wuzzzer

We had a dead sparrow stuck in our furnace's air intake and when the furnace company came to take care of it I asked him the same question. The previous owners of our house also had an electrostatic filter but I took it out and replaced it with regular filter. He said, go to Home Depot, Menards, etc and buy the cheapest pleated filters you can find. They're usually blue and you can get a case of them for less than $10. He said the main thing is change them once a month and you'll be fine.

You'll definitely appreciate what you have much more when you get a house and can turn it up as loud as you want whenever you want. That is, whenever the wife isn't yelling at you to turn it down.

I used my Fortes to DJ a wedding dance a couple years ago and on the way to the reception hall I heard this weird buzzing sound. Turned down my radio and realized it was my Fortes which were sitting in the back of my wife's car. They weren't hooked up to anything either.

True. My comment was there is no benefit having a cable that has XLR on one end and RCA on the other. At least that is my understanding of it. Except when your receiver only has RCA outputs and your power amp only has XLR inputs, as in my case. []

http://shirt.woot.com/ I thought it was cool.

The PS3 now allows simultaneous audio/video outputs through the Multi-Out, HDMI and optical digital since the latest firmware update. You could run the audio outputs from the Multi-Out to the H/K and bypass the Yamaha if you're worried about it coloring the sound. Of course, going that route relies on the DACs in the PS3. Otherwise I don't think that using the Yamaha's pre-outs would mess with the sound that much. HK 3470 just showed up on eBay http://cgi.ebay.com/Harman-kardon-HK-3470-Receiver-with-VMAx_W0QQitemZ270456603018QQcmdZViewItemQQptZReceivers_Tuners?hash=item3ef878418a&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14 3470 model was released before the 3480. You should probably be able to pick it up for about $100.

3 Heresy III speakers for $1500 just popped up on AVSForum: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/vbclassified.php?do=ad&id=11529

Do you have the Sony hooked up with RCA cables or a digital connection?

If your runs are going to be short, something like this http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10218&cs_id=1021803&p_id=5346&seq=1&format=2 will work fine. If you need longer cables, here's more to pick from: http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10218&cs_id=1021803. Otherwise if you feel the need to spend more of your hard earned money on cables, there's always http://www.bluejeanscable.com. Personally I'd go the monoprice route. I have HDMI cables, optical digital cables, S-Video cables and an RCA to XLR cable in my system and probably spent a grand total of $30 including shipping for all of them combined.

What are you using as a CD player and cables connecting it to your Denon? What setting is your Denon on as far as Stereo, Direct, etc.? The new Reference speakers are rated at +-3dB up to 23kHz, highest of any Klipsch speaker I've ever seen.

That's not way out of the ballpark but if you showed up with $350-400 the seller would probably take it. I purchased my Forte IIs through craigslist for $275 about 3 years ago and they are in 9/10 condition. Its not unusual to find Forte IIs in good condition for $200-300 but you have to act fast when you find them.

Fortes like to have a little breathing room behind them. The general rule of thumb is to place a speaker approximately the same distance as the diameter of any ports or passive radiators. 12" for the Forte I and 15" for the Forte II. Actually the farther away from side walls the better to eliminate early reflections. I have an extremely narrow basement and my Fortes are butted up right next to my TV, they're 5 feet apart from their inside edge and 18" from the side walls.

Don't forget about clicking on the "My Discussions" button on the right of the main forum listing page. It'll bring up every thread you've started or replied to.

Yes. Although, I did forget the part about the speaker wires. [:$] You can get a switch box to select between the two receivers. You'd run speaker wires from both the H/K and the Yamaha into the switch box and then a single set of wires to your RF-83s and you can switch between them on the fly. Otherwise a decent set of banana plugs would make swapping wires between the two take only a few seconds. Come to think of it, I'd go the banana plug way. Much cheaper and you don't have to find a place to put another box. For my next suggestion it will depend on whether or not you use your PS3 as a CD player or something else. I'm assuming its your PS3 since I don't see a CD player listed in your sig.

You seem to come across some sweet deals, shouldn't take too long to find something nice for your friend. The HK 3480 2 channel integrated amp I used to have was the best sounding amplification I've ever heard with my setup. Assuming your Yamaha has at least main channel pre-outs, you should be able to pick one up for under $150 and use it whenever you wanted to.

Here's a start: http://chicago.craigslist.org/sox/ele/1366019272.html Possible surrounds: http://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/ele/1374044591.html That's pretty much my exact setup other than I have Forte II fronts. Difference between original Forte and Forte II is the Forte II has a larger rear passive radiator (15" vs. 12") and the Forte II has a tractrix midrange horn.

The sweeeeeet midrange of the Fortes is what drew me in. They do have amazing bass also. Come to think of it, their treble is nicely detailed too. Can you tell I like them?

If you haven't used the dealer locator on this site yet give it a try. There's going to be a different sound between the 3-way speakers of yesterday and the 2-way speakers of today. One isn't necessarily better than the other, just different. I personally love the 3-way sound of my Forte IIs and actually replaced a pair of RF-7s with them. If you don't mind going pre-owned and don't want gigantic speakers, a HT built around Heresys, Fortes or Quartets would be excellent. If you want something that's new, this page will show you recommended matched sets: http://www.klipsch.com/na-en/products/home-theater-system/default.aspx?viewall=true

I don't see how someone who doesn't have any kind of HDMI connection in their audio equipment would benefit from an optical to HDMI convertor box. Take the optical signal, convert it to HDMI, then do what with it? If someone has ONLY optical/coaxial inputs but not HDMI inputs in their receiver or pre-amp the connection of audio-in will have to be toslink/coaxial. Even if there were devices to do the opposite as you suggested (which would be take HDMI and convert it to optical/coaxial) the limitations of what can be carried via optical/coaxial cable would negate any benefits of doing so. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. {edit} Obviously 5.1 or 7.1 discrete outputs from Blu-Ray source to receiver/pre-amp would allow HD audio, I'm just talking digital here.

Yes, unless you can find some other drivers hidden in there somewhere. [] Welcome to the forums!

I wish. I should really scour the Rapid City craigslist and see if I find anything interesting...[6]

Getting closer to vacation time. I asked my wife where she wanted to eat on vacation and she said "I don't even know where we're going!" I told her I had to tease her a bit about it. She said she doesn't want me planning anymore surprise vacations. []

My TV progression has been 19"...20"...27" tube 4:3 TVs, then 42"...56"...65" 16:9 HDTVs. I think I'm due for a front projector next. []

Unless you're really pushing your surrounds I think you'll be fine with the XPA-3 for your front 3 and using your receiver for the surrounds.

Unless, of course, you only have optical inputs for audio on a receiver/pre-amp.