RichardP

24/7! ......that's 24 hours a week, 7 months a year.

Thanks guys. Don't you just hate it when your thread is hijacked? []

Thanks, guys. Don't you just love it when there are exact and complete answers to your technical questions?

Many here will tell you that the new Reference series will not be a good timbre match with the KG5.5s, i.e., a different "voice" quality which will be apparent when sounds move from one speaker to another. If you think you will eventually get Reference for the fronts, to replace the 5.5s, then maybe OK for now. If you really want to keep the 5.5s up front, have you considered getting a used center (KG 2.2V or 2.5V) and rears (anything from the KG x.2 or x.5 series) which were designed to match the 5.5s? They are often available on Ebay or Audiogon. They will match the 5.5s perfectly and be a lot cheaper as well. It may take some patience for the right ones to come along, and even a willingness to drive a ways to pick them up (don't ship large speakers, too much damage risk), but a matched HT system is unbeatable. I helped a friend set up just such a system (5.5 fronts, 2.2V c, 2.2 r's) and it sounds very, very good.

I have the THX Ultra II subs, which use Speakon connectors between the amp and sub cabinets. The connector body, together with the minimun bend in the cable, puts the cabinets a bit over 4" out from the wall. At one sub's location, I would really like to get it closer to the wall, even by an inch or so. I see that Parts Express has a 90-degree Speakon connector, but it is not clear if it would actually reduce the protrusion distance from the back of the cabinet. Does anyone here have any experience with these connectors, especially the 90-degree version, who can provide any info? Also, the PE description of these states they are solderless. They are designed for 4-lead connections, even thought the sub only need the normal 2 leads. Are they easy to install/modify? I figured I would ask here first before trying to contact Parts Express. Thanks in advance.

<>I have no affiliation with seller: http://cgi.ebay.com/Klipsch-THX-ULTRA-2-complete-5-0-setup-BRAND-NEW_W0QQitemZ260089340161QQihZ016QQcategoryZ94906QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem Decent price for never-used speakers. Seller has only a few feedbacks, but has sold Quartets and other large items. Original boxes, and Ultra II speakers are shippable.

S&V reviewed the R-83 speakers with the RT-12D in their November issue, then awarded "Subwoofer of the year" to the 12D in their Feb/Mar 07 issue. I loved their selection of phrasing in the short description: "...Klipsch's flagship subwoofer is a stellar reproducer of deep bass, delivering the real thing down to truly proctological frequencies in genuinely cinema-grade quantities." [+o(]

I bought 5.5s recently for a friend (and boxed them and drove them across the country) so I am very familiar with their size and sound. First, they are "deep" (size-wise) relative to many other speakers which are often wider than deep. However, consider that smaller speakers on stands will occupy about the same floor space/room volume as the big 5.5s. The only way you would save space with smaller speakers is if they were on shelves or in a bookcase or something like that, which might not be the optimal position sound-wise. I was highly impressed with their sound. They were originally $1000/pr speakers, so if you can fit them in, very definitely go for 'em.

Give us your room size, budget, used vs. new preference, home theater vs. 2 channel, etc. I am not very familiar with newer Klipsch small speakers, such as the RB series ('B' for bookshelf), so someone else should give their 2 cents. The KG line did include the .5 and 1.5/1.2, which are bookshelf size. I wouldn't really recommend the .5 as it is very small and useful only as satellite speakers or for casual listening. Depending on your room size, two small speakers with one of the smaller subwoofers could sound as good or better than two larger speakers. You might want to post a new thread with a different title that specifically solicits opinions on bookshelf-sized speakers.

I watched Ebay prices last year on the 3.2, 4.2, and 5.2 series (including the 3.5, 4.5, and 5.5. updated models). I think the 3.5 would sell for $200-$250, depending on condition. At the lower end, a good many KG 2.2/2.5s are sold, mostly around $150. KG 5.5s top out at around $400. You could interpolate from those points. Unfortunately, older receivers and CD players are a dime a dozen, so you wouldn't get much for those. I saw two RX-V690s, perhaps a newer version of yours, selling for only $99, and one had no bids. Even if you sold them on Ebay, shipping them would cost almost as much as the selling price. Cassette decks may not even be sellable, as recordable CDs have replaced the tape format. I would find a deserving person to simply give the tape deck to, if they had tapes.

No, only single disk players.

Well, people over at AVS forums are ga-ga over the Oppo models. Three models, 981, 971, & 970, the most expensive one at $230, which are supposed to have the best video performance of anything on the market. I think each one upscales via HDMI. They have made it a bit frustrating, however, as each model does something you want, but not everything. The 970 is a universal DVD-A/SACD player, but has less sophisticated video processing (still very good, though); the 971 has top-level video processing, but doesn't do SACD; the 981 does it all, but only has HDMI out, no component connections, so your TV will have to play nice and handshake properly. There is a thread for each model at AVSForums, with thousands of responses on each.

