natan

Hm, so do you guys think that this was a bad idea? I can still return them... http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~natan/sept/images/DSCN2652.jpg (see url above)

I picked up a 24" pair of these for my RB-35's. Originally I had 18" stands but I really felt that the horns were too low for my ears (sitting in a regular chair) so I went up to the 24" stands: https://www.sanus.com/cgi-bin/web_store.cgi?page=Product/Euro_Specs.html&cart_id=4612897_22936

---------------- On 8/27/2003 8:24:52 AM stan krajewski wrote: Did you get your monitors? If so, what did you wind up getting? And are you happy with them? I work with a guy who is into creating CDs, mixing, etc. He is very fussy about everything he buys. He recently purchased EVENT 20/20 monitors. He claims they are extremely neutral and totally non-fatiguing. They are about $270.00 to $300.00 a pair(without amplification). They are also sold amplified for about $500.00 a pair. ---------------- I ended up with a pair of RB-35's ($419 shipped) and a refurb Onkyo TX-8211 ($115 shipped), and I'm quite happy with them.

(I really can't condone the pirating of CDs from your friends.) On the same note, I feel bad buying a used CD, knowing that the only party who benefits from my purchase is the place I buy it from.

---------------- On 8/11/2003 5:58:11 PM DrPyro wrote: natan- You have a respectable system started, welcome to Klipsch Nirvana! Here is how I would rank your list (with slight modification).... - Save your $$$$$ - Buy food! - CD's - Single-slot cd player - Stands (currently they're on my desk, about 4' or 5' apart) - A low-end subwoofer? - More cable to bi-wire Now the logic, if there is such a thing..... I think your system is quite reasonable for a student, so save your money and don't upgrade anything. Of the options presented, I have to agree with clueless that going the route of starting a CD collection of your own might be in order, depending on your musical aspirations. Start by getting used CDs to save $$$. (I really can't condone the pirating of CDs from your friends.) But keep in mind that your collection will probably drastically changed in nature from your high school/college years to what it will be in the future. Your iBook has a CD player built in so any CDs you do purchase are easily played through your Mac. IF IF IF your collection does indeed grow and you start listening to them a tremendous amount, THEN and ONLY THEN start pondering the idea of a CD player. I'll have to differ with most of these guys opinions, if your interest is in PURE as possible 2-channel (under student budget constraints), IMHO, don't get a sub. First, your receiver is a stereo receiver, its not intended to be used with a sub. There are ways to get it to work, it will require extra cabling and a subwoofer with a built in cross-over and speaker output. Of the Klipsch products, the RW line doesn't have this ability, and I can't tell if the RWS line has it or not. Second, most subs in the price range required by your budget, you would most likely be disappointed with (they mostly likely wouldn't acoustically blend well with the RB-35s). Best of luck -Dave ---------------- Dave, Thanks for your response. I already own about 100 albums that I've purchased over the years, it's not like I don't own any. So you think that I'm best off just being content with the RB-35's and not upgrade anything? I'm considering buying a pair of stands. The room I'm moving into next week is 12 ft. x 16 ft., so I'll have some room to get more of a spread going. The RB-35 manual suggests a 6-15 ft. spread, and currently I can't even get them 6 ft. apart. On that note - can anyone suggest modestly priced stands for the RB-35's? And yes, food is important.

the RW series subwoofers have the speaker level input/outputs which allows you to connect the speaker cables to the subwoofer, have the subwoofer filter the bass at the chosen crossover, and send out the filtered signal to the speakers. look at the RW series manual and check out figure-3. EDIT: this way you don't have to abuse the RB-35 with some nasty bass it can't handle. if the reviews are good, the RW-12 is the second on my upgrade list. if I can find a dealer that is... ---------------- As far as I can tell off Klipsch.com and the manual, it seems like the RW's don't have outputs (while the RSW's do)? I'm kind of confused. Goodguys.com currently sells the RW-10 for $450 shipped. Even if I got a RW-8/10/12, would the Onkyo (50w x 2) struggle in powering the sub and the RB-35's?

Correct, I use my computer to play mostly 256k MP3s and 192k AAC's. I don't game. Without having a huge budget on CD's, I do what I can by ripping my friend's CD's... How can a RW sub work if my amp is only 2 channels? Are there any single-loading CD players in the $50-$200 that are worth getting? My amp doesn't have digital-in, just RCA. Is there a huge difference of quality between the sub-$100 and $100-$300 range in CD players?

Thanks for all your fast suggestions, I appreciate it. I don't really want/need to add more speakers, since all the stuff I listen to is stereo. The receiver I bought has no sub-out, so this could be a problem.. I might have time to still return the receiver to J&R. The bass end on the RB-35's is decent, definitely better than the RB-3's that I had for about a week. Most of the music I listen to isn't heavily bassy, but I could see how I might benefit from having a sub. Is there really a huge difference in quality between the KW and RW series? Does going cheap make a difference here? The Denon AVR-1603 for $200 shipped seems like it could be a steal... Also, any suggestion on stands for the RB-35's?

