Geo1

I'm really starting to think seriously about some heritage speakers for two channel listening. Can someone tell me what the best placement is for Forte, Cornwall, Chorus and Heresy. In other words, how far from side walls and rear walls? I know that Khorns, La Scalas and Belles need a corner. TIA

Thanks, I feel better. This really is a great place. Not only do you get expert audio/video advice, but understanding and therapy as well.

The system I just replaced was Paradigm with Monitor 7's up front, CC-350 center, Atoms for side surrounds and ADP-150's for back surrounds. I was very happy with the sound of it. I replaced the Paradigms with RF-3II's up front, RC-3II center, RS-3II's for side surrounds and RB-15's for back surrounds. Again, I'm very happy with the way it sounds. I think the RS series is a good compromise between direct and dipole because it has a direct firing driver, but also angled tweeters to disperse the sound. The key, I think, is that they are all in phase, so it sounds like a direct speaker but with a large soundfield.

The THX spec is dipole for side surround and dipole or direct for back surround.

The GE bulbs? Sure.

There's really no reason why you can't do it yourself. The ideal light is one which has a color temperature of 6500 degrees on the Kelvin scale. This will not distort the color temperatures of the video display. I'm not sure, but I think the new GE "Reveal" bulbs might be close to the 6500 color temp. You don't want the lights to be too bright, though, so you don't defeat the purpose of the darkened room.

I have a Cinemaquest ideal lume and have it placed with the bulb up on the floor behind the TV which is a Mits 65" WS. It creates a nice glow behind the TV when watching with all of the lights off and I think it really does ease eye strain and fatigue. I don't find it to be distracting.

Alright, thanks guys, I got it now. It's actually a small cap with a small shaft which extends into the hole for the banana plug. I had to take the jumpers out in order to screw the lug down far enough to be able to get a razor blade under the cap and pop it out. Sheesh! Probably the effin' French are responsible for that.

OK, now I really feel stupid. How do you remove the plastic plug from the connector. I've unscrewed the plastic lug on the back of the speaker, but it doesn't come off. I don't want to force it, but is that what I have to do? Is there some way of removing the plug without removing the lug? Also, b-man1 mentioned the instructions. I swear I've read the instructions and don't see anything about these plastic plugs.

Thanks for not being too brutal. It surprised me to see the opening where the plug would normally go, blocked. I guess I'll break out the bananas.

Am I correct that the Reference speakers do not accept banana plugs?

Nothing to do with dB levels achieved in a home system, but in 1982 and 1983 I attended the Grand Prix of Monaco and in '83, sat in the grand stands at the chicane just after the cars come out of the tunnel. On the parade lap and on the first lap of the race, while the cars were still relatively bunched together, the sound was so loud that it almost ceased to be sound. I swear that it felt like I was going to de-molecularize and end up a heap of molecules on the ground. I don't know what the dB level was, but far beyond the threshold of pain.

On the other hand, of course, there are those manufacturers, distributors and sales "counselors" who are worth their weight in gold, no, wait, platinum, no, wait, weapons grade plutonium.

Please excuse me if someone has already covered this, but what the manufacturers seem to fail to understand is that every time someone who is knowledgeable goes into an audio/video shop and receives bonehead information, or an arrogant attitude, or is ignored, or imposed upon, that potential customer becomes more likely to buy online, even if from an unauthorized dealer. Just being an authorized dealer is no guarantee of quality of service or knowledge of the product. Conversely, being unauthorized for a certain product does not make the dealer a crook, or stupid. Personally, I'm not convinced that manufacturers are all that opposed to unauthorized sales. Consider that in the chain of sales, the manufacturer sells to the distributor for a certain price. That distributor then sells to either an authorized, or an unathorizd dealer. Either way, the maufacturer has already made its money. If the distributor sells to an authorized retailer, the manufacturer incurs warranty obligations; if the distributor sells to an unauthorized retailer, the manufacturer disclaims any warranties and, thus, lowers its overhead and increases its profit. At the same time, the manufacturer appears to be taking the high road because it claims to discourage unauthorized sales so that it may maintain a higher level of customer service. And we are back to our original position and the reason for this thread, which is that many sales people are less than a pleasure to do business with. Oh, well.

Yeah, being able to sit out in the middle of the room makes a world of difference. Having each back surround 7 feet behind and each side surround 8 feet to the side really increases the spaciousness. The down side is that it's ruining me for two channel music. It's hard to listen to music that is not DVD-Audio or DTS music.

Just for the record, I picked up the RS-3II's and got RB15's for back surrounds. At first I was afraid they would be too small and I would need the RB-25's, but when I got them home and mounted them on the wall they turned out to be a good fit both physically and sonically. They complement the RS-3II's very well. The 25's would have been too big. I'm very happy with the overall sound. So now I have RF-3II's up front with two Def Tech PF-15tl's; an RC-3II center; RS-3II's for surround on the side walls just behind the seating position; and RF-15's for back surrounds on the rear wall behind the seating position. The room is 19' X 18' and the seating position is 7 feet from the rear wall and 11 feet from the front wall. The system sounds very good with this setup in this size room.

Another thing I experienced with cd-i was that it was very hard to get software locally. Sears carried the system, but had very few software titles. I got the impression that Phillips was trying to monopolize access to the software and reap the profits. That, of course, could make their local distributors less than enthusiastic about pushing the system. But you're right, movies looked very good on the cd-i.

Thanks for the offer. The woman I know who has it now doesn't have any kids, so I don't think she would put them to good use. There were actually some pretty good games for the cd-i.

I used to have one and know someone who has one now. Maybe I can help.

My concern would be that action which takes place "behind" the viewer would have the sound for that action coming from the sides.

That's an excellent idea but...the same space considerations prevent me from using a single back surround in the center of the room. The problem is that I have an exterior door on the rear wall directly opposite the TV. To the right of the door, I have about 10 feet of wall space, but to the left of the door, there's only a little wall space and then a window. The left back surround has to fit in the narrow wall space between the door and the window.

I have RF-3II's up front, an RC-3II at center and tomorrow I go to pick up my RS-3II's for side surrounds. Space limitations (width)prevent me from using a second pair of RS-3II's for back surrounds. I'm considering either RS-25's or RB-25's for back surrounds. Even the RS-25's push the space issue, but I can make them fit. Both can be flush mounted. Does anybody have any other suggestions for back surrounds? TIA

There was a time in the early 80's when Pioneer was owned by Phase Linear and some of the high end stuff made its way into the Pioneer line. I had a Pioneer linear turntable, the PL-L1000, that was made by Phase and that was identical to one which was marketed under the Phase Linear name for $750. I also had a Pioneer receiver that put out 200wpc and had pre-outs and main-ins with removable jumpers. I can't remember the model number. The bad purchasing decision I made in those days was to pass on a pair of brand new La Scala's for $1,100.

I think you want to set your front left and right to "large" and set the sub to "none." Set the center and surrounds to "small." This will send all of the bass to the front left and right. Since you don't have a sub, you won't want to set any crossover points. Since the RF-3's are ported to the rear, the closer they are to the wall behind them, the more bass they will produce, but it will be boomy. If the RF-3's are away from the wall the bass will be clearer and more distinct.

My first surround sound receiver was a Yamaha RX-V2090 which I was very happy with, including the way the front surrounds expanded the soundstage in some modes. I shied away from Yamaha, however, when Dolby Digital EX came along and Yamaha chose to go with a proprietary 6.1 channel surround system rather than license EX from Dolby. Can't say anything about how Yamaha mates with Klipsch, but I'm happy with my H/K.