Tom Adams

Hey Bev - was wondering where you went. Yeah - what John Albright said with the exception of using fiberglas insulation. Do yourself (and your energy bill) a favor and tell the builder you want him to use blown-in cellulose insulation and not fiberglas batting. Not only is it a better insulator, it's friendlier to any alergies you may have due to the material being made from paper. Not sure it's totally hypo-allergenic (I think icyonene foam insulation is the only one that is), but many folks complain less. My new home has it and here's da bottom line - house is approx. 2000 sq. ft. heated and totally electric. Highest bill to date has been around $90. And no, we ain't frugal. :-) Not to get off on a tangent, but I wonder how a room built with metal studs would compare to built using wood studs?? Tom Adams

<blushing & kicking the dirt> Awwwww shucks....twernt no big thang. But yer welcome. Glad I could help. Hey - anybody know anything about weed-whackers?? Oooops - sorry wrong forum. Tom Adams

Thanks Klipschguy. I've printed out your instructions and will be making the mod shortly. I'm outta town for a few days, so it may be next week before I can post results. BTW, last night I did what you suggested and put my ear to both the tweeter and the squawker. And sure enough, the output from the tweeter was much more overpowering than the squawker. Thanks a bunch. Tom Adams

Hey Klipschguy. Stumbled across this thread and read the whole thing with great curiosity. I have a pair of Heresy I's (1978) that I have owned since new. Recently I moved into a new house and, for what ever reason (probably room acoustics), my Heresy's started sounding overly bright. I mean, over the years, they always sounded bright; sometimes to the point of almost being harsh. They've also seen various types of amplifiers from a cheap Sherwood reciever to a Crown (borrowed) to a NAD to my present Denon 3300. Anyhow, for the last three months I've tried all kinds of things to quell this brightness - changing speaker location, making sure I didn't have the polarity wrong, boosting sub output, using the Denon tone control to cut treble 2db and/or boost bass by 3db...well, you get the picture. Nothing I've done has satisfied my ears. Is it possible your tweek is what I'm looking for? I'm sure game to try except for one thing - I'm scared to death of poking around inside my speaker cabinet and I have no clue what I'm doing (ooops, that's two things ) So, just how difficult would this be for a complete novice?? Tom Adams

tbird1 - Sorry for being silent, but am glad to see that others have helped you out. FWIW, I was home all day Sunday, had my manual out and was re-doing some settings since getting my RC-3. I was also ready for the phone to ring and hear your voice. One thing you haven't updated us on was your wife's internet search for arsenic. How's that coming along?? Tom Adams

ROTFLMAO!!!!!!!!!! Ray - I read that and busted out one of those laughs that's usually reserved for those moments when a crowd noise suddenly goes silent and you're the only YELLING. I mean, six guys turned around and looked at me. I walked into my house after a three day motorcycle trip and there was the wife watching TV, in the bedroom, sitting in the rocking chair she had dragged from the living room. Against my better judgement, I asked "Uhhh, honey, why are you in here watching TV?" Her head spun around 7 times, the room got cold, the door slammed shut behind me and she said, "Because I got tired of trying to figure out that *&%#$ remote for that *&^@%$# stereo just to watch a effin' show on that grumblgruff TV!" tbird1 - We ARE NOT having fun at your expense. Merely re-living past dilemmas we now find humorous. So, put the Denon box away. There's no need to pack it back up. This will pass. Tom Adams

Ok....by a show of hands, how many here know *exactly* what tbird1 is going through and how he feels? Uh-huh...I thought so. :-) <This message was intended to show moral support> Tom Adams

tbird1 - I can relate to your <ahem> fear of the Denon 3300. I have one and spent many an hour agonizing over why it was (wasn't?) doing something. And yes...that remote is, well...you know. Anyhow, have you been thru the so-called set-up menu yet? In there is an option to select your surrounds. The speaker A & B lights you refer to are the surrounds, not the mains. In the set-up menu, turn the surrounds off by selecting "none". If you need more help, just ask. And I'm available off-line as well. Believe me, there's no stupid question you could ask about that reciever - I've taken care of that a loooong time ago. Tom Adams

