sredmyer

The live version of the Eagles "Hotel California" from the album "Hell Freezes Over" does it for me. Gives me goose bumps every time I hear it. Steve

I love the "naked" look for my RF-7s []. Those copper drivers against the black cabinets are just a thing of beauty. Unfortunately, the wife does not share my appreciation…so the grills stay on[*-)]. Steve

I just have the 5.1 Reference set (RF-7s etc.) so when compared to some of the heritage stuff my stuff is fairly small. That said they are certainly a commanding presence in the room (even when quiet[]). As for whether or not they are to big for the room...That depends on who you ask (me or the wife) and when you ask. For me I love the look so they are not ever too big (until it comes time to move them []). Now the wife is a different story. She loves the sound and when we are listening she wouldn't want any thing different. However when we are not listening, I can not tell you the number of times she has asked if there wasn't some way to get similar sound (she is not that picky just wants it loud and clear) without such an imposing presence. It is usually at this time that she mentions the BOSE TV commercial where they talk about "Room filling sound" from that little clock radio thing[8-)]. Since she has no desire to understand why that is such an idiotic statement I usually end such discussions by turning on the system, loading up some Metallica (she loves her metal) and cranking it up. Then she is happy again...at least until the next time[:^)]. Steve

I originaly ran my RF-7s off my H/K AVR 7300 receiver. Now this receiver is no slouch with a respectable 125wpc with all channels driven. However, when I added these amps to the system the difference was phenominal. The bass and mid bass was much tighter and more controlled, it was just obvious that the RF-7s loved having the extra power when they wanted it. Bottom line, the RF-7s are great speakers and sound great on very little power. However you can never have to much "GOOD CLEAN" power. The more power (headroom) these speakers have the better they sound...at least that is my experience. Steve

I do not want to highjack dbossa's thread but I have heard this from many both here on this forum and elsewhere. I have always wondered how this can be. As I say I see my wife regularly push mine to > 300wpc. How can a low power amp possibly compare (at least in volume). I understand that the db (sound pressure level aka volume) has a logarythmic (sp) relationship to the power (3db of spl increase requires double the power) but still 300wpc should result in > 12db increase over 15wpc. Can anyone explain this? Steve

Dean, check your PM. Steve

I also do not claim to fully understand the technical stuff. However, what my research has made clear (to me anyway) is that as the impedence drops the power (wattage) must increase proportionately. To me this means that if your speakers, under normal conditions, had an impedence of 8ohm and draw 2 watts of power but at some frequencies dipped to 4 ohms then your amp, in order to maintain the signal and not clip, must (at those dips) be capable of providing 4 watts of power. Also if you checked out the manufactures description (from the link I posted) for these monster amps you will see that they show power ratings for many different configurations (bridging, impedence differences, etc.). I know they list a 4ohm power rating but I do not know if they list a rating all the way down to 2 ohms. On a separate but related note, these speakers (the RF-7s) are amazingly efficient (IIRC 102db/watt/meter). This means that they do not require much power to play REALLY LOUD. That said I have seen mine pull 350 watts each (peak) when my wife is "In The Zone" listening to Ozzy, Metallica or whatever. That 350 watt reading is according to the digital displays on the amps, which according to the manufacturer are labratory quality meters showing the actual realtime power being supplied. Steve

