Cody_Mack

Well with deliberate searching I have finally found a little about the new Reference Soundbar R-20B that is still yet to be released. Still not up on the Klipsch website or any where else for sale. I think I have found what I was looking for, though....it has the 10" wireless sub and it also has the dual midrange per side. Very similar in design to the current model SB 3. The new model also has Bluetooth input. Now as soon as I see the price I can finally decide between the two. http://www.bluetooth.com/Pages/Product-Listing-Detail.aspx?ProductID=60119 http://images.klipsch.com/R-20B_-_Manual_-_v06_635397403814460000.pdf Rick R-20B.pdf

How about a sneak preview? Description, specs? Price?

When!? I am ready to buy one two weeks ago; promises, promises of a new one, but when? It's either the SB 3 or this mysterious 'new one'... Rick

The SB-3 is amazing. I love the bass from the wireless subwoofer; the SB 120 could not deliver the same level of bass. In addition, the horns and tweeters in the bar deliver clear sound and the sound stage is broad and fills the room. The best part, the wife said "the floor is shaking." Where did you pick up the SB 3 and how much, if you can share? Rick

Yep, folks should check going prices before they price an item for sale. I have called out more than a few folkson items; "hey, I can get that same deal at Amazon with free shipping, and brand new!" I also picked up one of the SB 120s the other day at Sam's; for $247 I am also eyeballing the SB 3 (see thread here: https://community.klipsch.com/index.php?/topic/150843-soundbar-or-bookshelf-speakers/page-2 Very nice sounding unit and the sub digs deep! But I am also waiting to see what the latest Reference Soundbar is; not the newly released R-10B but the other 'higher-end' unit a few folks have mentioned. Amy said both were scheduled to be announced by the end of the month. Waiting.....waiting..... Rick

Picked mine up yesterday. Thanks for the tip and even better at $247! Had to drive across Houston to a Sam's that had it in stock, but well worth it. Very nice sounding unit for the bedroom. Impressive smooth bass and crisp highs. Rick

So the first Reference soundbar is finally up on the Klipsch website. Looks like it will be the 'lower-end' model of the new Reference Soundbars, with the 8" subwoofer, at $599. It is now in stock at Best Buy. Amy said both new models would be up on the site the last week of the month so I am anxiously awaiting announcement of the higher-end model. If I had to choose between the R-10B and the discontinued model SB 3, I think I may still choose the SB 3. Not being fair to the new model, as I haven't heard it yet, but based on the fact the SB 3 has the 10" sub vs. 8", and four mid-range drivers vs. two on the new Reference R-10B. The rated spec on the R-10B is a skeptical 27-20,000 Hz. I need to get by Best Buy and listen to it. What do y'all think? Rick http://www.klipsch.com/r-10b