Well, I'm finally a proud Klipsch owner. I'm a student on a budget, and I finally saved up enough money to buy my first real stereo setup. I spent about $600 total, on an Onkyo TX-8211, pair of RB-35's, and XPHP Monster Cable. The setup sounds great (obviously not compared to the majority of the setups here though) and I'd like to thank you for your help So, what's next? I don't plan on buying a TV in the next 5 years, so HT stuff is not my bag, I only care about stereo music. I'm thinking that the weakest part of my setup right now is my audio source - I'm using an iBook minijack out (my music is ripped at very high bitrates, that's not the bottleneck here) via RCA to the Onkyo. Over the next 6-12 months I'll save up a few hundred bucks and I figure I'll spend it on one of the following: - Stands (currently they're on my desk, about 4' or 5' apart) - More cable to bi-wire - CD's - Single-slot cd player - A low-end subwoofer? Anyway, I'm interested to hear what you guys would upgrade first. Thanks!

I'm about to buy a pair of RB-35's for $419 (plus $39 shipping) from acousticsounddesign.com - is there any better deal I can get?

---------------- On 7/29/2003 3:53:10 PM chinoloco wrote: Its a little more money, but you can get the RSW10 for 645.99 and the RB-35 for 398.00 from the net. ---------------- Where?

---------------- On 7/31/2003 6:07:17 PM justin_tx_16 wrote: ---------------- On 7/31/2003 5:28:00 PM Audio Flynn wrote: Are all of the RB-XX front ported? ---------------- Yes, the RX-XX speakers are front ported, if ported at all. This is for easier placement. The RX-XX is not necessarily an improvement on the RX-X series, just a different speaker. infact, the RX-X series is still the top of the line, as far as I know at least. ---------------- Hmm.. based on hours of listening, I'd say the RB-3's sound noticeably worse than the RB-35's but better than the RB-25's. This weekend I think I'm going to return my RB-3's and order a pair of RB-35's from acousticsounddesign instead.

---------------- On 7/29/2003 11:00:14 AM IndyKlipschFan wrote: I do agree what you want is a true Hi Fi modern day stereo speaker though, and NOT a monitor for this set up situation. The new RB 35's will blow away last years model and are cheaper too. (Sorry but true! Do not be "fooled" by sales on last years supposedly better stuff the new stuff is fantastic. Add a sub later even the 10"? is fantastic..We heard it at the Klipsch weekend a few weeks ago.) Monitors will sound boring usually, and will NOT play really loud and will give the feeling of lifenessless (if that is a word..LOL..) and leave you wanting a lot more.. Just my 2 cents... ---------------- Are you suggesting I reconsider my RB-3 purchase and go listen to some RB-35's? The RB-3's cost me $350 after tax, the RB-35's are $460 shipped. I have a 30 day return period for goodguys. I'll probably be using the speakers for the next 5-10 years of my life...

So I made my purchase yesterday. Picked up a pair of RB-3's for $325 yesterday at goodguys, after concluding that they were much more enjoyable to listen to than the RB-25's. To me, they were more accurate, smoother (the RB-25's were HARSH compared to the RB-3's) and seemed to be a bit more balanced. I also ordered the Onyko TX-8211 (refurb for $99) from jandr.com and a pair of 10' XPHP Monster Cables. Maybe later on I'll buy another pair to try bi-wiring them. I haven't gotten the receiver yet, but last night I hooked the RB-3's up to my dad's $100 sony receiver and they even sounded nice on that! I can't wait to hear them on a real receiver. Thanks again for all your help.

---------------- On 7/14/2003 6:55:05 PM natan wrote: Actually, I found that J&R sells the refurb TX-8211 for $99, +$15 shipping. Seems like a steal, with great reviews and a MSRP of $249 (normal selling price of $199). So if I'm leaning towards the RB-25's (from acousticsounddesign.com) at $330 shipped.. am I getting a solid listening system for $445? Am I getting my money's worth at this price point? Is it worth it to spend $130 more for the RB-35's? My deal is.. I'm a student that's heavily into music and can hear good/bad fidelity, and I'm looking for the best stereo system at the $300-$500 price point. However, if you think at that this price point I'm getting the worse end of the deal, it may be worth it to spend a few more weeks of work on my system... ---------------- Anyone have an opinion/input on this? Now I'm also considering the Denon AVR-1403, because I can get it for $200 shipped (it has sub out, opti in/out - the other features aren't a big deal for me). Any comments about that receiver compared to the Onkyo TX-8211, or comments to the previous post of mine? Thanks!

Anyone?

Actually, I found that J&R sells the refurb TX-8211 for $99, +$15 shipping. Seems like a steal, with great reviews and a MSRP of $249 (normal selling price of $199). So if I'm leaning towards the RB-25's (from acousticsounddesign.com) at $330 shipped.. am I getting a solid listening system for $445? Am I getting my money's worth at this price point? Is it worth it to spend $130 more for the RB-35's? My deal is.. I'm a student that's heavily into music and can hear good/bad fidelity, and I'm looking for the best stereo system at the $300-$500 price point. However, if you think at that this price point I'm getting the worse end of the deal, it may be worth it to spend a few more weeks of work on my system... Again, thanks for your help so far, I've learned a lot in just these past few weeks.

