wboffthelake

Get the 63s. They were really reference co-flagships with the RF-83s until Klipsch streamlined their product offerings and went from three top-of-the-line offerings, the RF-63, RF-83 and RF-7, into a single flagship RF-7ii. Likely a financial decision within the business. Ditto on the impedance dips. When I got my RF-83s, the AVR I had then, a Pioneer VSX 919, would shut off at around -15db. I upgraded to an Elite SC-37 and have no problems at all.

My SC-37 runs my RF-83s, RC-64 and RS-52s quite well. Lots of detail and smoothness.

You will waste your money at Best Buy. Don't fall into the trap of overpriced cables. Most here will tell you that www.monoprice.com has everything you need with respect to speaker wire and other cables, all excellent quality, at the best prices, with very reasonable shipping, lifetime warranty on cables, and a 30 day money-back guarantee. I personally buy all of my cables from there, as do many others who post on this forum. For speaker wire, Monoprice's "Enhanced Loud Oxygen-Free Copper Speaker Wire Cable" will work excellently, and 100ft of 14 AWG (which is what I use) costs $25.20. You will find it here: http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10239&cs_id=1023902&p_id=2791&seq=1&format=2 As for a subwoofer cable, I don't know how far away your sub is from your amp, but Monoprice's "25ft High-quality Coaxial Audio/Video RCA CL2 Rated Cable - RG6/U 75ohm" cable is excellent and, again, is what I use, and costs $6.53. You will find it here: http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10236&cs_id=1023603&p_id=2683&seq=1&format=2 Since your sub has left and right inputs, you'll want to use a "6inch RCA Female to 2-RCA Male Digital Coaxial Splitter Adapter". It costs $1.43. You will find it here: http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10236&cs_id=1023603&p_id=6261&seq=1&format=2 Good luck.

Yeah, the 80" has been out for a few months now. It's huge. Since I sit 17 feet back, 80" is the size I would like, but I prefer plasma over LCD and, more importantly, I feel the matte screen finish on the Sharps, while minimizing reflections, degrades picture quality. Yellow pixel arguments aside, the Quattrons do have a pretty good picture though. We'll see what companies show off at CES next week. From what I've heard, OLED is up-and-coming, albeit still unaffordable for most for many years to come.

Good one! That movie rocks! Guy at the Dexter Lake Club: "If I was in your shoes I would be..." Boon: "Leaving!" ...later... Flounder: "The negroes stole our dates!"

One of the reasons just to paint a wall white, use a projector capable of multiple aspect ratios, and be done with it.

I have always had the same questions and thoughts about this. A spec of a certain frequency, + / - a certain number of dB, by itself, tells you nothing about how loud the speaker is actually reproducing that frequency. For example, my RF-83s are spec'd at 29 Hz, +/- 3 dB. OK, fine, but just how loud (how many dB) is the speaker at 29 Hz? I have not come across a response graph for the RF-83. Based on what is said above, specifically "will deviate no more than plus, or minus, 3 dB SPL from their stated one watt-meter dB SPL value", since the RF-83 is rated at 100dB sensitivity, does that mean that the speaker produces 29Hz at somewhere between 97dB and 103dB?

And so there is (an exclusive retailer). I didn't know that! Funny.

A certain well-known big-box store (I don't want anyone to think I am advertising for them, you can do some simple googling to find out where) will be offering the KF-28 and KF-26 for half-price on Black Friday. I mention this because I heard the KF-28 in an HT configuration, using an Onkyo amp, at a store about a month ago, while the scene near the end of Drumline was playing where the two groups "face-off" against each other, and was flat-out shocked at how well they sounded. I went home and brought up Drumline using on demand and the Icon setup sounded about as good as my RF-83/RC-64/RS-52/SC-37 setup. Given the price, this could be one of the greatest deals in home speakers recently. I got my reference IV's at a closeout discount which I learned about on this forum, and am always looking to repay the favor.

I forget to mention it also occurs during movies, for example, last night I was watching Law Abiding Citizen and was switching between DD and stereo, getting the same effect. BTW - I'm considering doing much the same as you with respect to a home theater in my basement that I am considering building. I currently do not have an HDTV. I do have an HD box which runs a 480i signal to my TV via S-video and audio to the AVR via HDMI. The biggest issue I have with cable/satellite HD channels is compression which, in my opinion, and to my eyes, drastically takes away from the picture quality on an HDTV. The picture on my 14-year-old SD Mitsubishi destroys the compressed, weak, soft, artifact-plagued HD cable/satellite picture I've seen with respect to sharpness and clarity, which to me are the two most important aspects of a TV's picture. HDTVs do produce brighter, but not necessarilty more accurate, picture and colors. I saw the Pioneer 6020 in person, showing the TDK BluRay, many times at my local Best Buy and, believe it or not, my current TV gives a quite similar, window clear picture. You may guess that I haven't been running out to get a new TV. The only true quality HD at this point is BluRay, hence the case for a dedicated HD theater that is not used to watch TV.

