Underhanded Penguin

Hey Theears. I remember you mentioned you owned some ATI amps. How do you like them? I can get a deal on a 1502 for 700 CAD. Do you think that's a good deal? I was thinking of using it to power my dynaudio a52se. Comments are appreciated. Thanks.

Look Big Busa. Don't be a jackass. It's not uncommon for companies to refuse warranty from products purchased from unauthorized dealers. Nowhere did Phil say ALL speakers purchased from unauthorized dealers were clones. The fact is Klipsch does not have control over unauthorized dealers because they do not go through the normal business process of acquiring Klipsch products. This normal process would involve a certain level of quality and operational inspection by Klipsch to insure the dealer is meeting the service level standards needed to represent their brand. By avoiding this process Klipsch has lost quality control of their product. The ones listed on Brand Namez may very well be an original Klipsch speaker manufactured in their plant. BUT it could also be a repaired defective. And because the dealer does not go through normal business process, Klipsch has no way of knowing the origin of the speaker and whether the parts inside are quality controlled Klipsch parts. Nobody said that they would ALL be complete clones. It's an unknown element you're dealing with. Put yourself in the place of a business owner. Would you want to warrant a product that appears to be manufactured from your plant but has been sold by a retailer that you have not personally seen or checked out? You have no idea what kind of operation they run and what they have done to your speaker. If would still warrant that speaker, then you are dumber than you sound, and I would love to do business with you.

Okay guys I've made up my mind. Thanks to all those who made comments. Some thoughts: 1) Paradigm studio 20 sounded pretty darn good at its price point. A ton of bass. Almost don't need a sub! 2) RB-75 sounded really good as well. A bit too big for my space. Clean clear and dynamic like the RF-7. But not as good as RF-7. A bit bright as most Klipsch are. Some might call this detail, but let's just say listening to music at high volumes, klipsch is more fatiguing than dynaudio. 3) Totem Model 1 sounded really good. It uses Dynaudio drivers. Clean simple look. Great finish. 4)B&W 705 - sounded good. Better than 1NT. More open, but not as good as I thought. Again a bit bright. Mid range was not as laid back as I thought it would be. 5) I couldn't find dealers that had the Intermezzos, Utopias, Cremonas, Epiphonys, and Von Schweikert vr1s. In the end, the speaker I kept going back to to listen to music was the Dynaudio Audience 52 Special Edition. It had an openess and airiness that no other speaker I listened to had. I really can't find anything wrong with these speakers. Hope to get it before Christmas. Thanks for the recommendations guys.

Thanks so much for the comments and recommendations guys. I'm buying speaker first because I have amp and source already that I can use temporarily. I plan on upgrading amp and source when the budget permits. I think either approach is fine, whether you go with amp or speaker first. I will be auditioning some more tonight. I'll let you know what I think. -UP

Hi Tony. The amp will be a Rotel 1070. Source will be some crappy sony cd changer for now. Those are not so important, as I will be switching out the amp and player if need be. I just want to get the speaker part right first. I will do what it takes to mate the rest to the speakers in the future. Thanks. All comments appreciated!

And I'm not dismissing the RB-75. I'll give it a serious listen as it was recommended by you guys. I'm just skeptical that they'll blow the dynes out of the water, considering how good the dynes sounded. I will also look into the rest of the recommendations. Thanks guys.

Okay, but seriously, you guys that are recomending the RB-75s, have you listened to the Dynaudio coutours before??? You think the Rb-75s would blow the countour out of the water? Because the Audience 52SE is essentially a countour 1.1 in a cheaper cabinet. Albeit, it may not sound as good as a regular 1.1. But for the money they sound damn good, and like I said, I didn't even think the Rf-7's sounded as airy or transparent as the A52SE. Borings sounding? No F$%king way. Maybe the B&Ws but definitely NOT the dynaudio A52SE. Theears: What do you think? You're the only person I can think of on this board that have listened to both...

Deang, I said I thought the B&W CDM's sounded "BETTER" than Klipsch Reference for music. I didn't say Reference sounded bad with music. Just personal preference I guess. -UP

Oh come on Deang. Nice, polite, and boring? I'm a Klipsch fan myself. And although I do like the dynamics of Klipsch for HT, I won't go so far to say B&W's are boring. IMO, B&W CDM series sounds better than klipsch reference for music. For HT, it's another story. I know the RF-75s are supposed to sound really good, but better than Dynaudio??? I've heard the RF-7's and own the RF-3's, RB-3's. And the tiny Audience 52 se has a quality I just have not heard before in a klipsch speaker. The soundstage, articulation, and transparency was spoooky. I dunno. I'm no expert. Who else has heard the audience 52 se's and can chime in? Theears? Keep in mind,I have to get a bookshelf for space limitations. So RF-5's are out of the question. Also, I wanted bookshelf because the imaging is better than most floorstanders because of the close proximity of the drivers. So the new question is regardless of price: Dynaudio Audience 52 SE or Klipsch RB-75? Will be driven by cheapy Rotels. I don't care for high volumes. Just good quality sound. My RB-3's regardless of placemetn does not have anywhere near the quality of the dynes. Also, they are pretty harsh for some types of music. Thanks for the feedback guys.

