derrickdj1

The Reference series is designed to have a musical edge over the Icon's, but how will this play out in your home is the question. I have the Icon W series and thought about upgrading, but I find them very well suited for music and am very satisfied at this point. A lot depends on the room acoustic and room correction software that your are using. Upgrade if you feel you are missing something. I went to several AV custom shops and demo B&W, Paradigm and the Reference speakers after buying the Icon. Should of did that before, but the good is that I did not feel I was missing anything considering the cost/performance ratio. Buying your system is like buying a car, if you don't get what you want, you will always have that nagging feeling of what if. Good luck, you will be a winner either way. The most musical speakers that I heard were the Golden Ear. HT is not such a problem on speaker choice.

The Icon W's pair with a nice compact sub should be great for music and HT. It's a toss up on which will be better,the Reference or the W's: the good part is you can't loose. The W's are elegant and will keep you a smaller footprint. They will give the highest WAF. In my hosuse, if she is happy I am happy!

I use my Rocketfish Power Conditioner to cut on or off all my equipment similar to the surge protector ideal. All I have to do is cut the TV on and everything powers on. I have 2 vintage amps on my system that do not have a 12 volt trigger input. Getting up and turning on the amps would not be all bad, I could use the exercise. No, I am lazy!

The Sony STR DH 510 does not have a mic for autocalibration on US models. I have one and do not like the setup. Get an avr that is at least 100-110 watts/per channel. I don't know about the STR DH 520. But, Sony does have some higher scale avr that are last years models( deep discounts) and they are pretty good. Most of the name brands such as, Pioneer, Yamaha, Onkyo, HK and Denon are all pretty good. Pick something with the additional features that you like.

Any of the name brands like Yamaha, Denon, Pioneer, ect are good. Get something at least 100-110 watts per channel if you will use the avr for HT. A little more power in general is a good thing.

I wonder why so many people want sub's that go below 20 Hz. Most musical instruments stop around 40 Hz with few exceptions, for example a pipe organ. For HT effect the best frequency of the clashes and bang is 25-40 Hz. Lower than 25 Hz you can feel more in your bones. To really get more from a sub, it is the amp rating that will really add more umph? Not taking into account ported vs sealed, ect. Pioneer Elite avr's will try to give everything a flat response, so if you do not feel you have enough bass after running the MCACC, crank up the subs gain somewhere between 50-75%. If anything, with my system I am trying to cut bass, lol.

The only electrical problem I ever had was a storm that knocked out all the cordless phones. My home is fairly new and no major electrical problems. Thanks for the replies. The panamax conditioners that I have seen are expensive, $350 or more. No reason to spend more than you really have to. I was more concerned about equipment protection and did not think it would have a major impact on SQ for my gear. Last month I did buy a Rocket fish power conditioner for around $!00. The rocket fish did solve one problem I had which, was the need for a master switch to turn on and off everything with just the press of a button. Still it is somewhat of an expensive surge protector. This forum is very educational and is a big plus to being a Klipsch ower!

This is a great discussion but due to the technical nature, it leave me with some confusion. For most of us newbies, are devices like Panamax useful? Can anyone recommend several devices to consider for use to protect our equipment. I may not be alone in the fact that most of my equipment is on one outlet due to the location of the gear. This may lead to additional electrical problems since the typical outlet is only 15 or 20 amp.

Congrats on the new setup and welcome to the forum!

Just get a Pioneer, Sony, Onkyo or other name brand with at least 100 watts/channel. That will be more than enough power. Feature at this level will be important. I have this system and think it performs well for a HT/Music system. Don't let this little guy fool ya, this little HT rocks!

I am in the market for a good wireless headphone to hook-up to my avr. Sometimes the little lady need some quite time. I sit 12-15 ft from the avr/HT setup. The only ones that I see in my area are Rocketfish and the rest of the BB collections which is pretty limited. Any advice appreciated!

The terms, strain, congested, distortion and dynamic range compression are all term to describe an amp under stress. Most dedicated amp have more powerful transformer in them than avr's. This translate into more current delivered at the output stage in the chain of amplification. Dedicated amps have more realestate for the power supply and to get rid of the heat produced when running you HT. All this would be of marginal interest if it did not have an effect on SQ. Giving speakers all the current that they need to preform properly, will translate into improved SQ wether you listen loudly or softly, stereo or mutichannel, large vs small speakers. Most smaller or less sensitive speaker are harder to drive than larger or more sensitive speakers. In general, most speakers can benefit from power amps. Better current flow means better driver control (dynamic respone) during peaks in movies and music listening. This is where power amps shine compared to avr's. Going with completely separates can get very exspensive, so using the avr as a preamp can have financial benefits. Most of the new avr's have good DAC, formats and other features that make them attractive as a preamp. Notice, I did not talk about watts rating. For example a power amp delivering 2.2 Kva for 5 channels compared to a Denon 5800( one of the best avr's in it's day) delivering 1,1 Kva under no circustance can deliver the same current at it's output stage as the power amp. Therefore, at all times your system if performing better with a dedicated power amp. This is just the way that I understand things. I use amps with my Icon V HT and hear an improvement in SQ compare to just using my Pioneer Elite SC 35 for amplification, The SC 35 is a class D avr rated at 140 watts per channel with all channels driven.

