Just_Strummin

So, I'm sitting here listening to music thinking to myself, how can people fight over a component of music when music is what bonds us together. Well, back to listening to music.

This is pretty remarkable and downright ridiculous. Joe is a long-standing, respected and contributing member of this forum. He has probably owned and listened to more Klipsch speakers than most. Before you “newbies” pop off it would be a good idea to use the search function and get some background information before you open your pie hole. Josh I'm not even a long standing member and although this type of banter happens infrequently, seeing it is unfortunate. Sometimes misunderstandings between members take a life of their own, but to have one member criticize another member is nothing short of unfortunate...particularly when the 3rd party wasn't involved nor mentioned at any time. To Josh's point, tact when posting on a forum of bretheren isn't an art form, it is common sense and if that isn't readily available, then hopefully civility will be. I understand this is the Klipsch forum and maybe discussing other manufactuer's speakers as loftly as these Zu's have been hasn't been appropriate and for that I sincerely apologize if I offended ANY member. I belong to a couple of acoustic guitar forums, and although it's tough to read about the accolades of another brand, I never take offense if the praises of another brand don't include bashing my brand. I didn't see any bashing of Klipsch speakers here, so I'm not sure why discussing Zu's is an issue, but again, I apologize if I offended anyone. That being said, I love my speakers and that has nothing to do with how I feel about Klipsch speakers. J.S.

People love them or hate them. I bought this pair without hearing anything by Zu first. Stupid? Sure! Not the first time and won't be the last. Seriously, I couldn't be happier. The Coincidents were awesome speakers, but the soundstage wasn't as large as I wanted. Granted, that was with a pair of Super Eclipse III's, so it isn't a fair comparison to the Def Pro's. The Def Pro's are a MTM design with 2-10" full range drivers and a super tweeter in the front array (goes down to 40Hz) and the rear array has 4-10" subwoofer that go down to 15Hz. They have to be driven by an external amp (as I posted earlier I'm using the Behringer EP2500) and a parametric EQ. A Rane PEQ-55 came with the pair and allows users to customize the speakers for the listening environment. Users play test tones and measue with a SPL to dial them in (via the Rane PEQ) for their specific environments. They are everything I wanted in a speaker. YMMV. J.S.

Joe, Although this is somewhat redundant with the other Zu post, I thought I'd post here too. Yes, the Def Pro speakers are amazing. By far the best conventional cone speaker I've heard and I'm fortunate to own a pair. Not many of these were built. Driving the front with a Yamamoto A-08S and the rear subwoofer array (down to 15Hz folks!) with a Behringer EP-2500 which scored (independent bench tested against other amps) very impressively vs. other dedicated "subwoofer" amps. Check out subwoofer forums and you'll find the EP2500 has a reputation and following that is almost cult like. It is that good...and cheap. SHHHHH!!!! Don't tell Behringer!!!! The Crown K2 that you have is a really nice amp, and in fact scored a tiny bit better than the EP2500. However, I couldn't find one reasonably priced and the EP2500 was $250 shipped brand new. I have to replace the fan on the EP2500 b/c it is too loud when music isn't loud. Replacement fans are $10 and it takes about 30 minutes to replace it. Other than that, the EP2500 is a freakishly amazing amp for the money. If I could find a new Crown for under $500 I'd buy it in a hearbeat. No fan on the K2, so no noise! Anyway, the Zu's are spectacular speakers. I owned Coincident speakers prior to the Zu's and I LOVED the Coincidents. The Zu's are simply better for my listening enjoyment. Fast, tight, full bass down to 15Hz! Yowza! The front drivers create a soundstage that I've not experienced before in any speaker near their price...or double. They are more lifelike than any speaker I've heard. But, they are so transparent that a bad recording will sound bad. Dead nuetral speakers! A problem in your system is going to be magnified by these speakers. I've upgraded just about everything since I bought them and the differences in my syste are amazing. The last piece of the puzzel was my TT. I bought James' Avid Diva II and I'm dying to compare it to my Roksan Radius V. However, I need an arm. :-( Enjoy! J.S.

