belial

I know I'll get killed for asking this question, but ... there's no way to actually paint the CONES, is there? I mean, without messing up their sound capabilites? I know, I know, it would be impossible, but I don't LIKE that gold color! Many, I'm sure, disagree, but, I'm sorry to say, I am right and you are all wrong. With the possible exception of the cabinents, speakers should be all one color. You could have one color for the cabinents and one color for the front without the grills, but that's about it. Don't bother putting up an argument abou this, because it's just the natural way things should be. Okay, I'm kidding, kind of, but personally, I do strongly feel that way. And my first question, as stupid as I know it must be, stands. ANY way to turn those cones black without defeating their purpose in the first place? I'll send you an autographed picture of myself if you can find a way. This message has been edited by belial on 05-27-2001 at 03:12 PM

Uspar, what is this "klipsch.com" of which you speak? And I always thought the RF was number 3.

I forgot to offer you this link to audioreview.com, and it's Quintet reviews. For me this is the best user-written review site out there by far. Klipsch usually scores quite well, but then Klipsch users tend to be very loyal. I find it helpful to scan many different opinions when buying speakers, but remember, nothing beats actually listening to them yourself. Check out user reviews for the Quintet right here: http://www.audioreview.com/reviews/Speaker/product_7742.shtml

Whoops. This message has been edited by belial on 05-26-2001 at 08:55 PM

You can't order online, Norman? I'd say that's he way to go. I do, and the dealer here is only 15 minutes away.

I am NOT a Quintet (no need for italics) owner, so maybe I shouldn't be responding to this, but I have seen other threads where some owners complained that the center is a little weak--they wanted to upgrade to a better center. I have also been told this system is suited for HT far more than it is for music ... Hope that helps.

M-mmm-m .... catfish.

You're glad something "good" came from "Hope arkansaw," afraid? You mean in comparison to the just absolutely fantastic deal the whole country is getting from Midland, Texas? I think you are right. It is about time oilmen ruled the U.S.--in office as well as in reality. When big business finally controls everything, all of our lives will be much better.

As always, it is great to see the rapid, thoughtful responses one gets on this board! You guys have all but convinced me--especially when Collin said this: "On lower cost speakers, the high end often gets mashed together into a hissing or sizzling sound" That was what I didn't like about the SC-1! I've posted about this before, but had trouble explaining what the problem was. On some high sounds, like a woman's voice, I would get almost a kind of crackle that was distracting. I think the fact that Klipsch speakers are known to sound bright didn't help either. So if the Reference series is better in this respect, then that is a very BIG factor for me. Of course a lot of people have the SC-1 and don't seem to have the problem I had, and thought it was my reciever or something else, so who knows. boa12--no, I haven't actually owned the SF-2's--I just listened to them in the local shop and thought they sounded terrific. I bought the SC-1 first, as my first step toward building a HT setup (I also have the KSW 12). As I said I didn't like the SC-1 and have sent it back and ordered the RC-3. I've been agonizing over whether to go with my original choice of the SF-2, or bump up to the RF-3, and I think I know which I'll choose now. Thanks for letting me know about the options with the feet--believe it or not that makes it easier for me to choose the RF-3, because if I don't like the way something looks, it always bugs me! ( but I also have thin carpet, so I hope that won't be a problem ... no pets or kids to knock the speakers over though. )That reminds me--I read someone's review where they said the feet made a HUGE difference in the quality of sound. Is this true? bensilb--thanks for your input too! I would disagree with someone who argued that bose looks better than Klipsch though. Not only do Klipsch sound better, they beat those little black cubes in looks anyday of the week. Thanks again for your thoughts!

I know a lot of you will think this is a no-brainer ... I have heard the SF-2 and really like its design. I haven't heard the RF-3, and don't think it looks anywhere as nice as the SF-2. I don't like the grill or those weird (IMO) little feet the RF-3 has ... But I know a the RF-3 is supposed to sound a lot better. My question? How much better do you think it sounds? I'd like to hear from everyone, even people who've only listened to the RF-3 and don't own it, because I suspect if you own it you might naturally be biased towards that model. I want to hear from you RF-3 owners as well, don't get me wrong, I just want to hear from anyone who has heard both and has an opinion, period. I had the SC-1 center, that goes with the SF-2, and am trading it in towards the RC-3 center, because I wasn't all that impressed with the SC-1. So that is one strike in favor of my buying the RF-3, I guess. What's your opinion?

