Islander

The horns have a very big sound--really love it--although I have some problems with my imaging right now she stills sounds very nice. I have a feeling that the problem is coming from my electronics. Anyway, I'm in the process of trouble shooting it at the moment. I know REPLAY ELECTRONICS. I have been there a few times--seen some of his Klipsch products there before. George is a cool guy. Although I've never met George, I have spoken to him on the phone, and he did seem very helpful and knowledgeable. Wish I'd known about Replay when I lived in TO. As for your imaging, have you experimented much with speaker positioning? I moved my La Scalas farther apart than any speakers I've previously had and was surprised by the improvements in imaging and fine detail.

Well put, Max! If it sounds good to you in your listening room, it is good. If it sounds good to me in my listening room, it is good. If one person wears a different size and style of shoes from another person, it doesn't imply that one of them is "wrong". This is home audio, not lab experiments. The designers and engineers do the experiments, we pick the flavour we like, since all the components have a flavour (here in the real world), and hopefully enjoy listening to the "sum of the errors".

Nice-looking speakers! As it happens, there's a shop in Toronto (well, Etobicoke, to be precise) called Replay Electronics that sometimes has La Scalas for sale. I called them last summer before I committed to buy mine here, and they had a pair for $1500CAD. Replay is at 1120 The Queensway, west of Islington. Their phone number is 416-251-9096 and their website is at http://www.replayelectronics.com/ Looks like they have a pair of 1990 La Scalas and a new in box pair as well. Serious system you have, Raptorman! How do you like them horns? I lived in TO until 2001, but didn't get any Klipsches until last year.

Most homes in the UK have small rooms (leading to small speakers and small TVs) because they're heated with coal fireplaces. You close the door when you go from the heated living room to the unheated hallway. As central heating catches on, maybe homes will start to be built with larger rooms (leading to bigger speakers and bigger TVs). At present in the UK, big speakers are mostly found in palatial (by UK standards) homes. My cousin in Belfast is happy with his mini-monitors. I guess it comes down to different strokes for different folks. I live in England, and our home is VERY small. (about 700 sq ft.) Our living room is only 14 long by 12 wide. I still managed to get all my gear and speakers and 52" TV in there. There is absolutely no room now though. My wife has had "break downs" about all my gear though. She went totally crazy one time and told me to get those cute, little cube speakers that you can hardly even notice. (B0$E) But it kind of flipped around on her. I told her that I wasn't planning on having these speakers forever. She said good, but she didn't know that I meant I'm getting bigger ones! I promised her I wouldn't buy any more speakers until we get a larger home. A 52" TV?!? Do all your mates drop in for every football match? [][Y]

First, to Bill: my condolences for your tragic loss. Second, to mdeneen: here in Victoria, there are over 500 smart fortwo cars running around. They sell better here than possibly anywhere else. Due to being a small city on the end of an island, small cars are very practical. Speed limits are low and due to the twisty mountain roads, even the highway speed limit is 90km/hr (55mph) until you get more than 90 minutes north of Victoria. They're popular with security firms (like the Commissionaires), as well as with the general public. There are even some small car metered parking spots now that fit only smart-sized cars. Safety-wise, they're sometimes described as a roll cage on wheels, and I haven't heard of any being involved in a serious crash. However, they are a town car, and get a little skittery on rough pavement at highway speeds (over 60mph or so). As well, the small wheels don't deal well with potholes. An acquaintance who has a smart car has broken two wheels and now drives through construction zones very slowly and cautiously. The Toyota Prius is really popular here as a taxi, outnumbering private Priuses very noticeably. Third, there oughtta be a law: bumper heights should be standardized, and any vehicle with altered ride height should be required to have its bumpers at the standard height, regardless of looks or lack of cool. "Bumper over-riding" collisions have killed many and should never happen, since they do seem preventable.

Not necessarily wrong, just different. If you set your center channel to 0, then turn up the volume of the center channel to 85dB and set the rest of the speakers to match, you will have much more volume available, since all the speakers will be set within a few dB of 0, not at -6 or -7 or so. This may also improve the available headroom for musical peaks (someone correct me if I'm wrong on that one). As well, although this may be more true in theory than practice, it's considered better to have as little in the signal path as possible, so if your front and center speakers are set at 0 or close to it, the sound may be a little cleaner, since it's not being "modified" by going through a volume control. In a way, it's as if you're setting the cruise control on your car while driving with the parking brake on. How high does the volume go on your amplifier? Does it go very far past 0, to +10 for example? With a typical setup, 0 on the volume is very loud, producing over 100dB. It was simpler in the past, with volume knobs that went from 0 to 10. If you turned it up past 7, you'd risk clipping the amp, so it was sometimes suggested that if you needed to turn it up past 7 (or 5, for the really conservative types) you need a more powerful amplifier.

