I am home auditioning a pair of Russell K Red 150 floorstanders for a week and am asking any of you who have had experience with Russell speakers to respond. Are they durable, easy to position, a good match with your Naim equipment? I really liked their sonic signature in the dealer’s demo room and am excited to hear how they sound at home. Any feedback will be greatly appreciated.
@NigelB and @Simon-in-Suffolk might be able to comment.
You could always drop Russell himself an email of your room dimensions, he is very helpful and is meticulous on setting up his speakers at demos i have seen.
Simon loves his;
Had some on home demo with a Naim 552/300dr, close call between them and passive ATC40’s in what was a very tricky room.
Active ATC’s won the day in the end the Russell k were certainly better than others I tried and a consideration for the future.
They worked from the off re dropping them into where my old speakers were and seemed quite easy going with placement.
Let us know how you get on with the demo.
Gary
1 Like
I have RK Red 50 stand mounts. I have found them a great match with my NC250 and not too fussy about positioning, although the 150s might need a bit more space around them.
I seem to remember there is a RK set up guide which I collected at one of the shows I think. It may well be on their website.
As Gazza says, contact Russell himself, he is very helpful and the last word in how to set up RK speakers
2 Likes
Pre-covid (most good things now seem to be pre-covid) I attended a Russell K evening at my dealers, in their purpose built approx. 25’x20’ listening room.
Russell himself was demonstrating his speakers with a Naim streamer/amp set-up. Not certain, but I think the amp was a 250DR.
The sound with the Red 150’s was easily one of the best three systems I have ever heard. The 150’s were playing at quite a high volume for over an hour & the sound was tonally to my taste, without a hint of fatigue. The thing which then swung it for me was that, with eyes shut, it really sounded as if the musicians were in the room & that you could easily walk between them. It was a genuine surprise to open them & see a couple of speakers in front of you & not the musicians!
If your room is suited to the 150’s, I think you could be in for a real treat. Hope it works out for you.
1 Like
I remember Russell at the last Audio show East hosted by Signals. He went through his listening process for drive units, easy to hear the differences.
But, others have labs that can do better? As ever, best to judge with your own ears.
Yes on all counts… very good speakers in my opinion with great timing and minimum smearing … sound very natural to my ears… in fact spookily so… it’s likely if you liked how they were at your dealer’s, then you will like at home. I find a bit of toe in can make the image quite defined… but that will vary on room.
I find they work very well with NACA5.
The 150s are going to sound their best with medium to large rooms.
2 Likes
What other speakers besides the Russel K have you tested?
Buying speakers is a bit of a process which for me involves attending some shows to see what’s out there, doing some dealer demos and finally some home demos, a good dealer is key for this.
I had focal Kanta which sounded great until I moved house and in their new home they sounded terrible….
I tried Kudos 606, 505, PMC fact 8 - none sounded good in my room
I then tried ATC40 passives and Russell K much better but it was the active ATC’s that won the day.
I was impressed by the Russell K but in my room Active 40’s worked (50’s put too much energy in the room.
When I get some time I will explore ATC 50’s as I have moved to a different room and did a quick demo against ATC active 20’s - suspect I’ll land with one of these two.
1 Like
FWIW just in case you are interested I used to use ATC passive speakers for many years… until I decided there was something not quite right for my tastes… this was when I started mixing and producing music. I tried PMC and Dynaudio speakers, but settled on Russell K.
In my small music studio I use Yamaha actives… but on trying things, I found in my setup two way passives with a great amp (a Naim amp) provided the best general and most enjoyable ‘hifi’ replay. With actives generally often the maximum benefit is to use as short a lead possible between driver and its amp. Though some use regular hifi power amps to drive seperate drivers over longer speaker cable lengths… this is a compromise but can be useful in some setups and allows some flexibility to tune the sound with different speaker, cable, amp combinations… certainly if it’s not about surgical precision for mixing or producing.
If I was driving large multi driver setups into a large room with highish power I would go active on general replay… but I prefer low ish sound pressure mid to near field listening for hifi, and passives (with minimal crossovers) are my preference, and the minimalism of the RK crossovers (the big compromise in passives) seem to work well.
1 Like
I have just had a look at the current price list for Russel K in Germany.
Red 120: 6200€ , Red 120 SE: 8600€
I think it will be very difficult to sell.
Direct competitors like ATC, Proac, Neat or Kudos will like it.
1 Like
Yes, they have got rather expensive… but they are rather good… I am not sure those makes are the natural RK competitors, I think RK speakers are more esoteric
1 Like
Unfortunately, I haven’t heard any Russel K yet.
1 Like
I’d consider them competitors because I’d certainly compare Russell k speakers those other brands, if I hadn’t already bought my harbeths. Though honestly the price definitely shrinks their audience especially as there currently isn’t much of a second hand/pre-owned market at least not in the U.K… I’d have considered the 50 and 100 stand mounts but the 120 would have meant pushing my budget and the 150s would just be a no go. I’d probably have waited for some ex dem to become available if I wanted Russell k speakers.
I do sometimes think the price rises on speakers are becoming unsustainable. Other “budget” brands are improving their sound quality all the time. I don’t want people work to be undervalued. But a good chunk of an already niche hobby won’t even look at certain brands if the price just keeps going up and up and up out of pace with people’s wages.
2 Likes
Yes, I agree to some extent. However I suspect we will see more esoteric speakers have high prices as they are less of a volume product… however yes it does feel unsustainable.
1 Like
I purchased these preloved 150s having loved their sonic signature on home demo for over a week. A new era has begun …….
3 Likes
Cool, how big is your room?
About 3.5 by 4.5m.
1 Like
I think I’ll have to keep watching Russel K.
What kind of music do you listen to?