I have my RC-64 on a shelf above my TV, about 5 feet off the floor. The RC-64 tweeter is only about 10 inches higher than the tweeters of the RF-83, which flank the TV. This setup should create a seamless front stage. All the issues I have posted about I have heard with the tweeters in this position.

Thanks for the input Islander, but been there, done that, and at the end of my rope with this $1000.00 speaker. The tweeter operates, it just seems that is not operating properly, like you said, with weaker highs. I've played music through it and, while it strongly outputs cymbals, it seems to be missing the highest detail parts of the cymbals. While my new SC-37 seems to be able to somewhat reduce the problem, I wonder if it us just modifying the sound from the 83s to match the output of the 64. I'm going to stop in to Simply Stereo this week. They are an authorized dealer and I wonder if they can perform authorized repairs so that I don't have to box up and ship a 70 lb speaker.

Youthman, while watching an HD channel, have you ever listened to, say, sports commentators voices in Dolby Digital, and then switched your receiver from DD to stereo? This is where the difference is most obvious. For me, during stereo, where the announcers voices come strictly from the RF-83s, the high frequency components of the voices become more apparent, along with some low frequency parts too, which is not surprising given the larger woofers. There is more sibilance. When switched back to DD, interestingly the voices are stronger, and in some way clearer, but with some of the high frequency parts missing, resulting in less sibilance and a "dulling" effect that creates a slightly unnatural voice tone. Essentially the performance I'm getting from my RC-64 is "as good as it is bad". The difference was clear during the NBA Finals and while watching NASCAR and Wimbeldon this weekend.

Does anyone know how seamless the front stage is with the RF-7II and RC-64II (respective crossovers of 1200Hz and 1400Hz)? They are similar to the RF-83/RC-64 combo in that the RF-7II and RC-64II have different woofers but the same tweeter. If they are indeed seamless, then so too should be the RF-83/RC-64 (respective crossovers of 1650Hz and 1150Hz/1800Hz (tapered/overall)). Klipsch does not advertise the RC-64II as having the tapered arrray.

The thing that adds to the frustration of my problem is that the RF-83/RC-64 combo is known not to be a "perfect" match, but has been reviewed to still give a very good front stage . The question is just how far from perfect is the match, and is what I am experiencing outside of the known imperfection? I understand that those with the RF-63/RC-64 experience a seemless front stage. This is to be expected, given the exact match of all drivers, not just the tweeter. But, for me, as with hachuelo, the issue seems to be one with the tweeter and a "muffled" less crisp sound. I live near Simply Stereo. Last time I was in there they had an RC-64 set up. I'll try and take a ride over there this week and see if I can get some answers.

I'm not sure yet. I contacted Klipsch and they suggested that I connect one speaker wire lead to a top terminal, and one to a bottom terminal, the reason being something about forcing the electrons through the speaker. This made a bit of a difference but did not completly solve the problem. However I just bought a Pioneer SC-37 and I'm still tweaking the settings. After running MCACC, sound coming from the center seems better matched to the sound coming from the mains. Something I've noticed is that the "problem" is much more pronounced when I run both the fronts and the center as large, even at low to moderate volumes. Running MCACC always automatically sets my front stage to large, but when I switch them to small, the problem is less noticible. Strange. Clearly my new amp can easily drive any of my speakers when set to either large or small. The overall question is whether I am experiencing the known tonal difference between the RF-83 and the RC-64, or whether something is wrong.

Since I have a collection of over 30,000 music files, going back to 1998, of varying formats (mp3, AAC, OGG, FLAC, and probably some others), and varying bitrates, and since the 30,000 is only the number I still have now, as I have deleted many, many more due to poor quality, I think I qualify as an expert here. First, bitrate, in and of itself, means nothing. A poorly ripped 320K file can be outperformed by a well done 128K file. Believe me, I've heard it many times. The same is true for file format, garbage in, garbage out. Next, FLAC does give the best quality, but limiting my discussion to the mp3 and AAC (m4a) file formats, as they are the most prevalent, the minimum bit rate required for the highest quality you can get from either format is 256K, whether you are talking CBR or VBR (with VBR, 256K would be the average bit rate). Any less simply cannot and does not give you any of the musical subtleties that exist within music. The increased file compression simply glosses over those subtleties at lower bit rates, as there are not enough bits to encode them. My personal opinion is that, at any bit rate, AAC gives a better sounding representation than mp3, especially regarding the subtleties. Also, make sure you are using a line out jack on your music file player and not a headphone jack. The latter will not give you the best quality sound. Better yet is to plug a USB stick directly into your receiver if it will allow you to do so. Something to keep in mind is that, given that so much music now has a massively compressed dynamic range (understand that I am talking about two different types of compression, dynamic compression is different from file compression), when you encode music that has a high level of dynamic compression in a lossy format, you lose most if not all of any remaining subtleties that still existed in the music despite the dynamic compression. Essentially you are getting a double whammy. That is why CDs, especially non-remastered CDs released prior to around 1990, which is about the time newly recorded CDs began getting the dynamic compression treatment en masse, sound best with our Klipsch speakers. It has that hard punch that is not overwhelmed by the rest of the music.

