Ribbon Monitor 2

RM2 FST (standard lite oak finish)

If there has ever been a Holy Grail of speaker design, it is the push-pull, transformerless, high impedance, unobstructed, high output, high power handling 500 Hz or lower short ribbon midrange suitable for 3 way systems. If that seems like a lot of adjectives and qualifiers, let us explain. 

Ribbons were invented early in the century, no more than five years after the moving coil (dynamic) driver. A true ribbon is the simplest possible transducer: a magnetic field plus diaphragm-voicecoil-in-one. Only in recent times have ribbons lived up to their potential, however, thanks to new magnetics (Strontium 8 and Neodymium) and novel methods of etching thin "voicecoil" traces and attaching them effectively to film backing (necessary to prevent long ribbons from sustaining travelling waves which make them twist and undulate). Not that even modern manufacturing has made ribbon assembly easy. Our Neo panels must be handmade from charged magnets, pesky ferrite bars which readily pinch the operator or fly apart from the extremely strong repulsive charges. Indeed our ribbons could not be fashioned from aluminum or the metal popular for stamped speaker baskets, because any less than a steel and the panels can literally buckle from the force field. Automated production being impossible, ribbons will always be expensive and hard to make. 

Since various kinds of ribbons have appeared in high-end speakers over the years the consumer best inform himself about various design options. The most popular brand of "ribbon" speakers in the past decade are not ribbons at all, but single-ended planar dynamic woofer/midranges mated to transformer-operated ribbon tweeters. Single-ended (magnets on one side, usually the back) planars have very high THD, often 30% or more. We find their sound quality poor because their waveform fidelity is so poor. Thus the importance of the aforementioned push-pull characteristic, i.e. magnets on either side with equal propulsive force in both directions. Since ribbons tend toward low impedance they have almost always appeared in tandem with transformers, which dull and distort their sound. VMPS panels measure between 3.2 and 6.0 Ohms resistive, no transformer necessary. As for output levels, sensitivity and power handling, our panels excel in all three areas, thanks to improved technology, and the magnet structure does not impede the sound output. 

The VMPS Ribbon Monitors are about more than just midrange, although the low, low moving mass (about the same as the air they displace) and flat frequency response of our panels (within 1dB from 280 Hz to 7kHz) make for fabulous, state-of-the art middle frequency reproduction. The RM 2 mates two ribbon panels to the latest lowmass, FST ribbon tweeter, good to 30kHz, and boasts 30cm WCF (woven carbon fiber) cone pushing a 30cm slot loaded passive radiator for 22Hz (-3dB) cutoff at levels above 115dB/1m SPL. The quality of sound over the full frequency spectrum is unsurpassed, a giant leap forward over dynamic competitors. Note that any moving-coil driver is burdened with at least 100 times the moving mass of our ribbons. The result: high inertia, sluggish transients, and compromised transparency and definition regardless of cone composition. It can be stated without hyperbole that even the costliest cone midranges and dome tweeters are now obsolete, rendered virtually irrelevant to audiophiles who seek the best sound per dollar spent. 

The RM 2 Neo is equipped with the new Megawoofer, a stacked magnet (2.3 kg), heavy voicecoil woven carbon fiber lowbass driver and Soundcoated as a standard. Soundcoat is a borosilicate ceramic damping compound applied to the cabinet walls which cuts their spurious output by 10 dB broadband. Megawoofer assures RM 2 power handling of 300W and bass cutoff down to 22Hz.

Cabinetry for Ribbon Monitor 2 is braced 25 mm MDF with at least 7 m of 25 mm rounded hardwood vertical and horizontal edges in light and dark oak with matte black front. Single amp or biamp operation is switchable (division at 280 Hz), crossovers are gentle 6 and 12dB slopes, and all drivers are electrically in phase with each other.
 

GRAMMY Winning Producer LOVES the RM2 SDE from VMPS 2008
Listener Magazine 2003

RM2 FST in unique white oak