belial

For what it is worth, captain, I am going to go ahead and buy that Onkyo. I'll tell you how happy I am with it. I have the Klipsch ref. series speakers, by the way.

I've narrowed my receiver choice down to two, after regretfully ruling out the Outlaw because it doesn't have Prologic II. Two questions: ONE: I can get either receiver from a friendly local dealer who I know for $450, including tax. Does that sound like a good price? I could save a little bit more on the net, but since I know this guy and don't have to worry about shipping, I think this might be my best bet. TWO: WHICH ONE? The Onkyo or the Denon? Right now I'm leaning toward the Onkyo, but it is still a toss up. Any input at all would be most appreciated! This message has been edited by belial on 11-12-2001 at 08:49 PM

I was a skeptic, but now I am a convert. Here is a link to a page which shows both how to bi-wire, and what it can improve. Most of you probably know all about this already, but there others like me who don't ... http://www.soundstage.com/synergize/synergize031998.htm They also have a great link to equipment reviews: http://www.soundstage.com/arc_ts.htm This message has been edited by belial on 11-11-2001 at 05:00 AM

I want to update my opinion on bi-wiring. I was just listening to some regular stereo antenna broadcats, of all thing, just NBC,CBS, etc--and it sounded GREATLY improved. The soundstage just seems much fuller, and the sounds more nuanced somehow. I'm a believer. I say bi-wire.

So? Doctor? What did your test results reveal?

It does help, wm12324. Thanks for your input!

I JUST tried this for the first time on my RB-5's. To test the results, I listened to a CD in regular stereo mode, with one speaker bi-wired and the other single-wired, shifting the balance all the way to the left or the right. For the most part I couldn't tell the difference, BUT there were a few tracks where the high notes were MUCH clearer on the bi-wired speaker, in some parts of certain songs. Why this should be, I don't know. I went ahead and bi-wired my fronts and center. Can I tell a big difference now, especially in home theater, which is what I mostly listen to? Not really. It is easy to biwire with a regular receiver. Take a regular strand of speaker wire, twist the two ends on one side together, and put them into the negative terminal on your reciever. Make sure they aren't touching any other metal part of your reciever, just the negative terminal. Then you take the other side and instead of twisting the two ends together of course, you feed them into the two negative terminals on your Klipsch speaker (BE SURE AND REMOVE THE GOLD METAL GROUNDING PIECES CONNECTING THE TWO SETS OF INPUTS FIRST!) Do the same thing for the positive terminals, and abracadabra--you've biwired your speaker. Let us know how you think it sounds.

Hey, avman, I'll check your site out! Got to say though, my current receiver is a Yamaha-HTR 5240, and I'm not too happy with it, because it provides plenty of hiss in 5.1 mode. It is however, a pretty low down on their line (I only paid $270 for it!), so I'm sure their more expensive receivers are a lot better. Thanks for your respones!

Wow. Thanks for all your excellent responses! They are all helpful toward making this decision a little less confusing for me! Seb, I may try your advice with the friendly dealer in town. I know it sounds odd, but I always feel funny playing "hardball" with someone, telling them unless they can match some internet price I'll have to go elsewhere. I don't know if this guy can afford to match an internet price (or even come close) but I'll ask him ... Talktokeith, I've bought several speakers from sounddistributors and not had a problem with them. Maybe I got lucky, or you had back luck, or some combination of the two? That is sort of the spooky thing about buying online, when two different people can have completely different experiences. Thanks for the warning reguardless! And again, thanks to you all! This message has been edited by belial on 11-09-2001 at 11:57 PM

I want to buy a new receiver, and am debating whether I should insist on Prologic II. I don't care about using it with CDs--plain old stereo sounds just fine to me, thanks--but with videotapes and television, it is a different story. I have read that Prologic II can deploy surround sound on a regular stereo source. Is this true? What about on a mono source? Second question: I get some TV channels through an outdoor antenna and plain old antenna wire attached to my TV. But even when I know some shows are broadcast in surround sound (ER or The Simpsons, for instance) the effects of regular Prologic on my (cheap) Yamaha receiver aren't very impressive. Most of the sound comes through the center channel with some faint bleeding out to the lefts and rights. Is this my receiver, or the fact that I am getting the signal through an antenna and not cable? What do you think?

I have my eye on that very receiver, sounddog, as well as the Onkyo and a few others. I have seen nothing but rave reviews for the Outlaw. Unfortunately, I AM interested in Prologic II, both for videotapes and for regular television reception ... which will be the subject of my next post. Thanks for your input!

Humboldt County. That's in Northern California, in the U.S. I'm only going to be here for another year. I sure do miss going to places like Best Buy and drooling over all the new shiny black home electronics stuff ...

If there were more dealers where I live, Seb, I might be more able to take your advice, but here there are only a couple. One is totally sleazy and his employees have openly lied to me on more than one occasion (he is the ONLY Klipsch dealer here). Another is a really nice guy who I know personally. But neither offer the kind of prices I might find if I lived in a larger area, with more competition and big chain stores like Best Buy or Circuit City. If I drive an hour I can get to a Good Guys, but they aren't much fun to deal with either ... Financially, my best option is to buy online. I don't mean to offer any insult to no doubt excellent salesmen like yourself, so don't take it personally.

I've checked out vendor ratings sites, so what I'm really looking for here is your personal experiences...From what vendors would you buy again? From which would you not? Remember, I only want to buy a receiver, so if the vendor doesn't carry them, it's not what I'm looking for ...

Thanks guys!

So...No one else on this forum has an Onkyo receiver?Text

Hey, thanks a lot shapeshifter! That was a nicely detailed review. I have heard others mention a lack of bass but I have the KSW12 subwoofer so I think that should work out fine. Thanks again!

Guess the Subject line says it all. I'm thinking in particular of Onkyo TX-DS595. Anyone have any experience with this? It is relatively affordable and has gotten rave reviews from what I can see. What do you think? Yes, I know I should just listen to it myself, but I don't have that option where I live, so I want to know YOUR opinion ...

Check here: http://www.audiosurvey.com/cgi-local/mailorder.pl

Though you will probably read my other post on this topic, I have bought from sound distributors several times with very positive (and cheap!) results.

Although I understand Klipsch frowns on this process, I could never have afforded to purchase the setup I have if I hadn't bought online. Combined with the fact that my local Klipsch dealer is comepletely sleazy and lied to me numerous times (RB-5's "only" come in blond wood, the kind they just happen to have in stock, etc) for me, online buying was the ONLY way to go. What you need to do is find a site that rates online vendors with user ratings. Go for someone who has a very high rating and you should be okay. (I personally went with Sound Distributors and had no problems.) Good luck! This message has been edited by belial on 10-31-2001 at 10:54 AM

You should look at the Unhappy in Hometheaterville thread for some pros and cons about Yamaha recievers.

Buy Klipsch online if you want to save money. That is the best advice I can give.

Very nice! Wish I could have my TV recessed in the wall like that. I wonder how having your sub in that niche affects the sound?

You are welcome E Allard. Now I wonder if we are stuck--since everyone stresses how important it is to match Klipsch speakers with other Klipsch speakers ... I have thought of replacing my RC-3 with another RB-5 bookshelf, since I like them, but that would be expensive and I don't know if I could find a place online that would sell me just one. Anyone else unhappy with the RC-3? Any solutions?