I use the Monster Power SS MPA 2250 (see signature) to drive my RF-7s. This is an amazing amp in my opinion. It is rated at 250wpc continuous into 8ohms but is capable of delivering significantly more when needed. These amps (as I understand it) are really two completely separate amplifiers (one for each channel). Where each amplifier has it's own huge tordial (sp) transformer and capacitors (to provide power for short spike requirements). This means that the power available to one side is not depleted when the other side is demanding a ton of current (which is what often happens in lessor amps). This also explains why these things weigh so much (>85 lbs). As you can see from my signature I also use the 3 channel version (the MPA 3250) in my home theater system. This one weighs in at over one hundred pounds. The manufactures description of this amp can be found here http://www.monstercable.com/productdisplay.asp?pin=1902. I have used this amp for a couple of years and I can tell you it really brought my RF-7s to life. Before adding these amps to my system, I just used the 125wpc provided by my H/K AVR. This sounded fine but my wife is a bit of a metal head and want her metallica LOUD. When she would listen with the H/K I knew she was clipping constantly which is really hard on my speakers. I bought these Monster amps more for protection (no more clipping) than anything else. But WOW what a difference they made. They drive the RF-7s to unbelievable volumes effortlessly and with a clarity which is constantly commented on by visitors to my home. The amount of bass your RF-7s will deliver when given all the power they want is nothing short of amazing. As it happens I recently listed two of these amps (brand new still in the original boxes) on the garage sale forum (http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/t/119071.aspx). I also had them listed on Audiogon. Both amps sold but one of the buyers never paid so I still have one for sale. It is listed on Ebay (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=230342162848). If you are interested drop me a PM. Steve

How do those compare sonicly with the RF-7s?

Sorry I do not mean to highjack your thread but, I was not aware that iTunes supported flac files. I would be very interested in an explanation of how this is done. Steve

No problem Chris...just give me a shout when you are ready. Although I use specialized equipment (and software for managing it) that I designed myself, I do use readily available software to do the actual ripping. I use the "Batch Ripper" application from dbPoweramp. This software is extremely affordable and has some really superb features to ensure accurate audio extraction and high quality, consistent metadata. I understand what you are saying about parting with your collection. When I first started doing this (as a business) I wondered how much of a problem that would be. I do offer to insure the shipment for customers but that adds to the cost and still does not replace what you had. I don't know about your collection but I imagine I have quite a few CDs in my own collection which would be difficult (possibly impossible) to replace at any cost. If you have enough friends in your area who might be interested in the service I could be convinced to do a pickup and delivery if the number of discs (and therefore money) would make it worthwhile.[] Steve

What is an MBS-5 / 7? I have googled it but found nothing. I know you said you built it yourself but did you also design it? If so what (aside from silent components) is in it? I do not yet stream my music (still waiting to fully grasp the Squeezebox duet I bought). Right now I use a simple file server (an old Dell WS 470 Workstation) running Windows Server 2003 R2 that lives in the storage room in the basement. The server has 2TB of storage via a SATA connected 4 bay drive enclosure. This SATA enclosure actually contains 4 X 750GB drives configured for RAID5. Additionaly I have a Lacie 4TB NAS on my network which is used only for backups. Although the WS 470 is not exactly silent (though it is not terribly loud) it is a complete non-issue in my system as it is physically located so far away and on a different floor. Using EAC should just about guarantee there is no difference between the rip and the CD. Providing, of coarse, you are encoding to a lossless format. I am not familiar with that format (DFS). What is the primary use for the format? What players are capable of decoding it? What software do you use for these analog rips? Steve

