[Heresy / KG / Vaulted ceilings advice]

Thanks for the responses. Keep them coming. I might also mention we have hardwood and lots of window in this room as well. There is plenty of furniture and rug to take down the reflection, but another reason to install the speakers up high is the room is already laid out with our L shaped couch and two wing backs so there isn't a really good 'listening position' anyway. Better laid out for the women folk to sit around and chit chat, opposed to me blasting music.

The room is actually wired for 4 speakers and a sub in the corner. The wires for the other two speakers come in from the ceiling from the transition to the kitchen and I was planning on just leaving them blanked off, but now that I am looking at it, perhaps it would work to have speakers placed here instead of on the opposing wall.

I will try to post a few pictures tomorrow.

[Heresy / KG / Vaulted ceilings advice]

WAF won't let that happen. Has to be wall mounted off the floor and out of the way. Plus, we have a 1 year old an another due in March, so I don't want to risk a little one feeding a Heresy horn a PB&J sandwich or drawing on them in permanent marker some day. Perhaps 10 years from now the speakers can go on the floor.

[Heresy / KG / Vaulted ceilings advice]

We moved recently and I now have a 20 x 24 living room with 14' ceilings to fill with sound. The room itself is already wired for two speakers 8' off the floor about 15' apart and are currently inhabited by the lamest, cheapest Sony Wal-Mart style black box satellites you could every have the displeasure of hearing. The boss is in full control when it comes to decor and whatever I get must be in either a "wood" color finish (i.e. oak, birch, walnut).

Here is what I am thinking so far:

Option 1 would be a set of Heresy I or II however I am concerned it would be extreme overkill running them 8' off the floor and putting big shelves or mounts that high up might be unsightly. Good thing about these is they could be moved to the office down the road and there is no doubt that they are very pretty speakers.

Option 2 would be a KG 2 which might be a better fit for the room without giving up too much speaker, a guy on Ebay has a set for sale that is very reasonably priced.

The speakers are going to be driven with a fully restored Marantz 2226B. Probably 90% FM stereo for background noise, but I may end up moving my Velodyne sub from the theater to support this system, as the room is wired for it. I know I would personally be much more inclined to stream good recordings to it if the speakers were better.

So I guess the basic question is this: Is it worth it to purchase Heresy, even if the room placement is not exactly ideal or should I just save my money and go with KG's as the room is going to handicap the Heresy anyway. I would be grateful to hear from anyone that has been in the same situation or has experience with big abnormal rooms / vaulted ceilings and KG / Heresy etc.

Thanks in advance,

Ryan

[Finally... La Scalia's local on CL!]

Thanks for the input...

What exactly am I checking for using a AA battery? Just tie it in to the terminals and listen for... what? Humming? Energizer Bunny?

The market is TIGHT up here for any sort of high end audio equipment, as Islander has pointed out. I rarely see quality equipment come up for sale locally. I don't mind buying a $100 pair of bookshelf KG-1's sight unseen from Ebay or down south, but purchasing a set of La Scala, seeing and hearing them before hand is worth at least $100 right there. Add to it FedEx or UPS isn't going to lose them or charge me $300 in shipping, $1500 seems like a fair price.

If he did a good job refinishing them and upgraded (not really sure if the woofer is an 'upgrade') that would have to count for something.

I will keep you guys posted.

Can't demo until next week...

Thanks again for the input.

[Finally... La Scalia's local on CL!]

http://anchorage.craigslist.org/ele/2501659200.html

Not a bad price either...

Any La Scalia owners want to chime in on what to look for when demo'ing these speakers?

Thanks

[Might be building a new house!]

We are looking at building a new house and I am planning on leaving an un-finished basement for a HT room.

I am looking for ideas.

I have a RF system but think I will upgrade to Heritage down the road. Maybe 3 LaScalia up front and 4 Cornwalls in the rear. I would like to have a in-ceiling drop down projector screen.

What size room should I go with? I had read some ratios somewhere. 1:1.24? I am also thinking about 9' ceilings in the basement.

I would love to hear some ideas from people that have done something similar, specifically, anything I need to consider during initial construction. I likely wont build the HT room for a year or two.

Thanks!

[Better to buy 2 more expensive surrounds or 3 / 4 less expensive?]

This is good advice.

Don't buy 4 gyppo speakers just to get 7.1. Since there isn't much material yet encoded with true 7.1, you won't notice that much difference between 5.1 & 7.1. So I would spend my money on two decent surrounds. Check Audiogon or even look at the RS-52I's or RS-62I's, I got mine cheaper because they were discontinued and I think they look better without the rounded grill cover.

