Congrats to Wes! He's a great guy to meet and, my Lord, his house is like a Klipsch museum!!! I know that I'm gonna hate myself for selling those things but it had to happen. I think Wes got a great deal but he (an others) would cry if you knew what I paid. Things like that can happen when speakers change hands too often. Some people just don't know what they have! May you all be so lucky!
I eneded up replacing them with a pair of B&W CM2's. I was limited by size and those little guys were the only thing I could find with tight base like a Belle. A bit of a change (ha) but that's all the room I had. You can commence with the insults, now. I'll have to check back when I get another set of Klipsch... I understand that ol' man Klipsch is about to introduce a design based on 20-years work (according to the dealer). I can't wait!
Last word on the Belles:
GREAT speaker. You need a big room and the freedom to move them to get quality sound. I know that can be said for any speaker but it is MANDATORY for the Belles. All the comments about lack of low end, hollow sounding cabinets and lack of imaging... all are overcome in the right room, in the right place. It was amazing how bad they could sound in some positions... really! Take the time and the pay-off is HUGE. Bass so strong it'll knock the wind out of ya if desired. One of the most striking things about them was their ability to fill a room with sound but not overpower the listener. With your eyes closed, it was hard to identify where they were or what size they were(and mine were only ten feet from the listening position). Experienced listeners couldn't guess as to what drivers were used or how many. They all worked so seamlessly together. Like most great speakers, the more accurate the speaker, the more you can tell when you get a bad recording. That was the only compromise. Like I said... I'm gonna hate myself down the road...
Best regards to all,
Kevin