JohnA

My experience with 2 subs has been that they smooth out the nulls of each other and overall bass is better throughout the room. Mine are in each front corner. I can't see any reason to assume multiple subs should be inferior at all. John

Don't the Heresey II and Cornwall II have the same Squawker and tweeter? Looks the same in pictures. If so, the HII would be a great match. I have a C7 mated to La Scalas and it is a good, but not quite perfect match. The C7 is smaller than an HII and is shielded, so it might be the best match if you have a direct view TV. John

decibel man has pretty much made my points except for one. Sony's 9000ES DVD/SACD player is supposed to have a digital out for DD/DTS and a pair of analog outs for SACD. I haven't been able to see one, but there is no mention of a sub out for bass management. Nevertheless, My ACT-3 will take an analog 2-channel signal and do all of the bass management, prologic and other surround effects it's supposed to do. Surely these other receivers and pre/pros will, too. How do you feed your subwoofers with a tuner or VHS input? 5.1 DVD-Audio is another kettle of fish! John

Probably the best you're going to get is the La Scala reviews on AudioReview.com. http://www.audioreview.com/reviews/Speaker/product_7739.shtml The Belle differs from the La Scala in 2 basic ways. The Belle's bass horn is wider and shallower, but is said to perform identically and the Belle's squawker horn is shorter. The La Scala uses the K-horn's K-400 (400 Hz) horn and the Belle uses a unique K-500 (500 Hz) horn. Since the crossovers have been the same for most of their lives, there should be little difference in their sound. If there is any, it would be because the K-500 is operated closer to its cut-off frequency than the K-400. John

I think the Outlaw 1050 looks like a great buy. You should get it. If it has weaknesses, I'd say the power supply is too small (power ratings fall with more channels driven), but you won't see that as a problem with Klipsch speakers, if you want to keep your hearing. The S/N ratio in the tuner section could be a little better, too. However, for $500, you can't touch it anywhere else, it seems. Go for it and save the $200 left over for books! John

I got some darned good catfish from West Memphis, AR. Is that what you mean? John

That Rotel CD player may also be your weak link compared to your other electronics. John

I think you need "The Horns" (Klipschorns), but that's about it. John

Well, I got the joke! Your friend's La Scalas probably have a K-55-V squawker (midrange) driver. It should be grey and about softball-sized. That is the squawker driver I prefer. Since they won't fit in his entertainment center, he really need Doug's help. I know Doug and he will give them a good home. John

Well, Max, You've spoken well and have described my experience with K-horns perfectly. I have La Scalas and 2 subwoofers in an attempt to achieve the same thing in a room not designed for "The Horns." I get close. The experience of hearing the music in the room, without speakers, is the reason Klipsch speakers exist. John

I've purchased several items off of ebay. I've never been burned, but I used iescrow.com for all big ticket items I didn't pickup myself. My last pair of La Scalas were $446 through ebay (plus a $50 stupid tax speeding through Columbia, SC). If you know what you want and what it is worth, don't be afraid. Use a service like iescrow.com and don't get bidding fever and you'll make out. John

Damping the horns will probably reduce their silibance (sp), some. John

I believe these will meet your needs. Some of them are even "Klipsch" Products. I'm certain the Aragon will meet any sonic standard you'd want at $1200. The Acurus preamps can often be bought at a small discount. http://www.klipsch.com/index.asp?path=/products/mondialdetail.asp?frame=y&id=305&line=&1 http://www.klipsch.com/index.asp?path=/products/mondialdetail.asp?frame=y&id=304&line=&1 http://www.klipsch.com/index.asp?path=/products/mondialdetail.asp?frame=y&id=318&line=mondial&1 http://www.parasound.com/products/preamps/pld1100.html http://www.bkcomp.com/preamp.html I couldn't get a price on the B&K, but I suspect it is about $1k or less. These are all 2-channel. You're not going to get much HT Pre/Pro for <$1500 new. A used Pre/Pro would be in your range. John

Generally speaking, a vaulted ceiling is a good thing. It breaks up standing waves (resonance). I like the double sheetrock walls, can't be much more expensive and will greatly stiffen the wall, plus reduce sound transfer into and out of the room. Multiple block bridges between the studs would be a good idea, too. The "blocks" are usually made from scrap lumber. Stop adding blocks when the cost is noticible. Just one is a satisfying improvement. I'd say 3 or more, all around the room, is overkill. jmon's corners were a special case. John

