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How do you think the new RS-62's would do for rear surround duty, when matched up with existing RS-7 side surrounds and a "classic" Chorus II and Academy front end? TIA, Colin

Thanks, much appreciated. I've long beeen a fan of the Klipsch/Parasound combo, so I'm looking forward to matching up the C2 with my Klipsch Classics. Thanks for allaying my fears regarding product lifecycle. Best, C

Folks, I'm looking to jump back into the equipment upgrade cycle, after having spent the last couple of years on the sidelines. First and foremost is my controller, which is a woefully outdated Parasound P/SP-1500. I've been eyeing the Halo C2, as I know a lot of Klipsch fans have enjoyed great success with this combination. At the same time, I'm a little hesitant to pull the trigger, since the product is almost 2 years old. Does anyone know whether Parasound intends to release its next generation controller anytime soon, or will they be sticking with the C2 for the foreseeable future? Any advice/guidance would be greatly appreciated. TIA, Colin

Sunfire services the Carver line, but typically charges a flat rate of $190 for any repairs. You may want to try Rolland Barr from Hi-Tech Audio, (503) 618-7605. He repaired my Carver Lightstar and did a superb job. He works on all types of Carver equipment (they routinely outsource to him for repairs they can't or won't do). Hope this helps, Colin

JHawk - Exactly right. The KLF-C7 was just too "shouty" when paired with my Chorus II's. You always knew there was a separate center at work. With the Academy, there's simply a seamless front sound stage, with no hint of transition between the mains and the center. Hope this helps, C

I'd bid on these for the picture alone.... http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3088206226&ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:US:1#ebayphotohosting C

Q, I don't think you're Mac dealer is being totally straight with you, or he is seriously misinformed about Parasound. I run an older Parasound pre/pro and it's definitely not bright - the mids and highs are smooth and laid back, if anything. I too am considering the C2, and after auditioning it, I came away impressed that they had managed to maintain its 2-channel neutrality while supporting a host of advanced HT functions. It's on my list of upgrades. A number of other folks are running the C2 on this forum and have reported nothing but positive results. Colin

Colin, Are you running any ground isolation devices like the Mondial Magic? The reason I ask is that I experienced a similar problem, only to find out that the Mondial Magic (at least the unit I had) did not pass the full bandwidth spectrum as required by digital cable. I removed the device and all was fine. Colin (the other one)

As a lifelong Yankee fan who bleeds pinstripe blue, all I can say is "I'm jealous." All of us up here in Yankee land have suddenly developed a certain kinship with the Astros, and will be rooting for you guys this season. Wouldn't a Yankee/Astro World Series be a blast?! Best, C

LOL...I remember that stuff, and all the advertisements for it in High Fidelity magazine. I'm not sure how it may or may not have degraded after all these years. Here's a recent article that references it, along with a potential pitfall: http://www.soundstage.com/revequip/h2l_gold_silver_pens.htm Hope this helps, C

I agree with the other posters on this topic. I run a monster two channel amp for pure stereo listening, and engage my separate two channel amps as required for home theater. If you do decide to go the 2+5 routine (or in my case the 2+2+2 configuration), I would suggest favoring your budget in the direction of a better two channel amp, as opposed to investing the same $ in each channel. You'll find you won't be pushing your surrounds that hard, especially with ultra sensitive Klipsch, making 250 watts x 7 a little bit of overkill. Of course, if your budget permits it, by all means enjoy it! JMHO, C

Folks, Really appreciate all the replies and great input. Looks like my initial trepidation was unwarranted. Of course, I've now fallen down the slippery slope of upgrade-itis. First the changer. Next the pre/pro. Then the monitor. The beauty of this hobby is that it never ends.... Well actually, it stops at the Klipsch. They're staying. Thanks again! Colin