So I am really curious when the new Reference Soundboard is going to be released. There is still not a peep on the Klipsch website under products. I have been keeping an eye out the last couple of weeks and I see that it has shown up on Best Buy’s web site; at first as ‘coming soon’, and now it appears it is available with ship-to-store in 3-5 days. So, is there anybody in the know that can share a little more detail about it? Someone also mentioned there will be two different ones, with two or three hundred difference in price. I have also been watching the current model HD Theater SB 3, which appears to be discontinued by Klipsch. Amazon had it for a week or two for $549 plus shipping. I should have jumped on it but I procrastinated. Today’s price is $679 with Prime shipping. Crap! With what I have been reading the SB 3 would be the most desirable for my tastes, so I continued to be interested in that one and looking for deals. Today I found that they had it in stock at Fry’s for $599. That would be the same price as Amazon’s previous price plus shipping, so I set out to the Fry’s store. The sales guy knew right away what I was looking for and they had a demo set up with a large TV. I told him I am a Klipsch junky for many years; however right away he steered me to this ‘steal of a deal’ he had on this Harman Kardon SB 30. He described it as a 9.1 system, which threw me off right away. Anyhow, I let him begin his sales speech and we listened to a movie for a minute and I said I want to hear some music through it. He put on some Dave Matthews from his phone and it sounded very nice. The imaging was pretty good and tone not bad. But the highs were a little weak and the bass seemed muddy. Later when back on the movies I was examining the sub and the woofer was shaking violently trying to keep up. Another turnoff! But he could tell I kind of liked it so he kept pushing the sale; apparently they have it for less than $500 for this week only!; retail price $799. I didn’t back down and told him I wanted to listen to the Klipsch. So we finally made it to the Klipsch SB 3 and the same movie was playing. I could tell right away just from the movie dialog that the sound seemed more natural. I wanted to hear music; yeah, it’s going to be for TV, but my final decision is tied to the music! That’s just the way I roll. Well he struggled with getting the music to play; something wrong with the input. We tried every combination of inputs, switches and cables that we could think of, but we couldn’t hear music. I suggested bring another unit from the back but of course he couldn’t do that cause then he would have two demos on the floor. I said I would not make my decision until I listened to music on the Klipsch SB 3. He went off to check with the manager, or something. I browsed the store for a few. When I found him again, he said he had good news and bad; the good news, he had another SB 3 set up for demo but the bad news was that there were no more in-box units for sale. Well that was disappointing but at least I could listen. So then I spent about thirty minutes listening to reference music I had on my iPhone. The Klipsch SB 3, as I had suspected, won hands-down, I could definitely hear that live sound that we all know and love, and the bass was WAY smoother and effortless, with the 10” sub vs. the 8” on the H/K. And the SB 3 is a 2.1 system; the way it should be with a compact unit, vs. trying to scatter sound with DSP, voodoo, trickery, whatever they do…any Bose fans here? Anyhow, sorry this drug out, but wanted to share that. Bottom line, I really like the SB 3, and if I keep watching prices on this discontinued item, maybe I can find a good deal. However in the back of my mind, I am wondering what the Reference model is going to offer. One thing I noted on the Best Buy site is that it has the 8” sub-woofer. Is that the lower end model? How will it compare to the SB 3? I did enjoy the bass from the SB 3. So maybe there is another model than what Best Buy is listing? Can someone with Klipsch shed some light? It’s odd that it is for sale in retail stores but no mention on the Klipsch site yet. Oh yes, I guess I could have bought the floor model, but the one that I could actually listen to music on had some pretty serious dings, that I thought should be worthy of more of a discount than their standard 5% discount on demo models. He wouldn’t back down, and neither did I.

Thanks Dave for the input. Your build looks nice. I have contacted one guy in Houston that works for a large cinema company and he allegedly has the expertise I need. Erskine Group probably way out of my price range. And I am not looking for a full-blown theater; my first love is 2-channel music with movies and TV after that. So I will spend the majority of money and effort in getting the music setup right and the theater portion fall where it may. Rick

Got it Bill, thanks. Will reply when I get caught; prepping for a business trip to Vancouver, B.C., leaving Sunday.

Man I can't wait to get all this set up. I am a junky for some good clean bass! I may have the structural setup to go with a pair of infiinite baffles. I just need to do some more digging up in the attic to see what's what. Also want to visit Carl in Beaumont to check out his installation. A trip to the casinos for wifey and I could stop off at Carl's for a few hours of audio sound and advice! Pics below show my future man-cave. It is the only room upstairs other than the stair landing, a 1/2 bath, and a closet. The sketch is from the appraiser so I would say the dimensions may be for the outer walls. His sketch is not totally acturate shape wise and dimension wise. I measured it out pretty well the other night and am presently doing an AutoCad sketch. In the back yard pic the left most wall more than likely will be the front stage; it is approximately 17'. The short wall adjacent to that one (parallel to the windows) will be extended to cut off the "L" and make a large rectangle. Not sure how far back I will go. I have 28' from wall to wall but the back right corner is cut off with a double door. I may decide to move that door. I have lined up one guy to talk to who is a cinema systems engineer for a large company. He was referred by a friend at work. He allegedly has architectural and acoustical experience. Rick Edit: corrected the front stage wall to 17', not 27'!

Well since you asked about the home, here are a couple more pics: The view in the first pic may have sold the home to us. You can't really see from the pic but as soon as you walk throug the front door you can see the water in the back....