---------------- On 7/7/2003 5:06:44 PM MichaelShaffer wrote: The TX-8511 is only $210 from the Onkyo website with the extended warranty. If you want a receiver with a subwoofer preout, Harmon Kardon has some for about the same price. I'm using the TX-8511 with the RB-35s (got them from sounddistributors.com for $419) and it sounds great. I may get rid or the receiver and get one with a subwoofer output though since I like my bass. ---------------- They don't have the TX-8511 anymore, but they have the factory refurb TX-8211 for $194 w/ extended warranty. Maybe that's worth doing.

DBvader and I went to goodguys on saturday, and I think now I'm considering between the following 3: RB-15 (good detail but kind of weak bass) RB-25 (loud, still not great bass) RF-15 (good bass, sounded slightly muffled in the mids to me) If I was to get the RB-15's or the RB-25's, I would invest in a receiver that had a subwoofer out. If I was to get the RF-15's, I would just get a normal stereo receiver. I don't know what the price difference is between such receivers, but it may be significant. Does anyone know where to get the best deals for these (bookshelf reference series or low-end floorstanding reference series)? sounddistributors.com has 2 (out of 2) poor ratings on resellerratings.com, and even though their prices are good, they don't end up being much cheaper than goodguys because they charge about $80 for tax+shipping (goodguys has no tax and free shipping). brandnamez.com also has good prices but very poor ratings, and I'm not too inclined to buy from a sketchy dealer.

---------------- On 7/8/2003 2:48:05 PM Griffinator wrote: BBB: Of course you'll do better with an HK or Onkyo stereo amp. Problem is, this guy really doesn't have the budget for either of those units - not if he wants to get any kind of decent speakers for it. I figure, we cheap out a little bit on the amp and go for better speakers - once he's out of college, he'll want to move up to a surround system - so what did he gain by purchasing a more expensive stereo receiver? If he buys better speakers, he'll still be able to use them in a surround package. ---------------- Actually, I don't know if that's the case. I'd much, much rather spend money on a stereo system than a surround system, and I don't know if I'll ever want to upgrade to a surround system, unless the music industry changes and starts releasing lots of music in surround format - which I guess is possible. Watching movies with a surround system isn't nearly as important to me. Next weekend DBvader is planning on coming up to LA and we'll do some listening tests.

---------------- On 7/7/2003 3:08:43 PM MichaelShaffer wrote: SB-3's are more than $200 ---------------- Yeah, here are the bookshelves that I'll check out.. SB-1's = $170/pair SB-2's = $240/pair SB-3's = $310/pair RB-15's = $200/pair RB-25's = $265/pair RB-35's = $400/pair Any suggested cheap receivers?

---------------- On 7/7/2003 1:57:32 PM DrWho wrote: wow...studio monitors for listening enjoyment is like a a big no-no! you've got "hifi" speakers (as griff calls em) and then studio monitors...the purpose of hifi stuff is to make it sound good, like give it a warm rich sound. studio monitors are always dry and are built to try and make it sound bad. if you're listening for enjoyment, you might find yourself quickly frustrated. most recording studios i've seen have a set of studio monitors, two sets of car speakers (good and bad), and a pair of nice "hifi" speakers (ie, khorns or rf7's or something similar...only cuz this is a klipsch site ), and then if the studio is setup for surround, there'd be another set of surround sound speakers. and don't forget a pair of headphones. all that to say, the ppl making your music are trying to get it to sound good on systems that make it sound bad, so that it sounds that much better with a speaker built to make it sound better. ---------------- On that note, is there any hifi setup in particular that you recommend I consider?

I'm DBvader's friend that he mentioned. Thanks for all your responses, they are helping me out. Let me make a few clarifications: - The reason I want a pair of Studio Monitors is because I want a great stereo audio system. I'm not doing studio work with these, I just want a superb listening system. I'm not extremely impressed with the 2.1 PC set offerings, and I'm willing to spend more money to get a nicer system. I could get ProMedia 5.1's or whatever, but getting more than a stereo system would be a waste of my money and space (as far as I know). - I'm driving them via an iBook audio out, since that's the only computer I'll have at school. That said, it might be worth my investing in a USB > digi out if any of the monitors I could afford would have digi in (I know that some do). - I don't know if I want a stereo or a 2.1 system. I was under the impression that the bass response of most monitors is usually sufficient for my purposes, but maybe I'm mistaken. I've heard the most hype about Event monitors these days. I have a number of friends who have 20/20's and love them. I can't really afford to get them and an amp. Has anyone here heard the TR5-N? I don't think that my local Guitar Center has them for sale, at least the guy at their proaudio department claimed they didn't - so I'm not sure where I could hear them in person. But based on the fame of their brand, and their price, it sounds like they might be the ones to pursue further. Again, thanks for your input.