Shiva

I noticed that you have a Pioneer elite. They have a feature in the room correction software Mcacc, that allows you to attenuate the highs. This is something done manually. Good luck.

There is also something to be said about placing the sub in the optimal space within the room which will give the smoothest bass response. That might be worth investigating.

I have a pair of Epic CF3's, which have very similar power handling specs as the RF7"s, I believe. Though I will never need it, I always wanted an amp that can fill out the 250 watts continuous with 1000 watt peak specs that the Epic's are rated for. For fun I purchased a pro amp that I have read good things about over the years, a Crown K2 amplifier. it puts out 500 watts a side at 8 ohms, 750 at 4ohms and 1250 at 2. I think it has great clarity and definition, has very tight bass and looks fairly cool as well.

I have the Oppo 93 as well a front projector. Blu-ray is of better quality than streaming. I usually stream through the Oppo, movies from Vudu. They do stream movies at 1080p but the sound they have is at best Dolby digital +. It still looks and sounds great. But a blu-ray disc still beats it out. For ease of use I run the Hdmi cables into the pre/pro and a single run to the projector.

I have the older and discontinued Super T-amp which is like 10 watts a side and a TP-30 that I have used with my Epic CF3's. They both sound great on The Epics and could drive them really loud, though not to insane levels. The amps have great clarity and the tight bass slam that the Epics have. With either of the amps, I say each time I listen to to the Epics, what a great speaker and great little amps. The Tp-30 is in my system now as a secondary amplifier for 2 channel listening fun. I wouldn't use either of mine for a main amp though. I think the Epics can draw a lot of power especially when listening to movies or concert videos at high volume and would run out of gas with the t-amps. For my main amp and added fun I have 500 watts per side with a Crown K2 amp, which is a switching amp to some degree, I believe. Sounds great on the Epics.

Am I reading right in that you have 3 pairs of Epics, 2 in light oak and a pair in dark.

My CF3's are about 9' apart and about 10" from the rear wall. The seating distance is about 12' away. Mine are each aimed a bit outside of the center seat. The Epics have a powerful center image. Many people who listen to them don't believe me at first when I tell them that the center channel is not on.

I use a Logitech squeezebox touch. It is a great device that will fill your needs and can be controlled by its included remote and your phone.

I would not become disheartened. Its just a little bit of problem solving. If you already have a pair of XLR cables all you need to do is try out the Art for instance which can be had for about $60 on Amazon and returned as well if you don't like it. If it works and you notice the improvement, you are good to go and then you have an amp that will never run out of gas. I know that my Epics though efficient can also seem demanding for an amplifier at times. Mainly, just for fun , I now have 500 watts a side at 8ohms going into a my Epics, which can handle 250 wattts continuous with 1000 watt peaks. For me, it was just something fun to do and it required working the problem awhile until solved. Enjoy.

Yes, I was running the Rotel off of the Pioneer's Pre-outs and the room correction did not work as it should. With either the Rotel or Crown, when running the Mcacc it would bump up the volume to plus 12 for the mains, which is as high as it would go and it still did not equal the volume of the center channel. If I wanted it to work and I did, I had to do a little research which led me to find out that the pre-out signal on the Pioneer was weak and to an item called the ART cleanbox pro. Once i installed it and set the gain halfway on it and reran Mcacc it set the mains at -4 compared to +12 as before. I have been using it ever since. On another note adding that unit did introduce a ground loop hum, which I had to eliminate as well. That one desire to add a pro amp did branch out into a few extra steps.

Your drop in volume with the power amp is due to the weak signal out the Pioneer's pre-outs. I also have a Rotel RB991, which is designed for the home. The signal is weak with that amp as well.

One other thing to factor in with a pro amp mating with home gear is the strength of the pre-out signal of your pioneer. I found that my Pioneer VSX1121's pre- out signal was too weak going into my Crown K2, for its room correction software to work properly. I had to buy what is sometimes called a bump box, which takes the unbalanced signal of home gear and boosts the signal and changes it to a balanced one that the pro amps are designed for. Just for your info, I purchased 2 different ones to try out, a Henry Matchbox HD and one called an Art cleanbox pro. They each did the job and I really like the sound of the Crown in my system. I got mine used for $400. I thought it a good deal.

