Hunt

As good as it it - it can always get better...

Roger, Re-read post from HarryO. Next time just walk away. You have too nice of a system to orphan!

Stick with Klipsch. I use in-walls for my rear-surrounds in a 7.1 config, and believe they perform quite nicely. Depending on the room layout, configuration, equipment and calibration - yes, 6.1 (or 7.1) can significantly add to your enjoyment.

IKF - I sent you a PM. ...man you have a lot of posts!

Nah, just a lucky (somewhat educated) guess. I knew Parisian was going out of business, and I used to shop there a lot. I must say, she does look mighty fine in your ticket booth. A very nice touch to an awesome looking theater!

She looks...Perisian, perhaps?

I'd have to charge you a retainer first! (not really, as IN is a "no fault" State). The best advise I read a while back, was to first buy your significant other a nice piece of jewelry, (or some other meaningful item to fill in the blank) then upgrade. My route was from RB-35 bookshelves to RF-5's, then to RF-7's. I tried the RC 25, the 35, then finally the RC-7 before I was happy. The side surrounds went through the same progression - RS 25, 35, then the RS-7's. Throughout the whole ordeal, my wife was not too pleased and thought I was crazy, but it did give us an excuse to remodel our family room to accomodate both of our needs. That made her happy, and although she would be just as content with a 15" black and white TV with no stereo, she does concede (every once in a while) that the HT is impressive. Life (and marriage) is about compromise and balance. ...just don't let the compromise come at the expense of the Klipsch speakers!

Nope no attorneys posted in this thread that I am aware of No, you are wrong on that note. Anyway - good choice. They do blend-in over time. You know, you get used to hanging if you hang long enough.

If you are set on hanging them on the wall, I would check out the RS-62's, as they look a tad less intrusive, but would perform well for movies. I had a similar struggle a while back, and finally compromised with the RS-7's on the sides, and in-walls for the back, in a 7.1 config. I used the RCW-5's, which were the predecessor to the 5800's, I believe. The new ones had just come out, but had a manufacturing defect/flaw that caused them to be recalled. My in-walls sound terrific, and although I very much like my RS-7's on the side, I don't think I would have been disappointed at all with in-walls for my side surrounds. With the type of information that comes from the surrrounds while watching movies, I wouldn't be too concerned with what you end up with as long as you stay in the Klipsch reference line. In fact, if I were doing my room all over today, with the information/listening experience I have now, I would probably go with in-walls for all my surrounds. Good luck and enjoy.

Bought my B&K on a whim and with a little luck. (local shop was phasing out their line and I got a floor demo for a great deal). Not a lot of reviews on them at the time, but I wanted 200 watts/channel x 7, and didn't want to mix and match several amps. I have been very happy with mine. Did develop a slight buzz in 1 channel - local shop sent it in to B&K and it was returned in about 2 weeks fully repaired, at no charge. Been great ever since. The sound was a noticable difference from my Denon AVR 2805. Bought the pre/pro later and it took a lot of tweaking to get the sound right, but was worth it in the end. Now that you have narrowed your choices, I don't think you could go wrong. I've not heard the Rotel, but I have read many of happy owner reviews. Good luck and have fun with your selection.

Have you calibrated your speakers with a SPL meter? That should make a big difference. You should have a decent sounding system and be satisfied, particularly considering that you were previously listening to Bose. Good luck.

Why the RC-7, of course.

I would agree w/ TKD. I also experimented for a long time with large/small settings and different x'vers. I've read convincing arguments for both ways. Eventually, I settled on Large up front, small for everything else, crossed at 80, with my big old cylinder sub in the back of the room. I was running a Denon 2805 AVR at the time, and setting it to LFE + mains, sounded best in my room. I've since upgraded to the B&K seperates, and it seems as if the overall sound and bass just keeps on getting better and better each day I listen to it. Hardly a day goes by that I am not thoroughly impressed, and still leave it on large up front. Like others have said, you room placement and acoustics may be different, so you have to experiment. You can run into bass cancellation, and need to have them on small up front. That's part of the fun of it - don't worry needlessly about a wrong or right way, but find out how it sounds most pleasing to your ears. Last I checked, everyones ears were a little bit different too.

I have a now "older" CRT - rear projection Mitsubishi TV. I thought it looked good out of the box, but had a professional calibration. This guy drove over from Ohio ( i live in Indianapolis) and spent about 11 hrs straight calibrating the death out of all the connections. He wasn't even going to take a break - and I had to make him a sandwich and set it in front of him to get him to eat. My point is that the people that do this are very much into it (ie. perfectionists). I could tell a big difference in the before and after. I had it way too bright. Black levels were way better and color more true. It took on an almost 3-d quality to the picture, that had been missing before. I think it cost about $200 or so, and I felt it was worth every penny. I tried the AVIA and other set-up tools, but didn't really know what I was doing. They have additional test patterns and codes for most TV's. Make sure whoever does it for you is familiar with your make and model of set. I would likely do it again, with a new set.

