Youthman

Nice setup David...Congrats! I too am a recent Polk convert and have had great results from my previous Onkyo TX-DS555. I have read a lot of great reviews about the 805.

400 watts/ch would be so sweet. I found a mint Sunfire TGA-5400 for $2500.00.

Many scenes from Transformers movie. I really like the beginning of the movie when the helicopter comes into the base, lands, transforms and begins attacking the base. The scorpion scene also has some great sound.

You probably will not find much support on the Sony here. I would stick with the first two over the Sony anyday.

Would this KV-4 be what you are looking for to complement your CF-3's? []

You are correct, the ES is Sony's top end receivers but that isn't saying much. In my experience, I was not impressed with the Sony ES when I went to demo the RF-82's. I'll let others chime in on their thoughts.

I didn't want to bash your receiver but Dr.Who did it for me. [] I went to an audio/video installer's store to check out their theater room and they were using all Sony ES stuff. To be honest, I was not impressed at all. I think if you can sell it, I would. Harman Kardon, Denon, Yamaha or Onkyo would be a good choice. For 800.00, there are probably lots of options. Check out Frys.com. They seem to have good prices on receivers. Maybe checkout the Onkyo 605, 805 or the HK AVR-347. Not sure if they meet all of your requirements but it's a place to start. I have an HK AVR55 and although it delivers 55 watts/ch it is a great receiver. I could be wrong but I think that a lower wattage HK/Denon etc would have more power and probably cleaner than the Sony. High watts/ch is not necessarily a good indicator of a good sounding receiver.

Here are a few on Ebay and Audiogon that fit your budget. Acurus 200x3 200 w/ch amp on Ebay B&K 225x2 w/ch amp on Ebay Acurus 200x3 w/ch amp on Audiogon $440 obo

Click on Edit Profile>Avatar at the top of the forum. Then click the browse button and locate the image you want to use for your avatar. Does your Sony have pre-outs for an external amp? If so, if you want to upgrade, you can get a used 200 watt x 3 amp for just under $500.00. I just had my first experience in my home with a separate amp. You can see my thread here that I posted yesterday. I'm sold on the separate amp idea. Today I listened to the same music without the amp that I was listening to yesterday with the amp and needless to say, I'm sad [:'(]. LOL. I will definitely have separates when I build my theater room in our new home.

Hi Blue. Welcome to the forums! The room acoustics at Magnolia and your room of course will be different so it will be difficult to compare those two. Have you tried increasing the levels for your front speakers? You should be able to do this through the menu on the receiver or maybe from the remote. Default settings are usually at 0 so if it goes up to say +12, try increasing it to 5 or 6. When you were listening to them in Magnolia, was it through the same receiver? I don't believe Magnolia has any external amps that they are using. If it is close, you could always go and look to see what settings they have on the Receiver if it is the same one that you purchased. They may have the settings all the way up.

Thx for the input Mike. I've been a HT hobbyist for many years but have a lot to learn on the technical side of things.

Oh it's a sad day. Today, I had a chance to sit down and listen to a variety of music and movies. Transformers sounded amazing! So much detail and clarity. Sarah McLachlan's "In the Arms of an Angel" sounded absolutely fabulous. Very smoothe, refreshing and sensual. I even went old school 90's rap and was enjoying a blast from the past. [] I have to return the QSC to it's home tonight so we can use it tomorrow. [:'(] I have enjoyed our brief time together. Thanks so much Michael for the help with getting the amp setup. I would have never turned the amp up that loud nor turned the receiver inputs up that high either. Thanks for the explanation that the gain on an amp is not a "volume" knob but more like a valve to let signal in. I guess it's kind of like a faucet. The valve doesn't push water in, it merely opens the gate for it to flow. Maybe that's not totally accurate but that's my understanding of it from what you have said. I do have a question. Why am I only able to adjust the front levels on the receiver when it is in Dolby Digital and not in stereo? The volume was lower in stereo so I had to turn up the volume to achieve the same loudness as it was in Dolby Digital.

Yeah, there are a few guys that have posted their Klipsch playing music. Check out "signal to noise" song. That's pretty awesome. has the RF-82 playing a 1hz sine wave. I bet the girl thinks he's retarded. []Here is . Too bad they aren't playing them.

Michael, thank you so much for the reply. I totally understood what you were talking about (well...at least it made sense). The channel levels on my HK were set at +3 so I bumped it up to +10 since it goes up to +15. I turned the QSC up to 30 with 32 being max. No clipping ever occurred, 45 on the HK sounded perfect. I demoed both 2 channel audio and 3 channel movie (I don't have rear surrounds at the present) and left my sub turned off. I am impressed! Before, my CF-2's didn't have much bottom end to them without the QSC. With the amp, they have a lot of bottom end even at low to mid volume. Although my wife is at a conference tonight, I didn't get a chance to really crank it since my kids are in bed. Ah but tomorrow is a new day. [] I can truly understand the benefit of an external amp. I guess the best way to describe it would be to compare my HK to a scrawny built guy and the QSC to a body builder. The scrawny guy would struggle to bench 100 lbs but the bodybuilder could bench 200 lbs without a sweat. When I listen to the HK without the amp, around volume 50 - 55, the sound starts sounding strained. With the QSC, it handles the same volume effortlessly and still sounds crystal clear. This is definitely what I wanted to find out for myself. Now I just have to save up for a B&K 200.5 amp. That would be sweet, especially paired with the RF-83 package!

