Underhanded Penguin

akhare i responded to your post on the ht forum. -UP ------------------ I love you Aki Ross!

Akhare I have a very similar Klipsch Reference setup. This may seem like a silly answer to your silly question, but just put your hand under the sub and feel for any vibrations when you are playing a music or movie where you know there are low frequencies below your crossover setting. If you can't tell, chances are it's not setup properly or not turned on. I have a KSW-15 and when it's on, you know it's on. the sub has left and right inputs as well as a direct LFE input that does not have any low pass filter. If you want extra bass output, buy a y-splitter and split the lfe rca cbale coming out of your receiver/amp and connect it to both left and right inputs on the sub. Don't forget when you have the sub on auto on, there is a 2 second or so delay after the first bass signal under the crossover freuency is sent to the sub. -UP ------------------ I love you Aki Ross!

If you ask me why I decided to reply to this post so late, my response to you will be "I don't know" but here goes: No. Mounting the RS-7's vertically will not sound the way it was intended to sound because of the misaligned dispersion angles of the tweeters. By mounting them vertically, you will get a huge vertical dispersion, which would be useless unless you had Shaq O'Neill and Mini-me watching movies in your home theatre at the same time. And even then, the ambience and reproduction of effects will not be reproduced properly. -UP ------------------ I love you Aki Ross! This message has been edited by Underhanded Penguin on 10-22-2001 at 12:17 PM

Hi Tom. Would you happen to have TN specs of the KSW-15 relative to the SVS subs and pw2200? I'm just curious as these are the subs I am considering. I returned my faulty pw2200 and was looking at other options around the same price range. Thanx in advance. -UP ------------------ I love you Aki Ross! This message has been edited by Underhanded Penguin on 10-20-2001 at 04:18 PM

Hi doobs. Is your fisrt name Garfield by any chance? I went to a restaurant in Ajax last weekend and the kitchen manager was named Garfiel Dooby. Fat chance I think, but anyways... So how is the 20-39pc? Can you give a comparison to some other subs that you have used or heard before? I have a Paradigm PW2200 for now but I may consider taking it back for something better. If you could give me your opinion on this sub that would be great. THX in advance. -UP ------------------ I love you Aki Ross!

Hi Tom. I was doing a bit of reading on your company and line of subwoofers and I just wanted to say that I admire your business model. It's refreshing to know that you guys take such a hands on approach to your products and services. If you don't mind me asking, if the demand for your product increases, (and no doubt it will) how do you plan on expanding your company? I hope you guys will maintain an excellent level of control over your products. I believe that you can still achieve that with outsourcing as long as it is done properly. I think it's very interesting to see how successful and smaller web based companies operate. Another one that comes to mind is Outlaw A/V Receivers. Good luck with your business. Question for you: I plan on buying one of your subs. Do you know off hand if there are any taxes added to the products that the customer must pay if I live in Canada because you guys are shipping from the States? I ordered something from the States that was 50 bucks once and ended up paying 15 dollars in taxes. (What happened to free trade???) I know you guys have shipped up north before. I have not had much experience ordering anything else from the States. Thx. -UP ------------------ I love you Aki Ross! This message has been edited by Underhanded Penguin on 10-14-2001 at 08:34 PM

"Just send klipsch an email" - I had a good laugh at that! Don't we hear that line so much over at the Promedia 5.1 board? Yeah I'll send those Parafreaks an email. Message board there is not as good as klipschs though...Do they even have a message board? -UP ------------------ I love you Aki Ross!

The noise is like a rattlesnake actually... if you're far enough away (like 10 feet) you probably wouldn't even notice it, but my listening position is like 3 ft away from sub... THX guys -UP ------------------ I love you Aki Ross!