Buy the 7's. If not, you will just get the upgrade bug a few months down the road and eventually end up with them like I did. BTW - I thought the 5's sounded rather harsh (although in all fairness, I believe I was using a lower model Denon AVR at the time). To me, the 7's were a noticeable improvement. They will not overpower if you calibrate them, as others have said. I have in-walls for my rear-surrounds, and the system sounds fine to me (ie. everything is calibrated to equal SPF levels). Good luck and have fun.

Travis, I have the older/discontinued models, the RCW-5's in my system. They are installed as my rear-surrounds in a 7.1 system, with my RS-7's serving as my side-surrounds. They keep up very nicely with the RF-7's up front - you just need to make sure you calibrate properly using a SPL meter. They cannot pretend to be floorstanders, but they do very nicely for surrounds when you need to make some (WAF) compromises. They do fantastic for movie effects, and even produce a good sound when listing multi-channel music. They can crank. I don't think you would be disappointed - I am not. My adjoining wall is to a garage - I might feel differently if the adjoining wall was to a bedroom.

Thanks Arky. I might have to try them sometime soon. If for no other reason, they look cool.

Arky, Did you notice much difference in sound when you switched to the balanced cables? I have balanced inputs on my B&K components, but have not sprung for the cables, as I would need at least 6 ft. interconnects for each, and felt like the cost would probably outweigh any increase in performance. I would be interested in hearing your experience with the XLR cables. (sorry for detour in thread).

Shane, I have ordered several times from Bluejeans, and been highly satisfied with the company responsiveness and the quality of the cables, not to mention the fair and reasonable prices. I have 40 foot component cable for HDTV, several cables for interconnects for my SACD/DVD-A, 40 ft. subwoofer cable and in-wall speaker wire. I have no interest in this company, other than seeing other enthusiasts get a fair price for a good product, like I have experienced and would hope others could as well. Next time I need cables or wire, I hope they are still in business because they have certainly delivered on their promises with my orders. I don't think you could go wrong. Good luck.

Michael, My experience with OTA - HD is that it was very hit or miss. My Mits RPTV has a built-in tuner, and I got it about 3 1/2 yrs ago, I believe. At the time, Comcast did not have a HD signal, as they just rolled out "digital" cable. I bought my TV in the fall, and went for about 3 or 4 months trying different Antennae. I used 3 different inside models, and finally bought a large Terk antennae at BB for about $99, and placed it outside. I am on the NE side of Indy, just inside I-465. It would pull in 1 of 3 network stations consistently, but the other 2 would be inconsistent at best. It's not like the old days when you saw "snow" if the signal was bad. You either got it or you didn't. The picture would sometimes freeze, and othertimes just "go out." Anyway, about January of ?? yr, Comcast rolled out HD boxes ( I had been e-mailing the Comcast reps and they were pretty good about getting me one right away). There initially was sparse programming, but the signal was consistent. I have since ditched my old antennae and never looked back. Although I'm sure you can get it to work, I would not gamble on flawless reception for such a big event as the Colts in the SB, and such a large guest list. I've been reading your posts forever, and its surprised me to hear you were not into the HD signal already. My best advise would be to sign up for Comcast (or whatever cable provider is near you) or Dish, and go that route. I don't think you will be disappointed. Time may be against you now, however. Good luck, my fellow Klipsch friend.[] ps.Edit: It was fall of '02 that I bought my Mits RPTV and at that time Comcast still had HD in "Beta" testing. It was Jan '03 that they rolled-out their HD boxes to the public.

My Klipsch outdoor speakers are down for the season. I need help hooking them back up in the Spring, as my equipment has changed. I used to run them off the "B" speaker selection of my Denon AVR to a Monster speaker selector box. From the box, 2 sets of wires to the garage to volume control switches, then out to the speakers mounted outdoors (4). I am now using a B&K 200.7 S2 amp and Ref 50 S2. I'm not sure how to hook up the outdoor speakers. What I would like to do is hook it up as before. Can I run my speaker selector box to 2 of the channels of my amp, and double-up on the connections, or would this be a big NO-NO? I do have an old Yamaha pro logic AVR in the garage, and could hook it up there, but would then be missing out on digital cable music stations that I have inside. Not sure I want to mess with Zone 2 hook up from the B&K, as I do not need video outside. Any suggestions or helpful hints? Thanks.

...and while 1 is good - 2 of these buggers are even better!

I just sent you a PM.

I've got a slightly used denon that I will sell you cheap. AVR-2805 for $400 plus shipping. It mates well with the Klipsch - but I just upgraded to seperates. Pic's posted on Audiogon. If you don't need DVI or HDMI, it's a nice quality sound for the buck. Easy to set-up with included Mic and auto set-up features. There are several good, used AVR's out there on Audiogon.

Ok, the panic of just wasting good $ has worn-off. The B&K sounds good. Just needed to spend some time learning how to properly set it up. The guy that owned it before me must have liked the sound of transistor radio, as it sounded horrible out of the box, but is performing well now with proper calibration. Just another good lesson on how terribly important it is to set-up and calibrate properly before judging equipment!