lo123

We just did the Tetons and Yellowstone tour last month. Wife planned and it was fantastic. We flew into Jackson WY and spent most of a week in that area. Then drove up to Yellowstone and it was certainly stupendous. Be sure to check for planned road work in the Yellowstone approach and actual park roads, as that can alter your plans drastically. One major leg of the basic "figure 8" in Yellowstone was closed for work but we say 90% of what we wanted to see, simply amazing stuff, very worthwhile.

I have RF-35 mains, RC-35 center and run R-5800 in-walls for my rear/surround set. This combination holds up well for music and for movies.

OK, so I have a Harmony 550. When I want to change the cable station I select the cable box. When I want to change the TV volume I select the TV. Ditto for the DVD player and the receiver. Is there a way to setup the remote to allow operation of the receiver volume and the cable channel without selecting each discrete component?

Try Elusive Disc, CD Universe, etc., last fall I bought set of the first 6 or 7 Moody Blues SACDs, ran around $175 as a "group", not a boxed set. The discs all appear to be gold CDs, most are made in Germany. Some of the 5 channel surroundmixes are better than others but overall it's a complete collection of the albums I wanted. Also stereo non-SACD tracks so you can rip to media player.

Bought my exposed sub cables from Blue Jeans cable, good prices, good cable, they answer emails, etc. For in-wall, I just ran RG-6 coax with appropriate adapters for the wall plates. Sounds good to me.

Friend at work sent me this link on old tubes, some new, etc. http://hopestreet-music-emporium.com/vacuum%20tubes.htm I have not begun the tubes journey, so don't know if there is anything of value.

Cal Blacksmith's workshop would house a small business, and yes, the Heresy's fill with sound quite nicely. LaScallas's would be nice, but not sure how you would get them up the stairs to the loft........ Nice setup, Tom, you've got me thinking about garage plans now......

Welcome to the Klipsch forums, lots of knowledgeable folks here to help you maximize your audio experience. I'll give a couple thoughts but I am far from an expert. Regarding the front mains left and right channels, probably two schools of thought. The RF-62s would be the match for your center, I am not familiar with the surrounds you listed. I have RF-35s, which are two 8 inch woofers, a Reference series replaced by the RF-82s,. I would recommend you listen to he RF-62 and RF-82 in an audio showroom if possible. Suspect the RF-82s will have a definite edge over the RF-62s. Consider what you will listen to and how you will listen. For movies, I love my 5.1 surround speakers. For two channel audio, the extra punch from my RF-35s makes me glad I did not go with a smaller mains set of speakers. They rock. Just my thoughts. For all your bi-amping questions, I'd say just get everything setup and see how it sounds. You can always experiment with the bi-amping. Time to get some hours on your system and see how it sounds - - - then you'll have a reference mark for any changes later. For the sub question, I'm not an expert, but my SVS PC-Ultra shakes the house if I want it to. Try one sub and see what the placement options are. You can always add another, but again, establish a frame of reference with one sub first and you may not have a need for a second. Of course, if the second sub is a killer deal and you can sell it for same or better price, that would be tempting......... Hope this helps, and welcome aboard!

Friend at work has a pretty fair record collection but has not played them for quite some time due to a cartridge alignment question. Apparently, he bought a new cartridge years ago and lost the plastic alignment gage that came with his TT. Played a few sides at that time, did not sound right, never got around to getting this resolved. So, all you Thorens folks, does this sound like something that can be resolved to get this TT back up and running to my friend's satisfaction? Is there a Thorens item he could buy or an after-market item which would do the same thing? This makes me wonder if I should do something to align the cartridge on my Dual 1229, perhaps the Thorens has additional adjustments that the Dual does not? thanks -

I've heard Forte's in Cal Blacksmith's setup and they rock. Been looking for a pair ever since.

Wow. Four or five years ago, my wife told me that a friend had a speaker fire that caused extensive damage to her house. I was amazed and incredulous. However, wife insisted that we needed to replace our 25+ year old Radio Shack oiled walnut speakers immediately. What's a guy to do?!?!? Shortly after, my 1970 solid state amp lost the right channel and it was time to launch Operation New Audio Equipment. Shortly after, I had a new Denon receiver, RF-35s, RC-35 and eventually in-wall R-5800s. And an SVS sub to round thing out. I've never actually believed her friend's story until now. No idea of equipment involved, but apparently this is not an isolated instance.