Well, my cousin does live in a pretty old house, but I've never seen any big speakers or TVs over there either, although I did see quite a few big houses when I drove through the south of Ireland seven years ago. No disparagement taken. You're likely more up to date than I am.

This seems like an unusual concept. Why not just set the center channel at 0, turn the volume up to 85dB, then match the rest of the speakers to the center as needed? Did you want to strictly limit your maximum volume, or did you interpret "calibrate your system at 85dB" as "calibrate your system to 85dB"? Putting needless extra limiting on your speakers doesn't improve the sound.

Man, you guys in the US get some deals! An RX-V659 is $699.99CAD on sale here. That's also what my RX-V750 cost on sale, when regular price was $900CAD. An RX-V2700 is sale-priced at $1600CAD. As for speakers, in Vancouver BC, new La Scala IIs are $7000CAD sale price (retail $9000) per pair, while Klipschorns are $9200CAD on sale.

Most homes in the UK have small rooms (leading to small speakers and small TVs) because they're heated with coal fireplaces. You close the door when you go from the heated living room to the unheated hallway. As central heating catches on, maybe homes will start to be built with larger rooms (leading to bigger speakers and bigger TVs). At present in the UK, big speakers are mostly found in palatial (by UK standards) homes. My cousin in Belfast is happy with his mini-monitors.

What a scary and depressing thread. If the leaders set the example, then for a government to kill residents, even evil and nasty ones, makes killing seem legitimate. This results in a type of death culture, with concepts like "That man needed killing!" becoming commonplace in the public mind and making murder seem less abhorrent than it is. Then violent people see it a logical option to get their way. Deterrent? They don't think they'll get caught, or don't care...

Nice gear and setup! I too am curious about that Yamaha. I don't believe they sell anything like that over here.

The RX-V659 is a lot of receiver for the money. It replaces both the 657 and 757, since they were similar in specs. It also has a phono input, if you want to get into vinyl (or already are). Clean and clear is what you need with Klipsch speakers, and that's the sound the Yamaha will give you. As for level settings, if you're using some Klipsch speakers and some typical-sensitivity speakers in the same system, you may be surprised at the settings you'll need to use. With my old speakers, the fronts and center were set at 0 and the rears at +3.0 to +5.0, depending on the distance. With the La Scala fronts set at 0, +10dB was not high enough for the surrounds. I wound up setting the La Scala fronts at -3.5, the center at +4.0, and the surround and surround back speakers at +7.5 to +9.0, since the Scalas were about 9dB more sensitive than my previous mains. The other speakers are a Paradigm CC-370 center and 4 Paradigm Atoms for surround and surround back. Until you get a meter, the YPAO should get you in the ballpark, although I found it wanted the sub about 2 or 3dB too low. With such widely-spaced settings, the receiver will protect the highest-level speakers by reducing the maximum volume. My RX-V750 would go to +18dB on the volume (only tried that with no input, to see how high it would go), but after setting up the levels for the Scalas, the max volume is +7.5dB, which is probably equally loud with the more sensitive speakers. I wondered about this when I first noticed it, but when I called Yamaha customer service, they assured me that the unit is designed to do this. There's a speaker impedance switch on the back. It should be set at the 8 ohm position, regardless of the speakers you're using, since the 4 ohm setting reduces the voltage to the power amp, making the bass noticeably thinner. The unit must be powered off before changing the setting. As for Pure Direct, it does give slightly clearer sound, but switches off the sub, so it's best suited to music with little bass, like acoustic folk or choral stuff, unless your main speakers produce great bass without a sub. However, if a tune comes on that has annoying room-rattling bass (a couple of my favourite CDs have cuts like that), you can switch to Pure Direct and cut out the sub for that song, without getting off the couch. Congrats on your new receiver! And congrats on having a cool dad!

