iLikeThemTheKlipsches

Not a lot of people realize (or care) that for one poster here, there might be a hundred who found the thread on Google and came here for a solution. I'm sure my tale will help a few other people down the line. ps: Salut à Rimouski! Je suis de Chicoutimi.

Thank you for all the input and suggestions! This thread has been very useful. I wanted to update everyone on my Klipsch situation: I just got my RC-62 last night, after quite a few shipping snafu's and delays (took four weeks to get here). The 62 isn't quite as large as I thought -- it's actually the perfect size IMHO, and matches the RF-62s quite well from an aesthetic point of view. I listened to a few things on my RC-52 before hooking up the new center, so I could do a good objective subjective comparison (ha!). For the record, I used a scene of Empire Strikes Back (good Vader dialogue + discrete sounds from the center), and a video game, Borderlandds, which allows me rotate my view while a character with a very unique voice is talking (Claptrap!). On the 52, Vader's dialogue was muffled and not quite up to par with the rest of the soundfield; even with my center set to 5db above the fronts. In the game, I could clearly hear a difference in sound quality when Claptrap went from a front to the center to the other front. Hooked up the RC-62, brought the db down to +0 (same as the fronts) -- and it's PERFECT. Vader sounds like a Sith Lord should. Claptrap's voice was clear and transition from front left to center to front right was seamless. Same, identical sound. I'll be returning the RC-52 and keeping the RC-62. Very, very happy with it. And after all the trouble the store went through to get the 62 here -- shipping delays, plus the box got banged up and there was a sligth (hardly noticeable) dent on the back of the speaker -- my RC-62 ended up costing me just $150 more than the RC-52. So hopefully this thread will help others -- if you're getting RF-62 fronts, I can vouch that in my case, the RC-52 was very, very disapointing, and the RC-62 turned out to be perfect.

Well, I managed to convince the folks at FS to buy the RC-62 from another store (only one store carried the RC-62 in the whole province) and have it brought in for me to pick up. When it arrives (hopefully sometime this week) I'll return my RC-52, hook up the RC-62 and see if I still feel sounds are muffled. If not, I'll keep the 62; if so, I'll return it and get my 52 back. The 62 is just a bit too big for my TV stand -- I'll have to put my TV on top of it. Won't look too pretty. I'll post here again to let everyone know how things turned out. Thanks again for everyone's input!

Thanks for the input! I tried turning off the center and having its input go through the mains and although I wasn't crazy about the results, it would definitely work as a temporary solution while I'm waiting for a new center. My receiver actually does support per-speaker level adjustments (forgot to mention that!), though only by 1db increments. I'll bump up the center a notch at a time and do some testing. Thanks for pointing that out!

Thanks for all the great feedback! I'd love to try out the RC-62, but none of our local Future Shops carry it, so I'd need to special-order it from another city, which would be inconvenient (couple weeks). I wasn't planning on upgrading my receiver for a little while (my current one was pre-HDMI, but was very decent for the time), but it might just be simpler for me to go pick up a 600-700$ receiver, try it out, and return it for a refund if it doesn't make a difference in the RC-52 sound quality.

Hi! I recently upgraded my home theater setup from Polk bookshelf speakers to a set of Klipsch Reference IV speakers. I kept the Polk subwoofer -- a PSW550 -- but went with RF-62 fronts, RS-42 surrounds, and a RC-52 center. I absolutely love the fronts. They sound great, highs are crystal-clear, and they can reproduce lows ridiculously well (you might not even need a sub with these guys!). I realize the surrounds are "small", but our living room is pretty narrow, and the surrounds end up being very close to the main sitting area -- about two, three feet away from our heads. So far they're doing the job very well, they sound very clear, sound dispersion is great (I have them pointing to our heads, meaning the drivers are firing into the center of the room and towards the back of our couch, creating a nice sound field). My problem is with the center. I find that the sound just doesn't have the same quality as the fronts and surrounds. Everything sounds a bit muffled. I tried playing with settings on my receiver (a Kenwood VR-7070), but the only setting I have for the center is switching between "normal" and "large", and that does not seem to make things any better. I know the drivers on the RC-52 are not the same as on the fronts (5.25" on the RC-52 vs 6.5" on the RF-62), and according to some of the posts / documentation I read, that might be the source of the tonal discrepancy. This here forum seems like the right place to get good answers... is this where my problem is coming from? Should I upgrade to a RC-62? I asked an "expert" (Future Shop...) and the person told me I'd be wasting my money on the RC-62 -- that the bigger center would really only be a good match to the RF-82 fronts. He was telling me my RC-52 should be just fine, and that I might have a problem with my receiver. He said this type of tonal issue is usually fixed at the source level by playing with per-speaker equalizer settings (which my Kenwood receiver does not do). Anyway -- long story short, what would you guys suggest? I know on paper the RC-52 doesn't "match" the RF-62s. But is it supposed to sound very different? Honnestly, sound quality out of my RC-52 doesn't seem much better than if I was using my TV's built-in speakers... I have another 3 weeks to return any of these speakers, so any help in decision-making would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!