Ok, I got the amp to work. Problem was I was chicken. I didn't want to blow the speakers so I had everything turned down so low I could not hear it. [:$] I had the gains on the amp at 1/4 volume and the HK at 30 and wasn't hearing any sound. I slowly turned the gain on the amp up to 1/2 then to 3/4. I then began to turn up the HK from 30 up to 65. My normal listening volume on the HK without an amp is 45. I hear absolutely no difference from the QSC than I do the HK but how can this be? Quality isn't any different and the volume isn't any different. I would think with the QSC gains at 3/4 and my HK at 30, it should be pretty loud and it is not. I have tried turning the "speaker" button on the HK on and have tried it with it turned off and there isn't any difference. On the back of the QSC, I have it set to stereo and bridge mono set to off (don't want to pump 800 watts to my CF-2's) I am using banana plugs to the CF-2's and the back of the QSC. I am using Monster Cable speaker wire but not sure the gauge ( maybe 16 or 12 gauge). Here are some screenshots: My QSC settings: Clip Limiter is set to On LF set to 30HZ Stereo is set to On Bridge Mono is set to OFF LF Filter is set to ON LF set to 30HZ Clip Limiter is set to On I am coming out of the HK Preout (#27) using a monster cable RCA to a 1/4" adapter into the 1/4" inputs (#5) on the QSC and using speaker outputs (#8) on the back of the QSC going to the CF-2's.

I have a pair of Klipsch CF-2's driven by a HK AVR55. I've never used an external amp but know that my HK has the ability. I brought home a QSC RMX1450 to try out on my system. The QSC is 280 w/ch @ 8ohm. I hooked everything up but I get no sound out of the main speakers. Here is what I did. Amp is hooked up via my HK. I unplugged the jumpers on the back of the HK and went into the "Main Preout" with an audio cable that has RCA on one end and RCA on the other end attached to a RCA to 1/4" converter. The 1/4" is connected to the input of the amp. I have tried both analog cd in stereo and a Dolby Digital DVD via my digital coax. When watching a movie, the center channel is heard, but nothing from the mains. On the amp, the power light is on but the sig light is not. From my troubleshooting, I have come to the conclusion that the signal is not getting from the HK to the QSC. The fan on the amp is running. I tried turning off the speaker button on the HK thinking that might tell the preouts to send the signal. It just shut off the center channel and still no sound from the mains. I know the amp works because I use it in my youth building (I'm a youth pastor). I know the rca to 1/4" cable works because we use it to connect our CD player to a mixer in my youth building. Is there anything I need to do on the HK to tell it to send the signal via the preouts? This is the first time I've ever tried to use an external amp with my HT. I really want to compare the difference between my 45 watts internal HK amp and a 280 w/ch external amp. [] So any help would be greatly appreciative. The links above have the owners manuals for both the HK and the QSC.

Gotcha. Sorry about that. If I were you, I would upgrade to the RC-64 but keep your existing sub. Try the system out together and if the sub is lacking, then upgrade your sub at that point.

I have to disagree. I think the RC-35 would work fine for your rears but if you buy the RF-83's, the RC-35 will not be voice matched with them. The RC-64 is an amazing speaker and matches the RF-83's very well. If your budget permits, this would be an excellent setup. Not familiar with your sub but my guess is that it will be underpowered compared to the RF-83's.

Any ideas on what you will be asking for it?

A lot of guys around here have recommended the B&K. I personally have not yet stepped into the separates world. Would you be selling your Rotel?

Yes. I am a youth pastor and have 2 CL's and 2 RMX amps currently being used in my youth room. I'm planning on borrowing one this weekend to see how it sounds in my setup at home. [] Thx for the advice on the RCA to 1/4" adapter. I might even have some of those in my youth room. I'll check tomorrow when I go in. I have downloaded the manuals for both amps. We have several of the amps bridged but that will not be necessary in my home application. I would hate to see my woofer come flying out of the speaker cabinet. []

Thanks for the advice Michael. I am not really concerned with the fan noise as I am only borrowing the amps to see what my system would sound like with a solid state amp hooked up to it. The HK is nice but with it only being 45 watts/ch, the sound starts to get kinda harsh with volume at 60 with music. Volume at 45 sounds ideal for the HK. I'm guessing I'm wanting to push the receiver further than it is comfortable doing so I wanted to hook up an external amp to see what kind of difference it makes. It will help me decide what to do when I one day get my RF-83's. I'm sure I'll love the difference it will make, I just wanna get a taste of it with my current setup. [] The last thing I want to do is mess up the HK or the CF-2's in the process. I could probably set the gain of the amp at 1/2 and it still sound fantastic. I'll check Radio Shack for the RCA to XLR converter. Thx for the tip. Anyone have any other comments or suggestions?

Let us know how it's sounds once you get it all setup. Sad the dude is getting a divorce but it's not your fault for the wife selling his equipment. I heard of a lady that found out her husband was cheating on him while he was away on business trips. One weekend while he was away, she had a yard sale of all of his stuff. Selling a very expensive mountain bike for $20 just to tick him off. Then she had the remaining stuff on the lawn waiting on him when he returned.

I have a pair of Klipsch CF-2's driven by a HK AVR55. I've never used an external amp but know that my HK has the ability. I have access to a Crown CL1 or a QSC RMX1450. Both of these are probably commercial amps as they were used in a church youth room. The QSC is 280 w/ch @ 8ohm and the Crown is 275 w/ch @ 8ohm. My HK has Main Pre-Outs but the amps only have speaker line inputs, 1/4 inch and XLR inputs. Is this possible to use either of these amps for a 2 channel setup with my HK? If so, what would be the best method? Thanks.

I too used to own an older Onkyo and it served me very well for many years. I would lean towards the Yamaha or Onkyo myself. I used to have a Pioneer but wasn't too fond of it. It did not have as much power and was not as clean as the Onkyo even though it was 110 watts/channel and the Onkyo was only 85 watt/channel.