Folks, After years of putting up with my big old Klipsch speakers, more amps than she can count ("what are those big ugly boxes?"), and a dazzling array of remotes ("I only use the one that turns on the TV"), my wife has finally put her foot down. She wants a CD changer. A fair compromise, even it does mean I may be hearing more Enya and Basia than I'd like... After I reluctantly accepted the general concept, she casually mentioned her intention of running down to Costco and buying the Daewoo special. That's when I put my foot down. Displaying a bit of obnoxiousness only a pseudo-audiophile could muster, my immediate response was "not in my system you don't!" Met with a temporary obstacle, her millisecond response was "fine, tell me which one to buy and I'll get it, Mr. Perfectionist." A little reading and research later, I came upon the Sony DVP-CX777ES. 400 disk changer, DVD, SACD, and a host of other goodies. However, I know changers have historically had reliability problems, not to mention sub-optimal audio performance. I'm wondering if this latest generation is any different, and is anyone has any hands-on experience with one of these bad boys. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance, Colin

Bill is right on regarding the Jensen. I have the Mondial Magic, but when I got my new digital cable box, I got a nasty hum the minute I hooked the digital audio output to my pre/pro. The Jensen in-line isolation transformer did the trick, and the hum is gone. Not cheap, but it really works, and as Bill points out, won't impact your digital signal. C

Jhawk, as always, speaks the truth... Use the KLF for now, and keep your eyes open for an Academy at a reasonable price. There's no longer a center after I got the Academy, just a seamless front soundstage. It's the perfect match for the C II's. C

I'll second Tom's recommendation. My wife and I have chartered boats in the Caribbean just as Tom described. You set the itinerary, the menu, and the activities. You can opt to spend the day sunning on the deck, or at the helm of the boat. The last trip we did was in the Leeward islands - we departed from Nelson's Dockyard in Antigua, and proceeded to Montserrat, Guadeloupe, Dominica and eventually Martinique. The whole trip took 10 days aboard a 60' twin mast. The only other advice I can offer is make sure the boat you are chartering has sufficent space for both the captain/crew and your party. Some boats are better designed for charter than others, and sharing a "stateroom" with your wife/girlfriend will put you in really close proximity to one another. These aren't cruise ships, after all. But it's a great experience, and I look forward to our next adventure aboard one. Hey Tom, just curious, what was the name of your captain and first mate? Maybe we've crewed with the same folks. Colin

Nevermind the power or theoretical flameouts (which were a lot more prevalent on the Phase Linears than they ever were on the old Carvers). The problem you're going to face with the magnetic field design in the 1.0t is the hum. Paired with a set of inefficent speakers, it's barely noticeable. But when mated with Klipsch, you'll have it faithfully reproduced, and always in the background. I run later generation Carvers (the Lightstar and 35x). I have no noise and no hum, and the meters happily bouce between .001 watts and 5 watts most of the time. The extra power lends impact to the bass and helps move a 15" woofer, but you'll never use more than a fraction of their total rated power. I bought mine for their sonic signature (laid back and effortless) as opposed to their prodigious power. BTW, way back when I did own a M 1.0t, and when the caps finally self-destructed, it wasn't a flame out, but it was nasty. The amp came to a grinding halt, and I do mean that - it sounded like something grinding within the confines of the chassis. Fortunately, the amp was driving a relatively inefficient pair of speakers, so while the amp's demise was loudly reproduced, it wasn't catastrophically so. I shudder to think what it would have sounded like through my Chorus II's. Colin

Virgin Gorda in the BVI. Three days into your honeymoon, you'll have no idea what day of the week it is, and won't care to find out. C

Ed, Once again you've proven the old adage, "Age is time, and time is relative." Glad to see you're back amongst us. I've been MIA from this forum myself for almost a year, and came back this morning and was greeted with your delightful news. Congratulations, my friend, and enjoy every day. :-) Cheers, Colin