I have bought a center channel and a sub online. I don't believe Klipsch backs the warranty, but the site claims that it does. Though I'm not happy with the center channel, I don't think there's anything wrong with it--I just don't like the way it sounds. As for my online experience, so far it's been fine, and I definitely saved myself some money. I will continue to buy online. There are online vendor rating sites that can help you choose where to buy, like: http://www.audiosurvey.com/amos.html Since Klipsch frowns on online vendors, send me an email if you want to know who I bought from.

Here's the deal: I listened to the Klipsch SC-1 center with some SF-2 towers at the local dealer and thought it sounded awesome, so I decided to put together an HT/stereo system with those components. Because I'm not exactly wealthy, the first thing I did was buy the SC-1 from an online dealer. Set it up, and it just didn't sound very good! Thin, very narrow sound, almost like a boombox. On some particular sounds, like women laughing or cloth rustling, it sounds a little "crackly" to my ears. I tried tweaking the dB level relative to the embarrassingly cheap (RCA!) towers I have now, but it made no difference. I added the KSW-12 subwoofer to help round out the sound, and it did help, but not enough. I don't think it is my Yamaha receiver, an HTR-5240, because my last center, a Paradigm, sounded much better. Thinking I had maybe got a bad Klipsh center, I drove an hour to another dealer and bought one, planning to compare. Took it home, and it sounds the same. While at the dealer I listened to a Polk center in comparison, and thought it sounded MUCH cleaner, with the vocals far more defined. I'm a Klipsch fan. I love Klipsch speakers. But their centers just don't sound right to my ears. Other than the dB level, what other tweaks do you guys think I should try? I already went from "small" to "large" and back again with the settings on my DD receiver. Anything else? ANY advice or help is much appreciated!

I know many of you will think this is heresy, but I just don't like the way Klipsch centers sound, but I love the way the SF-2 towers sound. So .... I tried a few Polk centers and - this is just my personal opinion now - I liked them a lot better. Polk claims that one of their centers has "nuetral toning balance and high power handling" which means it "works well with other-branded front speakers ... " Is that just BS? Could I mix a Polk center with those SF-2 towers and blend them together? What do you think?

Thanks for your answer,jefnel1! Judging from what you said, I think I'm going to go with the RC-3 center, since it sounds like it will have much better vocal clarity, and not just better bass, which I don't care about as much. Now I just have to figure out if I want to upgrade to the RF-3's as you suggested. Believe it or not, I like the size and look of the SF-2 (which I haven't actually purchased yet) a lot more than the RF-3, which has a different grill and is a little bigger. But I think I'll go take another look based on your suggestion. Thanks again!

Here's the deal. I have an SC-1 center, and it just doesn't sound good to me. I've heard many say that the RC-3 center is vastly superior, so I thought I'd upgrade with that. But will it class too much with the sound from my SF-2s? I can't buy the RC-3 locally, so I have to order it online, which means I can't listen to it before hand, unfortunately. Since the bass will be sent to my woofer, I don't care about center bass as much as I do overall sound clarity. Will the RC-3 bring me more clarity? All responses appreciated!

bensilb--you know the woofer sound I mean! It was so strong it made the windows in my kitchen rattle from thirty feet away ... avman, I think you're right--I only needed a mono RCA jack from the woofer out to the L/LFE jack. I wonder if that has been causing me any problems? Thanks for both of your responses!

So how do you download them? When I click on the link for the ksw-12, the pdf. pages just start loading on the net (which takes forever and never seems to finish). How do I actually download the manual?

avman--you saved me!!!! I went back and checked the optical digital out connection from my DVD player and the mini-earthquake from the sub must have shook it loose, because when I re-inserted it--PROBLEM SOLVED! Man, I appreciate your advice. I was thinking I had to get a whole new reciever! I think I might have a bad Y-shaped dual RCA plug from the mono-woofer output on my reciever to the dual right and left LEF inputs on my woofer ... which might have caused the quake to begin with. Thanks again!

