio monitor type sound. PMC shouldn't have gone cheap on the woofers though. The woofer magnet is pathetic compared to the PB1i.

@jeenam

Nice write-up. I have owned the Rhea’s for about 6 months and really like them a lot. Check out my Virtual System for more info if you wish.

I, too, have had a pair of Rhea's in my system for the last six months and have been very happy with them.  They replaced KEF LS-50's and were a big step up (for my taste and circumstances).  My basement listening room has stone walls and a concrete floor, and I kept adding more and more absorption to tame the KEF's perceived brightness or edginess.  With the Rhea's this is not a problem, and I have removed some of the absorbing panels (though not the base traps in the front corners).  I still get excellent imaging and detail, but no harshness or edginess whatsoever.  I do have the Rhea's well out in the room, which may explain the fact that I have not found their bass output to be excessive as some have reported.  I even turned my subwoofer back on after a few weeks, just to get those last few Hz. 

Room is 12' X 23' X 7'.  Other components are Auralic Aries streamer to PS Audio Directstream DAC to BHK preamp to Stellar M700's.