Tower Speaker Reviews

• Five channels driven into 8-ohm loads: 0.1% distortion at 170.3 watts; 1% distortion at 194.2 watts

• Analog frequency response in Bypass mode: –0.31 dB at 10 Hz; –0.10 dB at 20 Hz; –0.02 dB at 20 kHz; –0.40 dB at 50 kHz

• Analog frequency response with signal processing: –0.61 dB at 10 Hz; –0.19 dB at 20 Hz; –0.06 dB at 20 kHz; –23.76 dB at 50 kHz

This graph shows that the RV-8's left channel, from CD input to speaker output with two channels driving 8-ohm loads, reaches 0.1% distortion at 182.5 watts and 1% distortion at 216.5 watts. Into 4 ohms, the amplifier reaches 0.1% distortion at 322.9 watts and 1% distortion at 382.9 watts.

Response from the multichannel input to the speaker output measures –0.30 dB at 10 Hz, –0.10 dB at 20 Hz, –0.02 dB at 20 kHz, and –0.40 dB at 50 kHz. THD+N from the amplifier was less than 0.012% at 1 kHz when driving 2.83 volts into an 8-ohm load. Crosstalk at 1 kHz driving 2.83 volts into an 8-ohm load was –83.94 dB left to right and –86.66 dB right to left. The signal-to-noise ratio with 2.83 volts driving an 8-ohm load from 10 Hz to 24 kHz with "A" weighting was –101.41 dBrA.

From the Dolby Digital input to the loudspeaker output, the left channel measures –0.12 dB at 20 Hz and –0.13 dB at 20 kHz. The center channel measures –0.12 dB at 20 Hz and –0.08 dB at 20 kHz, and the left surround channel measures –0.15 dB at 20 Hz and –0.10 dB at 20 kHz. From the Dolby Digital input to the line-level output, the LFE channel is –0.06 dB at 20 Hz when referenced to the level at 40 Hz and reaches the upper 3-dB down point at 111 Hz and the upper 6-dB down point at 120 Hz.—MJP