Hi guys I just bought this sub the other day. Am on a tight budget. It sounds great and has plenty of output for my 10' x 14' room. However, I noticed that on medium to high volumes, low frequency emmissions <30hz produce a hissing/rattling type noise from the back of the sub. I put my ears close to the back of the sub while this happened and was able to localize the source of hissing/rattling to the vents on the steel plate/ heat sink thingy. These vents are NOT the port of the sub. (There is no noise emanating from the port no matter how loud i drive it.) I think these vents serve to cool the sub down or something (I know very little about this stuff)Anyways, the louder I turn it up, the more noticeable it is. Under medium volmes it is not noticeable. Can someboday tell me if this is normal??? It only happens on low frequencies at medium to high volumes, such as Bjork's Hyper Ballad (track 2 on the Post album)Anybody else have this problem??? I'd appreciate any help before I lug this beast back to the dealer... If this is the normal (ie. I am driving them too hard) then my expecatations and demands for a good quality sub are higher than I thought, and I would consider spending a little bit more for something that will meet my demands. But my priority is with fixing this problem if possible. I mean i love the sub, it's just that hissing... THX in advance. -UP ------------------ I love you Aki Ross!

That sounds perfect for in ceiling mounts of the RCR-3 or 5. Since surrounds are suppose to be placed high anyways. the 30 degrees slope will automatically aim the surroudns towards ear level listening position. I don't have any experience with the RCW series but the recommended surround for any of the reference sries is the RS series speakers. I'm getting a pair of RC-3's for my RB-3, RC-3 setup. Personally, I like the dipole surrounds better than the direct radiating ones because it gives you a more ambient soundstage, which more accurately represents evironments in movies. The sound appears to envelope you more, and spaces are more accurately conveyed in movies. With that being said, I know many people on this forum prefere direct radiating surrounds better because of its precision and localization of effects (not that the RS-3 can't localize effects but I guess direct radiating surrounds are more accurately localized.) Anyways, sorry i'm of no help to your topic, but I felt the urge to comment anyways. Good luck! -UP ------------------ I love you Aki Ross! This message has been edited by Underhanded Penguin on 10-05-2001 at 05:24 PM

Hi. I'd appreciate any help I could get on this topic. I'm getting a PW2200 sub next week and I have a dEnon 1802 Receiver that has a Sat to Sub crossover frequency set at 80hz. Now The sub also has something called a high pass filter (@80hz) line out to the receiver line in. I asked the salesman what this was and he said that it would filter out everything below 80hz from the mains and send it to the sub. Is this not the exact same thing as the sat/sub crossover? I asked the salesman this and his response just didn't make sense. So could I get some clariflication here? What is the difference between the two? Thanks a lot guys. Thanks theears, cuz I know you'll probably respond. -UP ------------------ I love you Aki Ross! This message has been edited by Underhanded Penguin on 10-05-2001 at 11:03 AM

Call it psychological influence, but biwiring my reference mains did improve the clarity. Question for you folks who have the whole reference system already: Do the reference center and surrounds have 2 sets of speaker terminals for biwiring? Or can only the reference mains be biwired? THX -UP ------------------ I love you Aki Ross! This message has been edited by Underhanded Penguin on 10-01-2001 at 09:16 PM

Hi. It's me again. I was just wondering if there was any downside to using both A and B main speaker outs on a receiver simultaneously. Thanks in advance. -UP ------------------ I love you Aki Ross!

I wouldn't expect anything less than 2 RSW-15's from you Theears... So you don't see anything negative in not using bipole surrounds? BEcause I like ambient sound effects in movies and I was just worried the directional nature of the RB-3's would make the effects too localized. If you could make a comment on that it would be great! Lemme know when you get the RF-7's! Thanks for your input dude. -UP ------------------ I love you Aki Ross!

THX Paul. I was also wondering the advantages and disadvantages of having bipolar surrounds (RS-3) and regular surrounds (RB-3). I know that in theory bipole gives you more ambience, but regular gives you more localization of effects. Wanted to know what somebody thought first hand. -UP ------------------ I love you Aki Ross!

Well? Theears? Do you have any suggestions regarding this topic??? Anybody? Please? Thanks! -UP ------------------ I love you Aki Ross!

Hi guys I was just wondering if anybody knew the difference between the RF-3's and 5's. They use the exact same dual 8" woofers however the 5's have a slightly larger tractrix horn. The 5's are also 650$!! more than the 3's. So there must be some reason as to why the 5's are that expensive. Does naybody know? THX in advance. -UP ------------------ I love you Aki Ross!

I don't know how this would sound, but what if I use the RB-3's as surrounds? Would this be bad? and would they match up well with RC-3 center and RF-5's as mains??? Thanks for your help. -UP ------------------ I love you Aki Ross!

