rlr267

I like the 5650's in my house, but honestly, I am probably going to upgrade them to 5800s. I am really debating it, my wife told me I could up the sides, but the 5650's have to go to the bedroom, and I had hoped she would let me have a pair of RF-52's for the bedroom. The CDTs have high WAF ratings in my home. I am running 7.1 and I swear after listeining for a while, the channels are split with higher frequency to the side/surrounds and more bass to the rears. That could be my imagination though. IMHO, if I were running only 5.1, I would use the 5800s over the 5650s if my budget would allow. I can't say the 5800's cross a point of diminishing returns, but that is because I have not heard a true 7.1 DVD/CD yet, but I do have the opinion that they are worth the extra cost for the rears. As for RC-35 v. RC-62: The specs, someone correct me if I am wrong, are similar but the RC-62 is marginally slimmer, weighs in nearly 25% heavier, and has a broader frequency response range (I am sure it also has the new tweeter that distinguishes the RF-82 from the RF-35). If you have the RF-35's up front, then I may suggest the RC-35, otherwise, I would recommend the RC-62.

Experiences differ, but for a good Reciever, moderately decent power, and plenty of capability, I don't think there is a reciever on the market that delivers more bang for the buck than the Yamaha RX series. I run the RX-v757 and it is quite capable, multiple optical and digital inputs, Component and pre-amp outs, dual zone, 700 watts total output, Dobly, DTS and Pro-logic decoders and it is 7.1 channel capable. Plus it can be had new stock for less than $400. Klipsch Reference speakers are very efficient, 100watts per channel will run those 3's as long as you don't turn them up to the point of clipping. Plus, with pre-amp outs, you can add some Outlaws later to crank up the mains. If you want power on a low budget the Onkyo M282 has good reviews, though I don't know if you can bridge with it.

Check the Subwoofer forum. I was looking for some information on cross-over settings and ran across a posting only a couple days old for a 15 inch sub (a RW15 I think) and the price was good, less than $500 with cables and test meter/dvd. If it is still available, it would fit in nicely with the RF-3s.

AHHH, you have a very contagious disease, KLIPSCHUPGRADEITIS. It strikes without warning, rendering its victims helpless and totally consumed with the desire to purchase bigger speakers. Lucky for you, there is a cure. My question is: Does application of RF-7/RF-83 constitute a permanent cure and or adequate vaccination? And if not, is Klipsch working on a cure . . . perhaps RF-1032s (three10 inch woofers with two horns, two tweeters (1.75 inch of course) and twin rear firing ports and a matching RC-84 or dare I dream, a RC104. Hello R&D, can you hear me, people are hurting here?

RF= Reference Floorstanding, RB= Reference Bookshelf, RS= Reference Surround, RC= Reference Center channel, RW= Reference subWoofer. The higher the number, the larger the driver(s) and speaker(s) themselves. For instance, an RW-10 has a 10" woofer, an RW-12 has a 12" woofer, RF-7 is larger than RF-5 which is larger than RF-35, etc, etc, etc. If you click on the 'Products' button in the upper left of this page it will give you a drop-down menu where you can look up each speaker in Klipsch's current lineup and even ones that have been discontinued. The Synergy line and Reference line are both on the list. In there you'll get all the information you need, except unfortunately for the price of the speakers. Ambiguous, just to clarify something Wuzzer said. The RF-7 is larger than the RF-5 etc. he assumed you knew something you may not, the RF35 he referred to replaced the RF-3, the, the RF-82 has since replaced the RF-35. You may need a score card in a minute. Here is the deal: Smallest Reference Series is the -10 (new product line), the next up is the -15 (replaced with the -52); followed by the -25 (replaced with the -62) then the -3 (replaced by the -35, subsequently replaced with the -82); next is the -5 (now the -63) and top of the Reference line is the -7 (now -83). I personally like the new numbers. They make more sense if you know how to read them. A RF-52 for example is a Reference Floorstanding speaker with 5 inch drivers an there are two of them. A RF-62 has two 6 inch drivers (actually 6.5 inch), the RF-82 has two 8 inch drivers, the RF-63 has three 6 inch (again, you have to know it is actually a 6.5 inch) and the RF-83 has three 8 inch drivers. Same principle applies to center channels, RC-62 has two drivers, a RC-64 has four drivers. And it goes on to the others as well. Someone can correct me if I got that wrong, but it is certainly the way I understand it to be. Do you feel like you are drinking from a firehose yet?

