[Recommend Speakers / KG4 viable in home theater?]

Larsen:

One thing you may find in your forum search is the goal of "timbre matching," meaning that the ideal match for a speaker is another one with the same or very similar midrange and tweeter drivers. The KG4 is a two-way system: the K-74 tweeter reproduces all freqs above 1800 kHz, and the other two K-8-K woofers reproduce everything below 1800; the passive radiator on the back helps extend the lowest freqs, but is not a driver itself. From the product links to older Klipsch speaker specs, it looks as if the KG 2 (not 2.2 or 2.5) has the most similar drivers, a K-72 tweeter and a K-9-K woofer (also with a passive radiator). In reality, there may or may not be a tremendous difference in sound quality between the KG2 and the KG 1.2/2.2 or 1.5/2.5 series. Other forum members may have more direct experience than I do and could comment on this. But it might be worth trying to find two good KG2s for your rears, and the KV3 center. I think there are two current Ebay auctions for KG2s, but they don't look very good condition-wise, if I recall. There seems to be at least one or two KG2 auctions every month on Ebay, and it may be worth waiting for the right pair to come along. I seem to see about the same number of auctions for 1.2/1.5s and/or 2.2/2.5s, i.e., 1 or 2/month. This past spring, I sold my 2.2s (front-center-right) to a friend, and we found two 1.2s on Ebay for his rear set; with a CHT-10 sub, it made for a nice smaller HT set-up. Another possibility is to post a wanted-to-buy message here (WTB:...), and see if anyone has these for sale.

[Recommend Speakers / KG4 viable in home theater?]

LarsenMTL:

Check your private messages (login, then click "my profile")

[Recommend Speakers / KG4 viable in home theater?]

I think you can build a great HT system from KG4s. KG4s are sold quite often on Ebay, and seem to go for around $200/pr, or even less, meaning a lot of speaker for little money. Get another pair if you want to have KG4s as rears, which is ideal for playing movies in Dolby Digital 5.1. If you can't or don't want to have large rear speakers, smaller ones from the KG series (KG1.2, 1.5, 2.2, 2.5) will work well, as previously mentioned. If the recommended center for KG4s is the KV-1, go with it (around $100 on Ebay). If space is not an issue, get a third pair of KG4s and use one as a center (as long as you can keep it a few inches away from the TV, to avoid magnetic interference); the 6th speaker could be a rear center (if your receiver has 6.1). You can easily remove the base from KG4, lay it on its side, relocate the Klipsch badge, and have a great not-too-large center speaker. Imagine 6 KG4s, a perfectly matched system, along with your CHT sub; you may only have to pay around $400-500 for two more pair. Try searching these forums for others who use KG4s. Search the HT forum for "KG4", "KG 4", or "KG-4" in both title and message; that should also allow you to see posters' system profiles (listed at bottom of the post) who use KG4s, so you can see what other configurations/combinations are being used.

[Anybody have Onkyo DV-CP802B Universal Changer?]

Wow, a total of 2 views and 0 replies in 24 hours If anyone has thoughts about the Onkyo changer or the future of multichannel sound, I would enjoy hearing about them.

[Anybody have Onkyo DV-CP802B Universal Changer?]

A universal DVD/DVD-A/SACD changer seems like the best of all worlds. The above model is around $450, although some online outlets still do not have it in stock yet. Does anyone have it and/or recommend it? A cheaper alternative would be to get one of the Pioneer universal single-disk players (563, etc.), which can be had new on Ebay at less than $150 incl shipping. Such a price seems like a feasible low cost introduction to multichannel sound. This leads to the next question: are DVD-A and SACD going to continue, or do you think they are a good-sounding, but ultimately doomed, format experiment? I keep reading the multichannel news in Sound & Vision, and it sometimes sounds as if the corporate backers don't seem to be pushing the formats very hard, perhaps waiting for the upcoming HD DVD format to emerge. Any thoughts?

[Recommended online CD sellers]

Where do you get your regular 2-ch CDs? I myself have often used half.com, and over the past 6 mos have bought 25-30 great CDs (many recommended by forum users), and paid an average of about $7-$9/CD incl shipping. I am getting spoiled. But half.com only has titles that somebody wants to sell, so the selections can be limited. I searched the forum for previously recommended online merchants, such as TowerRecords and Amazon, but they only seemed to discount about $1-2 dollars off the $12-$15 retail. Of course CDs can be had on Ebay, but there always seems to be some "savvy" bidder who drives the price near the retail mark.

Anybody know of any online rock-bottom discounters?