Hi guys. I'm looking to get a two channel system in my bedroom. Upgrading from RB-3's. I've narrowed down my choices to these three which are within budget of $1400 USD: 1)Dynaudio Audience 52 SE (Esotec tweeter, and Countour 1.3mkII's mid range bass driver, $1400 USD.) 2)B&W CDM 1NT (Discontinued and discounted to $1100 USD.) 3)B&W 705 (Replaces CDM 1NT, better bass extension, improved drivers etc etc, $1400 USD) Of these three I have heard the 1NT briefly, and the a52se critically. From what I can tell, the 1NT has a lot of what I'm looking for: slightly laid back, not too bright or harsh, airy. The a52 blew me away. They sounded so open and airy. Even at louder volumes, the mid range and high end was not overly forward or harsh. Female vocals were creepy sounding... I mean that in the best possible way. Theears, I am jealous of your C1.1s On a side note, I listened to the special 25's. They were a few thousand dollars over my budget, but I didn't listen for very long because it only made me sad. Opinions appreciated...

It made sense to me...

Hi Pete, keep in mind that you compared the RC-35, which I'm assuming sat on top of the tv somewhere, against two RF-3IIs beside the tv. If nothing else, the imaging would sound different already. Even if you had 3 RF-3IIs in the front, comparing 1 versus 2 would sound different. Then there's also the crossovers. Are your RF-3IIs set to large? Is your center set to large too? That will affect how they sound in comparison. That said, 3 'good' speakers in the front array is always the best match. By good I mean not tiny satelites. That is matching at the expense of quality which is not smart.

Liked T3 and Revolutions. Don't trust any of these guys Moon. It's at least worth a rental! I am one of the few that liked Revolutions as well. I thought it was really good on many levels. Not a GREEATT movie, but definitely very good. I won't go into detail. It would take way too much time. But seriously Moon... you must feel my pain with all these people that hated revolutions. I was quite shocked coming out of the theatre when all my friends said it sucked... Couldn't believe it. Just goes to show how subjective the movie going experience can be.

Just curious: Why would you even ask Amy's advice on such an unrelated topic?? Do you know her? It's not even Klipsch related.

Good theears. Look forward to hearing about your findings. You'll be the first Canadian I know to hear the 2500 no doubt. None of my friends are into audio. Post some solid MSRP's when you find out. Thanks.

I just wanna say the 2500 is the best looking subwoofer I've ever seen.

Self explanatory... I want one but don't want to pay full price... -UP

Biggus, I don't think I got the best deal for my sub. Although I don't know any other paradigm dealers near my area. I live in downtown Toronto. I got them for 820 + tax. Their price tag is about 1050. Then there was a sale price tag which was 940. Then the sales guy gave it to me for 820. (Good marketing and mark up) With tax it came to about 960. All in Canadian dollars. I bought it at Kromer Radio at Bathurst and Dundas. I think I saw posts about people being able to get them for around 700 plus tax. This might have been version 1 though... For me, even at 820 it was a good deal considering what you get.

"The only thing any sub kills is bank accounts and peace with those who live close by.Nothing more" Fair enough. I'll agree to that. RSW-12 is a great sub. It was originally my first choice to get. But alas, the price did not agree with my bank account. The RSW-12 was almost double the price of the pw-2200 v2. The more movies I watch with it, the more shocked I am of how much I paid for it. It's ridiculous is what it is.

That was first of all not funny, and second of all doesn't make any sense. I suppose too much bass will do that to you.

Okay. I agree with theEARs except for the depth thing. This thing goes lower than the RSW-15. Doesn't that make it an RSW-12 killer. Okay maybe killer is a bit harsh. Let's just say it goes lower then. In terms of punch, yeah I'll give it to the RSW-12 because it does have a higher db bump at around 60hz. Although the pw-2200 v2 does sound a lot punchier and quicker than the v1. That I can attest to.

I know where you're coming from formica trust me. I had version 1 before and nobody could understand why I returned it. I just didn't think it had enough punch for music. It's great down low but not up high where music bass is. But now with version 2.... you should hear the punch on this thing...

I believe the pw-2200 is an RSW-12 killer in every aspect... punch, depth, price. I'm very happy with my purchase.

Let me just say first of all I was not a fan of version 1. Many people liked it. I thought it was okay for HT but lacked in the music department because it was not punchy enough. Well, I went to a local audio store to demo version 2 and what can I say. Wow. 400 watts now. I thought the version 1 had a design flaw with the 4 vents on the amp plate that made a ton of air flow noise when pushed hard. No more. The only air coming out of this beast is the port. Might be too early to say this but I think the pw-2200 version 2 is the new king of budget price/performance ratio subwoofers. At least for Canadians... TheEARS... you might want to add your two cents. To my ears, it's quite a big improvement from the version 1... Now I'm thinking of getting a pw-2100 for the computer. That would beat any multimedia sub I think. I Wonder if there's a way to hook a pw-2100 up to my promedia's which have RB-3's connected to them.

Dan, I recently replaced my front left and right sats on my promedia 5.1 with RB-3 bookshelves. (Had them leftover from an older HT system) All I can say is it's a VERY different sound in a good way. It's MUCH smoother. Sometimes even silky. Extremely detailed. I run it in 2 speaker mode most of them time now because it sounds so good. I'll eventually replace the rest of the channels with Reference speakers as well. The reason I'm not buying a separate receiver is because it costs too much and I still want the five channel sound card output for games. Anyways, to answer your question, sound quality wise it's a huge upgrade from the promedia, but you are losing that 5 channel sound which may be good for games. And also the RB-35's will not go as low as the promedia sub, but the bass it provides is punchy clean good quality bass. You won't lose that much on music. Movies on the other hand will lose some bass impact.