Absolutely. I have a center channel that has not arrived yet. We have watched several movies and even a few shows on the Satelite with only the front mains. It is nowhere as good as the sound I got when I hooked up the side surround and rears with the sub, but it does work and sounds so much better than the puny sound put out by the TV that it is ridiculous. In fact, with some movies (ie: comedies and non-action types) running a 2.1 is all you need. . . . waiting for the flames to erupt from the purist here . . . Any brand reciever that is sold in your friend's price range should do what he is asking. I personally like the Yamaha. Although asking what reciever is best is akin to asking who builds a better car; Ford or Chevy? Any response you get will be 90% personal opinion and the other 10% is bias.

Ambiguous is new to the forum and looking for some speakers. Plus you will not find a better audiance than right here. Post them on the forum, no need to give E-bay a cut.

The sub demand will probably blow your budget real quick. Trying to stay within a budget of $1000-1200, you may consider looking first for a used sub to save cash and search this forum too for a pair of used RF-25s and an RC-25. List on the RF-25/RF-62 is $399 each, street prices are a little less, I have no clue what you can pick them up for used. You may consider the RF-10s, with an RC-10, RW-10 as a starting point and add/upgrade later. I think you can get all that in your budget easily. The only problem is giving you enough bass, the 10s are single woofer speakers and the smallest in the Reference series. You are on the right path however, this forum is an excellent place to learn, just search the threads and you can get almost any question answered. You will be dropping the "Newbie" title for Klipschaholic in no time. Welcome to the forum and good luck.

Okay, I promised a while ago to post my opinion/review of the CDT series speakers. Here it is: I still have not recieved the center channel, but could not wait any longer. I have been playing music on the RF-82's nearly non-stop since they arrived and the CDT5800's in the rear and CDT-5650's on the side have been sitting idle. Tuesday, I got home early from work, and pulled out the YPAO microphone to run auto-setup on my Yamaha RX-V757. FYI, I had to manually adjust everything anyway, the YPAO quantified the CDT5800's as "large" which could attest to the capabilities of the Klipsch as opposed to any dificiency in the recievers auto-setup. Before I begin, my room does not have optimal accoustics. It is 19 feet wide, 22 feet long with the entertainment center in the middle of one 19 foot wall, and has hard wood picture frame paneling on the walls (which is why we went with ceiling mounted speakers to begin with). The room also has 11 foot ceilings. According to the Auto-setup my left main is 12 feet from the center listening position, the center was set to none, the right main is 11 feet, the right side surround is 10 feet, right rear is 10 feet, left rear is 11 feet, left surround is left surround is 12 feet (form over function, WAF required the speakers to be mounted equadistant from the walls and each other as opposed to equidistant from the center listening position, which is just as well, since someone sitting on the sofa would not be center stage anyway). The sub which sits in the corner, hidden under a decorative table was calculated at 13 feet. I put the side surrounds slightly forward of the main seating position and as far outboard as they could be placed (2 inches from the wall) whereas the rears are set six feet apart and each centered 6.5 feet from the side walls, and 2 inches off the back wall. All CDTs are aimed (visually) at the center seating position which is approximately 11 feet from the TV directly in front if the screen. The RF-82s are on either side of the entertainment center. After a couple test runs with a little John Lee Hooker with the sub turned off, I found the sound that worked for my room. It literally sounded like I was center stage at BB King's club in Memphis hearing the late great Mr. Hooker live. Next, I put in some Eagles (Hotel California, Get Over It, Sad Cafe) followed by Joey Walsh (Rocky Mountain Way, Life's Been Good to Me). With the reciever set to Pro-Logic to immitate 5.1 the CDT-5650's picked up the high notes with a muted background level. Ergo, the manual reset, where I changed the Rears to "small" and increased the volume on the 5650s. Don Henley has not sounded so good since I heard him live at the Pyramid in 1994. My wife and I are neither one bass fanatics, so we left the bass off during music and the sound filled the room. This is going to make our next party the talk of our friends for months. Just to round out the sound, we tried a little Celtic Women. By this time, I have discovered in pro-logic music setting the 5800s are laying silent, but the 5650s are alive and filling in the gaps. The 5650s really brought it home with the high end, so much my wife looked at me and said she wants two more pair, one pair for our room and another for our daughter's room. As for me, this weekend I am going to find and buy the Eagles in Concert DVD that is supposedly recorded in 7.1 channels. Finally, I had to do it. Our seven month old was growing tired and it was approaching her bedtime, so I could only get a little time and I had to make it count. Bring on StarWars Episode I, the Pod Racer scene, and the sub. I set the sub to pick up at 60 htz (still not sure what setting is appropriate) and mid volume. It was like seeing the movie for the first time. The 5800s came to life as the pod racers ran circuits around my living room, booms and crashes were picked up and the bass rumble of the 5800s augmented with the sub made my wife get up and touch the walls to see if the house was shaking (it is a brick house on a slab, no shaking here) but I do think my seat may have been vibrating. The 5800s definately have more sound than the 5650s and in some ways I wish I had opted for four 5800s, which is still possible, just cut the hole larger, push 5800s in and move the 5650's to another room. The 5650's however, picked up the high ends better. Someone with more experience in HT may be able to provide a logical explaination other than the speaker (Does a reciever playing a 5.1, splitting the signal to create a virtual 7.1 automatically split at a particular frequency and send the top end to the sides and the bottom end to the rear?) This is my first forray into HT, and in fact, I am sad to report, my first real stereo system (before all I ever owned were cheap bookshelf system from Wal-Mart). Someone with more experience and higher end equipment may not be so impressed, but I am proud of this system and am happy to report it is spectacular. If you doubt the CDT5800 or 5650 can deliver, stop worrying. It took me less than 2 hours to mount all four speakers, including pulling cables through the wall and crawling around in the attic (which I recommend you not do on a hot Texas day). They sound great. For music, they do not produce as much as I wanted, but they are in the same room as the RF-82s so they do not need to. But for movies . . . they look great, sound great, and fill the gaps that I never knew were missing before. If WAF is a concern, the CDTs are an excellent answer. Overall, I could not be more pleased. My application is 90% music but based on my few minutes of playing the HT, things may change. I have to renew my Netflicks account now. Used in this review were: Reciever = Yamaha RX-v757 CD = Pioneer PD-1009 DVD = Apex 5800W (old model, but still working) Front Main = Klipsch RF-82s Center = (ETA anyday now) Klipsch RC-62 Side Surround = Klipsch CDT-5650-Cs Rear Surround = Klipsch CDT-5800-Cs Sub = Klipsch RW-10 I also have four brand new Klipsch AW-650's that I have to get mounted on the patio and on either side of the pool so my neighbors can enjoy the experience too.

