Zen Traveler

To be fair, I always take what a dealer says with a grain of salt. That doesn't mean I don't value their opinion but realize they also have a vested interest.

If those were in Texas they would be gone! GLWS.

Great! Because they are off the floor they don't have as much low end but we have a front RSW-12 and a rear RSW-15 that balances out the sound quite nicely. Fwiw, I now use the RB-75s as surrounds and rears and the RF-3s came in a close second to our preference because of the AVR/Dolby PLIIz matrixing the rear soundstage.

Fwiw, it's his best choice, imo. I will add the caveat if you have several rows of seats or irregular placement of chairs the WDST speakers work quite well. We use them in a 5.1 setup in a workout area that we turn into a Home Theater with projector.

Here ya go: https://www.klipsch.com/rf-series

I would put those bad boys on the side and upgrade your mains. Of course it's easy to spend your money, but the RS-42s are small surrounds and even if they were a larger model of WDST speakers it would be something you may want to audition for yourself given the varied responses--I'm stickin' to my recommendation and good luck!

Here is what it looked like from above: https://community.klipsch.com/index.php?/attachments/

The RB-75 is a large bookshelf speaker voice-matched to the RF-7s using the same size horn which makes it different than other bookshelf speakers. Insofar as the OP is concerned it seems like he is doing what I did which was raise the side surround towers. This pic is of the RF-3s put on footstools with tiles to make it look nicer:

We have RB-75s directly to the side of our LP within 4 to 5 ft of our ears and another pair pointed towards the LP about 9 ft behind us and I never felt it was "firing into our ears," and instead are amazed at how 5.1 material can be converted to 7.1 (or 9.2 in our config) seamlessly and we don't notice the sound coming from speakers but instead are in the middle of the action. Of course, YMMV.

Fwiw, I would upgrade your mains and use your direct firing speakers as surrounds and rears in a 7.1 configuration. The WDST technology came about for the RS-42 when folks/technology wanted ambient sounds to come out of the surrounds before discrete material was being sent there or for less than ideal speaker placements (or rows of seating). This may be a room/preference situation but I use direct radiating speakers all of the way around and let the AVR using Dolby PLIIz matrix the surround information and all material...Especially on Multichannel music it's like having a separate channel in the rear. For movies it may be a wash but I preferred both RF-3s and RB-75s as surround speakers compared to the RS-7s we also own.

Welcome to the Forum fuzzykoala--I really don't have an answer to your question but you are asking about an almost 20 year old Synergy speaker and wonder if you auditioned them before purchase? They are nice but I wouldn't think it would be cost effective to change out drivers/crossovers in that model but if you are a fix it kinda guy I'm sure you know better than I....My only suggestion is If they have dual binding posts in the back make sure the jumper between the two are in place and good luck.

What you are referring to imo, is what is known in sales as an "Ear Worm." Back in the day when sales folks were trying to get people to buy their non-horn speakers which sounded dull in comparison (Klipsch salespeople refer to this as "putting a blanket over the speaker") they would say they were "Bright and Ear Bleeders." 😳 Vivid picture, no? Anyway, there are also several other things in play including: Garbage in Garbage out--Klipsch can show lousy recording quicker than other speakers. Also, some rooms are "bright" and when coupled with cleaner speakers the room becomes the problem. And third, sometimes people expect too much out of the speakers they purchase and/or don't power them sufficiently in their room and experience what you describe...That's my take.

Ha--I reposted it because I miss the guy! Insofar as imagining he has "girl hands," that is somewhere I don't want to go. I understand some folks like that kinda thing but I don't see it.