Brian, if you are worried about filling a room with sound with the bookshlef reference speakers... don't. You have no reason to worry about that. I have a 12' x 14' room with my RB-3's and they go sooo loud without distortion: That's to be expected though...they are afterall, reference speakers. To give you an idea of how loud they can play without distorting, I had my friend come in to my room, and I asked him how loud his band used to play during practice, and he said: "So loud that you cannot hear it when somebody talks." (He plays heavy metal/industrial music) So I put on a Korn cd and told him to adjust the volume until it was that loud. He turned the master control on my Denon receiver to about -5 db (why it is negative I will never understand: -18 is the hisghest it will go) I have a Denon 1802 which is only 80 wpc. It's a modest power rating but more than I can use. The resulting volume was so loud and undistorted that I could only hear him when he yelled beside my ear. It was definitely very uncomfortable to listen to. And this is only from a pair of RB-3's, NO SURROUNDS, CENTER, OR SUB YET!!! The RB-5's will not play much louder than the 3's if any at all. But the frequency response goes slightly lower. Better for if you don't have a sub. But if you have a sub, then I guarantee you will not notice any difference both in sound quality and sound quantity between the 3's and the 5's. The RF series is another story, as I have mentioned above, they will sound fuller without a sub and will play louder. But you have to ask yourself, do I need my ears to bleed a lot? If the answer is yes, then the bigger the better. Hell if I had the money and space, RF-7's all the way! But seriously, my pockets and ears could not be more pleased with the RB-3's. -UP ------------------ I love you Aki Ross!

Just to clarify for anyone interested in the reference series speakers. Anything with a mk II symbol after it (for example RB-5 II, RC-3 II, RS-3 II, RF-3 II etc) is the new reference series with the upgraded monster cable Z series internally wired crossover cables. This just means it has good quality cabling all the way to the drivers. Most speakers don't have this. Would you be able to notice the difference from listening? Probably not that much, but it does give you that added assurance that good quality components went into your speaker. Plus, I would imagine that on high output levels, your speaker would not get strained as much because the current going through to the internal wires do not have to pass through as much resistance, and as a result of this, there will be less distortion. Because you can have the best speaker cables in the world externally, but if your internal speaker wires suck, then, much like computers, it is only going to be as good as your weakest component. The newly released reference speakers (made 2001) will all be upgraded with this internally wired monster cable (for example the RB-3, RF-7) and will nto have a "mk II" beside the model number. I hope this helps someone, as I was confused when I was buying my stuff. Please let me know if anything I said was incorrect as I am just regurgitating what people told me and what I read. Thx. By the way, when you're writing posts at work, you can make the window smaller and it looks like you're typing a memo! -UP ------------------ I love you Aki Ross!

