What happened to Red Rose R3?

I believe that it's based on a new marketing strategy. They've designed the Rosebuds to go with their ultra-slimline integrated amp. The R3s were not very efficient whereas the Rosebuds are much higher efficiency and designed to accompany the new line of electronics at their given price point. There was a review with Mark Levinson in S'phile where I believe he mentions something about that.

What actually happened was the manufacturer of the woofers for the R3 (Dynaudio I think) stopped supplying Red Rose, and so the Rosebud was born. I havent heard the R3's, but when I auditioned 3 top cd players, the Rosebuds were used in the demo, and I have to say, they were outstanding. I had been using Dynaudio contour 1.1's and Mirage OM-7's, and the Rosebuds are in a different league to both.

I heard the Rosebud this weekend with the new Red Rose integrated amplifier and a Sony SACD 777? player. I did not like the system.

This may have something do do with the fact that the Rosebuds were on very short stands pointing inward and upward which, to my ear, gave a very vague image. Perhaps lower to the floor enhances the bass but the whole thing didn't sound very special to me.

On the other hand, I heard the R-3's on taller stands (eye/ear level when seated) with the original Red Rose tube gear with an SCD-1 and thought the whole thing sounded fabulous -- really musical -- and I could have listened all day.

The new equipment is supposedly "improved". Go figure. Maybe my ears are made of tin and I should give up this hobby.

I believe they are still available. At least they are still listed on the Red Rose website. WWW.1redrose.com

Brad

Go to 1redrose.com a new website for the tube gear and the R3. On the old website they are displaying the solid state stuff.

I believe the rosebud is a smaller speaker at a lower price. I am guessing that it may have a better midrange but less bass extension. The R3 midrange was a little soft. Perhaps the bass driver was designed to provide better bass extension and couldn't fill in the midrange sufficiently. Certainly, the R3 bass was surprisingly deep for a minimonitor. I'm using R3s with a subwoofer. If they expect people to use the rosebud with a subwoofer, they could redesign the bass driver better to cover the midrange. Best to go in for a listen.