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The following is my review of the Skiing Ninja RS450 crossover upgrade w/ No Rez and Diffraction Be Gone pads.

Installation: Installation was fairly straightforward with the provided directions. I took my time and total install time was around 8 hours. I will add some more notes here later.

Initial Review: I was very happy with the stock RS450s but knew in the long run that I would probably want to upgrade for my two channel needs. I purchased this upgrade in hopes of improving the 450s performance and stave off upgrade-itis. The XOs I bought had some hours on them, so I wasn't too concerned about break-in. While this is not an A-B comparison, I've been listening to the 450s for 6-8 hours a night the past three or four weeks - I know them and feel comfortable with what they can provide to my ears with my system. I did not have high hopes for this upgrade, I thought it might be similar to when I upgraded from 50W/channel to 150W/channel and found increased dynamics.

I finished the upgrade, and fired them up. First track I listened to was Yello - La Habanero from the album One Second. This track is one of my favorites as it really gives the speakers a work out with soundstage/imaging/dynamics. The following notes provide my impressions with this song, but I went on to demo most of my favorites and my critical listeners to confirm and harden my impressions.

Upon starting, immediately I noticed an increase in clarity. With the song's sweeping soundstage, I noted the soundstage did not increase; however, the dynamics and clarity of the extension were better defined.

I always loved the imaging of the 450s...and now with the upgrade, its even more well anchored into spot...a really solid spatial determination and separation of notes. I love depth, and the upgrade provided perhaps a slight increase in depth separation...but not much.

I would almost say the stock 450s sound a bit muddy compared to the upgrade (I never thought I would say the 450s sound muddy). I think the attack and decay of individual notes is now cleaner/faster and thats what provides part of the newfound clarity. This may be the most pronounced difference and the "body" of the new performance.

A surprise is what I now hear on the top end. I always considered the 450s just warm of neutral. I find them to now have a bit more warmer feel, and softer top end. Vocals on some songs now seem to be located further back. The tweeters seem to have lost a bit of the sizzle from before. Part of this may be due to the DBG pads...I've yet to experiment with them on and off...further testing will need to be done.

From my short (a couple of hours last night) initial listening session, I didn't really find any negatives to the upgrade. I feel a bit like I have a new pair of speakers and I'm not used to the change in top end yet. Perhaps the only downside is with an increase in clarity I feel like the system is more revealing, and poor recordings sound poorer. Also, I'm guessing my speakers are now more revealing of my system - and future system changes will be more apparent - but this is just conjecture. I was looking for an increase in clarity, so for me this is good...but I thought I would note it for others. I have a fairly clean front end and I'm attempting to make it a lot cleaner. If this was not the case, it is possible I would prefer the stock RS450s as I think they are more forgiving.

After a few minutes of listening, I smiled to myself as two words crept into my mind ... high fidelity. After a few hours of listening, I think this is the most substantial upgrade I've performed since first moving from a receiver on to capable separates. My music now sounds better recorded across the board - I can directly contribute this to the performance upgrade. The upgrades exceeded my expectations (which were low) but it was really surprising to hear them transformed as I've noted above. I'm very pleased and impressed...the potential has been unlocked! The Ninja 450s are not the last word, I will still probably upgrade to another speaker some day in hopes of even greater performance. However, this upgrade brings me much closer to where I'm going...and whether I have them short term or long term, I'm happy and satisfied with the upgrade and performance/price ratio. ~Although these are just initial thoughts, I feel pretty comfortable with everything I've stated.

 

- keenween