S Soundbroker makes an excellent point. The 5650 is better in the middle (sides). I have heard the R5800s, and I like them, in fact, that was the audition that convinced my wife that she was absolutely going to hold her ground on the CDTs. We put 5800s in the back and the 5650s on the sides for surround and the balance is excellent. the 5800s are large enough to provide some boom, the 5650s fill in the space between the front and rears seemlessly.

Wouldn't the bookshelves (since I could place the tweeter at ear height by buying the right height speaker stand) offer better sound imaging/spatilization over the floor standing speakers? Ditto the statment by Catharsis above.

$720 for the pair and the dealer personally delievered them to my door (it was on his way home, but still, that is good service). As for the guy pushing the monster cable, that is a travisty of justice. Whoever got the marketing ball rolling on that one must be stupid happy with all the money they made. My dealer was not only fair, he was honest. I was told by Circuit City and Best Buy that I had to have the Monster cables at a horrendous price. My Klipsch dealer on the other hand, told me to go to Lowes or Home Depot and get some 12 AWG zip for 25 cents a foot.

IMHO, it depends on where you are going with this after all upgrades. If you intend to move the RBs to the rear later, then either one is good. If, however, you plan to keep the RBs up front, I would opt for the 35's.

Press the link and call the three nearest dealers. There are several post on this forum where members have mentioned buying RF-35's and or RF-82's for less than $400 each. BB wants more than that for the F-3. Unless I am missing an important step, the F-3 does not save you any money. Keep in mind, you may have to call more than one dealer. I called several, two of them gave me the list price and told me to take it or leave it, the others gave varying discounts. If there is just no dealer in your area, consider asking a high end audio shop to become a dealer, I am sure Klipsch would not mind. Alternatively, if there really are no dealers within a reasonable drive, you should pay attention, that is opportunity knocking. Become a dealer yourself.

The 35's and the RC7/RC-64 have titanium tweeters and ceremetalic drivers. The 2000 series in ceilings you mentioned would be okay but not the best, since they are poly drivers with silk tweeters. The next step up, 3000 series has an aluminum tweeter and IMG driver, and the 5000 series would be the best match since it, like the 35's up front, has a titanium tweeter and ceremetallic driver. Consider putting the CDT-5800s in the rear and a pair of CDT-5650's for surround/side. These blend in seemlessly into the ceiling and can even be painted if necessary to make them more invisible. I can tell you first hand, WAF on the CDTs is very high, and I understand the desire to make the front dissappear too, as long as you understand that this is an addiction (there is an entire post on the forum about it) so you will most likely be back for bigger floor standing mains later. If you have not bought the RB's yet, you really should consider the RF's. My wife threw a fit and wanted something smaller up front. I gave in on the CDTs (a good move on my part) but held my ground for the fronts. When they came in, I thought she would kill me, but after listening to them in the house, she agrees with me and they look good too. That said, you can always put the RBs in the bedroom later and upgrade the fronts when the time comes.