What are the stand offs? I'm currently trying to acertain whether or not my RC-64 was damaged during shipping. I'm having difficulties with it sounding somewhat muffled, especially the tweeter. I bought it new and it had some minor damage to the front left vertical edge of the speaker box. Since it was discontiuned and I ordered the last one, the online dealer (authorized) gave me a further discount. I was considering removing the crossover from the back, or the front plastic cover of the speaker, to take a look at the internals. Can anyone tell me what I should look for specifically? Thanks for your help.

I read through that thread and still think that something is not right. Even after running the MCACC, the difference was there, like it has a muffled sound. EQ adjustments have not changed it. It is also aimed right at my ear level. As I mentioned, I used to have a Polk Moniton 70 and CS2 setup, and had absolutely no tonal difference or muffled sound. If anyone has an RF-83/RC-64 setup, could you try switching between stereo and Dolby Digital and see if experience the same issue? I just missed Klipsch service today, as they close at 5 ET. Will try next week. Thanks again for the help. Sorry about misstating that I had taken the jumpers off.

Oops, my mistake, the jumpers ARE on. I was getting tired last night.

Nope, those are all removed. I know what you mean...I've been at this, off and on, for 9 months, since I first upgraded from Polk to Klipsch. I have nothing left to try. Unless anyone else has anything to add, it's got to be the speaker, maybe something with the crossover. How does Klipsch handle warranty claims for an RC-64? Has anyone here dealt with Klipsch warranty service on a speaker? If so, how did it go? Were you treated well?

Believe me, I've played with everything I can think of, all large, all small, center small with 83s large, etc, changing the crossover, etc. Still the same. It's been like this since I got the system 9 months ago.

For some reason high frequency portions of sounds such as speech, sibilance, rain falling, waves crashing, hockey skates scraping the ice, or any speech in general sounds significantly different through my RC-64 than my RF-83s. It is very apparent when, say, a sports announcer is speaking, and I switch back and forth between stereo mode, where the speech comes out of the 83s, and auto surround mode, where a Dolby Digital signal feeds the speech to the 64. The announcer's voice through the 64 sounds a bit muffled with the high end "tamed". It's not that the speech is not clear or strong, it just seems to lack the highest parts, leading to the slightly muffled sound. This is the case whether I run MCACC or set up manually. It has also been the same when I have used my current amp or when I tried an SC-35. It has been enough of a difference that I have rathered watch in stereo than Dolby Digital, which just doesn't seem right when we're talking about a $1000.00 flagship center channel. When I've played music through the RC-64, in one of the modes that directs music to the center channel, the tweeter clearly works, but sounds different than the tweeters in the 83s, again seeming to lack the highest parts of cymbals and vocals, even though they are suppost to be the exact same driver. I don't think it can be attributed to simple timbre matching as, even though I understand, based on professional reviews, that the 64 is supposed to not be a perfect timbre match to the 83, it is still supposed to be quite good. What I'm getting, while clear and strong, seems to be missing part of the sound information. Also I never experienced anything like this with my old Polk M70/CS2 setup. Frankly, the the sound I recall from the $129.00 CS2 in 5.1 was far clearer and more alive than my 64. Can someone with an 83/64 setup try switching between stereo mode and Dolby Digital and see if they experience the same thing? Do I possibly have a defective RC-64? Thanks for your help.

A couple other things: After listening at near reference for about 5 minutes, and -10dB or so for about half-an-hour, the receiver was only very slightly warm to touch. Also, the copper colored display matches the woofer cone color, and looks kind of cool. Regarding the bass, I think I need to experiment a bit more with sub placement. My listening setup is in a "great room", which combines the living room, kitchen, hallway and foyer areas, all with high ceilings. The entire house has about an 11.5 ft ceiling peak running down the middle of the house, where the ceiling slowly drops down to 9ft at the two longest outer walls. Altogether, the "great room" is close to 6000 cu. ft. My listening couch is near the middle of the room. When listening this evening, while standing in the foyer, which is directly opposite my speaker and sub, and on the other side of the house, about 25 ft away, the bass was much more pronounced. I once did the sub crawl and could not find any place that had noticeably stronger bass response, so I just have my sub next to my right front speaker.

I previously posted that my old amp, a Pioneer vsx-919ah-k, was not able to drive my new speakers. Well, I took the plunge and picked up an Elite SC-35. My first listening, right out of the box, was the last hour or so of the movie The Rock. With the stock THX settings, I immediately noticed a clearer and more powerful sound. With my favorite CDs I could immediately hear significantly increased clarity and individual instrument differentiation at all listening levels. In fact I even heard some subtle background instruments and vocals that I had never heard before, an amazing experience when it involves CDs I have listened to since the mid/late 80s. The sound is a bit bright, which may be a function of needing to be calibrated. I also noticed that the new amp sounds louder and more powerful than my old at the same volume level, say at -15dB. Also I don't have to turn the new amp up to feel a powerful presence to the audio, it just seems to be naturally powerful at all volumes. Although the bass when listening to HT is great, I'm still looking for more when listening to 2-channel, not sloppy or muddy, just power. I still can't figure out why the HT bass seems more powerful than when I listen to 2-ch.