Islander

So has anyone tried this program yet? Let's see some of your layouts!

Very nice, but how about describing the system for those of us who haven't seen it?

It's easy to set up a 2-channel system that also does 5.1 or 7.1. As well, many folks have commented that once you get the Khorns into a corner, it's surprising how little floor space they take up.

Materials like foam, or in some cases, fiberglass batting, are added to speaker cabinets to provide "virtual volume", and are part of the design and tuning of the cabinet. They're not a random effort to reduce echoes, and adding more absorptive material is not a substitute for better cabinet bracing. Upgrading crossovers can provide a definite improvement in the sound of a speaker, but adding or subtracting material the cabinet was designed to have is really shooting in the dark.

Wow, that was amazing! So it seems that real audiophiles don't need that store-bought stuff.

Those plugs in your posting are BFA plugs, not the usual banana plugs. They do work very well and I use them with almost all of my connections. However, I'm not sure what you mean when you call them "sealed bananas". The insulating sleeves in that photo could give an impression that they're sealed, but they're like most other connectors with a slip-over plastic sleeve. At any rate, there should not be any wires sticking out once the connectors are properly installed on the ends of the speaker cables. Eliminating the connectors is easy, just attach the bare wires to the binding posts, although it's extremely unlikely that you would hear any difference. If you then applied silicone seal to the whole connection, the wire would be sealed off. There may be another type of binding post that accepts bare wire so it's sealed off from the air (if that's what you're after), but I've never seen it.

It seems odd to describe a line of speakers as a number of SKUs (Stock-Keeping Units) instead of models. Talk about commodifying something! What customer would ask, "Can I hear the newest Klipsch SKU?" For that matter, each available finish would have a different SKU, so two models in three finishes would be six SKUs, which could be confusing.

Waddaya mean, "mere La Scalas"? []

And you can still find one, or at least the main part. It looks like a bolt-on mod... http://cgi.ebay.at:80/Plexiglas-Stratocaster-Body-selten-Sonderanfert_W0QQitemZ170177668858QQihZ007QQcategoryZ23300QQcmdZViewItem

Is that an Arkansas expression or a PWK original? It cracked me up, too, seti! An example of an engineer using an analogy...

Here's an example of some tiptoes. They're like spikes, but not as pointy and just as effective. These ones attach with double-sided adhesive foam, so you don't have to drill into your speakers and you can easily remove them if you don't like them. The foam crushes flat in a day or so. They come with little brass pads, so you can also use them on bare floors. They're sold out at this company at the moment, but are likely available elsewhere. http://www.madisound.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=117_121&products_id=1319 And a few more, in various styles: http://www.madisound.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=117_121

He could be concerned that his neighbours will notice he's running a business out of his home and it's against the zoning. Some busybody neighbours would take exception to cars coming and going more with than a minimal frequency. There are many possibilities.

If your rear speakers are on the floor, won't they be firing into the back of the sofa, giving a muffled sound? As well, it's usually recommended that surround speakers be located about 6 feet above the floor. I've got one Heresy II surround speaker on top of a bookcase and the other one on a tall box, which works out well. Since the surround speakers are primarily for effects, they don't need full-range frequency response.

Nice website. Did you notice that Klipsch speakers are not listed among "conventional" speakers, but among "esoteric". Cool! Also, he seems to be selling original La Scalas, not La Scala IIs. Could it be that the website hasn't been updated for a couple of years?

More watts may produce more punchy sound and more solid bass. With Klipsch speakers, less power is needed, but it can still be of benefit. It's surprising just how much power is needed to make musical transients, or peaks, like drumbeats, sound realistic.

Maybe you need to put the speakers on spikes or tiptoes, to let them get a grip on the floor. With the bigger Heritage speakers, it's not necessary, but the smaller footprint of the F2s might allow them to be a bit wobbly on the carpet, taking some crispness out of the sound. You'd want to get them into their final locations before installing spikes, of course, so the carpet doesn't get shredded...

Actually, that's possessive. I think you mean SHOPS...

That brings up a question. Do the Plexiglass Strats sound any different? They sure looked cool, or was that just a '70s trendy thing? Keith Richards played one for a while.

I think he already bought them and is very happy with the speakers and the price.

You don't need a digital camera, just a scanner. I listen to analogue music and take analogue photos and that's just fine with me. Well, I do have some CDs...

I don't remember if there's even anything to download. I've just got the site bookmarked. When you save a room, I think it's saved on their server. On your own machine, it saves as an .htm file, so it's not a typical program. It is very easy to use, though. To post that room layout, I printed from the screen and then scanned it. There may be a more direct way to do it.

I'm using Heresy IIs for surround and center in a 5.1 system, so I wound up with a spare Heresy II, which I may use for a rear surround for 6.1 at some point if I find a sturdy enough wall mount and don't mind yet another "not-small" speaker in the room. The hi-fi theorists think that the side-by-side drivers of the typical center speaker are not the way to get the best sound and recommend a conventional speaker if you can make it fit the location. As well, the best setup is three matching speakers across the front. If all three are at least timbre-matched, like all Heritage, for example, the sound will be noticeably better than using mismatched speakers.

Try Arrange-a-Room. It's free and lets you choose your room size, place walls where you want, select their thickness, rotate them and so on. It has a selection of furniture, office equipment, plus home entertainment gear that you can drag and drop into your room. Then you can size the pieces to show their size to within an inch and rotate them to any angle. It even has windows, baseboard heaters, fireplaces, you name it. You can name and save up to 25 rooms. However, it can be a little annoying when you try to add a piece and a previous one disappears. I don't know whether there's a limit to objects in the room or what. Save your design! It's on the Better Homes and Gardens site at http://www.bhg.com/bhg/category.jsp?categoryid=/templatedata/bhg/category/data/arrangearoomtest.xml Here's how my living room and dining room look, right down to the throw cushions on the sofa and arnchair.

Perhaps I wasn't clear in my question. When matching levels of main, center and surround speakers, the meter's response curve makes little difference, if any, so I'm in agreement with you there. However, if the meter does not have a flat response in the bass area, when setting the sub's level and high-frequency roll-off, it would be easy to dial in a noticeable dip or peak in the area where the main speakers and the sub overlap. You'd think you could trust your ears, but I've noticed some peaks and dips when the meter reading is constant, which makes me think that my ears' frequency sensitivity is very far from lab-standard. A particular test tone, say 85Hz, might sound quite a bit louder to me, even though the meter reading remains at reference level. Since it's likely that not everyone has the same quirks in their hearing, I'd prefer to have a bass response that doesn't favour any frequency, but remains flat all the way down until the subwoofer starts to roll off.

Congrats on your find! You may want to experiment a bit with positioning of your new speakers to be sure they're sounding as good as they can. At least a little way out from the wall, for instance. Toed-in to where you're sitting, or almost straight ahead, either position will sound different. In the corners will give you more bass, but it might be boomy bass, so they might be better away from the corners. You be the judge. Push them around a bit and do some listening. Believe it or not, I experimented with the placing of my speakers for over a year. Each change was an improvement, even moving them as little as two inches. Now I think I've got them where I want them and they sound great.