I am not knocking the F-3s, but I just don't see why anyone would buy them when you can get the Reference series RF-82 for less money. Sure the RF-82 list for more, but the list price and the street price are vastly different. The 82 IMHO sounds significantly better.

Others may differ, but if I had that budget, I would definately go with two RF-83s for the front an RC-64 center and RB-81's for the rears.

B.B. sells the F-3 for $469 here in the DFW area but I bought the RF-82 which is IMHO a much better speaker for less through a dealer. In fact, I have seen several posts touting prices of the Reference line for less than the price of the Synergy line. Big box stores just sell convenience, but you really should listen to the RF-82 before buying the F-3. Let your ears be the judge, you may like the F-3 better. Either way, you have nothing to loose but a little time. By the way, if you have not heard the Reference line, you are in for a treat. Klipsch delivers. As for your original question: "Are the 8" just to serve as bass or do they also contribute tothe mids and highs?" Again, this is my opinion, but they do contribute, my 82's have demonstrated a clarity I did not think possible. If the 7's (replaced with the 83's) are out of your price range, what about the 63's (RF-5's)? If you are concerned the 8" drivers won't have the range, the 63's/5's have three 6.5 inch drivers.

Are you totally committed to wall mounts? My wife did the same thing to me and we ended up with ceiling mounted speakers. The CDT's are aimable, the driver rotates in a gimble and tilts, the tweeter is mounted on a pivoting stem. The result is you can aim the sound at the sitting position and the speakers are less noticable on the ceiling than on the wall.

Where are you putting them (rear, surround, or both)? I talked to one of the Techs at Klipsch before ordering my CDTs and the advice was sound (no pun intended). If you want to match the 35's sans 82's, get the 5800s. Here is why, the 5800 has an 8 inch ceremetalic driver and 1 inch titanium tweeter just like your 35's. So, they are matched up in size and sound producing materials. I have the RF-82's with CDT-5800's as my rears, CDT-5650's for my surround, and a RW-10 sub. I intend to post a subjective opinion on the entire setup as soon as my RC-62 arrives. It is/was on back order (I am told the supplier of the cherry veneer is the culprit). Last week, I was told it was on Klipsch's dock ready for shipment, so I hope to have it this week.

Your choice on Ceiling speakers is limited. Check out the Klipsch CDT-5800-C. It has an 8 inch driver which I beleive is the largest ceiling mount Klipsch makes. The tweeter pivots about a driver that can be tilted and rotated in a gimble to give you the ability to aim for the sweet spot. Someone with more knowledge should be able to tell you if the driver in the 3800 is a better match based on the materials comprising the drivers.

The RF-82 did replace the RF-35, but if I understand the chronology, the 35's replace the 3's. If so, both answers are correct. Yamaha Rx-V757 Fronts = RF-82s Center = RC-62 Sub = RW-10 Rears = CDT-5800-Cs Surrounds = CDT-5650-Cs and around the pool are four AW-650s

I auditioned the RF-35s in the store and bought the 82's which my wife and I both assert sound better, but the comparison is not fair since we only heard the 35s in the store and the 82's in our home. Like the man said, there is no substitute for listening for yourself. Yamaha Rx-V757 Fronts = RF-82s Center = RC-62 Sub = RW-10 Rears = CDT-5800-Cs Surrounds = CDT-5650-Cs and around the pool are four AW-650s

It depends on your ultimate goal. Personally, I would rather have an excellent 2 channel system than a 5 channel I don't like. Ask yourself, is this something you plan to live with for 2-5 years, or is it a bump in the road to get you by? If you can live with it a few years, try to find some RF-25s assuming you have the space for floor standers, or four RB-25s if not (these have been replaced with RF-62's & RB-61s respectively), a RW-10 sub, and the most important speaker in you HT is the Center, so spend the money for at least a RC-25/62 or better center.

I just bought the Pioneer PD-F1009. As for sound, I think it sounds better with analog connection than with the optical connection, but all in all, it sounds good. My old player was a cheap POS from Wal-Mart, so I don't have a good frame of reference for sound quality since a HTIB would have been an upgrade. I would suggest you audition this unit though, if there is a dealer near you.