t-man

The midrange on my 4.5s is more pronounced and the bass is tighter. The 4.5s are a bit less forward and therefore less fatigue on extended listening. I just tried them for a while in my living room upstairs. Much larger room, open spaces to kitchen, hallway, and dining room, vaulted ceiling, and hard floors. I had them off the floor on the fireplace hearth about 18". Hooked up to my H/K amp - sounded good, but not great. I'm relearning this speaker's shortcommings. This room is far more challenging than my lower level HT room or office bedroom. I can't seem to make any speaker/amp setup I've tried WOW me in that living room. I think I'll be using the KGs next in my office after I rearrange some furniture. I think they will sound fantastic in this bedroom size area. They are keepers for now... especially at the prices these brings on the current used market.

Better or worse than your 4.5? I also had 5.5s - I think the 3.2s are more laid back and less fatiguing to me than the 5.5s, but the 5.5s are bass king and much more efficient. When I upgraded from 3.2s to the 5.5s way back in the day I was surprised that the difference wasn't as great as I anticipated. The only time I heard a pair of 4.2s was also in college and my breath was taken away. Big Head Todd was cranking out some Bittersweet, and I simply couldn't get enough of those sweet sounding speakers. I had to make due with my 3.2s at the time, but I was still happy. Especially since they were so easy to move. I think I moved those speakers no less than 9-12 times while I owned them - never caused any moving damage either! They are a nice compact size for what they can accomplish - the Mighty Midget Klipsch!

I'm game, but only if I can play the same music (I have, but it ain't pretty) and drink the same amount of beer (I can't) as back in my fraternity days. Part of my pre-finals ritual was to sit back in my couch and blast these as loud as I could stand for 10-15 minutes prior to going to take a test. It worked well to clear my head a bit and relax me. Of course, the post test ritual was the same (:

17" stands - I like it! I wish I had a good need/location for these in my house right now. Time to clean up the clutter in my office?

I think they will suit you fine for movies. I love mine, and they look just like little Heresys!

I've also owned RB5, RB35, and RB81s. They can't come close to touching the KG 3.2s. Granted, the KGs are larger, but not really THAT much larger. They certainly are much better built and better looking.

I will start by saying that I believe the KG 3.2 is one of the most under-appreciated Klipsch speaker I've had the pleasure of owning. When I purchased my first pair of Klipsch speakers in college back in '92, I had to scrape up all the money I could to bring home my lovely pair of KG 2.2s. They suited me fine for about 8 months, but they didn't have all the "oomph" I needed. I was able to trade up at the local HiFi store into some KG 3.2s. NOW, that was what I needed. A set of these in a typical 8x10 college room was magical. I had all sorts of room partys, dragged them out into the hallway, blasted them hard, beat them hard, and they always delievered without failure. They followed me to my first home, where eventually, upgraditis set it and I had to let them go. Fast forward to today - I found a local pair listed in CL. I certainly don't need any more damn speakers, but these were listed as Walnut. I've never seen a pair of Walnut KG 3.2 - I figure they must be fairly rare. No condition was stated, so I figured they were beat up 20 year old speakers. Turns out, they were kept in a cabinet for 20 years by the original owner who never moved them! Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised by the condition. They are beautiful. I took them home and hooked them up after giving them a cleaning. Instant magic! These things truly sing exactly like I remember 20 years ago. I've tried KG4s and Heresy IIs, and these smaller 3.2s are much better sounding IMO. Lots of bass! Smooth, not overly bright. I believe these are truly fantastic little 2 ways, and highly versatile. I think they would work/look great on 17" stands as well. Enjoy the pics.

If you like the music, and you like the movies, the speakers/receiver is not your problem. Try forcing your TV settings (on the receiver) to downmix everything in stereo 2.0. Also, turn off the dynamic volume (if you have that). TV broadcasts can be frustrating. It's not your cable, dish, setupbox, it's the lack of standard in TV broadcasts. I still use OTA antenna for all my TV, so I only have the networks and individual show mixing to blame. I would never use TV as any sort of reference when comparing audio gear! Also, make sure your receiver's tone settings are all flat or disabled. Have you calibrated your system?

Who ever is mixing this show this year is likely the same as last year, and needs to step down. I use OTA, and it feeds the 5.1 signal automatically to my receiver. The show's mix is terrible. You can't hear the voices, and the surrounds are really hot. I have to override my receiver to downmix to stereo in order for it to be tolerable. This was not the case for X Factor (also a Fox show). And definitely not the case for The Voice (NBC). The 5.1 mix for The Voice is much much better than IDOL. BTW, IDOL has gone downhill (talent aside) as soon as Simon left. He was the only one who could actually discern talent and wasn't afraid to share his HONEST opinion. The judges now are so patronizing, it makes me sick. Tyler is the worse of them. Why even ask them what they thought, when it's the same unhelpful crap for each contestant.

