Bill222

Let's say I have a pair of CF-3's, Series 3, and all the guts of a pair of CF-3's, Series 1. To turn the Series 3 speakers into Series 1 speakers, do I just: - replace the crossover network (the entire unit, including terminals, wires, etc. - so no cutting of wires or melting of metal required - just a simple unscrew, disconnect woofers/horn, reconnect woofers/horn, screw back in) - replace the plastic port tubes And that's it? Is there any other difference between the Series 1 and Series 3 CF-3's? Such as - do I need to also swap out the horns and/or woofers?

I'm thinking of "upgrading" a 7.1 home theater room next week. For fronts, mid-surrounds, and rear-surrounds, it's running 6 full-sized speakers from the late '90s (Klipsch KG 5.5 - http://www.klipsch.com/products/discontinued/details/kg-5-5.aspx#specifications). They have 10" woofers, and are rated at 100 watts continuous / 500 watts peak. The center channel is also from the late '90s - a Klipsch KLF-C7 http://www.klipsch.com/products/details/klf-c7.aspx#specifications with 8" woofers, rated at 150 watts continuous / 600 watts peak. The receiver driving them at the moment is a Yamaha RX-V663 http://www.yamaha.com/yec/products/productdetail.html?CNTID=567571&CTID=5000300 which rates at 95 watts per channel, 7 channels. I'm planning on "demoting" the Yamaha from being a full-blown receiver/amp to basically being a pre-processor. I picked up a 7-channel Aragon amplifier - http://www.klipsch.com/products/details/2007.aspx - which is rated at 200 watts per channel. Is something going to blow up if I run the 100 watt KG 5.5's using the 200 watt Aragon amp? I've heard that damage to speakers usually happens from too little power, not too much power. Or that speaker damage comes from distortion - which usually happens when an amp is trying to drive more than it can handle. I expect the big, hefty, single-purpose Aragaon 2007 amp to be able to handle a lot more than the small, light-weight, multi-purpose Yamaha integrated amp/receiver. So - opinions? Guesses? Facts? Am I going to blow a few old speakers next week? Or are they going to sound better than ever? Advice? Thanks, Bill

For my money, monoprice.com was cheaper than the local Lowes or Home Depot - even after shipping. And my Klipsch speakers and Aragon amps don't seem insulted at all by the cheap but well-made copper wire used to connect them.

If you can scrape up another hundred, I like theYamaha RX-V663. I like it so much that I've bought 4 recently - one for my game room, one for my brother, and two for friends. It normally prices at $500, but I've bought them from JR.com (a licensed Yamaha dealer - and I have no affiliations with either them or Yamaha, other than I'm an occasional customer). I called them on the phone and said I know they can sell them for $400 and I need another one for $400 (plus shipping - about $28 shipping) if they want to sell me another one. At $428 delivered I think it's a great receiver. The reason I like it is that it supports the latest losless codecs used on Blu-Rays (so you are playing the same sound signal - bit-for-bit - used on the studio master recordings for the movies). I play my Blu-Rays on a PS3 (I bought it for its Blu-Ray capability, not for games). The PS3 does the codec decoding in this case, so the signal is sent to the receiver as a "multi-channel PCM" signal across the HDMI cable - either a 5.1 or 7.1 PCM signal. Even for my older TV that doesn't have HDMI connections, I still hook the PS3 to the receiver using HDMI just so the receiver has the best sound signal possible (and then run component video to the TV). The losless codecs make movies sound even better than they did before. For that much money I want to be able to take advantage of the "perfect" sound signal for movies available from the losless codecs used on Blu-Rays. When I looked around, the RX-V663 was the cheapest option I could find that had what I needed. Basically, I just needed an HDMI receiver that supports multi-channel PCM. All the other, cheaper HDMI receivers I looked at were "video only" or "pass-thru" for their HDMI - meaning they were just video switches as far as HDMI was concerned and for sound you would have to use a fiber-optic or digital coax cable. And fiber-optic/digital-coax cables can't carry the signal from the losless codecs used for movies. They just don't have the bandwidth. You need HDMI for its audio capabilities in Blu-Ray playback even more than you need it for video. I hope this helped... Bill

I recommend monoprice.com and their "Enhanced Loud Oxygen-Free Copper Speaker Wire Cable", either 12 guage or 14 guage. I'm using 14 guage right now for my 50 foot runs to my rear surrounds (KG-5.5's) and for my mid-length runs to the surrounds in the middle of the room (CF-2s). I'm using 12 guage for the short runs to my CF-3's mains. (I know - that's crazy. The thicker 12 guage should be used in the longer runs, not the shorter, but that's how my wire lengths worked out at the time). Bottom line - all the speakers sound great using this monoprice speaker wire. Of course, I think the great sound is more a factor of the Klipsch speakers themselves, the amps driving them (older Aragons), and a Furman Elite 15 PF power conditioner. But I have not had any problems with the monprice wires.

Wow. I just bought a Furman Elite-15 PF yesterday (last year's model of the current Elite-15 PFi) - and just - wow. I definitely have "tin" ears, but even I could hear the difference in my CF-3's and CF-2's driven by the Aragaon 8008ST and 8008x3B when using the Furman Elite-15 PF to feed the Aragons. It was definitely the "PF" (Power Factor) portion of the Furman that made the differnce. The 4 "Amplifier Output" sockets - also described as "power factor corrected amplifiler outlets - 3 amps RMS reserve - resistive load - over 45 amps peak charge" made a HUGE difference in the naked-ear audible sound quality. Thanks for recommending Furman so I found this PF technology!

I just bought two Aragon amps - an 8008ST and an 8008x3. This is my first experience with using powered amps instead of an integrated receiver. I'm now using my receiver mainly as a pre-amp and to drive the 2 rear-surround speakers. My question is - what sort of power conditioning device(s) should I use for the Aragon amps? The description for the Aragons say they can happily consume all available line voltage ("The only restriction on the amount of power your speakers will receive is the capability of the AC line voltage"). I live in Orlando - also known as "The lightning capital of the world". Even on days with no lighting, we still have power fluctuations on a regular basis. I'm currently using a collection of APC UPS's scattered around the house for stereos/TVs/computers, and about every other day I hear the UPS's kick in, on-and-off quickly as the lights dim and brighten as the power company plays games with the power. Currently, I just have the Aragon amps plugged into a heavy-duty (3-prong) extension cord, plugged into a "surge protect only" outlet in a UPS. Should I be using anything else to "condition the power" or "maintain a constant line voltage"? And if so, what?

I recently bought an 8008x3 and an 8008ST. I'm using them to drive the front 5 speakers in a 7.1 system. The front speakers are CF-3's, the center is a KV-4, and the surrounds are CF-2's. What do you think? Should I use the 8008x3 for left, center, and right - and then the 8008ST for the surrounds? Or should I go with the surrounds and the center for the 8008x3, and then the 8008ST for the left and right mains? Thanks for any info/suggestions, Bill