Vital

I went through this same thing awhile back but it was the 65" RPTVs. Sony was once upon a time the best TV on the market. However in the last 5-7 years they have gone to crap and are a shadow of what they used to be. The Hitachi is the best out there now from what I have seen and read, but their drawback is their stretch mode is not that great and they are more expensive. I went with Toshiba because they have the best stretch mode out there and the picture quality of the Hitachi over the Toshiba was not great enough for the price difference. To me the Toshiba was the best choice. It was not the best but it is a fantastic picture and for the price it was a no brainer. Once I have it calibrated by a pro it will look way better than the Hitachi and still be hundreds less (from what I am told). For me it came down to the Mitsubishi and the Toshiba. The Mitsu had a better-looking cabinet but I kept reading about their problem with red push. After about a month we went with the Tosh and to be honest, once you get it in your home and calibrated, I think almost everyone will be happy with whatever choice. The difference is small I think, the only thing I want to change is my clear protective screen. I think the tented cover helps a lot with glare. I have a nice lighting system that hangs over the seating position so it's not a problem at night, but there is some glare during the day that could be taken care of with the smoke tinted cover. So treat this purchase just like speakers or anything else of this magnitude. Spending $1,700-$2,500 or whatever the range is - is not chump change. Go watch all the TVs, get an idea of what you want and then go watch them again. Don't jump at the first thing you see and don't let a good salesman talk you into buying until you have weighed all options and explored all horizons~

I like option #2. The RF-7 is the best speaker you can get for two grand IMHO (buying new speakers of course, not used heritage). I can't wait to hear it with tubes. Once you have them in the front everything else will fall into place. Go for the best my friend, you will never regret it. Even if it takes a few more weeks or months to get the cash it will be well worth it. I catch myself sitting for hours at a time sometimes playing MP3s on my RF-7 using a little Sony DvD player that was only $150.00. I credit this to the wonderful HK receiver but either way, I can't imagine how beautiful it is going to sound with great tube amps and a nice cd or sacd player. It should be as close to musical bliss as you can get for 5-10 grand. Khorns no doubt sound better from reading everyone here but that is a lot more cash invested. I like to buy new so blowing 5-6 grand on speakers is not feasible this year. Maybe next year. Probably not next year either though, I really like the look of those Reference Premiers~ Oh what an addiction this is becoming. So, my vote is option number two. The RF-7s will put you in cloud nine.

What do you guys think the new Klipsch THX Ultra home theater is going to run? I have been holding off on buying the RC-7 as my center and just using my RF-7s as a 2 or 4-channel setup for music. I love the look of the new Premier so maybe one day do 2 front mains as Premier and RF-7s as backs and run 4 channel stereo mode or two 2 channels at once. Anyway I'm just brainstorming and looking for advice. What is everyones opinion on the new THX Ultra and how will it compare to an RF-7/RC-7 HT. I know no one has heard it I'm just looking for some educated guesses from some of the wise men here. So all of my rambling aside, should I buy the RC-7 center or hold off and wait to hear the Ultra?

Why doesnt Klipsch send a high-end system to be reviewed and place a nice ad in the mag? I get so sick of people dogging Klipsch on the HT forum when I know damn well 95% of them have never heard them. To call the RF-7s bright and horny sounding is just plain ignorant. Klipsch needs more exposure IMO. I had never heard of them before a year ago. I was just very lucky to have run across a set and checked out this forum. After that it was audition time and the rest is history.

They are very nice looking. The curved cherry enclosure reminds me of the Rockets a little. I can't wait to hear how they sound.

Man I love this forum. I have learned more about audio in the last 6 months then I would have ever imagined and now when I'm starting work on a DYI sub, I get these awesome links to woodworking sites. A wealth of knowledge is passed through this forum that is all I can say. Oh, and congrats Moon, good luck and I look forward to watching your progress with the new tools. Maybe you will build a kick *** sub with a killer finish for us to drool over. There is nothing better than making a beautiful piece of furniture.