Interesting....the MSRP for the RC-3 is $350 and The Wiz is selling it for $359.00??? My local dealer asked my what prices I was seeing for the RC-3 and I told around $250. He said there was no way he could do that and not have the owner yell at him. I offered $275 out-the-door and he said cool. I'd suggest printing this out and showing your local dealer what another (authorized) dealer was willing to sell an RC-3 for. May help.... And FWIW, I too love my RC-3. Great sounding center channel and speaker period. Tom Adams

Lucky you Ray. For all the years I was around space program stuff (Dad worked at test facility, I worked there during summers, worked on Shuttle external tank program after college), I've never seen a launch in person. OTOH, I can relate to the sound of a Saturn V first stage. I've seen 3 test firings of that bad boy. One was *very* close and yes it's both awe inspiring and scary at the same time. It felt like someone was using my chest as a concert bass drum! Tom Adams

HornEd & BobG - Your stories reminded me of my job as a summer engineering intern at a NASA rocket test facility (Stennis Space Center in Miss.) The low freq. energy emitted by the test firing of Apollo rocket engines (and Space Shuttle main engines) required that acoustical "hot spots" be identified and tracked. It wasn't unusal for windows to be shattered 80 or 100 miles away when the Saturn 5 first stage was tested. The acoustics group would send up a weather balloon, crunch the data it sent back, and determine, geographically, where these "hot spots" were. My job (cheap labor) was to take my trusty 2 ch. reel-to-reel, jump in a raggedy jeep and go to a location out in the boonies that corresponded to some coordinates on a map. The technicians would then swing around to my aziumth this big-a** exponential horn and blast me. I would read to them what sound pressure levels I was picking up and they would either tell me to stay there or send me somewhere else. During the test firing I would talk (about anything I wanted to) on one track while the sound pressure readings were record on the other track. My voice was used to time index the pressure spikes. It was interesting the levels I would be seeing on the recording meter, yet hear nothing. Oh, that big-a** horn...can't remember the exact dimensions, but it was something on the order of 16 or 17 feet high and 20 or so feet wide at the opening of the horn. It sat atop a tower about 70 feet in the air. The diaphram was driven by 2000 psi compresseed air and the tech's told me they could dial it down to 8hz. BTW, night test firing was interesting. There you are out in the middle of nowhere, in a jeep with hardly no floorboard, things in the woods making nosies...well, that's another story for another time. Tom Adams

<meant to post this sooner> Wow edster00 - my Heresy's are a 'T' series (1979) so they were made just two years after yours and mine has the PWK logo followed by 'KLIPSCH' on a copper colored plaque. I wonder when the logo changed...1978 or 1979? Interesting..... Tom Adams

Well...like BLOOMIS914, I too am using the Niles wall mounted volume controls. And in case you're curious, my Niles SPS-4 is used to switch (1) pair of Klipsch in-wall speakers in my bedroom and (2) pairs of Klipsch outdoor speakers. To date, I've heard no hum or unwanted noise that can be contributed to the Niles SPS-4. Switching speakers on & off produces no loud thumps or pops. I wouldn't hesitate recommending this unit. As for the martini...well, drinks are on us. Tom Adams

Thanks boa12 & BobG. With the recent resurgence in HT and audio in general, one has to wonder if the same marketing demographics that led to the cancellation of the Cornwall and what it delivers, would hold true today (rhetorical question). Interesting...... I'm also fascinated about the "mystical" logo - especially after BobG's response. My 1978 model Heresy's have the "PWK" Klipsch logo and I just assumed there was my version and the new one we see displayed on this site. Once again, interesting..... Tom Adams

