yromj

For your speaker wires, yes 14 ga. will be enough. Some of the "audiophile" grade from http://www.partsexpress.com would work great. Otherwise, Home Depot wire will work. In other words, don't plan on spending $2/ft. You should be able to get quality wire for less than $1/ft. I use the Dayton banana plugs from partsexpress as well. They fit nice and tight. The coax wire you're using for your sub is great. I'm about to run a coax to the other side of my living room to move my sub. Coax can be used for all your interconnects, audio, and video. John

I auditioned the RB-15s and 25s side-by-side when I was auditioning for my upgrade. I found the difference between the 15s and the 25s to worth the price, for me. I also auditioned the RF-35s, but they were in a different system. The differences between the 25s and the 35s were more subtle than the differences between the 25s and 15s. John

I've seen them mentioned a few times in these discussions. They're almost mentioned in the exact same way you mentioned them. Someone has heard one, but they seem to be few and far between. Everything I've heard has been positive. John

I agree w/ whell. The RB-5IIs should work very well as surrounds. John

I'm going to throw my vote in for the SVS route. Fire Tom & Ron an email w/ the info you provided here and your listening habits (music, movies, volume, etc.) and I'll bet they recommend a sub to you that will fit your needs and your budget. They are known for not overselling their products, but instead giving customers the best bang for their buck. John

---------------- On 6/28/2004 6:30:24 PM Q-Man wrote: Receivers that cost over $1,000.00 to $2,000.00 will sound a lot better then any $500.00 one. ---------------- I feel that $1k is as high as I would go w/ a receiver. In my opinion anything beyond is past the point of diminishing returns. If you're going that high, go seperates. As for the Yamaha vs. Denon, I was just pointing out the Denon because I knew it was being discontinued. If the Yamaha has the features you need, and is cheaper, then that may be the way to go. Some people claim the Yamaha/Klipsch combo is bright, so you may want to audition first to ensure that you like the sound. John

I'm going to throw another receiver into the mix since you mentioned music. I have a Marantz (SR7400) and I love its sound w/ music. The other day I was in an A/V store and they were pushing a pair of $1,500 B&Ws w/ a Marantz SR 4400, which is around $500 (maybe a little less), and it sounded terrific. I absolutely love my Marantz for everything, but especially music. The other receivers you mentioned are all great, I'm just giving another option that doesn't get too much press. On the Denon side of things, keep your eye out for a deal on a 2803 as they've just been discontinued. You may be able to save a little money on that great unit. John

I recently upgraded from Quintets to an RC-25, RB-25 fronts, and RS-25 surrounds. Since you have a reference center, I'm going to highly recommend that you get reference fronts. I'm going to suggest that you audition the RB-35s as well as look for the RF-3IIs and/or the RF-35s. The RF-35s go down to 37Hz and the RB-35s go down to 45Hz. 45Hz is still well into your sub's range, so you won't be missing a thing by going w/ the RBs. Just some food for thought. John

Yes, you can do that, because of the very reasons you mentioned. A little overkill can be a good thing. John

NP, fun to "help". You could always put two of RBs back there. My rear center is going to be relatively far behind me to, compared to my fronts. I'm hoping that this will help "pull" the sound behind me since my surrounds are slightly in front of my seating position. John

OK, here's a couple of ideas. Buy 2 pairs of RB-35s. Use one pair as we've discussed. Use one of the other pair for the front center and the other speaker as the rear center. You can then sell your current center. Or you can use the RBs for all four surrounds. Even though I had to use the RSs for my HT (due to WAF issues), I recommend the RBs. I'm not a huge fan of "spraying" that sound all around the room. Of course, hanging those RBs from a vaulted ceiling may not fly very well in which case, the RSs would be a decent choice. Don't get me wrong, they sound fine. It's just that at higher volumes the sound becomes "blurred" and you can't tell where it's coming from. 80+% of the time they're great. Monopoles are also better for multi-channel music. John

For a $500 or less receiver, I would look into a Yamaha, Marantz, or Denon. You may be able to find a Denon 2803 for about that price since they're being discontinued. John

I would stay with the refernce series w/o question. As for which speakers, I would go w/ another set of RB-35s in the back if it were me. From the way you describe that room and system layout, the RBs should work out quite well. They are the same price as the RSs, too, so that shouldn't be a problem either. John

