Hey Infamous1!
Congrats on your purchase! I, too, lurked the Axiom forum for quite a while and found this to be a great bunch of people... so much so that I'm still around despite my purchasing something else!
I've had my RC setup for a little over a month now. I bought a pair of the 70s, the LCR, and 3 RC-Rs (one as a rear centre). I read all the same reviews as you, and considered ordering up a set of QS8s and testing them against the RC-Rs.
I'm very satisfied with my purchase. I have no issues with the centre channel, it sounds great, blends in with the front channels, and takes everything I throw at it. I have no issues with the surrounds, either - so I decided to keep them instead of ordering QS8s. I'm not sure how effective the monopole/bipole/dipole "switchability" of the RC-R is - there is no "left" and "right" speaker, so theoretically when you run in dipole mode one of the channels will be out of phase with the front speaker. That being said, I have not noticed any ill effects from this. I am running the two side channels as dipoles, and the rear centre as a bipole.
Overall, the sound from the RCs are quite "detailed". However, they are not "harsh" to my ears. I compared them recently to the Paradigm Monitor 9 & 11, Studio 60 & 100, Focal Chorus 736v & 826v, Polk LSi15, Klipsch RF-82 & RF-63 and in the past also to the PSB Image series.
I spent a lot of time with the Paradigm speakers - I found the Monitors to sound very harsh, but the Studios really nice. Similarly, I found the Focal 700v series to be harsh, while I loved the sound of the 800v series.
IMHO, the RC-70 is comparable to the Studio series, not the Monitors in the level of refinement in the sound. Similarly, they are comparable to the Focal 800v series.
I have been a little concerned that I may be taxing my AVR with these speakers (I have a Yamaha RX-V1200, 80WPC) so I just bought a used Adcom GFA-545II (100WPC but much higher current) and received it last night. Wow, that made a difference! The sound is a lot more dynamic, everything is "tighter", and the bass is quite full & deep.
The imaging with the RC-70s is incredible. If you get your speakers set up right (as a rear-ported speaker, they really like a lot of distance from walls) the soundstage is not only very wide (ie well past the speakers) but also very deep. This was a characteristic that I did not find with a lot of speakers - the soundstage is very 3-dimensional. Especially with female vocals, I have often found myself checking to turn the "surround" mode off, only to find it's in stereo!
Overall, I am quite pleased with my purchase and I'm sure you will be too. I would have loved to try some M60s and M80s, but return shipping from Regina was in the $250 range, and I knew I liked the sound of the Rcs.
BTW, great deal on the 70s you picked up - there are some benefits to having FS carry this stuff!
PS - make sure you try threading the spikes into the plinth... there is a production run of plinths that have the wrong threaded insert, and the spikes will not fit properly. FS will replace the speaker for you; or if you are convincing, they will swap out the plinths.
Feel free to PM me if you have any Qs.
cheers,
Ayan "orange260z"