Get the new Klipsch Ultra home theater coming out next month. http://www.cesweb.org/shared_files/innovations/innovations_2004/1933/mainphoto1933.jpg

Try to listen to the RF-7s with different receivers. I still have no idea how these companies come up with their watt ratings. I have heard a Sony, Kenwood, Onkyo "granted these are main stream lower end receivers" and so on rated at 100 wpc and the Harman Kardon 325 I have rated at a mere 65 watts in stereo sounds 10x better and blows them away. I don't know if HK rates their wattage lower than it really is or if they are just honest and call it like it is. Either way I can't imagine a serious amp with my RF-7s, something like a B&K 200.7 but I cant wait to hear what it sounds like. When I crank my little HK 325 with any type of hip-hop it is more bass than anyone could want. I can shake my whole side of the apt building and I mean that literally. We are talking 10 units at least that are blasted out of their home from the bass 65 watts can produce. That is only at -15 to -10 also. A good hip-hop song at 10 with 65 watts from my HK is more bass than any car stereo I have ever heard. I have a good friend with two competition Kicker 12s and a nice amp and deck and it cant hit like my RF-7s. I do have a small room and maybe that helps, but either way the bass can be insane. These four 10s can move some air with the right music. Even playing old school rap like Master Ace Born to Roll will thump more than you can stand. Im talking crap coming off the walls and all. Needless to say I wont complete my sub until I move into our house. I have had the off duty police that work for the complex here multiple times already. They came when we had a get together for my birthday party, Labor Day and Christmas night. Living in an apt sucks big time. Anyway, HK makes a serious receiver for someone like me just getting into home audio/theater. I could not be happier and I consider myself very lucky. Believe it or not a sales rep at Best Buy guided me in the right direction. He could have sold me a Kenwood in a heartbeat. I thought Kenwood rocked until he told me I wanted a Harman Kardon that is high current and warm sounding. They didnt even have any HK at the time, I still dont know if they carry the brand. He was looking out for me and after that I came home, jumped on the Internet and researched for days. That is when I found out about HK and other decent receivers. Now I plan to upgrade to tube or maybe a tube pre and a B&K 200.7 at some point but for now I would like to HIGHLY recommend you go and audition a Harman Kardon or a Denon before buying. I scored my HK 325 for 500 bucks on ebay brand new from a very good online dealer. The company has thousands of positive feedback. The word out there is the Denon is not as musical as the HK but I cant say one way or the other since I have not heard it with my RF-7s. Pioneer is good but I don't think they can hang with Harman Kardon as far as home receivers are concerned. After researching I came to find out HK invented the receiver and has been among the best sounding SS "reasonably priced" receivers since day one. As far as bang for the buck, the HK is hard to beat I think unless you go for vintage tube like a Scott or something but that is for 2 channel, not theater.

Strange. I really think the receiver has a lot to do with it. Your ears have just been broke in IMHO. I have never read a post by anyone with a Harman Kardon that said their Klipsch was harsh or the highs were a little much. I don't think I have heard a change in my RF-7s. I was at Tweeter a few weeks ago and they still had some Klipsch RF-7 demo speakers that were kind of beat up. Scratches and pushed in cones. Anyway the sales rep played 3-4 different cds for me and he used a Yamaha receiver, not sure on the model. The sound was bright, the only thing the Yamaha rocked with was a drum solo, and man those RF-7s cranked it out. If you closed your eyes you would swear the drummer was in front of you. As for the music the Yamaha didnt sound good to me. It sounded harsh or bright or something. He insisted on using the Yamaha in all my auditions because it was the highest watt receiver he had there. Of course in the room with the maggies he had a B&K amp, go figure. I will never understand the logic in these stores. To do a real audition the "audition" has to be controlled. Why don't they have each receiver in every room to do a real test. Listening to Klipsch on a Yamaha and listening to Maggies on a B&K tells you nothing. Anyway, I'm done ranting. I'm not trying to dog Yamaha, they make a good receiver with powerful wattage, they just do much better with speakers like Boston Acoustics or what have you, not horn loaded speakers. Maybe a tube preamp in front of that Yamaha will warm it up.

No, I have RF-7s as my fronts. I was just wondering how 7 RC-7s would sound instead of RB-75s. The RC-7 has the exact same tweeter as the RF-7 and two 8" woofers instead of one compared to the RB-75. I know some people have thought about using RC-7s as their back surrounds and side surrounds instead of RS-7s. The RC-7 is an awesome speaker, if you could rotate the tweeter and stand it up on it's end it would be a cool mini-tower or bookshelf type speaker that rocks.

2 front, 2 side surrounds, 2 rear, 1 center and then a sub or 2 or 4 or however many you want.