I'm curious about a couple of things: 1. A lot has been said about the Cornwall's sound - both now as well as in the past. Since this speaker was part of what has now become the Heritage line, why was it the only "heritage" speaker to be dropped from production? 2. When did the current Klipsch logo come to be used and why (i.e. why was 'PWK' dropped from the logo). Tom Adams

I too have a Niles SPS-4 and Denon 3300. However, I'm not using the two together. I'm using the SPS-4 with an older Sony AV reciever. What exactly are you wanting to know? Tom Adams

In one breath, Ray said: "Whatever Klipsch does in the active speaker area, which I assume would include cool spiffs like digital crossovers with complete linear phase and ultra steep crossovers and narrow band driver equalization and customizeable bass response shaping and DSP-based room correction software and onboard DSD/PCM compatible D/A converters and digital system control links a la Meridian and cool blue LEDs, among other things, I hope the speakers are available in a passive version for those of us to like to putter about ourselves." What a sentence Ray. Sorry, just kiddin' This "closed loop" speaker thing has me waffling. One minute it sounds like a cool idea and the notion of matching amp to speakers certainly seems ideal. Active crossovers & amps that can be taylored using your Palm Pilot?? OTOH, it's my observation that part of the appeal of being an audio enthusiast (aside from the shear enjoyment of music) is the CFF (constant fiddle factor). You know, changing speaker cables and trying different amps - both SS & tube. How would a "closed loop" speaker, the caliber of a Klipsch, satisfy the CFF? I mean, we're not talking about a speaker brand that run-of-the-mill folks look at when putting together a 2 ch. or HT system. I would think the typical Klipsch buyer has a rather high CFF. Anyhow, I'd certainly love to give it a listen. What the heck, maybe it would be the cure for the common CFF. Tom Adams

dcb - I agree with your comments about blind listening tests. My dealer had a pair of RF-3's hooked up to a Denon 5800 and I listened to various CD's played on a Denon CD player. I wrote about this experience in a different post. Anyhow, after about 30 minutes, he asked me to help him move the RF's (in the same room) so he could hook them up to some different equipment. This time they were hooked up to a big a** CinePro amp that was being fed by a Meridian CD player and Meridian pre-amp. I again listened to the same music and the difference was amazing. Much tighter bass, vocals were very natural, the sizzle from rivet cymbals were clean. It's amazing what a high quality amp will do. Tom Adams

YEAH!!! Dave wins the prize for finding the hidden sub in the photo! Seriously though, I forgot to give due recognition to my KSW-15 sub. It's location is obviously not optimal, but is a good compromise for that room. During the construction phase, I pulled three different runs of RG6 coax to locations I felt a sub would work. I even FAX a sketch to Tom at SVS subs and picked his brain. Unfortunately, I already had the KSW-15 so I had to make it work. In hindsight, I should've sold the KSW-15 and bought a SVS cause the optimal location in that room would've been perfect for the SVS. Now the surrounds were a different matter. The seating arrangement (and WAF) dictated no rear direct radiating or towers or speakers on stands. So, it was side surrounds and that's when I began lurking on this BBS. From comments here, I pretty much settled on the RS-3's. I'll mention another option in a moment. The location of the RS-3's were another concern. While I could mount them on the header just above the sliding glass door...on the opposite side of the room there was no vertical wall due to the entry way and how the vault met the supporting wall. If you go to my HT photo 001, you'll see what I mean. So, I entertained the notion of mounting them as shown. The second option was to mount in-wall speakers in the vault of that ceiling near where the RS-3's are. It was at this point that I FAX'd a sketch to Trey "loose" Cannon and we chatted about my options. Trey was of the opinion that the RS-3's would work much better than the in-walls. Second, the angle of the vault wouldn't be a serious issue to sound dispersement. And third, my proposed location would achieve a disireable result. During construction, I layed-out the couch on the concrete using chalk. Then I measured 3 feet in front of the couch which established the fore/aft location of the speakers. Next came the decision as to how high up the vault to mount them. After many hours of trig equations and complex math I....well, to be honest, the location was a wild *** guess. I placed myself on the sofa sweet spot, looked up at the rafters, picked a point, took a measurement and that's where they wound up. BTW, I only second guessed the location about, oh, maybe 273 times. As for mounting, I installed a 1x12 between two rafters and drilled a hole in the center for the speaker wire. Once the sheetrock was up I installed two screws into the 1x12 and used the keyhole brackets on the RS-3's. Am I happy? Absolutely. Is it perfect? Probably not. But it's good for that room. Sound wise, they're there, but not there if that makes sense. I mean, if you look to hear them, then you notice the sound coming from them. But otherwise, they disappear and just fill the room. Hard to explain. Drop by, have a beer and give a listen. Sorry for the long-winded reply. Tom Adams