[Adding a second sub (5.1 set up) with RT-12D]

I know EXACTLY how you feel. I don't think it is possible to get enough clean, loud, solid, tight bass. Eventually, I would love to get 4 subs. But it really isn't an option now because there is absolutely no way to accommodate 4 subs in my current room. Keep an eye on Audiogon for a good deal and save those pennys!

[HT Upgrade: Too Much Power?]

I agree. Don't worry about 'too much power', I have never heard of 'too much power'. What you do have to worry about without running separate amps is 'too much distortion' from a under-powered ARV which can damage your speakers if you turn the volume up too high and don't have your speakers crossed over properly. I don't know much about the newer Denon receivers, any of them that have all the features you want should be fine. Plenty of good brands out there. Sony, Yamaha, etc.

[Setting up a Home theater]

Nice equipment for a first time set up!

Note: This is all personal preference, whatever sounds best to your ear is going to be best, but I would say it is better suited for HT than music right now. The only reason I say that is there is only one sub and you don't have a amp running your mains. I am very particular about my music though and really enjoy having an amplifier and duel subs to both widen and balance out the soundstage. Does that receiver run 7.1? If it were me, I would invest in a 2, 3 or 5 channel amp and a second sub. No idea how to setup a turntable, doesn't it just have two RCA audio outputs like any other component? There has to be something in one of the manuals or on the manufactures website.

[Prepurchase question]

I too like the closet idea for the TV. Get your mains as far apart as you can and toe them in. Then set your rears just behind you on either side of the listening position in front of the door. How does that sub sound up against the crawlspace door? If it is hollow core I bet you get a lot of resonance. If so, try moving it to either a hard corner or just inside the right or left speaker. Corners give you better low end but moving them one way or another along the wall gives you smoother bass. Heck, you might even like it right next to the couch. Play it right where your listening position is and then crawl around the walls. Wherever the bass sounds the best, that is where your sub should go. Oh, and the center might sound a bit more natural, and even if it is underneath the TV instead of on top.

Nice setup!

[Sub(s) with Heritage HT?]

Thanks Bill,

I am looking to do a pretty large room, 20' minimum on the short wall, and hopefully closer to 30' so I am not too worried about saving space. I guess I just like to have my speakers all out in the open so they are easy to tinker with and look at. Besides, what if they come out with a LaScala III that is slightly deeper, taller, wider? If you build a room around individual component, it is just more of a headache to change things around.

Getting back to subs, have you seen the new JL in-wall? It would be impressive to see 4 of those things running at once!

http://home.jlaudio.com/products_subs_pages.php?page_id=46

[Sub(s) with Heritage HT?]

I can imagine that those speakers are phenomenal. I am still just brainstorming, but I think I would still pick the heresy's or cornwalls just for aesthetics and personal preference. A 7.4 or 9.4 system in a dedicated room with all those heritage speakers in all their glory would be a beautiful thing IMO. I suppose a major consideration is to decide upfront weather you are going to go completely stealth and build the room around the speakers flush mounted or behind false walls or build a room where you have everything out in the open with wall plates to hook up speakers. Plenty of pros and cons to each.

[Speaker help]

wstanger:

Have you looked at audiogon.com? There are some good deals on all things audio and they have a blue-book that tells you what a reasonable price is for used equipment. They also have another cool forum. I bought a sub, two amps and sold a set of towers on Audiogon, cool community.

[Sub(s) with Heritage HT?]

Bill,

I am hesitant to hide my speakers in the wall as I enjoy having them out in the open to look at. On the other hand, a 'stealth' or 'sleeper' install and you don't have to dust them or worry about someone setting their drink down on them. I was thinking the same exact thing about the screen & TV. 150" screen with my 52" plasma on the wall behind it. I wouldn't want to burn up bulbs watching the nightly news.

[Sub(s) with Heritage HT?]

If you are really thinking about a 'fantasy' system, I would recommend getting the real deal for side and rear effects speakers. I previously used 4 cornwalls for rear and side effects. I finally broke down and purchased the KPT-12-VB and KPT-1201. Best move I ever made for true effects. You don't have to go with the 12" drivers, they have an 8" version if you wish. Those are worth every penny.

Wow. That is a pretty serious set up.

How much did those set you back if you don't mind me asking?

[Prepurchase question]

Thanks for the replys.

"what are you ultimately trying to accomplish" -- my goal is to obtain the best sound quality possible

"Are you using an amp or are you going to just run the whole thing off an ARV" --- I have a AVR atm but have money socked away to upgrade to a pre/pro and amp. I am looking at the Integra 80.2 / 70.1 combo

"Do you just want some surround sound for movies or do you want to make your ears bleed with 5 channel stereo at reference levels" ---- I rarely play my system overly loud but expect the ability to be there.

If that is the case, go with the RF-82II towers up front. I absolutely love my RF-83's, they sounded much more life-like compared to the 63's when I demo'ed mine, especially when you throw an amp into the mix. That is also a good idea to add a RC-62 center and move the RC-52 to the rear.

