robbyrob

Just wanted to mention that I emailed BestBuy Canada asking them if they would consider carrying the full Synergy line instead of just the lowest end of it. They said that they'll look into it and get back to me. It's strange that they do carry the F3 and B3 but nothing higher than the C1 or S1. Below is a portion of the reply that I received from them: ...we were happy to escalate your inquiry to the appropriate department to determine if we plan on carrying the C3, C2 S3 and S2. When we receive a response, we will contact you...

Thanks for your suggestions but I am more comfortable buying everything locally here in Ottawa, Canada because of warranty, duty, and shipping concerns. However, I will be in San Fran at the end of February so if I'm still looking at that time I will contact you for more info. (I assume that you're in San Fran.) By the way, is that a typo in AVR2801? Did you mean Denon AVR2807?

That's true, sound is difficult to describe to someone. Nevertheless, I'll post something in my own words once I have a chance to listen to some music in that room on my mini JVC system. Once again, thank you so much for all of the advice! I'll post what components I end up going with as soon as I make up my mind.

1. Does bright mean high pitched / detailed treble and dark mean low pitched / blended bass sound? That's the impression I have in my head right now but that's only from reading reviews and this forum so please correct me if I'm wrong. What should I look for when doing a brightness test in the room? 8. Thanks! That sounds like a good price. Also, I've heard that the sub should be placed on the left. What are your thoughts on sub placement in a 5.1 setup? Interesting, I'm most likely going to be using the system mostly for movies as the only 5.1 music I know of is the new Beatles LOVE album. Then again, regular stereo should sound awesome too... when using a receiver for regular CDs, does it use the fronts, centre, and sub or just the fronts? Right now I just use my 10 year old JVC 2.0 mini-system for music so I'll have to bring that down to the basement to do the brightness test. Like you mentioned, horns project sound forward so maybe that's where the RSes have an advantage for surround sound because they're triangular in shape with one cone (if that's the right word) offset 90 degrees or so from the other. The reason why I'm considering RFs is because they're priced about the same as the RSes and I wouldn't have to worry about mounting them on the walls or getting stands for them. Also, I've seen pictures on this forum of peoples' Heritage series setups and they seem to have just Cornwalls and Herseys making up the 7.1 setup. I don't care for the iPod stuff but I will have to take a closer look at the other features and do a comparison. Luckily, now I know of a few features to look for such as the ones you mentioned. Thanks again, Rob.

I totally agree with Chris (JetJockey), thank you! 1. Sorry, I'm still new to all of this so I don't really know what acoustics means but I'll guess and say: standard drywall walls & ceilings; stipple (little dots of dry paint) on 8 foot ceilings laminate flooring on concrete (basement) two hollow wood doors in the room and a staircase going upstairs L-shaped room I will have to take another look at the Denons... I did like how the volume knob made a little click as turned it as opposed to the Yamaha one which felt cheaper. I guess one thing that makes me focus on the Yamahas is their auto-setup feature. I've heard that it works something like connecting a mic to the receiver and then it walks you through some steps using the little screen and calibrates by telling you where to place the speakers. I bet though that if I continue to learn more in these forums then I'll be able to place the speakers in the proper spots manually. Only time will tell. 2, 3. Wow, I'm surprised to hear that! Up here in Canada the Synergy series is much cheaper than the Reference. For example, on boxing day http://www.bestbuy.ca had an F3 speaker for $200 CAD whereas the lowest price I've seen the RF52 speaker for is $414. I'm sure that this is due to the lack of retail competition here for the Reference series since only one place sells them. Thanks for the SUB-12 tip since I had no idea that it was as good as the RWs. Its styling shouldn't clash with the RF speakers either which is nice too. 4, 5. Good points! After reading them I went digging and found the following diagram at http://www.yamaha.ca showing how the 5990 and 6090 upsample / downsample. The 5960 also does but just not HDMI: 6, 7. Very true, and the highest Klipsch line that my local retailer carries is the RF-82 so I couldn't even try listening to those if I wanted to. I might get to go to San Francisco for a few days in the new year though so hopefully I'll find a store where I can experience the high-end Reference and maybe even the Heritage. 8. Thanks for letting me know! I had no idea that it was just an RCA cable. Does it matter if I string a few together if I need a longer length? Also, is the gauge important? I'd like to buy the whole 5.1 system together mostly for aesthetic reasons... ie. the speakers will all have the same styling and colour. Also, I've never had a 5.1 system so it would be nice to experience surround sound. Then again, maybe I can start smaller and go 3.1 (left centre right sub) at first. Would a receiver allow that configuration? I hear what you're saying though and I totally agree since I tend to do a lot of research and try to buy quality stuff with the future in mind. If I didn't get a sub then would the fronts output the lows? Also, are surround speakers special or can any speakers be surrounds? The reason I ask is because I wonder if it would be better to use RF52s instead of RSes for surrounds. I checked out the Outlaw Audio site and it looks to be quality stuff at fair prices. If I understand it correctly, it's a separate amp box and sound processor box whereas a typical receiver such as the Yamaha 5960 is an amp and a sound processor in one box? So, every few years I could simply replace the sound processor with the latest and greatest one? This sounds like the ideal setup and I will definitely look into it more. For the initial purchase I guess we'd want the 970 sound processor to have as many features as a 970/7075 priced ($1300 USD) receiver to make it a good buy right away. Then, in a few years, we'd only need to buy a newer version of the 970 which is only $700 instead of spending $1300 again. In your opinion and if you happen to know, what receivers does the 970 compete with or is in the same class as? ie. Yamaha RXV1700? Thanks again, Rob.