Thanks Bill. I checked eBay and there are some items for sale, but only 12. Four of those are for pairs. So maybe I can get lucky. John

Be sure and give updates w/ feedback. John

Any takers? John

Oh, one more thing. About the sub, I believe both of those subs are about as expensive as an SVS sub. I would check into the SVS over the RWs, but that's just personal preference. If the RW sounded good to you (and they are good subs, I just think the SVS are better), then go that way. I'm just trying to give you another option. John

Check the specs of the towers vs. the comparable bookshelves and you'll see the difference is typically 3-5Hz. (45Hz vs 49Hz for the RF-25 vs. the RB-25). That ain't much. Seeing as how your sub is going to be handling the low end, it really won't matter. I'm saying all this to justify what Griff, said. Do the six bookshelves. You can look at my system and see that I wasn't able to follow my own advice because of WAF issues. My system sounds VERY good, for both music and movies. I wish I had two more RB-25s instead of the RS-25s though. At higher volumes the sound becomes "blurred" in the back. (The higher frequencies are getting "sprayed" around the room and are reflecting off the walls too much.) Bookshelves DON'T restrict your frequency range very much, they offer more flexible placement options, and are cheaper. John

I've got a pair of white Quintets, a Quintet center, and a KSW-10 for sale. All of the items are in excellent condition. I'm asking $95 for the pair of sats, $95 for the center, and $250 for the sub. All prices are +S/H (actual charges). I'm in the central Arkansas area, so anyone in that area can obviously avoid the shipping charges. You can reply here or PM me if interested. If no one is interested in a few days, I'm going to advertise them elsewhere. John

I wish I would have been able to check in sooner. I own a Marantz SR-7400 w/ my Rx-25 system and LOVE it. Its performance w/ music is awesome. The remote is one of the best I've seen. It's pre-programmed w/ most manufacturers codes (all my other stuff is JVC and it controls them better than the remote for my JVC receiver did). It will also learn and you can program macros. I love Denon a great deal, but I think you ought to check out the Marantz. John

---------------- On 6/7/2004 12:32:52 AM michael hurd wrote: How about all Rsx-4's, all the way around? With a sub, that wouldn't really break the bank and give you great sound to boot.---------------- Mike, just out of curiousity why the RSX-4 recommendation? Are you saying that because that will give him four identical speakers? I am thinking he is doing exactly what I would do, but I am assuming he'll upgrade the RSXs in the future. If he'll keep the RSXs for the long haul, then I absolutely agree. However, the RSXs and the RB-25s are pretty much the same money and the RBs have a little more range to them. Again, I'm just curious. As for the original post: I think what you're doing will definitely suffice for right now. The key, as Michael said, is to ensure that your sound card will pass the DD/DTS signal to the PMs. (Will the PMs do DTS?) John

Great HT!! Cool thread. The link to my pics is below. John http://community.webshots.com/scripts/editPhotos.fcgi?action=viewall&albumID=114819789

---------------- On 5/27/2004 7:35:03 PM atree wrote: ...If doing it again though, I would have opted for the Sherwood Newcastle r765 because its got a universal remote (not this imbecilic learning remote), more power, fewer features I won't use, the sound is great and its a hell of a lot cheaper. Live and learn. ---------------- I'm currently helping my bro-in-law put together a system. He's looking for a receiver in the ~$400 range. Can you expound on the Sherwood some more please. I'll look up the specs, I'm interested in your opinions. Thanks, John

Cyclone, My recommendation would be to get a couple more RB-15s. This would give you a perfect timbre match across the back. John

---------------- On 5/19/2004 9:59:59 PM navyseals10 wrote: I have another question. In most recievers I seen, there are front, center, and surround inputs for the speakers. Does surround mean rear? ---------------- Well sort of. If you're using a 5.1 then the "surrounds" would be the rears. If you're going 6.1/7.1 then the surrounds are the ones on the sides while the "surround back(s)" are in the rear. I notice that you said "input", while I think you probably, technically (nit-picking here), meant outputs. I say this because most decent receivers actually have BOTH. They have the outputs for the speakers as well as INPUTS for the channels as well. These inputs allow connections of DVD-A/SACD players. (You can also use the decoder in your player to decode the digital signal on a disc and send the analog signal to the receiver and use the amps in the receiver.) John- Who probably muddied the water up pretty good.