Sorry, did not mean to sound rude or harsh. Maybe I should have worded that first paragraph a little different. I understand what you mean completely. When I first started getting into audio I went to Best Buy and looked at the Kenwood receivers. I was lucky that a sales rep told me I didnt want that and to look at Harman Kardon. I went home and started doing some research and found the Home Theater Forum, AVS Forum, Klipsch Forum and the list goes on. After a few months of reading everyday on the internet and auditoning I ordered Klipsch RF-7s and an HK receiver. Now after many months I realize that Khorns and tubes are the way to go for two channel and I find myself torn between these RF-7s I love so much and KHorns. So do I build an HT around RF-7s and go with Khorns for a listening room or try to incorporate everything into one system. It just never ends. That is what makes it so fun though. I won't see the light at the end of this tunnel for a very long time unless I win the lottery or something.

If you have experienced HK first hand, you would not even be contemplating a Sony receiver IMHO. As for Sony TVs they had the best picture in the business 10 years ago, the quality control or something has dropped out and they are no longer what they used to be. On the receiver side they have never even been in the running. They are mediocre at best. Onkyo and Yamaha are in the same category as Sony IMO. They are mediocre receivers that don't make a good match for Klipsch, which is a very revealing speaker. You want a high current receiver that sounds good. Harman Kardon has the best customer service in the business if you buy from an authorized dealer. I know HK rates their watts very low. I don't buy into any of this watt crap personally. I am running a little HK 325 (rated 65 watts in stereo) with my RF-7s and when I put in stuff like 50 Cent and crank it up I can shake my whole side of the apt building. I can't turn the volume up anymore than -13 or so without knocking crap off the walls and pissing off everyone within 10 units of me. It is all the power I need until I get more speakers and move into a house. A receiver is a lot more than just features, what kind of musical sound do they produce? Try to go audition different receivers at your local Klipsch dealer on some RF-5s or 7s and then you will hear the difference. I personally am getting into tube amps as soon as the budget allows me to. Until then I will run a tube pre-amp to my receiver and see how that sounds.

With Klipsch speakers you will be better off using an HK, Denon or Marantz. IMHO Sony is not in the same catagory as these guys and when using RF-7s you want a top notch receiver.

I wonder how 7 RC-7s would sound? Is the RC-7 a lot better sounding than the RB-75? I know the tweeter is a little better, what is the difference on the woofers?

Why Don't you buy a center speaker stand that sits in front of your RPTV? Kinda like these: http://www.racksandstands.com/asp/show_detail.asp?sku=WT0034&catid=88 Then upgrade to the RF-7s and RC-7 anyway just because they own~

After the audition of the Khorn and tubes, are you thinking of getting rid of your RF-7s? How much better does the Khorn sound? Did you guys listen to any hip-hop or r&b music that has bass? I would think the RF-7 prevails with this type of music but I could be wrong. Tell us your thoughts since you are an RF-7 owner. Will you be switching to heritage? I have never heard any of the heritage speakers so I am very curious.

Believe it or not one of the songs I play the most for people when showing off my RF-7s is a song by Celine Dion called Seduce Me. If you have not heard it go DL it off Kazaa and check it out. The vocal clarity, highs and bass really shows off the speakers. As for Celine's other music I could care less. Seduce Me is awesome though.

Always on, I have people over all the time and can just imagine someone denting a cone or something in one of my RF-7s. Not worth the risk to me, plus I like the more elegant look of the grills.

I second that~

I guess you no longer refer to them as Parabose~

Thanks for the link. I guess the 299d is the biggest of the 299 series watt wise. I am driving RF-7s. I live in an apartment right now and instead of putting my money into the surround speakers and center speaker right now (I don't have room for surrounds unless I mount them on the ceiling) I have decided to take my two channel to the next level which is tubes. I want the best sound possible out of my RF-7s while spending a small amount of money. I would like to spend under $500 for a nice amp or pre-amp, whatever will be best for my system at this point.

I want to purchase a Scott 299 and don't really know what the difference is. Also, what is the highest I should be bidding on amps like this? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3054308952 Thanks in advance. I am looking for an amp that will take my RF-7s to the next level.

I agree that the headunit is the most important to upgrade. The factory deck is probably only pushing 20 watts and its crappy watts at that. Get a nice Alpine deck and those factory speakers will sing.

Thanks for the info. As for the Moondog Quicksilvers, my mistake. I just started reading about tubes a few months ago when I found this site and got my first pair of real speakers. I'm trying to take in all this info as fast as I can. This is a whole new world opening up for me. ; ) As for the MC50 thanks for info. Looking at it I thought it was a tube amp. SS is not the direction I want to go at all. I will be purchasing a tube pre-amp or amp in the next few weeks. Just trying to figure out what I want to get first. I will probably pick up one of these as recommended by mobile homeless just to get my feet wet. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=14974&item=3051456025 I have learned a ton on this forum and it is greatly appreciated.