Thanks for your advice and comments! Much appreciated. So, I will consider spending a little bit more on the receiver and take a closer look at the 5990 and 6090. Also, it looks like the klipsch reference line it will be. Regarding "made in China", it would be better for me if they were made in the U.S. or Mexico because I would not have to pay duty if I bought them in the U.S. and had them shipped to me or drove down and picked them up. Just today I found some 6 foot HDMI cables for sale at $10 each so I bought three. This should force me to go with HDMI and an HDMI capable TV sooner.

Hi, so I've finally decided to setup a 5.1 HT system and say goodbye to the 2.0 built-in TV speakers. I bought the Promedia 2.1 computer speakers a few years ago and they've been excellent so I've pretty much decided to go with Klipsch for my HT setup. I've been doing a lot of research and reading many of the posts in these forums which have been very helpful so far. I still have a few questions so I thought I'd write this. 1. A few of my friends have had the Yamaha HTR5860 for about a year now and they're very happy with it so I was thinking of getting that as well (this year's version 5960 ($500 CAD)). I've read though that Yamaha makes bright receivers and when paired with bright Klipsch speakers, the sound may be too bright. I live in Canada and there aren't many retail stores around that sell Klipsch. The one I went to http://www.audiotronic.ca had them connected to a Denon receiver so I couldn't have a listen with the Yamaha. I've read that one solution to solving the brightness problem is to simply lower the treble. Is this true? I'm also considering the HTRN5060 ($500 CAD) which I think is Canada's version of the RXN600. I only intend to use 5.1 so I don't need the 7.1 of the 5960. However, the reviews I've seen haven't been great. What do you think? 2. Originally, I was going to go with the Synergy series because BestBuy carries that line in Canada. However, the problem is that they only carry the lowest end for some of the speakers, specifically the center channels and surrounds. So, I'd be stuck with F3 C1 F3 S1 S1 SUB10. I'd have to get the C3 and S3 from the U.S. somehow. Maybe it's a good thing though because as a result I ended up doing more research and it looks like I'd be better off going with the Reference series. I noticed on the Klipsch site that they show recommended packages: http://www.klipsch.com/products/lists/floorstanding-systems.aspx and they seem to be ordered in such a way that would put the F3 package ahead of the RF-52 pkg. Is the RF-52 package better than the F3 pkg? 3. The room that this will be in is about 17 feet by 8 feet. Do you think the RF-52 pkg would be good enough or would I be better off going with a variation consisting of: RF62 RC62 RF62 RS42 RS42 RW10d ? I've heard that spending more the the centre channel is good because that's where most of the sound will be coming from. 4. Receiver with HDMI or not? My current TV's best video input is S-Video ... don't worry, I plan to upgrade to an LCD 42" or 46" tv within the next year and so the receiver that I buy now will need to work with it. The Yamahas I mentioned don't have HDMI so I'd use component which seems to be good too. Also, there are versions 1.2, 1.3, etc of HDMI so I wonder if today's receivers implementations will be obsolete anyway? I read a posting about a Pioneer receiver where only the HDMI video works so the HDMI cable only replaced the component cable. So, I wonder if it's worth it. 5. Use receiver for video switching or not? I also read somewhere that the receiver should have 100MHz bandwidth in order to support 1080i and higher video switching. ie. DVD player connected to TV via receiver instead of DVD player connected directly to TV. What is your opinion on routing video outputs through the receiver as opposed to connecting directly to the TV? I guess you have no choice if you run out of inputs on either one but I just need to know if the bandwidth rating is something I should be looking for in a receiver. I believe the 5960 has 60MHz and the new 6090 has 100MHz. 6. Reference series made in China? That's what it said on the back when I checked in the store. It's too bad because I'd have to pay duty if shipped from the U.S. 7. Price? It looks like 85% of MSRP or better is what I should be aiming for. 8. Speaker wire? I still have about 36 feet of leftover rockford fosgate 16 gauge wire but I will need more. As long as I go with the proper gauge for distance http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm, I should be okay right? I bought a 6 foot digital optical cable on boxing day but I still need to find a good price on subwoofer cables. The store I was at only had Monster ones for like $150 CAD which is a lot more than I want to spend on a sub cable. Are there features in a sub cable that I need to look for instead of merely going by brand name? Anyways, sorry about the very long posting and thank you for taking the time to read it. Please share your opinions and advice on any of the above. Thanks in advance, Rob. ---------------------------------------- Sony CRT 32" tv, Panasonic DVD player, [?receiver?], [?speakers?]