I'm cursed, that's what it is. I should just give up all my home electronic equipment and go live in a cave. I finally got my KSW 12 subwoofer hooked up to my fledgling home theater system. It seemed to be working okay, and then last night when my girlfriend went to turn the reciever off something weird happened--almost like feedback from the woofer, but I'm not sure if that's what it was. It actually made our whole house shake. Turning the volume down on the reciever had no effect, only turning the woofer off stopped it. I tried turning it on again, and it started building up to earthquake level again. I unplugged everything and rechecked all the connections and when I plugged it back in it seemed back to normal. I think I tested everything on a DVD movie and it seemed to check out okay. Then today I notice I'm not getting sound out of the left channel. I try EVERYTHING--removing the woofer, switching speakers, changing the wire, etc--and nothing works. The left channel on my reciever appears to be dead. It doesn't even work through the headphone jack. I switch from speaker set A to speaker set B, and now I can get sound through both channels when I use my VCR(!) but nothing from the DVD player or the TV, which I guess just means they won't work with speaker set B. What happened? Since nothing feeds from my woofer back to my reciever, I'm inclined to believe it is not my new woofer's fault, but who's fault is it? Could a power spike have done this? ANY advice is appreciated!

Thanks Pete C. I don't think it is my reciever, mostly because the Paradigm center I had, roughly the same price as the Klipsch, sounded pretty damn good ... I think I'm just going to send it back and ask for a replacement, or upgrade to the next level Klipsch center ...

Okay--you got me. No, I did not mean to suggest that I take my center speaker to bed with me. The sound of the sheets is not actually ON the speaker, it comes THROUGH the speaker, when there is a scene in a movie involving sheets. And no, I do not watch an awful lot of movies with scenes that involve sheets, it just so happens that this one, perfectly respectable movie, had a scene that did involve the sound of rustling sheets, which, as I have previously stated, sounded somewhat "crackley". Now can someone help me? I mean with my center speaker?

I forgot to add one thing: the sound of sheets rustling on this speaker sounds particularly unnatural for some reason, almost kind of crackley, if that makes any sense.

Thanks for all the information! I still get impressed by the fact total strangers will help each other out on the web like this. It is hard to describe exactly what is wrong with my SC-1 except to say it has none of the clarity and definition of the SC-1 I listened to in the store. That speaker made it sound as if the charachters talking were right in the room with you. My speaker sounds a little tinny, almost like a cheap boombox, and the sound it produces has little "depth". I had a Paradigm center before this and that sounded way better. Even my cheap Radio Shack "Optimus" (really RCA) towers--soon to be replaced by Klipsch SF-2s--sound better, if you can believe that. I don't know what is wrong with this speaker, I only know it sounds nothing like the SC-1 I listened to in the shop. Messing with it's dB level did help a little, but not that much. I think I either have to replace it with another, and hope that sounds better, or try the RC-3, even though it might not match with the SF-2s I want to buy. Thanks again for your help--any advice is much appreciated!

Hey PhilH, no it's not too late, I ordered the sc-1 online and supposedly have 15 days to return it if it is "defective," which I think it must be because it just doesn't sound anywhere as good as the one I listened to in a local store. That speaker was crisp and clear, this one seems dull and almost boombox like. I'm not sure what a blown speaker sounds like but I'm guessing it would be very obvious and this isn't that bad -- but it sure isn't good either. As for getting the + and the - right, yes that was the first thing I double checked. And I've messed with the dB level as well. Sounds a little better with a higher dB, but not that much better.

I'm embarrased to ask this, but what, exactly, is dB? I'm guessing it is more than just the individual volume level for each speaker? My SC-1 center sounds awful and someone suggested I change the dB ... Any guidelines or advice about dB? Is it just a matter of subjective preference?