Islander

Stranger calling and asking for your credit card number? Sounds like a scam to me!

Just after I bought my far-from-new Scalas last summer, I called Klipsch for some info and Steve Phillips was happy to spend a fair while on the phone to answer all my questions. A friendly and knowledgeable guy.

You mean like this? Actually, your setup looks perfectly sensible. I was referring to a Heresy speaker standing (not lying) on top of a TV. That would look unusual. Having the center speaker standing under the TV is totally logical, but most people have a TV stand under the TV. Is that three Fortes in front? Nice speakers and electronics. The Macs look good, too.

Wattage is not exactly like horsepower, so 10 watts one way or the other is likely to be unnoticeable. Sound quality, build quality and ease of use should carry more weight in a purchasing decision. I've used Yamaha CR-600 and CR-1020 receivers in the past and presently use an RX-V392 in the bedroom and an RX-V750 in the main system. The clarity of the Yamaha sound has always been pleasing to my ears and the RX-V2700 should be even better. The Yamaha learning remote is a feature you can quickly be spoiled by. Having a remote that can control the receiver, the DVD/CD player, the VCR and, in my case, a JVC TV, is really handy.

That's brutal and extreme!

Does that make you a hardas(terisk)?

Unless you were listening at really, really, extreme volume, I'd think it was a coincidence. I've had a couple of broken windows in my apartment, including one that looked like it was hit by a rock. I'm on the 9th floor, so that seems unlikely. I'm guessing mine were due to the building settling over time, and I'd guess yours was, too, or maybe the solder between the fan panels finally failed. Not surprised the wife's not happy, but you being the cause of the broken window seems like a long shot. Did you see it break while you were listening to loud music?

Uh-oh, it's spreading! I think I'm starting to get a case of Jubenvy, too...

Could that be the zone where the speakers and wall interact the most? At the bass frequencies, anyway?

Man, you stylin', dude!

59F (15C) and sunny. We've had a very cool spring, but people in interior BC are hoping it stays cool, so the snowpack melts slowly. That will cut down on flooding. A hot spell would have the rivers coming down from the mountains all overflowing their banks. It'll soon be summer, and we'll be into the 70s and 80s. Hardly any houses or apartments here have A/C, unlike Toronto. TO in the summer is like Atlanta...

Those appear to be bass bins only. Are there also top sections with the squawkers and tweeters?

We were listening to Jimi Hendrix, Led Zep, the Doors, Donovan, the Beatles, Blind Faith, Alice Cooper, The Stones, Springsteen, Steppenwolf, Cream, The Mothers, King Crimson, Grand Funk, Santana, Sly & the Family Stone, the Who, Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac, Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel, and it was all new then. A lot of that was "underground music" and you wouldn't hear it on the radio, but we'd pass around the albums and tell each other about cool bands. I remember seeing the Beatles, the Stones, the Doors and Santana on the Ed Sullivan Show. At dances, one of the Righteous Brothers hits was usually the last dance (ladies' choice). Cherish, Walk Away Renee, Na Na Hey Hey, Brown Eyed Girl, Honky Tonk Women, a Whiter Shade of Pale, were the good (not bubblegum) singles we'd hear all the time. Since I was in Quebec, we got to hear some Charlebois as well, especially Lindberg.

That guy should buy some lottery tickets, because he was having a really lucky day! That could have gone wrong a dozen ways (all probably fatal), from tire or wheel bearing failure to hitting a big pothole to simply being turned the wrong direction, as Daddy Dee pointed out. I'm glad to hear he lived through that scary ride!

Not if your power amp is under 250-300 watts per channel.

It happened a step at at time. The 7.1 set-up with Paradigm center and surrounds was fine, balance-wise. Then I replaced the main speakers with La Scalas. They're 9 dB more sensitive, so I adjusted the levels accordingly. Still okay. Then I added a 500Wpc Yamaha power amp for the mains. With the mains set at -10 dB and the furthest surrounds set at +10 dB, the surrounds are still 2.5 dB too low and I'm not getting proper surround sound, even at low volume. Yesterday I sent off the payment for a pair of Heresy IIs, which are likely at least 6 or 7 dB more sensitive than the Paradigm Atoms, so that should bring everything back into balance and improve the sound at the same time. If your speakers are comparable to each other in terms of sensitivity, you'll likely have no problem. My issue arose when I combined ultra-sensitive front speakers with a very high-powered amp. In 2-channel, the sound is great, but in surround, I can barely hear the rear speakers. I expect using Heresies for surrounds will solve that when they arrive.

6.5 feet is practically nearfield listening, but it sounds like the ratio between the distance between the speakers and the distance to the listener is not far off. How does that set-up sound in terms of soundstage and imaging?

What, the La Scalas aren't pretty enough? Get Belles or La Scala IIs! Or, a cheaper tactic, show her a picture of a Jubilee. "See, just the top horn on that is bigger than a whole La Scala. These Scalas are small!"

Delay due to different distances from speakers to listener is a minor issue in a typical-sized listening room. Delay due to length of cables, or time the signal spends going through a separate amp, is a non-issue outside a lab and is probably almost unmeasurable. Running a separate power amp for the main speakers can give you a lot more power and headroom, but with a really high-power amp you may find that you have insufficient adjustment to bump up the surrounds to match the mains, even with the mains dialed down.

Don't forget Stevie Ray Vaughan!

Haven't heard of this concert/DVD. I'll have to have a look for it. Pulse was great, but it sounds like Meltdown is somewhat different and still good.

For mains, 8 gauge Karma Kable from Knukonceptz. Big cable may not be needed with Klipsch speakers, but it made a noticeable improvement with my previous mains. I'd think good-quality 12 gauge fine-strand cable would be a good compromise between size and price. With fine-strand cable you will need to use banana plugs or some other type of connector, since it's not stiff enough to connect easily to binding posts, unlike the coarse-strand Home Depot stuff. For surround, since I needed so much (over 200 feet) and the sound quality was not as crucial as with the mains and center, I used 12 gauge Home Depot wire. Most still looks pristine, but some looks a little green... Cable is pretty inexpensive compared to the rest of the system, so it makes sense to buy some decent quality, so you can listen without feeling you cheaped out and compromised the sound.

As a general rule, La Scalas should be placed along the long wall, near the corners. They don't have to be right in the corners like Khorns. They may sound best toed-in, so they're aimed directly at the listening position. That will get you started, but you'll want to experiment and see what works best in your room. In my room, I found the bass a little uneven if they were right against the wall, but it got better when the nearest corner to the wall (since they were at an angle) was about 6 inches away from it. I pulled them out as far as a foot from the wall without any improvement, so went back to 6 inches away. Although they're a large and heavy speaker, they slide pretty easily on carpet, so it's easy to move them around until you find the best placement.

Thanks for sharing, Arky! It's hard to picture any other speaker company and their staff being as friendly and gracious.

Nature (and weather) isn't cruel or kind, fair or unfair, it just is...