Because the Fortes are good down into the mid- or upper 30s (Hz), you won't really benefit from any sub unless it can dig considerably deeper. Many budget subs only go to the mid 30s themselves. Another factor is whether you listen to mainly music or do you want to get a deep punch with movie low freq effects. Some here will suggest that there is not a lot of musical info below about 30 Hz, while in movie soundtracks there can be very low freq rumbles down to 20Hz or so. There are a lot of threads like yours, from people searching for the best sub, and you can probably find all the info you need by searching the sub section of the forum. As for the crossover point, if it is a HT set-up, then you may want to cross over at 80 Hz, the Dolby standard. This will relieve the Forte woofers from trying to produce the entire range of low to mid frequencies, but you should be able to experiment with crossover points, or even none at all, letting both a sub and the Fortes go as deep as they can.

Michael, with your knowledge of photography and imaging, I'd like to recommend that you confer with the webmaster to set up some standard limiter for uploaded photos, or at least a "sticky" to tell people how to size their images appropriately. I am one of (I am sure many) who are still on dial up (a "dialupasaurus"), and these 1 Mb photos are a pain. It could take several minutes for some of them to load, and I usually cannot see the text-only parts of those threads until a large part of the photo has loaded, making some threads essentially unreadable. Just a thought.

Others with more knowledge of the history can chime in here, but the vertical orientation of the horns make those models currently desirable as a center speaker for Heritage HT set-ups, as most will be turned on their sides to go under a TV. The dispersion of the horns will then match two standard horizontal models in front L&R positions.

[The tag on the back clearly said Cornwall II. At $600 it is not very promising, but as I said before there is more to the story. I will fill you in later.] Are the horns positioned horizontally or vertically? Is it not the case that the old vertical Cornwalls (ca. 1960s) show a "II" on the tag, which did not mean "2" but was a symbol representing the vertical (vs. standard horizontal) version?

$1650 is a very reasonable price. When Klipsch announced the discontinuation of the Belle a couple of years ago, the prices of used ones, at least on Ebay, spiked up to $2000 and above. No more will be made, so prices should never go down. It may be the deal of a lifetime.

One of us...one of us...gooble-gobble gooble-gobble...

"BTW, did you notice that one of the passive woofers is damaged in KY?" Roc: if the damage is only that the dust cap is pushed in, it won't make any sonic difference. The passive rear is just an unwired paper cone which vibrates with the back wave of the main woofer. There is nothing behind the dust cap, so as long as there is no actual perforation, it is fine. It is not uncommon to see pushed in dust caps on passive radiators due to their exposed position. They can usually be pulled out with a vacuum cleaner hose, or sticky tape, or as a last resort, sticking in a bent straight pin to pull it out, then repairing the pinhole with glue. Concerning the bass output, there is no difference in the specs offered by Klipsch, so even with a larger passive, you would not notice any difference. Also, if you are building a 5.1 system, won't you have a subwoofer anyway? Most people would run such a system with the Fortes set to "small" meaning that all signals below 60, 80, or 100Hz will be sent only to the sub, so any subtle bass differences between 1s vs IIs, even if they exist, would be moot.

The store you mention must be the same place I first heard Klipsch. It was in the West End section, right? I was on a brief visit to Nashville in 1976, and while just killing time, wandered into the audio store. Near the front were two Khorns. I even recall what was playing: the "Romantic Warrior" lp by Return to Forever (Chick Corea, Stanley Clark, et al). I noticed how full the low frequencies were, compared to my own small Advent speakers. I ended up living in Nashville from '83-'86, but I don't think that store was still there.

A pair of original Fortes ("1s") are available in Bowling Green Kentucky, on Ebay, buy-it-now for $475, auction # 170078098775. I don't know if that is within your driving radius or not. You might wait a long time for 5/6 pristine Forte IIs in driving/pick-up distance. If it were me, I would get a pair of original Fortes and use them as rear speakers, increasing the chance of finding three F IIs for the fronts and center. You will never hear any difference in the 1 vs. II sound, especially if 1s are in the rear. $475 is a very good price.

Jo Jo Dancer.......your LFE is calling [][][] (I couldn't resist).

For about a year I used a Quartet as a center between my Forte II mains; it sounded great. Then I got the rare opportunity to buy an Academy; it sounded great. I kept it because it fit better on top of my RPTV than the 50-lb Quartet. I am not one of those persons who claims to hear, for example "...an obvious difference between the 1989 midrange horn model d-400 vs the 1990 model d-401... the mid-frequencies are 'smoother' in the latter one.... etc. etc." On the one hand, the 2-way Academy was made as the dedicated timbre-matched center for the Quartet-Forte-Chorus line, when most centers were smallish; on the other hand, the 3-way Quartet has the same mid and tweeter as the Fortes (and, presumably, the Choruses), thus a near-perfect timbre match. Some here will voice very strong opinions, probably some in both directions. I have heard both, and to me there was not a profound difference.

Do any of you ancients (like me) recall a short-lived Saturday AM children's game show from the 60s called "Shenanigans," with host Stubby Kaye? Kids moved around the studio-sized board like game pieces. There was another one, perhaps called Treasure Island, or Treasure Chest. Kid contestants earned clues, which would direct them to dig in sand or go up a coconut tree to find prizes or other clues.

I have KSB-1s on top of my kitchen cabinets as remote speakers from the main HT in the living room. I first bought a pair of KG .5s, which were, incredibly, 1/16" too big. I couldn't raise the ceiling, nor lower the cabinets, so I had to go with whatever Klipsch made that was smaller, hence the KSBs. For remotes, they work great.