[shipping speakers]

I once planned to ship some Heresys via UPS, but sold them locally instead. Before that, however, I asked a moving company what type of boxes would they sell/recommend for UPS shipping of that speaker. I learned that probably all major moving companies sell a box called a "dishpack" (for obvious reasons), about 20x20x30" and less than $10. It is a three-walled box just like my own Forte boxes (flat layer/corrugated layer/flat/corrugated/flat). I see that the RF-5s are 41x8x14.5, which is too tall for the dishpack, but maybe two boxes could fit together as top and bottom halves, with sufficient foam, etc., or maybe there are larger 3-wall boxes that would fit. In any case, I found the moving co very helpful in offering advice on how to pack a large heavy speaker, as well as selling the materials that one might need, even they were not actually doing the shipping themselves.

[Better DVD player]

BurtLively:

Please tell me where one can buy a Denon 2200 for $300?

The lowest online prices I see are in the $500 range.

Thanks.

[Members Weekly Music Recommendations-August 16]

This is not a music CD, but highly related: it's a DVD about the making of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. Made last year (30th anniv. of the 1973 release of DSOTM), it is a 45 minute documentary with all the band members (now distinguished older gentlemen) describing many details of what led to the album, how they chose specific musical passages, how they made some of the "special effects" (primitive by today's standards), and best of all, they each play parts of the songs as illustrations. Also cool are segments with Alan Parsons, the original studio engineer who mixed it all, playing back selected individual tracks, i.e., only a specific voice, instrument, or effect. For Pink Floyd fans, it is a highly enjoyable behind the scenes DVD.

[yamaha HTR-5730]

My understanding is that the HTR series of Yamaha receivers are generally distributed to and sold by the large discount stores, such as Best Buy and Circuit City. The RX line of Yamaha receivers are generally distributed to and sold by audio "salons," i.e., small specialized audio/video dealers. I can't say for sure that the two lines are substantially different in quality of parts, construction, etc. You may want to examine the user reviews of that model or similar ones on www.audioreview.com. While the reviews on that site are not a truly objective indicator of quality, it will often reveal whether or not a particular model is a "dog;" i.e., it will receive a disproportionate number of negative reviews and/or comments. As a rule, nearly all Yamaha receivers have historically received good ratings and comments from purchasers. As far as my personal experience goes, I have had a HTR-5650 for about a year, and am quite happy with it. A friend bought an RX-540 a few months later. When I helped him set up his system, it was obvious that the two receivers were identical in all external and functional respects. Same face plate (expect for model number), same buttons, same remote, and same user functions (DPS modes, menus, etc.).

Keep in mind that, with the exception of a presentation of objective scientific data, nearly everything you will read on these forums is an expression the individual poster's subjective viewpoint, which may or may not be similar to anyone else's personal experience or based on any objective evidence.

[If I had A $100]

While they don't all cost $100, my suggestions would include:

- for bookshelf-size speakers, a set of speaker stands.

- SPL meter (if HT set up).

- banana plugs for all speaker cables.

- setup/calibration disk, e.g., Sound&Vision, Avia, Chesky.

- CD cleaner/repair kit.

- cable management system for audio rack.

- subscriptions to a couple of audio magazines.

- last but not least, new CDs and DVDs!

[best movie for sound]

From the 9 hours of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, my favorite scene for the audio is in the first part, Fellowship of the Ring, when they enter the mines of Moria. Their violent entry and entrapment in the mountain is a good bass-heavy beginning passage, then once inside, you hear the wonderfully reverberant cavernous space. Later, when Pippin accidentally knocks the dwarf skeleton and bucket down the well, they bang around in that huge space, falling deep into the depths of the mines, then you begin to hear the ominous distant booming drumbeat of the orcs preparing to attack. The cave troll's entrance and ensuing battle is thundering, as well as the eventual arrival of the Balrog. That whole incredible sequence is about 20 minutes long.

[Ailing, aging rear projection TV: advice needed]

Thanks for the responses. The websites are interesting, although they seem to cater mainly (or exclusively?) to HDTV. As for an ISF technician, unless they routinely travel some distances to ply their craft, I an still stuck in nowheresville, with the nearest regular repair centers 70+ miles away. Also, one of those HDTV websites indicated that ISF calibration may run $250+, which would be foolish for me if the TV itself is on its last legs. Does anyone know of the average life of a nonHDTV RPTV set like mine? I calculate that it has been on for 32,850 hours (10hrs/day, 365 d/yr, 9 yrs). If that is as much or more than can be expected from a RPTV, then I will gladly buy a new one, as even HDTVs are less expensive than when I bought this one.

Thanks for any further info/advice on anyone's part.