Michael - Not an expert on this but I'll try not to intentionally provide any mis-information. Searched for some specs/info on your Yamaha DVD-S2500 player and it appears to be SACD and DVD-A compatible. Without digging deeper into the Yamaha specs, here is how my Denon 2900 works, bought with very much gratitude from Frzninvt here on the forum and running like a top! I have run dedicated 6 channel analog connections between the Denon 2900 and my Denon AVR1804. Does your AVR have a similar 5.1 analog input? Bought two sets of reasonably priced component video cables from Walmart, RCA Digital Plus, 9 foot length. Blue Jeans cables sells better stuff but I had a budget to meet..... Anyway, with this setup, I configured the Denon AVR to recognize the 5.1 analog input from the Denon 2900 disc player as the appropriate external input, assigned it to an input channel so the remote would know where to find it, etc. So, I am completely separated from the various digital outputs of the Denon 2900 for this application. You might want to explore this for your setup. I completely avoided the digital coax and optical outputs of the 2900 since the analog was all I wanted. With this setup, a Blood Sweat and Tears MOFI SACD in two channel stereo shows that the Denon 2900 is outputing two channels - only - and it sounds great thru my RF35s. Not as impressive as with your selection of speakers, but WAF is stretched even with RF35s! With Pink Floyd DSOTM in 5.1 SACD, the 2900 shows all five channels active - and my RF-35, RC-35, R-5800's plus SVS PC Ultra cylinder agree - all channels are indeed active! Hope this helps somewhat. The setup menus on the DVD player can be another area of confusion, so be sure you have setup for the appropriate outputs, etc. For multi-channel SACDs and DVD-A discs, there is a learning experience for the .1 channel in terms of matching the player and the AVR. Recommend you search some old threads for this, something about boosting the .1 channel as I remember. Until reconciled, I had unimpressive LFE. But now that this has been resolved, the .1 channel is alive and welll....... Hope this helps.....

Steve - SACD discs can come in several varieties. Some are SACD, only, and won't play on standard CD players or in computer hard drives. Some are SACD stereo only. Mobile Fidelity has many of these, remastered classic albums mostly. I have only two, Blood Sweat and Tears first and third albums. They sure sound good in stereo. But there is no multi-channel mix on those discs. I really don't miss the multi-channel and knew they were stereo, only, when I bought them. One thing most of these discs do have in common is a fairly high price at around $25 for many titles. I have all of the Moody Blues discs from back in the late 60s and 70s (well, there are seven discs, I guess that's most of them) on SACD. Some of the remixes say they are 5.1 but they vary from 4.0 to 5.1 depending on the disc and sometimes by song. They do, however, sound outstanding. And, they come with a second layer (I believe that's the correct description) with a stereo mix,. That "layer" I have ripped to .wma files and enjoy on my Zen media player. Also sounds really good. The layer that plays on standard players makes the disc a hybrid disc. My Dave Brubeck Take Five disc is SACD, but is not hybrid, so I can only play it on SACD players. When you see SACD discs on a website like Acoustic Sounds or Elusive Disc, there are usually options for different types of SACD discs. The hybrid ones say do. The non-hybrid SACDs don't mention that feature since they don't have it. I have a couple other discs which really spotlight the 5.1 mixes. Pink Floyd DSOTM is pretty amazing in 5.1. It is also SACD with a stereo layer. Elton John Goodbye Yellow Brick Road sounds really great in 5.1. And it sounds great in stereo, which is a selectable option. However, that disc in my collection is a DVD-Audio disc, another format which requires a special player. Usually SACD players also have DVD-Audio capability, but not all do. While DVD-Audio discs can offer a stereo playback or multi-channel, they do not play on a computer drive, so I don't think they can be ripped to a compressed audio file. At least I don't know how to. Also, some discs are available in SACD or DVD-Audio. If the SACD is hybrid you get the stereo layer playable on standard players. However, some DVD-A discs (Mark Knopfler Sailing to Philadelphia for one), come with both a DVD-A disc and a two channel standard CD. Hope this helps more than confuses. I really like the SACD and DVD-A discs. Problem is finding the money to buy them!

I have a Tandberg 9200XD that is in pristine condition but has not been used for years. Local audio shop that lubed and serviced my vintage Dual 1229 turntable indicated that servicing Tandberg decks was a high risk effort with certain high costs and potentially obsolete parts - in other words, high bench charges with no certainty that they could provide a certified unit. Any other Tandberg owners who have had better luck with their decks? I am in St. Louis area.