WOW. Alot of you guys seem to have really figured out the transport/player side of this. I must admit that although I have spent alot of time figuring out how to get the most acurate rips from my (and customers) CDs, I have not given a great deal of thought to the transport/player end of it. When I started trying to find "the best" way to get my digital media to my home theater I just used a Dell small form factor destop PC (a GX270). Originaly I just used Windows Media Player and the onboard sound card. I simply sent the PCs analog audio to my Onkyo receiver. From an audio quality standpoint I believed this was fine, but I had to use the PC's keyboard and mouse to play and manange the library. This always bothered me so eventualy I wrote a Jukebox program with some features my wife and I really enjoyed and it included an app written for my PDA which acted as a wireless remote allowing us to see what track was playing (including Album art), what track was up next and to change tracks from the remote zone two (our outside system). As my system improved to include a receiver with optical digital inputs, I eventually added an inexpensive sound card which also had optical digital output. I also worked to improve the video. This was accomplished by adding an inexpensive video card which allows for the creation of custom resolutions and timing settings. These custom settings were accomplished using a program call PowerStrip. I also added a transcoder to transcode the VGA output to component video. This allowed me to send the high def video along with the digital audio signal to the AVR to be processed and switched just like any other source. This new setup has worked well and I still use it. However, I have recently bought the Logitec Squeezbox Duet. I bought this system because I lost the source code for my custom Jukebox application several years ago so I can not modify it without completely re-writing it and it was not originaly coded to play flac files. Since I have re-ripped my library to lossless (flac) files I needed a player which would play these files. I have not yet installed this new Squeezebox system but now that I have more time on my hands (due to my being recently downsized out of a job) I hope to get it setup soon. I chose this system because it has all the features of my existing app (including the wirless remote with LCD display including album art) and because it was inexpensive. This brings me to the point I have been wanting to get to, I believe that if the transport mechanism used is digital, it (the transport) is sonicly transparent. In other words I had always believed that there was no value in an expensive transport if that that transport was digital. This is why I went with a cheapo sound card in the PC and why I chose the Squeezebox. You see, I believe that if the signal is digital all the way to the decoder (in my case the Harman Kardon AVR 7300) then that decoder is responsible for the D to A conversion. If this is the case and the transport is sonicly transparent I can not see any value in having an uber (or evenly moderately) expensive transport. This money is better spent on the DAC (again in my case the HK AVR). Is this belief false? Steve

This story is very similar to how I got into this. I ripped my entire collection (about 2000 CDs) several years ago manualy using Windows Media Player (WMP). Like you I ripped my CDs to a low bitrate lossy format and would occasionaly notice here and there a few tracks (and sometimes even entire CDs) which were tagged incorrectly. However the biggest problem I found was that there were some tracks (don't think I ever really found out how many) which were ripped realy badly. Some would only play halfway through, some would play but sounded horrible (full of pops and clicks) and some bore no resemblance at all to the source. The problem (I later learned) was that WMP simple did what is called a burst rip. A burst rip is a single pass audio extraction with zero error checking. This means that one would have no way of knowing whether the audio files were accurate or not without listening to every single track of every CD ripped. Obviously this was not pratical for a 2000 disc collection. When I decided to re-rip my collection I decided I needed to find a way to accomplish the following automate the disc changing process verify the accuracy of the extracted audio rip to a lossless format pull highly accurate metadata My searching for these capabilities ended with me buying the CD ripping service company that I now opperate. I have since ripped many collections both for paying customers as well as my own and learned much about the process. When you are ready, I will be happy to help you with your project. If you would like to do it yourself I will gladly share any knowledge I have gained which might help. Obviously I would also be more than happy to convert your collection for you. Steve

Dean, When we spoke today and you asked me about this I was refering to the fact that after running a disc through my service the results can indeed be better than the input. However this is not because the audio extracted is somehow improved. Rather it is because I inspect all discs and polish scratched and dirty discs (which might skip when played) in a specialized disc polishing machine. I then said that it is possible to end up with lossless files from DAE from vinyl which can indeed sound better than a CD of the same material. Sorry if I confused you. Steve

Well said [Y] I do not know who said it but the quote "Perception is reality" is gospel to me. If I perceive it is better (and can afford it) than I should have it. However if I can not perceive the difference then spending the money is just "one up the Jones's" foolishness. Steve