[Ailing, aging rear projection TV: advice needed]

I am seeking some advice about my aging Pioneer 45 rear projection TV. It is 9 years old, and has run about 10-12 hours per day for those 9 years. It has needed one repair about 3 years ago, to replace a failed IC chip; otherwise I have been very happy with it. Lately, I cannot get a good picture. The symptoms are: a) an overall blue-ish cast which cannot be corrected via any picture controls (even using the Sound & Vision calibration DVD); somewhat dark image; if I jack up the brightness and/or contrast to get more detail in dark scenes, what should be black is blue; this also creates bizarre negative images, e.g., a persons dark hair, in shadow, is blue and lighter than the surrounding equally-dark scene elements. Additionally, twice in the last two months the set had an internal power blink; it powered off with a thump from the TV speakers (even though I have no audio input to the TV; all audio is handled by my HT sound system); it turned back on quickly. Since the first blink occurred, I have to recalibrate the convergence about once per week, which is much more often than I used to.

My dilemma: I was shocked to discover that, in this hole of a small town I live in (pop. 40K) there is no, I repeat, no television repair service (those who repaired it once before have moved out of state). The nearest repair service is about 70 miles away, and even if I lugged the 200+ lb TV there, I doubt the ride there and back in a pickup truck would be good for the TV, and may create problems itself.

I guess the bottom line questions are 1) Have you ever observed these symptoms in a RPTV before, and if so, what was the cause? 2) What would you do in my situation? Try to find a repair solution or replace the TV?

Thanks for your advice, and if nothing more, your sympathy.

[Am I the only one having Browser Problems with this Forum?]

Similar symptoms to what you describe occurred to me last week. I could log on (dial-up), and immediately get to my homepage (Yahoo mail), but could not go anywhere else, i.e., not here, not to Ebay, and I would eventually get the IE error "the page is not available..." I ran my Ad-Aware anti-adware software, which found and deleted some adware, and the problem cleared up immediately. Maybe there are nasty cookies or even some hijacking going on with your browser. Ad-aware is from LavaSoft, and is a very useful free download.

[Moved to tears]

Heres a story about a moving musical experience. Twenty years ago I went with a date, purely on a lark, to hear a community orchestra (i.e., amateurs, hobbyists) performing at the local university. The hall was about half full, maybe 150 in the audience. For their finale they did William Tell Overture (aka, the Lone Ranger theme). I probably had an initial cynical reaction to that selection (Hi-yo, Silver!). However, that reaction changed dramatically. These valiant amateur musicians struggled through it, with a missed note here and there, but as they reached the last few dynamic lines of the piece, they actually held it together, by the skin of their teeth you might say. As the last note of the climactic ending quieted, many members of the audience, comprised no doubt of families and friends of the musicians, leapt to their feet, applauding and shouting, with a standing ovation. They were so proud. I did not cry at that point, but was moved by the combination of the dedication of these amateur musicians, the quaintness of their semi-skilled performance, the immense pride of their families, as well as the emotionally-rousing musical piece. Now, anytime I hear the William Tell Overture, I think of that scene and get a little misty-eyed.

[weekly Recommendatons by Members July 19]

Being a long-time fan of Steely Dan, I recommend the latest CD by Donald F-a-gen, entitled "Kamakiriad." It has that distinctive Steely Dan sound, perhaps even moreso, ironically, than the latest Donald F-a-gen/Walter Becker (who are Steely Dan) release "Two Against Nature," although I enjoy it as well. The style might be classified as "rock/jazz."

Get this!!! The BB filters out the first three letters of the name ***en, which means I must spell it out F-A-G-E-N to get around the censor. What a laugh! Whoever designed that filter is a flaming f-a-g-e-n. It reminds me of the news story a couple of years ago when some school computers would not allow kids to get internet info on the upcoming SuperBowl, because it had "XXX" in the title.

[OT - Snake Be Gone]

Determine if you are giving the snake a reason to be there. What might it be after? I learned this a couple of years ago when I had to deal with four copperheads in one weekend. I had a bird feeder on my deck; dropped seeds attracted mice, which in turn attracted snakes. There is a snake repellant which is sold by Lowe's, etc, but it may be formulated for or effective only on poisonous ones, like rattlesnakes. The main ingredients in the repellant are napthalene (mothballs) and sulfur. If the snake stays around, try putting a few mothballs in the location. If you think there are mice around, kill them and the snake might go away.

[$100 Subwoofer]

I don't claim to be a sub expert or have golden ears, but I recently helped a friend set up a system with KG2.2s as mains and center, 1.2s as rears, and a Velodyne CHT-10. We got the sub at www.electronics-expo.com for just under $200 including shipping. There is also a CHT-8 (8" driver) for even less $. I was surprised that we could only turn the sub volume to about a "2" on the 10-pt dial or else it overwhelmed the 2.2s, which certainly are not low sensitivity speakers themselves (about 90 db, I think). I think for the money the Velodynes are regarded as having reasonable sound and plenty of output for a normal room. Velodyne may be coming out with new models, as the current CHT line seems to be marked down a lot. Check out electronics-expo or J&R Music World.