Well Ray (and for those inquiring minds) my equipment isn't too exotic. First, I'd like to draw everyone's attention to my high-tech slant riser simulator thingies for my Heresy's. To the naked eye, those would appear to be plain old wood blocks. Upon further inspection, you'd find they are precision (used a yardstick), hand cut (Stanley cross-cut hand saw), pine (#2 stud material from Lowe's) wooden height adjustment blocks. That's right, baby...nuthin's too good for my Heresy's. The TV is a Mitsu 31" (largest size I could get into that cabinet). Above the TV is my new RC-3 (which rocks IMHO) and you can see my ceiling mounted RS-3's. Below the TV, behind the smoke glass door is a Denon 3300, a Toshiba 3109 dual tray DVD, Sony 5 disc CD player and Sony Hi-Fi VCR. Not on display is my Nakamichi cassette (remember those?) and Dual turntable (what the hell is *that* for?). Planned changes include getting rid of that wall unit and replacing it with a custom made wall unit that will function as an A/V cabinet and bookshelf/nic-nak thing. The idea is to have this cabinet look like a built-in/part of the house unit. Once that is done, the Mitsu 31" TV will be exiled to the Master Bedroom and be replaced by my new Mitsu 46" HD Widescreen. The new wall unit will also allow my Nakamichi and Dual to once again see the light of day. I'm considering semi-retiring the Heresy's to my home office sanctuary and getting a pair of RF-3's for HT duty. Also on the wants list is a separate power amp (the ATI 1505 or 1506 are looking sa-weet). <sigh> So much to do...so little money. Tom Adams

Uhhhh...I be so confused Ray. :-/ When I copy and paste the following: www.klipsch.com/ubb/uploads/HT photo 001.jpg The photo I uploaded appears just fine. Are you talking about what I need to do in order to get that nifty little camera icon to appear to the right of my message post? BTW, you didn't say anything about my "stuff". Boo hoo... Tom "PC challenged" Adams

Here's some photos of my humble HT showing how I mounted my RS-3's. BTW...I have no clue what I'm doing, so bear with me in posting these photos. http://www.klipsch.com/ubb/uploads/HT photo 001.jpg" http://www.klipsch.com/ubb/uploads/HT photo 002.jpg" http://www.klipsch.com/ubb/uploads/HT photo 003.jpg" Tom Adams

Bought the Talking Heads 'Stop Making Sense' DVD and feel it too is a very good recording/mix. Something nice is that they've included two mixes on the DVD. One is a concert mix and one is a studio mix. It's kinda neat to listen to two totally different sounds for the same song and the same performance. The video work is also very good. And Tina Weymouth...man, that gal can flat hammer a bass. Tom Adams

Wow!!! What a candy store! I was doing alright on the speaker page until I scrolled further down and saw.... <gulp, cough, gag, pa-tooie> Bloze. Tom Adams

Domain - You updated us on what you bought speaker-wise, but didn't say anything about the reciever you settled on. Did you get the Denon 2801 or did you do as DLUngurait suggested - i.e. keep your Sony and put the money towards the Synergy towers? Curious minds want to know. Tom Adams