Hi, Bev! The first thing is to change the room size. 20 x 20 will be great to set up a resonance (standing waves) in the bass that is equal to the 20 foot length; about 55 Hz. You want to avoid any dimension that is an integer multiple of another dimension; like 8 x 16 x 24 (1:2:3). If you will make one wall out of square, you will just about garauntee no resonance. Try a room that's 18 x 20 x 22 x 20.4 feet, for instance, that's one non-parallel side wall. Two non-parallel side walls looks even cooler, like an auditorium and works better. The triangles made by the angled walls become closets. Insist all 4 walls of this room, plus the ceiling and floor have at least one row of "block bridging" per 8' of stud or joist. Block bridging is a 2-by whatever brace nailed between the stud or joist about in the middle of the 8' span. It stiffens the wall a lot without costing much money. Don't accept steel straps, they don't work much. Make sure the 2 x 4 studs get covered on both sides with sheetrock or some sort of paneling (normal) to further ensure their stiffness and insulate all of the walls, ceiling and floor of this room with fiberglass (only abnormal in the interior wall(s)). You want to make the room as non-resonant as reasonably possible and use carpet and wall treatments (curtains, acoustic panels or Persian rugs) to control reflections. IMHO, more than this, like diffusers, is getting obsessive/compulsive, but can improve the sound of your room. John

I would think flexible walls and floors would make the bass muddy by setting up resonance at some frequencies and not others. Placement in the room and its dimensions will cause peaks and nulls in the bass, so that some places have too much and others have none. John

Use C weighting and slow response. Sit in your favorite spot and activate the pink noise generator. With the meter pointed at the TV and slightly up, set the output of all channels to the same level. Since you are not using the LFE outs, set the sub by playing music and adjusting the sub so its output is the same as the main speaker's woofer. Hold the meter close to the drivers to get a reading. Then tweak by ear. John

That turned out very nice indeed! The TV up high is striking. John

It does not look like there is mych difference. You will want a rug covering either one. John

I bought "Tricycle" used through Amazon.com after hearing the clips. It is recorded well and has HUGE dynamic range. It caused Cathy to jump, startled, in the first cut. However, the performance is weak and there are several mistakes left on the release. The whole CD sounds like there was no rehearsal done beforehand. It's still a neat demo disc. John

The ACT-3 has about a dozen available crossover frequencies. The crossover can be applied to the sub only or to the sub and the other speakers. There is no "Large" and "small" setting for theother speakers. You just select the crossover frequency you want, or none at all (the equivalent of "large"). John

Here's a picture of one: http://www.cdc.net/~colt45/klipsch/50th.jpg The innards were standard K-horn. John

TTK, Yes, I am quite happy with my ACT-3. It is a Class A preamp that sounds very good. I've heard some magical stuff come out of it. It has one flaw; noise. All signal processing, like volume control, is done in the digital domain. In addition, the analog gain is very high in order to meet some DD standard. The result is noise that would go unnoticed on lesser speakers. Mondial has been eager to modify my unit to cure the noise, but I'm not willing to do without it. I have done the same thing they would do by turning down the input gains to my power amps. The noise is not inaudible unless my ears are almost touching the grilles. I use a Parasound HCA-1203A for the front channels and a Parasound HCA-1000A for the rears. I use an Acurus A-250 for my sub amp. The A-250 was bought used and is several years old. The ACT-3 seems to be made as well as the A-250. It has been perfect. I wish it had tone controls, just simple ones at +/- 6 dB would be fine. There are too many poor recordings and difficult rooms to be without them. John

Needing 100 watts is just a rule of thumb. If you had inefficient B&W speakers, that might be 1000 watts, instead of 100. For K-horns at 104 dB @ one watt, 10 is likely enough. 104 dB is really pretty loud. You won't talk over it easily. John

Heresies will blend with most good subs. Klipsch has a good one or 2 and a nice RSW Series coming soon. Be sure to get one powerful enough to operate without strain and therefore excessive disortion. This is one of those "you'll just have to listen for yourself" things. John