Your wide speakers should match your fronts in performance to get the best effect. The front height speakers can be smaller and the 52's should work. I also would stick to timber matching speakers for the front stage. The wrong pairing of the front height speakers made me question whether they were working. After correctly pairing the height speakers to my towers, I use DDPLIIz more than any other configuration.

Vann's usually delivers faster than a week. I have ordered speaker twice from them and received them once the next day and the other time in 2 days. The wife will look when the huge boxes arrive. You need some time with your new baby, so it is not all bad if she leaves for a while, lol. Congrats on your purchase!

When you run MCACC see how you like the sound. Play some music and this will allow you to evaluate the sub for boominess, directionality and the bass quality. There are two basic ways to set your speaker for the HT. The first one is setting all speakers to small and the second one is to leave some speakers set to large. If you need more help we should go on the subwoofer forum.

One point I left out is that the SC 57 is 4 ohm stable. This was not the case with prior Elite avr's. Therefore, impedance dips of the 7's should not be as big of a concern as with older elite avr's. But, your question was on the matter of needing a separate amp. When I first joined this forum that was one of my questions, woul I benefit from an amp. The answer was no due to the SC's power rating. I do use amps with my SC 35 and feel that there is a distinct difference when listening to movies and music. Most notable in the bass and midrange frequencies. When listening near reference level, the SC 35 sounded thin and lacked some clairty. I purchased a couple of Yamaha amps from the used market. With the amps intergrated into my system, thinning and clarity are not an issue, and the bass has more deapth. This may be due to higher current flow, not watts, in a dedicated amp that lead to better driver control. The D3 amp may not have these limitations compared to the B&O ice amp in the SC 35 . This experience cannot be extrapolated to the RF 7's with superior specs compared to my Icon's. But, the 7's are rated 250-1000 watts. I wonder how well transient peak will be handled in the 7's. To amp or not to amp, you will most likely have to try it to really know wether it will be beneficial to you. It is the handling of peaks that make a difference in HT applications for music and movies. I have searche the internt and forums on power amps vs Class D amps in avr's and was not able to finding much meaningful information. I originally brought my system for movies/music, 90/10. But now use it 50/50 because it does so well with music. I am sure more knowledgeable form members will chime in on this discussion. I still consider myself a newbie to this forum and have a lot still to learned. Your next question concerning the Pioneer Elite avr will most likely be on bass management, lol.

I also have an HD 500. Due to the size/frequency response of the satellite, X/O at 120 Hz is ideal. Most of the time you may not hear an appreciable difference between 120-80 Hz on this system. But, it is when transient peaks occur in movies that the higher 120 Hz setting protects the speakers It can only take a small amount of time to fry a speaker. The sub is set at 80Hz to keep it from being directional. I think these are awesome system for their size.

I do not own the SC 55 or 57 but, I have the SC 35. The SC 35 and 37 were Pioneer's last years top of the line models and are similar in a lot of ways to the 55 and 57. The Elite avr's are awesome from the power stand point and easy of operation. The analogue conversion is top notch and the MCACC is one of the best programs for room correction. I demo 2 Denon and a high quality Sony for several weeks prior to getting the SC 35. Amps can always be added to the SC 57 if you ever fill the need to expand your system. I have my HT in a 9.1 and really like having the front height speakers. The extended stereo function is great for listening to music. I did call Pioneer and asked about the SC 35 and 37 handling the impedance dips of the RF 7II's and they said it is not rated for those loads. If your system will have a good sub, this should not be a problem.

I also use the DDPLIIZ and have become very fond of it. It is my most used configuration. The best spot for the height speakers is 3 tt or slightly higher directly above your mains. I currently use Klipsch surround speakers for the heights. I tried bookshelf and not much difference in SQ. The height speakers should match your system or you may not get the benefit from the additional speakers. Poor choice in height speakers is why some people do not hear much out of them. They are great for movies and music. I have a 9.1 setup and which is great for movies in the various format and extended stereo listening.

Setting all the speakers to small gives good results. But, some avr's manage phase issues and standing waves very well, so the user has more options. I have my fronts, surround back and surround set to large. This is great for music listening. Pioneer's MCACC does a good job with room correction.

First, what are your other speakers? I take it , you are building a HT. The Front and Center speakers should match. Tell us your budget and the size range of speakers that will fit in your HT. This question may belong under home theater.

I keep reading about problems using the emotiva amps on this forum. Seem like ground loop problems, hiss and noise are major problems. Is this just a problem with Klipsch speakers, or is it a design problem with emotiva? I do not see complaint about other amps for the most part.

A question for you, I read that a lot of avr's under $1000, MSP, do not handle the first one or two watts of power as well as a good power amp? They have more distorton in the first couple of watts, compared to a good amp, although they may perform better has the load increases. Therefore, when listenign at lower volume the sound will have more clarity. This is in addition to the increase headroom and handling dynamic swings in the source output. So, it is not just about how many watts you are pushing; since most Klipsch will work really well in the first few watts.

I don't think you can do that with this avr. To do it, you may be able to run speakers in series or parrale. I do not think this is worth the hassel. Set things up a see how you like it. The enemy of good is better!

The white rose represents the human spirit and the struggels in life. Best wishes and thank you for sharing.