Sorry for the poor info - I was mistaken. You are so lucky to have found that single Quartet at such a great price, too!!! Yes, the passive radiator is on the back, so placement can get tricky. Good luck - if you make sure to cross it over so the sub handles the bass below 80 or even 100 hz, it may not matter as much.

Yes, the Academy will work great. If you have room for the Heresy, go with an HII (Tractrix) instead of an original Heresy. In a pinch, you can also try a KV3 (can be found used in the $100-125 range) until you find exactly what you want. The KV3 worked very well for me and sounded nearly as good as the Academy when I was running it with my Quartets. It all depends on room layout and what you can fit in most cases.

Those look killer! Wow, I am impressed. Love what you did with the contrast and everything. I like how you redesigned the front - one thing that always bugged me about these KLFs is how the front grill hides the ENTIRE front of the cabinet. Sort of boring, I think. Not yours! Please invite me over for a listen when they are ready and I promise to do the same (I sold my 30s, but I still have a great set of modified 20s).

No surprise to me on the PM665. Those H/Ks are awesome. Great looks, great performance, and great price on the used market. I picked up a sweet PM645 Vxi on local CL for $20. It's amazing. Granted it's doing light duty in my office with the KG1s, but it is so effortless compared to the more expensive vintage Yamaha it replaced and sounds 10x better.

All the baffles had issues with adhesion - hence the repair. They still work just fine now.

I did not use fasteners- I used PL PREMIUM construction adhesive (Home Depot). Yes, cleaning up old adhesive and sanding prior to fixing is a good idea. I did not wish to change/alter the appearance of my speakers from stock by adding screws, so I just glued/clamped/waited. I don't think it is necessary to use the screws, but that's just my opinion. You may find you will have to do some recessing of the 1x1s around the port area for clearance. I also had the woofer areas recessed a bit, but probably not necessary as the basket it tapered on the woofers and would likely not interfere.

Remove the grills and proceed to push as hard as you can with your hand/fingertips on the front and rear baffles near the edges and look for any signs of movement as you push. Go up and down the whole thing. If there is any movement at all, you have an issue. Now that I know what to look for, it's quite easy to diagnose.

Congratulations. I love my KLFs. I had to repair the front and rear baffles as mentioned in this post on both of my mine, too. Just ran solid 1x1 top to bottom in all inside corners and it is working great. The previous owner honestly had no idea there was an issue, and I'll bet most current owners aren't aware of the issue, either. I've also since had Crites rebuild my crossovers and installed his Tweeter diaphragms. The KLF 20s are simply amazing, and will be with me for the long haul. http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/p/157442/1662112.aspx#1662112

Hey guys, I just finished replacing the tweeter Diaphragms on my KLF 20 and KLF C7. I also went ahead and recalibrated with Audyssey. No oily mess for me. Was an easy and straight forward process. I really liked the way my system sounded prior to the change, and I like it now, too! Hard to tell the difference without a direct A/B comparision since I was very pleased with the performance before. Troy

Interesting. I've also found that there are several important variations in how they built the cabinets within the KLF 20 short run. I suppose there may be more and more variations with speakers of the same model than we may think.

Heritage - I've tried two sets of HIIs (didn't care for them) and a set of Quartets (had these in place for over a year). I loved the Quartets, but the KLFs nudged them out a bit, and certainly look a lot better to my wife (that's important). I had them on stands, and was also worried about my kids knocking them over. I'm sure I'll get another set of Quartets or Forte II in the future if I ever have a space I could use them in. I think the KLFs, with the 3 way design and classy tall tower asthetics are a very nice speaker indeed. []

My new diaphragms arrived yesterday. I look forward to the conversion this weekend! Between the Ti tweeter diaphragms, Bob's crossover rebuild, and the cabinet improvements I've made to an already MINT set of KLF 20s, I'm excited to have such an awesome set of Klipsch speakers. I'm never getting rid of them!

I"ll make this easy on you: Do you have a SWMBO? If so, KLF 20. All of the speakers on your list sound great, no doubt. The Fortes can probably be found the cheapest. Another option might be a set of Quartets on 15-17" stands. This last option will be the least expensive by far, but sound nearly as good IMHO.

I would be interested in more results of the experiment. I would have no trouble running external ports with a 90 degree elbows in the rear if I knew it produced a notable improvement. Troy

I'm about to do the same mod - haven't taken mine apart yet. Please let us know what you find out from Bob.