Hi Brian. I just bought the RB-3 last week. It's a great speaker. I was researching the whole reference series speakers, and was considering the RB-3, RB-5 II, and the RF-3 II. Realistically speaking, I really coundn't afford the RB-5 or RF-3 right away, so I was either gonna wait longer and shell out for those 2 or just settle for the RB-3. After talking to someone on Audioreview who had purchased both the RB-3's and RB-5's I decided to go with the 3's. The guy I spoke to said he really couldnt notice much difference between the two, and that the 5's went a bit lower. They are both excllent and accurate speakers. You can read the short review I wrote of the RB-3's on this forum. The only disadvantage of going with a smaller speaker for the mains is you will have to get a subwoofer to bring out the lower sounds. But then again, even the flagship RF-7 needs a sub to get below 32hz. Main speakers without integrated subs are just not meant to play that low. You will notice this when you try to blast a bass heavy track on any of the reference mains without a sub. You will most probably get some sort of port noise when you do this. That is why you have subs and corssover frequencies, so that the really loud lows don't break your speakers. I wouldn't worry about the volume levels of the RB-X speakers as any speaker in the reference series system will put out more than enough for the above average sized room (given you have a semi decent amplifier or receiver). The real main difference between the RB-3's and the larger reference mains is mid-bass and maximum spl levels. The reason I don't think you should worry about the maximum spl levels in reference mains is because who in their right mind listens to anything that loud anyways???? The larger the reference mains, the more localization and accuracy of midbass you are going to get from your speakers. This is a good thing, but not a necessary or even noticeable thing on most source material. Keep in mind this is my own subjective opinion, and although most people will agree, some people will not. Try and listen to all the speakers you are considering at equal volume spl levels (not volume level on the master volume control) to compare the sound quality. (not quantity) And also keep in mind that hardcore audiophiles won't even consider the Klipsch reference series speakers as an option. There are some crazy people out there Brian... I think I'm reasonable. I love good sound qulaity, but I won't and can't spend a fortune on them right now. In conclusion, between the RB-3's and the rest of the reference mains, I don't notice that much of a difference sound quality wise. The larger speakers will sound fuller by themselves because they can go lower, but with a good subwoofer, I challenge anyone to distinguish the difference between the RB-3's and RB-5's and even RF-3's with your eyes closed... Personally, my bidget and space limitations made me go with the RB-3's. Would I have gotten the larger mains given more space and money? ABSOUTELY. -UP "Main speakers without integrated subs are just not meant to play that low. You will notice this when you try to blast a bass heavy track on any of the reference mains without a sub. You will most probably get some sort of port noise when you do this. That is why you have subs and corssover frequencies, so that the really loud lows don't break your speakers." - Just in case you were worried, when I said this, the term "blast" refers to anything above 110 decibels at regular 3 ft. listening position on the SPL meter. All joking aside, we are talking about SERIOUS ear bleeding. It is physically damaging and not recommended to listen to anything like this. Also, that the port noise at this level of sound would ONLY distort on bass-heavy tracks. And I mean "Wu Tang Clan" hardcore rap bass-heavy. -UP ------------------ I love you Aki Ross!TextText This message has been edited by Underhanded Penguin on 09-24-2001 at 04:30 PM

Hey Paul, have you looked into the PW2200? I know you read about it on this thread. It's supposed to be a great sub for the money. Check out the reviews on audioreview.com. The reason I tell you this is because I heard that the sunfires and carvers are expensive. the Paradigm PW2200 sells for about 800 Candian dollars, and 800 US dollars. So if you go to Canada to get it, it will be a lot cheaper. Anyways, just thought you might be interested. How much is the sunfire Junior and Carver anyways? -UP ------------------ I love you Aki Ross!

Hey Paul. This is off topic, but I noticed I have almost the same specs as you for my computer. Thisi s my system: Athlon TB 900 (OC'd from 800) Asus A7V 392 MB SDRAM SB LIVE X gamer (non 5.1) Maxtor 7200 30 gig Hercules 3D Prophet geforce 2 gts 64mb (feel so ripped off...bought it when it just came out for 600 Can. dollars/400 USD) now it's like half the price... Klipsch Promedia 4.2 19" .25 dp KDS monitor Pioneer 16x dvd -UP I'm curious how much better your quintets sound than my 4.2's. I believe I get more and better bass though, unless that sony sub of yours is really good (I don't know) Anyways, I think this system should last us for at least another year... ------------------ I love you Aki Ross! This message has been edited by Underhanded Penguin on 09-21-2001 at 11:32 AM

Hi Softwiz! My specs are gonna be similar to yours except my mains are rb-3's instead. (Not enough money and room for floorstanders) how did you wire the sony sub to the surround outs on your receiver? I looked at the back of my denon 1802, and I dont see any extra surround outs? Did you split the signal coming out of the surround outs and then wire it to the sub? I'd really appreciate it if you could explain because I am very inexperienced. Thanks in advance! -UP ------------------ I love you Aki Ross!

Well, looks like the specs for the rsw subs are out. My guess was right that they would be expensive. The RSW-10 is out of my budget. Was going to consider it if it was 800 usd or less. But now I will have to settle for the Paradigm pw-2200, which may turn out to be a better sub? Anyone think so? Anyways, my final comment about the RSW subs is I wonder why the decided to only release the RSW-15 in wood veneer finish? The other 2 are vinyl finish. Well, I'm sure they sound kick ***. The RSW-10 is 1050 watts. Although I know specs don't mean that much, 1050 watts!!!!!!????? I'm not even gonna mention the RSW-15...Go look yourself. -UP ------------------ I love you Aki Ross!