Exact Audio Copy (EAC) is an excellent choice for ripping software. I do not use that app myself as it is not easily scripted for automated ripping so I can not speak specificaly about its configuration settings. However I do know that the app does employ the use of an online database of CRCs (trademarked AccurateRip) from ripped CDs. This database is used to validate the accuracy of the rip. Receiving an accuracy confidence level of 3 or greater back from this query is a fairly good indication that you have a completely accurate rip. From my research EAC also makes good use of C2 error pointers which is good for producing accurate audio extraction quickly. As far as your choice in format, I usualy advise my customers in one of two ways depending on their equipment and technical savy. If someone has the equipment, software and technical savy, required to do conversion whenever required, I usualy advise them to go with a lossless compressed codec (ie. flac). This allows them to have fully accurate copies of their CDs without the huge space requirements of wav (which is uncompressed). Then if they have a need for a more compressed format (ie. mp3) for a personal media player (ie. an iPod) or for a car audio system, they can simply convert the tracks they want whenever the need arises. If on the other hand they are less savy I will suggest that they maintain a dual library (a lossless one and a lossy one). Of coarse another important consideration in selecting a format is the player. Almost anything will play mp3s but again even the highest bit rate mp3 file has audio data removed (whether or not what is lost is perceivable or not is a source of constant debate). Many devices aimed at streaming media to home audio systems will support some type of lossless codec. Again I think flac is a good choice here as it does allow for some (about 2:1) compression. What metadata providers does EAC use? Does it use more than one? Does it support use of paid metadata providers (ie. AMG, GD3, etc.) or does it only use free services (ie. FreeDB, MusicBranz, etc.) Steve

I always find these cable threads to be both interesting and informative (even if I do not understand a good portion of that information). I must admit that I am no golden eared audiophile and through many changes in gear have only ever noticed a difference in sound (aside from ability to play louder) when I changed speakers. However I read somewhere a few years ago of a private A/B test someone did where they compared ultra-high dollar cables (I do not remember the brand but that doesn’t matter here) against zip cord. In the test a self professed golden-eared audiophile was able to correctly identify which cable was being used 53% of the time (shear chance would have allowed him to be right 50% of the time). This however was not what was interesting about this test. The designer of the test (after having run the first set of comparisons whose results are shown above) ran a second set of tests. In this second set of tests (the same listener was used for the testing) the person running the test purposely allowed the subject to “think” he knew what cables where being used for some of the cable changes. In this test the listener was 100% accurate in picking the ultra-high dollar cables on the instances he was allowed to “know” which cable was in use. Problem is for that test the ultra-high dollar cables were never actually used. I agree with Mallette, I do not doubt that others can hear a difference…but I can not so I will save my money for more music. Steve

Ok, first let me say that I originally had serious concerns about mentioning my business here. However after talking with a fellow member, who thought I should let folks here know what I am doing, I decided I would try to start a discussion which could both provide information as well as provide me the opportunity to mention (yes a shameless plug) my business. My business is Ripit Digital (www.RipitDigital.com) and we are a small CD ripping service located in Louisville, KY. For a more detailed description of how I got into this business and what I am working on see my bio here on the forum or visit the website.http://www.ripitdigital.com/'> There, with the not so shameless plug out of the way here is the discussion I would like to start. How many here have converted their music collection to digital format and are employing some type of media streaming device to play that digital library on the home audio system? How large is your collection? What streaming devices do you use? What file format do you prefer and why? What metadata tagging is valuable to you and why (is it required for you streaming devices cataloging or does it just help you personally manage your library)? What equipment, methods and software did you use to rip your collection? How did you verify the accuracy of the audio extraction? How did you tag the files with the metadata? If you used automated software and an online service for tagging what measures did you employ to assure the accuracy and consistency of the data gathered. While I admit that it is my hope that these questions will promote discussion which can help me to better understand and meet my customers’ needs, I also feel certain that I can provide help to those here wishing to take on their own ”DIY” ripping project. So without further ado...let the discussions begin[] Steve

Ok, I screwed up. I have the reference 5.1 setup (see the sig) with RS7s for my surrounds. The wife decided she wanted to move the furniture around the other day. This ended with a halogen light (the floor standing kind) under one of my RS7s. Well guess what...we did a night of reading the other day and had the lamp on for several hours. I am sure you can imagine what happened. The heat from the lamp got to the vinyl covering on the bottom of the RS7. This heat caused the vinyl to shrink and wirnkle. The glue has also let lose. Can anybody suggest a fix? Does anybody know if Klipsch can sell me the pre-moulded vinyl? Thanks, Steve

The RSW passives are in the front. The powered driver is the rear facing one.