Joe, Congrats on the Def Pro's. I'm really loving mine! What amp are you using to drive the subwoofer array? I'm using a Behringer EP2500 which works amazingly, and for $250 for a new one shipped simply can't be beat. The Rane EQ definitely takes time to get dialed in, but wow! These speakers sound so amazing! Absolutely the best "conventional" cone speaker for the price I have ever heard on the used market. Now, I need to replace the fan on my EP2500. A replacement fan is $10 and about 30 minutes of time. Dave

The budget for the project I was working was unexpectedly cancelled by the Board of Directors (we were operating without a CEO). I was let go the day before we left for a 2 week vacation to Europe. Kind of dampered the trip a bit, but seriously not as much as you would think. I was given the day to clear out my personal files off my laptop (no backups from my personal drive to the network), email stuff from my work email account to my personal email accounts, etc... Definitely a professional courtesy that I appreciated. It would have been very easy for me to do something malicious, but why? What good would that have done? As bitter as I felt, I knew that the decision wasn't theirs and even if it was, doing something to hurt someone else isn't going to make me feel any better about being fired. That being said, if a fire burned down their offices as an act of God and no one, including firemen, etc... got hurt...well, I wouildn't lose sleep over it. I'd feel badly of course, but I wouldn't lose sleep over it. [A]

I don't care either way. He's going to play football for some team, and I'm going to watch football on TV. I spent too much money on my HT system not to watch football on it. I won't turn off the game if MV comes in to play. Dog fighting, killing dogs and lieing about it are violations of US laws and most Americans' morals. He got caught, convicted and went to prison. He got out. He's going to work on the football field. Boo hoo. I'm not going to cry if he gets his *** kicked on the football field or a couple of nasty/late hits by guys who haven't been convicted of a crime and who are pissed that he's playing football again. My guess it will be a player who's got kids and he's got to explain all this crap about forgiveness and multiple chances. Regardless if we think he deserves it or not. Especially if he wants to get laid by his wife who is embarrassed that she's married into a fraternity such as the NFL and has to explain it to her girlfriends who are also a part of the fraternity and outside of it. I've got more important things to do than to be pissed off that MV is going to play football again, but I thought I'd communicate that I just don't care. Dave

I agree that receivers are a low-priced, but feature-rich pre-amp for movies. How else can you spend under $500 to get a 7.1 separate receiver. However, I wouldn't use a receiver as my primary amp for stereo listening because I'm a tube guy. The volume I can get out of my 2-watt per channel flea powered amp and a pair of high-efficiency speakers is VERY loud. But, more important to me, the music is vastly better. So, I'd have to spend a lot of money on a recveiver if I wanted to get a receiver to serve as both a high-end stereo amp for listening to music and a 7.1 surrround sound processor for watching movies. I hope my post does not read that I'm against receivers because I appreciate them for their role in entertaining my family. Dave

It's been a long time since I've come across a thread as cool as this! The web is such a valuable part of our lives now. Can you just imagine not being able to sign on and get help from another person somewhere in the world? Thank you Al Gore! :-) Dave

Which home stereo system is best is similar to asking which car is best, which school is best, which house is best, etc... There are so many criteria used to answer that question, but unfortunately the "best" is more of a conceptual journey than a destination. My very first questions would be: Budget? What do you want to buy? Speakers, receiver (integrated amp, separate amp/preamp), universal/blu-ray/cd player and all necessary cables are a minimum. Next I'd ask: What is your room size? What is your timeline? Are you looking to buy for a system that will last you the next year, 5 years, 10 years, etc... To put this into perspective, I started with a receiver, then "upgraded" to an integrated amp, and now I have a separate amp, preamp, etc... My initial budget was about $1k. Ten years later my system is worth about $35k and it is far from the "best", but it is the best I could afford and the best synergy between components. What do I mean by synergy between components? Well, for a *simple and quick* example, my amplifier is a flea powered amp which puts out a whopping 2 watts/channel. I HAVE to use high efficiency speakers (>100) so although there are other speakers I'd like to use (though I love mine) I can't use them b/c they aren't as efficient as the speakers I HAVE to use. Some pieces are a better match than others. I'm not an expert and maybe my opinion is based on limited knowledge and falling for psychoacoustic babble, but I've swapped out various components over the years and the piece that stayed wasn't always the most expensive or "better" piece. I kept the component that sounded the best for me. Which is why asking a question like yours is more of a guide than anything else. It would be like asking us which meal would you like to eat and asking us what should you drink. We can only tell you what something is going to do after you let us know what you want. Do you want a sports car, a SUV or a minivan? Sports car? Great, 2 or four doors. Convertible or hard top. Budget? Color preference? Cloth or leather seats? Etc... Good luck, Dave

"Could be the glue talkin'." In the spirit of Spinal Tap, "I would care if I wasn't so heavily sedated". They may have slowed down the drawer so it doesn't take as much impact which should increase longevity.