Hey Dave! Heavy business travel right now, but if I'm in town I'll sure be there!

I have an AVR-1804 which I believe is 6.1. I run 5.1 with no problem. You can probably download the manual for the model you are looking at from the Denon website. My unit has a provision to run dual speakers for the 6th channel instead of a remote second zone consisting of one channel instead of two. I've never tried that but you may want to look at the manual for your intended purchase. Bigger question, though, is why you would not buy something that is 7.1 capable. Is the 2802 HDMI capable? If you see any upgrade path to a high def video expeience and/or BluRay in your future, you might want to consider more than the 5.1 or 6.1 route. Otherwise, I suspect the manual will advise how you can run the 2802 for five channels versus six. Check the Denon web site.

I've found with these type of plugs that heavier gauge wire may give better results. First tried a temporary connection using 16 AWG lamp wire, hard to get a connection that would really stay tight. When I was ready to run new speaker wires I used Belden 12 AWG from Blue Jeans Cables, in bulk, twisted pairs with grey jacket. The heavier gauge, with an even distribution of the folded over wires around the end of the plug, have given good results. If I ever get around to putting shrink over the plugs it will give electrical isolation and may also provide another bit of resistance to loosening. So, wire gauge within the specs of the plug and even distribution are important.

This guy has a variety of vinyl cleaning solutions and a cleaning pad. Completely manual process. http://www.discdoc.com/ You might want to read some of the material in the link within his website Re: record cleaning do's and don'ts. He also replies to emails but may take a couple days to do so.

I did some cable mods this weekend to add a DVD player to my existing setup. The existing player runs an optical fiber cable. For the new one, I went with coax. Since I originally did the first player with optical cable, I've had some exposure to the cleaning requirements of fiber optic connections in various applications. When I considered the possibility of contamination, it was just easier to buy a well shielded coax cable. Fortunately, I have no major issues with noise on my cable so I think I'm OK. Another consideration is how many ports you have to play with. In my case, I have three optical inputs on my Denon receiver, but only one coax input. No HDMI yet, maybe next year..... Blue Jeans cables has some interesting articles on various interconnects, can't recall if the coax versus fiber is among them, but plenty of other interesting stuff to read.

I run RF-35s with RC-35 center and R-5800 in-walls for rears/surround. The RF-35s sound very nice in stereo or 5 channel DTS movies, with everything I've listened to. Now, they will not have the same sound as Heritage Klipsch speakers or the larger reference line RF-5 or RF-7. But for the reference line, they do very well. I like them spaced out at 15 - 20 feet separation and toed in to sweet spot about 10-12-14 feet away from the "front" plane. Dave Koz (Saxaphonic) rocks, Acoustic Alchemy kicks, Dire Straits (Brothers in Arms) cooks, Vivaldi (four seasons), Aaron Copeland (Appalachia), Diana Krahl, Pink Floyd (DSOTM) is awesome, I haven't found anything that sounds bad. Running with Denon AVR-1804 at 90 W per channel, the RF-35s are rated at 100 Watts. No experience with tube pre. Soon I'll be trying 5.1 DVD-A and SACD courtesy of Denon 2900 recently purchased from forum member, can't wait! At their price point for Klipsch reference, they got me back into the audio game after 30 years off to raise kids. Always looking to upgrade, but I have no complaints with the RF-35s.

I bought a set of RS-35s for rears, had to install in-wall R-5800s to please my wife. RS-35s are still new in the box. Considering mounting them on stands for temporary side surround duty for "special" movie nights. What kind of ballpark price are RB-35s going for? Wonder if they would work better for my side surrounds?

This is included in the links at the end of the article originally referenced, couldn't resist including it here. It's a long read but really provides a technical comeback to a threatened suit against Blue Jeans Cable by Monster. http://www.bluejeanscable.com/legal/mcp/index.htm

Has anyone used RS-35s as side surrounds without mounting them to a wall? I am considering using speaker stands for these due to issues in our family room that prevent a permanent on-wall installation. Do they need to be wall mounted to get the best sound or will stands be adequate?

Wayne, I think I see a road trip coming your way on my next trip to sunny San Diego......! Larry

DownUnder73 - Sounds like your system rocked! My timeline is slipping out but hope to watch this before Christmas. From all the great reviews it sounds like something to include in a guys movie night. Hmmmmmm, better get some planning in place!