A long time ago, when the Earth was green There was more kinds of animals than you've ever seen They'd run around free while the Earth was being born And the loveliest of all was the unicorn There was green alligators and long-necked geese Some humpty backed camels and some chimpanzees Some cats and rats and elephants, but sure as you're born The loveliest of all was the unicorn The Lord seen some sinning and it gave Him pain And He says, "Stand back, I'm going to make it rain" He says, "Hey Noah, I'll tell you what to do Build me a floating zoo, and take some of those... Green alligators and long-necked geese Some humpty backed camels and some chimpanzees Some cats and rats and elephants, but sure as you're born Don't you forget My unicorns Old Noah was there to answer the call He finished up making the ark just as the rain started to fall He marched the animals two by two And he called out as they came through Hey Lord, I've got green alligators and long-necked geese Some humpty backed camels and some chimpanzees Some cats and rats and elephants, but Lord, I'm so forlorn I just can't find no unicorns" And Noah looked out through the driving rain Them unicorns were hiding, playing silly games Kicking and splashing while the rain was falling Oh, them silly unicorns There was green alligators and long-necked geese Some humpty backed camels and some chimpanzees Noah cried, "Close the door because the rain is falling And we just can't wait for no unicorns" The ark started moving, it drifted with the tide The unicorns looked up from the rocks and they cried And the waters came down and sort of floated them away That's why you never see unicorns to this very day You'll see green alligators and long-necked geese Some humpty backed camels and some chimpanzees Some cats and rats and elephants, but sure as you're born You're never gonna see no unicorns Now you might think this is the ending to the song, But I'll have to tell you friends that in fact you're wrong You see, Unicorns are magical, so when the rain started pouring, They grew themselves some wings and they took to soaring. You'll see green alligators and long-necked geese Some humpty backed camels and some chimpanzees But if you're looking for the unicorns, don't be forlorn, The second star to the right and straight on until morning

Congrats on your purchase. I am sure you will find this amp to be a fine piece of equipment. I recently bought this amp and it's big brother (the MPA 3250 which is the same amp but has 3 channels instead of 2) to power my 5.1 system. I also tried to get some info on them before pulling the trigger but ran into the same difficulty finding any as you did. All I was able to find was people trashing Monster as a company for their business practices. I never did find any meaningful discussions on the quality of these amps. I went ahead and took a chance since I got such a great deal ($1700 for both and since I was to be in the area where they were located there was no shipping). For what its worth my opinion of them after owning them for two months is pretty much the same as yours...I like them alot (of coarse I am admitedly no golden eared audiophile). Watching those damn meters is a bit intoxicating though. In fact those meters were one of the primary reasons I bought the amps. My wife likes to listen to heavy metal at extreme volumes and I am constantly concerned that she will blow my RF-7s. I thought having these meters (which, unlike most meters on other equipment, measure actual wattage) might relieve some of the concern since I could tell her to simply not exceed a predetermined reading. Telling her that, of coarse, has not worked but WOW do these bad boys push some serious power. When listening to 2 channel I am using the MPA 3250 to drive the front mains (RF-7s). Since in this configuration the center channel is unused I have the center meter configured to display total wattage of both the left and right channels and have seen that meter top 1400 watts!!! So rather than alleviate my concerns over damaging my speakers, these meters have just proved to me that I probably will be replacing drivers frequently the way she listens to music. Oh well [:|]

Does anyone here have any experience with this amp. I am considering replacing my 2 Adcoms (see sig) with this so that the front mains and center will be tonaly matched from the amp perspective so I wondering if anyone has any opinions on this amp. Thanks

Championship games...here is the way it is going to happen The Saints by 3... The Pats by 10... Unless something else happens in which case I will change my mind[]