I agree with Tragusa3. However, should you need more power, I believe the Integra/Onkyo has pre-outs so you can add external amps (such as Emotiva, Outlaw, etc...) and use the Integra as the central processing unit.

I'm going to wait until the NKOTB (WELL deserving!) period is over so the price drops to $400. I know I'll break down if have to wait too long! Dave

I'm not an expert, but as another posted stated, your speakers should be used up to their bandwidth capacity. A speaker reproduces sound. Speaker manufacturers create speakers that will reproduce sound over a signal frequency range. Let's say a speaker can go from 20Hz (the low end) to 20kHz (the high end). That is a full range speaker. Unfortunately, many speakers will not be able to produce a "flat" signal beyond that range. That means that anything under 20Hz or over 20kHz will not be as loud as the sound between 20Hz and 20kHz. This effect is known as rolloff. For many speakers rolloff is "steep", which means the signal degrades quickly. So, any signal between 20-20 is ideal. I don't know the frequency "limitations" of your speakers but let's say they're 60Hz to 20kHz. Well then, they will produce sound from 60Hz to 20kHz without steep rolloff at the speaker's limitations. That means any signal below 60Hz and any signal above 20kHz will "lose" energy in decibals. The speaker will reproduce sound below 60Hz, but it won't be as loud as the signal betwen 60-20. That is why you use a SUB woofer. The SUB is lower than 60Hz. Some subs can get down really low. How low? REALLY low. Maybe down to 5Hz. That is well beyond human hearing, but you'll feel it. That is the rumble you feel in a movie theather. However, most recordings are between 20Hz and 20kHz because that's how most music is made. Some organ pieces go down to 15Hz, but again most people can't hear it. They'll feel it, but not hear it. So, if a recording only goes down to 20Hz, your sub woofer can't create sound it doesn't get fed. It will only reproduce the sound from the signal it is fed, which in this case is 20Hz. So, should your set up be LARGE or SMALL? Well, the safe thing would be to set it at small if they aren't full range speakers. But, I don't think you'd hurt your speakers if you set them to LARGE because the speaker simply can't reproduce any signal beneath its frequency range with as much volume as it can between its frequency range. That is why you like the LARGE setting. Your speaker is reproducing the lower range, just not as loudly. Therefore, your speakers are covering some of the frequency range your sub is covering. Conversely, some people like to set their subwoofer higher. They want their sub to give some weight to the frequency range that their other speakers cover. For example, your speakers cover 60Hz to 20kHz. Some people may set the cutoff for the sub to be 80Hz, maybe even 100Hz. Why? Again, they want the sub to give some weight to the signal even though their other speakers already cover it. That's why it is a matter of preference and I suggest you experiment to find out what settings you like the best.

A professional set up guy can work with a lot of deviations. The older Linn TT's and especially the early Roksan Xerxes had enough deviations to drive set up people crazy. I think you'll be fine if you're within 1/10th of 1mm for an armboard.

Red - Metallica: Kill 'Em All

You might also want to use a parametric EQ with built in software and a mic to help you calibrate your room's acoustics after you get the room treatments set up. You'll want to use a Test CD with 1/2 tone increments to get the room dialed in. Or use an amp like the Velodyne SC-1250 that will do it in about 5 minutes. It has its shortcomings though b/c it doesn't go below 20Hz without a steep rolloff.

Nicely done, though sometimes feel badly if the stuff is too undervalued and the seller isn't aware. But, I never feel badly enough to the point I don't buy it. I simply make sure the buyer knows s/he might get a better deal than I'm offering, but I'm willing to take it for the price. Clears my conscience.

Could be the power supply. What ever happened to this?

Get an Emotiva amp. If you're lucky, your receiver has pre-outs. Otherwise, you'll need a pre-amp too. At that point, start from scratch.

The more I learn about electronics the more I realize I know nothing! Now I'm incorporating Pro audio into my home stereo system and it is quite an eye opening experience. Two world coliding for sure!

I'm definitely in the minority. I fell asleep watching it three times. I know everyone enjoyed it, so I'll have to catch it on cable.

I'm there just about every other year. Love the city and free music!

Sorry, but this movie has not and will not make my to watch list. I've seen snippets while on cable every once in a while and NOTHING warranted me watching it entirely. Two hours of my life I wouldn't be able to get back.

I saw Up and Transformers. Two completely differenct genres. Can't miss with either and I'm sure you already know which mood you need to be in to see each movie.