An interesting problem surfaced a few weeks ago when I replaced a 2-metre Electrohome Pro Series sub cable with a 4-metre Ultralink Advanced Performance sub cable. The shorter cable would barely reach, and I had to run it out of the cabinet beside the power leads. It seemed logical to get a longer (and supposed better quality) cable so that it could be run beside the other interconnects and be less subject to interference from the power cords. Didn't work out that way. I didn't notice the increased hum at first, but I found that the sub amp wouldn't turn itself off, even if the system was shut down overnight. When I listened carefully, I could hear a faint hum from the subwoofer several feet away, with everything shut off but the sub amp. When I reinstalled the shorter and less expensive cable, the hum could only be heard when I put my ear right to the grille of the sub. It appears that the longer (and possibly less well shielded) cable was picking up enough hum from somewhere to send a noticeable signal to the sub amp, keeping it turned on. At any rate, I decided that the theoretical improvement of re-routing the cable didn't pan out in practice and went back to the noticeably quieter original setup.

I'm running 8 gauge Karma Kable (from knukonceptz.com) to my La Scalas. One of the local car audio shops had gold-plated mini spade connectors that both fit the connector strip and accept 8 gauge cable, plus they come with red and black insulating boots for a finished look. They were only $1.25CAD apiece.

If you use speaker mounting brackets, which seems logical, you'll only need to drill small holes in the drywall for the wall anchors to attach the speakers to the wall. The blue plastic anchors aren't strong enough to hold up speakers, but the expanding metal anchors are. As for speaker wire, with the long runs usually seen in surround setups (I had to run over 60 feet to my most distant speaker), 12 gauge is appropriate. You can get 100-foot and 250-foot rolls of it at Home Depot for not much money. I wouldn't use that for my main speakers, but it's good enough for the surrounds and it's not bulky or obtrusive-looking.

Musical Fidelity makes a set of compact components, integrated amp, CD player and tuner, that might fit your budget and sound good.

Woofer ID? Check their drivers' licences! []

Good tips! Especially #5 and #11!

You can get 250 feet of 12 gauge stranded copper outdoor lighting wire at home Depot for $48. Works like a charm! Here in Canada, Home Depot also carries RCA-branded 12 gauge "speaker wire for high power systems" in 250 foot rolls for not much more, and one conductor is marked, making it simpler to connect your speakers right the first time. I used it for my surround speakers, just using the "good stuff" for the center and mains.

Mike, I haven't been ignoring you, but I've had no time to make some sketches yet. As for the window vibration, it's not loose in the frame, it's a solidly-mounted double-glazed window that hums loudly as the room resonates at 30Hz and 35Hz. I think it would take several people putting their hands on the glass to make it stop, since my one hand had little effect. And that was at just 88-90 dB. Reference level was 80dB. Today I heard about Auralex products, so I may check out some of their bass traps. Have you heard of them? They're at http://www.auralex.com/

If you're willing to cut a length of cable in two and slip on connectors, then tighten some set screws, check out www.knukonceptz.com and click on Home Theater. Their cable is not expensive and it sounds good. The blue and silver Karma Kable will soon be available in gray and silver. They also have interconnects, but I don't think they have power cords. They carry regular banana plugs as well as BFA plugs, which have less metal but more contact surface.

It's all a SETup! Don't believe a word!

I'm holding out for SED. Hopefully the Surface-conducting Electron-emitting Display TVs will be in production and down to affordable prices within a couple of years. SED promises a better picture and a much longer service life, but is stalled at the moment with legal issues...

I can't comment on the theory, but when I switched a $40Cdn Monster digital coax cable for a $60Cdn Monster digital coax cable (Datalink 100) the sound was noticeably clearer. I've got both analog and digital connections from my DVD/CD player to my receiver. The digital cable is connected to the DVD input, while the analog cable is connected to the CD input. That way, I can switch back and forth to see which sounds best. With the analog connection, the DAC in the player is working, while with the digital connection the DAC in the receiver is working (correct me if I'm wrong, anyone). There is a slight but noticeable difference between the two connections, but neither one is best with all music, so it's good to have the choice at the push of a button. As well as the two different DACs, the player is set to upsample to 176.4 kHz (x4), but upsampling only applies to the analog output with this player, so it's apples and oranges in two ways. As I said, if I'm being picky ("listening critically"), I just choose which input sounds better at that moment and enjoy the music.