One thing about the Epics is that if you remove the grill and pull out the rubber inserts that the grill pegs slide into you will see screws beneath that hold the motor board to the cabinet. I don't know if they use glue as well. But if not, you should be able to take the whole front off.

take a look at the dust caps on the drivers and make sure that the glue has not come loose. that can make a rattling sound if it did.

How about, mounting the tv to the back wall and put the screen onto some type of guided runners or pulley system that slide it up and down the wall in front of the tv.

I see a slightly different solution. Mount or place a stand for the tv on the wall behind it. Then get a retractable screen to drop down in front of it when its movie time. You can get electric screens pretty cheap these days.

When I read of what DR. Hsu says in regards to his subs, he always advises placing a sub in a back rear corner near the couch. Can you try out 2 in the front and 2 in the back?

Hey Youthman, Congrats on your recent speaker purchase and also on the great room you created. I have the CF3's, which have been with me for the last 7 years, and am still impressed with them. Mine sit on 2" thick paving stones on their speaker spikes, then, I placed some little 1 1/2" risers on the front spikes to get the horn higher and angle the speaker a bit more towards the listening position. I agree with you regarding their impact, they do have that, and it is the reason I run mine full range in my theater. They can handle it and have great tight slam. It also doesn't hurt to have a Crown K2 powering them. One way to explore how they might sound when set up at ear level, is simply to sit on the floor. That involves a little less lifting of 100 pound speakers to demo that. Enjoy. Marc

Greetings, Have you been using them in a home theater setting? What kind of frequency response are you getting with the JBL drivers? How low is their response.

Type in Klipsch Cornwall in the San Diego Craigslist. There is one pair for sale.

Well, I would agree with you that it is an amp problem. One of things I love about my Klipsch Epic's is how great they do sound at low volume. That is one the great qualities of an efficient speaker design. With just one watt the speakers are slamming. When I listen at night with the volume lower I can still feel that the bass is fully present and impactful and usually I have my subs off then as well. One of the fun things one can do with efficient speakers is use low powered amps and have great sound. I have a Topping TP-30 right now. Which is a digital T-amp that puts out about 10 watts a side and has great bass at low volume.. I have used 5 watt set amps and Sonic T-amps that do the same. My Panasonic SA-BX500 digital amp receiver also delivers great bass at low volumes. My newer Pioneer vsx1121 on the other hand sounds weak at low volume and I knew that on my first listen. When I added my Rotel RB991 or my currently in use Crown K2, the bass came back. For fun, you might look into a nice digital amp from Amazon or parts-express, just to experiment.

Since he is a friend, Ask to borrow his amp, hear it on your on system and see if you like the sound better.

I am aware of that horn blast in War of the Worlds. That blast was extremely impactive and impressive in the movie theater. it was probably one of the loudest sustained sounds I had ever heard in a theater, up to that time. I was looking forward to hearing it when it came out on Blu-ray. When I heard it at home I heard the distortion you are talking about. My thought at the time was that it was too much for my KLF C-7 center channel to handle. Though, now my impression as already stated above is not so much hearing your speakers distort as it is hearing a distorted note on the disc and the speaker is just playing it back. If memory serves, I think I plugged in my headphones and listened for that blast and heard the distortion in it as well.

I will throw in my props for the Epic CF3's. I have had my pair for the last 7 years or so. I have listened to dozens of speakers during that time, at high end shops and Audio shows and have never found anything that made me want to replace them. Not to long ago I added a Crown K2 amp to power them and that has been a pleasing addition as well.

As an experiment, ask your friend if you could borrow his RC-7 and see if it has the same bass extension that you heard at his house. Perhaps, it is your set up, and or room placement or receiver that is inhibiting the bass response of the C-7 in some way.