Thanks dtel. There are two common achitectural themes; there are angles all over the house, and also arches. We just love it! There are only two minuses that I can find, and (gasp) they both relate to audio. One, as I mentioned above, is the wide open concept that causes sound to bounce all around. The other is my man cave; great potential with the size, but it is upstairs so I may have to do some serious floor and wall modifications to get it to my standards. That is, I listen loud most of the time so I will constantly be bothering those directly beneath to say the least.

Thanks again everyone. Any idea when the Reference soundbar will come out? I guess next to that one would be the HD SB3, apparently discontinued but still shown as current on Klipsch web site. Amazon has a good deal on it right now, listing it as discontinued by manufacturer.

Very nice responses; thank you! I have my eye on the RB-81s, but may keep it simple and easy and just go with the soundbar. Yes, I do have a dedicated space for audio; a pretty large room upstairs. See one post I made about that room here: https://community.klipsch.com/index.php?/topic/150722-soundproofing/ As far as the wireless transmitters; have you or anyone used them? Any problem with latency? I guess some delay could be adjusted with the receiver? Rick

Our family room is the open concept to the breakfast area, kitchen and front entrance, therefore sound from the TV bounces all over the place. It can be difficult to understand the dialog, no matter how much you turn it up. Therefore I need to expand the sound system. Of course I want a full blown surround system. However the WAF for installing a sound system has very low tolerance; my options are few. I think she would go with some nice in-ceiling speakers but I have no way to easily get them wired up due to the second floor. I could easily settle for a 2.1 system, just to get some quality audio out into the space. I have discussed with her a couple of solutions and I think she might go for it. A couple of pics are attached. They are not recent pics but they are pics of the home while we were in the buying process. Today there is a 65" Samsung installed above the fireplace with (I think) 10" from the bottom of the TV to the top of the mantel. I think any sound bar would work there. So that is my first solution. My second solution is to put a pair of bookshelf speakers on the shelves either side of the fireplace. Some nice Reference RBs would do the job, right? Of course I would add a subwoofer to either solution, if I can find a wireless one. I know that many soundbars come with a wireless sub, but if I go with the bookshelf speakers, how would I get the signal to the sub? So, much experience here with the Klipsch or other brand soundbars? How would a soundbar compare to using bookshelf speakers? Rick

Have not researched this but they are making devices to transmit signals over Ethernet cables, for distance up to 100 meters. Here's one: http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=101&cp_id=10105&cs_id=1010502&p_id=3597&seq=1&format=2 Google audio over cat5 You can probably find one that will carry HDMI, if you wanted digital signal. Rick

Beginning planning for new audio room. We moved into what could be our dream home, but it still doesn't have that perfect room for audio. I have a room, but the biggest problem is that it is on the second floor; albeit it is the only room on the second floor. The room definitely has potential although it is an odd shape. It is actually an 'L' shape but it is large enough that I can close off part of it and end up with a large rectangle. I could easily do a 16' x 26' or maybe even a 17' x 27', although the ceiling is only 9'. Anyway, before I do anything, spend any money, I need to know if I can isolate the sound transfer through the floor and the walls, from the living area below. I listen at moderatley loud levels most of the time. If I am not able to achieve the desired sound attenuation, then it may not be worth my time/expense to go any further. I am looking for an architect/sound engineer to help me out; tell me what I can/cannot achieve. If you know of someone in the Houston/Katy TX area please let me know. Or offering your proven expertise here is appreciated. Now here is an interesting solution that someone here at work suggested: use active noise cancellation, or ANC! WTH??? Anyone heard of this? How can that be a good solution, for hi-fi? Rick

Or when I tell my wife I'm going over to Sam's; a guy I met on the Internet, to listen to some audio gear... she don't get it, but she supports me and I love her for that! Great story, similar to mine. Rick

Dang, just my luck; the first time I could actually get away and commit. Rick

See you there Rockhound! Rick

I'll be there! Mom lives in Nashville so will be staying there. Rick

Wish there was a Like button on the forum, 'cause I Like that post! Rick

Sounds great Cornman! Thanks for the offer! Rick

OMG, how far is Jacksonville? Haven't heard Jubes yet. (just kidding, I think) [] Rick