Michael, You are absolutely correct. The Carver gear produced in the 90's, as well as the current Sunfire designs, are all class H amps. There's actually some interesting history regarding the evolution of Carver's earlier topologies (the "infamous" magnetic field amps of the 80's)to today's models as embodied in the Sunfire product line. Jim Croft, one of Carver's lead engineers, led a design team in the early 90's which radically altered the engineering topology of Carver amps. Most of the breakthroughs came as the team engineered the legendary Lightstar amp. The Lightstar was based on the principle of a tracking power supply, which provided high current and could drive almost any load. Carver had tried to build such an amp in the 70's and 80's, but eventually gave up and opted for the magnetic field design instead. The result of Croft's work was the Carver Lightstar, which every reviewer who auditioned it remarked at how absolutely neutral it was. The problem with the Lightstar was that it had to be built by hand, and employed some very sophisticated circuitry in order to achieve a signal tracking voltage that was infinitely variable. The result carried a price tag of $4,000, which took it out of mass market reach. Croft and his team took the learnings from the Lightstar and created a series of Carver amps that utilized a similar topology to the Lightstar, but with design tradeoffs to cut cost. The biggest tradeoff was the application of three discrete rail voltages as opposed to an infinitely variable implementation. The result, as many reviewers observed, was an amp that was very smooth, could drive difficult loads, and sounded remarkably like the Lightstar. The TFM 35x and 55x amps are based on this design, as are the later A-series amps. By this point, Bob Carver had left Carver and founded Sunfire (actually, the board booted old Bob and then proceeded to run the company into bankruptcy). Bob took the original Lightstar design and created Sunfire. The Sunfire amps also feature tracking power supplies. As a matter of fact, the tracking power supply is at the core of Sunfire's subwoofers as well...they are the reason why such prodigious power can emanate from such a small footprint. Bob stated that he "voiced" the Sunfire amps on the side of being slightly warmer than the Lightstar (I believe through the insertion of 1 ohm resistors at the output stages). The Lightstar, on the other hand, has been touted as dead on neutral (nothing added, nothing subtracted). Tube-o-philes who have heard it are amazed at how...shudder to saw..."tubelike" it sounds. If you inspect my signature, you'll see that I own both the Carver Lighstar and the 35x's. The Lightstar powers my mains, and provides a superb 2 channel listening experience. However, it would have been financially and physically impractical to stack these 89 pound beasts to achieve 6 channels of amplication. As a result, I use Carver TFM 35x's for center and surround duty. They match up well with the Lightstar from a sonic perspective, and more importantly, sound excellent with my Klipsch home theater. If anything, the 35x's tend to gently roll-off the high end, and have a bit of a smooth and laid back tendency. Their sonic signature seems to match up well with horns that can be oh-so-foward from time-to-time. BTW, I have really enjoyed this whole thread on digital amps. It's really intersting to see where class D amp design has been, and where it's potentially going. Colin

Folks, Thanks for all the good input - much appreciated. I'll definitely pass on all your comments to my friend and see how she wants to proceed. Thanks again! Colin

Folks, I got a friend into Klipsch some years ago, and started her off with KG 2.5's for a 2 channel system. She then acquired a KV-3 for her center channel as her first foray into home theater. She's now interested in moving the 2.5's to the rear and upgrading the fronts (although she would like to keep the KV-3 if possible). I'm not sure if some of the newer stuff would be a good match, but I also don't think she's going to spend the time sifting through Ebay to buy used gear. Any suggestions? I'm not sure in what direction to send her, and the speaker matching section wasn't much help. Thanks in advance for any help or thoughts you may have. Colin

I take a couple of months off, and now I see one sold for $585.86 last week! I need to up my homeowner's insurance in the morning... C

Mike, My quick reply is that the Forte II has deeper bass than the Chorus II, but the Chorus has more "presence" in the mid and upper frequencies (not sure how else I can describe it). I originally audiitoned the Forte II and loved it, and then the sales guy encouraged me to listen to the Chorus II. The bass was not nearly as deep, but the soundstage was bigger and more dynamic (IMHO). I walked out with the Chorus II's. C

The only thing I can add is that the definition of regular vs. stiff varies by maufacturer, so it's good advice to go swing them before you buy them. I bought my Callaways with firm shafts, but Callaway's firm has more flex than other "firm" shafts. By comparison, I have two Taylor Made woods with "regular" shafts, because Taylor's "firm" shafts were way too stiff for me. Moon is right, this is all sounding pretty obscence in the abtract. JMHO, C