[Weekly Music Recommnedations by Member July 12]

(I posted this yesterday, but, stupid me, put it in the thread for last week's suggestions; sorry about the duplication) I nominate the Desert Island/Verve remastered CD of 1963's "Getz/Gilberto" (Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto), which features the original recording of "Girl from Ipanema." I am usually not the biggest fan of this Brazilian Bossa Nova jazz genre, but the fantastic remaster of this recording, along with the simple close miking of the vocals and sax, make you feel like the musicians are in the room with you. I rarely/never use the word "sublime," but I think it is an apt description of this famous recording. I first heard it about a month ago at a friend's house, and and immediately had to get it myself.

PS: Thanks to Thebes and others for making this a recurring thread every week; recommending music and movies to others is a vastly underused function of the forum.

[Weekly Music Recommendations by Members-July 6]

To offer a very different selection from those listed above, I nominate the Desert Island/Verve remastered CD of 1963's "Getz/Gilberto" (Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto), which features the original recording of "Girl from Ipanema." I am usually not the biggest fan of this Brazilian Bossa Nova jazz genre, but the fantastic remaster of this recording, along with the simple close miking of the vocals and sax, make you feel like the musicians are in the room with you. I rarely/never use the word "sublime," but I think it is an apt description of this famous recording. I first heard it about a month ago at a friend's house, and and immediately had to get it myself.

PS: Thebes, thank you for keeping this a recurring thread every week; recommending music and movies to others is a vastly underused function of the forum.

[What's Your Favorite Soundtrack]

I have to say "The Committments" (1992). It's one of my favorite movies, and has a fantastic soundtrack. If you haven't seen it, rent it immediately, as it is surely one of the best movies ever with a musical theme. It's about a group of out-of-work Dubliners who form a soul/R&B band. It's by the same director/writer who did "The Van" and "The Snapper." It is a "feel good" comedy that may remind you of "The Full Monty" (which also has a great soundtrack, by the way). It has been recently re-released with DD5.1 soundtrack. There are two soundtrack CDs (Vols. 1 and 2). A surprise on the CDs is that several numbers are sung by the actor who played the band's manager, who never sang in the movie.

[Where are the klipsch speaker retail prices?]

www.audioreview.com is probably the largest user review site I have seen. Each reviewer can also indicate how much they paid. In the site's listing of products, i.e., the list of Klipsch speakers reviewed, a "retail" price is stated, but it often seems outrageously high. The individual reviewers' stated purchase prices will likely reflect prevailing "real world" dealer prices.

[Just got my Klispch Forte's today.Yippee!!!]

Welcome to the Forte club. The deal you got comes along rarely: mint unused Fortes for half the retail price. I bought mine new in 1988, at around $1000/pr., after my home was burglarized and my aging entry-level stereo system stolen. The insurance money set me on the Klipsch path, and I have never looked at any other speakers. I also got a great deal myself last year, when I bought two Forte IIs in great condition off Ebay for $398; I couldn't believe no on else bid any more. They were part of a recently-deceased audio engineers' estate. I met the seller in person, so no shipping cost either. Your deal came out of someone's messy divorce situation, right? Well, I guess out of death and/or tragedy comes life; life goes on, etc. etc. I still recall a great turn of phrase by the salesman from whom I bought the original Fortes. We were talking about different speakers, and he said something to the effect "Well, you can get good speakers for less than the Forte, but if you want to spend $1000, that's a big box o'fun." Indeed they have been big boxes o'fun for many years, and I am sure many years to come.

[Advice needed on buying a pair of Forte's]

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On 4/1/2004 10:48:36 PM harbolt wrote:

Hello. Could you please tell me if there is really that big of a difference between the original Fortes and the Forte IIs? I would appreciate any info on this. Thanks.

Brent

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Brent:

I don't notice much difference, certainly not as much as between different speaker lines, such as Forte vs. Heresy. That said, I actually haven't ever put my Forte I's and II's side by side (too heavy for whimsical experimentation). But after having the I's for 15 years, I did not perceive any clearly-identifiable change when swapping them out for the II's. The II's have a slightly different midrange horn (Tractrix vs. "exponential"), and a larger passive radiator (15" vs. 12"), so maybe a couple of Hz deeper, and one dB louder than I's. No doubt there are some persons on this forum who will suggest there is a large sonic difference.