[Sub(s) with Heritage HT?]

Again, thanks for the info. I am brainstorming on a 'fantasy system' for our new house that we may or may not end up building. I was thinking 3 RLC La Scala's (Center La Scala laid on it's side?) 4 JL f113's in the corners and 4 Heresy or Cornwalls for the rear.

[Prepurchase question]

Couple of things.

First, what are you ultimately trying to accomplish by adding two rear speakers? Are you using an amp or are you going to just run the whole thing off an ARV? Do you just want some surround sound for movies or do you want to make your ears bleed with 5 channel stereo at reference levels? I would go with towers in the rear if I could and I am 50/50 HT / Music.

I have never heard RS-xx or any 'surround' speakers that can hold a candle to full range towers in the rear. If aesthetics / space / room considerations factor in or you otherwise decide to go with RS surrounds though, I personally felt the RS-52's were every bit as good as the RS-62's in a side-by-side comparison and ended up getting the discontinued RS-52I's over the RS-52II's or RS-62II's because I didn't care for the look of the newer RS-II's with the rounded grills and only paid $600 vs $1200 for the RS-62I!.

[Help choosing a sub]

Is there anyway you could find a local dealer and listen to these two subs? I don't know all the technicals surrounding Class D vs BASH amps, but they are both rated at 200 watts and both sound fine. Class D's are older style and BASH hybrids are newer. On paper, these two subs are nearly identical. The SW-450 has 115 db max output and the SW-110 has 113 db max output. They weigh the same and are nearly exactly the same size with the SW-110 with a very slightly smaller footprint. I see the SW-110 has a 1 watt standby mode power saving feature (you might save $2 per year in electricity!). Gun to my head and based on my enjoyment of the KSW-200, I would take the SW-450.

[Adding a second sub (5.1 set up) with RT-12D]

From my experience, mix-matching subs is a bad idea.

I started out with a Klipsch KSW-200 and added a Velodyne SPL-1200R for a decent price, the sound was so uneven and goofy that I dropped the KSW-200 altogether and used the SPL-1200R exclusively. I then moved and the SPL-1200R wasn't big enough for my room, so I bit the bullet and bought a JL f113, now the JL totally out-plays the Velodyne and I desperately want another JL f113 to balance the system out again. For all the playing around, tweeking, adjusting and swapping equipment, knowing what I know now, I would just plan on buying two of the same subs just like your main R/L speakers from here on out. Of course, if you are really getting a smoking deal on a piece of equipment, you may as well buy it and re-sell it at a later date when you want to upgrade. As far as running the extra sub off the output of the first, I have always spit the signal off the receiver.

[Help choosing a sub]

The only way to pick a sub at this price point would be to get one of each and demo them at your house, IMO.

If you have a decent dealer, give them a deposit and they should let you borrow one of each for an in home demo before you decide. My dealer lets me take all sorts of stuff home to try out before I buy. Move them around the room and see where they sound best. Or a quick way to do this is place the sub in the listening position and crawl around the walls and see where the bass sounds best, that will be the best place for the sub. Personally, I can't give any of these subs a thumbs up as I have never been impressed with anything less than a 12" driver. Look at the Sub-12, it is only slightly more expensive. I had a KSW-200 that I owned from 1996 to 2007 and it was one of the best sounding, loud and versatile sounding pieces of equipment I ever owned. It looks like the Sub-12 is built in the same vein.

If you are stuck between the three, I would automaticly cross the SW 350 off the list because of the 8" woofer. The SW 450 and SW 110 should be neck and neck.

Good luck!

[Sub(s) with Heritage HT?]

Interesting read, thanks.

So from what I gathered 4 subs either in the corners or midway on the walls in the middle of the room are marginally better than 2 subs in the corners or midway on the wells in the middle of the room. I moved my subs out of the corners just to the inside of the mains because they provide plenty of bass and my towers benefited from the wider placement.

But now this begs the question, what to do if you are designing a room from scratch? If, for example you had a pair a Khorns in the corners, you have to place the subs midway in the room along the walls. Can you place a center channel in front of it? Or would you go with two centers split flanking the sub up front? Or if you decided to place your subs in the corners for maximum low frequency, could you place your towers (lets say LaScalias) toed in in front of the subs in the corners?

[Sub(s) with Heritage HT?]

Bill,

Do you have any links to the 'pair of subs' papers you mentioned?

My room isn't really optimized for a HT system as we have a big open living room that connects to the kitchen. But when we build our next house I am going to design a HT room. I only have one JL f113 and can't wait to get another one. It is seriously a world class sub.

[Original Boxes -- Keep?]

I keep them.

If you are never going to move or sell them. Ever. Then you can get rid of the boxes.