tmassey

Now that is a gorgeous setup! I am in awe. I LOVE your rug!

Hey dtel, does your wife have a sister?

Make your center match your L/R. EmoQ does some very weird stuff with my subwoofer like setting it at -20. I think I am getting some weird reverberations in my room, so I played that one by ear instead of relying on the automatic room correction.

It's much harder in the summer though because the food goes bad faster when it's in the dumpster under a hot sun. All the rot has really done a number on my teeth and complexion.

Oh sorry, I misunderstood and assumed by intolerable, you meant the sound was coming off as harsh or bright sounding. That makes a lot more sense. That is odd that they are not coming alive until you turn it up quite a bit. I have a few suggestions you could try. Looking at performance charts for the RF-62s, there is a severe dropoff of db's right around the 65 hz range. It is dependent on the room, but would give you a good place to start so I would set the crossover frequency around 70 for the fronts. On the subwoofer itself, I would turn the crossover all the way up till it says LFE Off. This makes it so that your UMC-1 controls it. Then on the UMC-1 settings, I would probably turn the sub crossover up high enough to be above the lowest crossover you have for any of your speakers. After this, on the UMC-1 remote, turn just the sub volume up to make sure it's not set really low. EmoQ set mine at -20 which didn't make any sense because it's a pretty low powered sub compared to the rest of my system. I haven't had a chance to listen to these speakers, but most reviews are claiming these speakers to have pretty boomy bass. If you got the UPA-500, it should be getting enough power. It just isn't making a lot of sense to me why it's only coming alive once you reach a certain volume. I hope others here can chime in that have had this problem.

What you aren't able to tolerate is unfortunately what Klipsch is known for to some people. After hearing your thoughts, I am thinking that Klipsch may not be the right brand for you. There are a lot of other people who feel the exact same way as yourself. As far as them losing their mids and lows, there could be lots of reasons, but because the guy said it was a different receiver, they may not have yet got it hooked up correctly. It could have been under powered or some wacky crossover settings, or any other combination of things. Even if the mids and lows were there though, I still have a feeling you would still not be able to tolerate it at a higher volume.

I had my RF-83's powered with a 110 watt per channel receiver and it sounded great, but when I added my XPA-5 to get them 200 watts, they really just came alive as if someone was holding their hand over the woffers and tweeter before. I also had an RC-62 hooked up to them as well. It sounded good to me, but when I added the RC-64, it just felt like they were a much better complement to the 83's. I definitely suggest saving up the extra couple hundred and getting on that. I do plan on getting an XPA-2 eventually for my 83's to see if there is any difference, but that won't be for a few months probably. As far as receivers go, you will definitely only want to consider receivers that have preouts so you can add an amp later. I would also suggest not worrying too much about all the extra features like internet radio and all that. You can always get everything you need later, and saving yourself some money, by getting an AppleTV or Roku or something along those lines. It's usually okay to go with an older model receiver as well to save yourself some money. In my opinion, they usually don't see a lot of improvements year over year. I really liked my old Pioneer unit myself. I am not using it anymore, and am having a very hard time letting it go because I can't get near what I think it's worth out of it. As long as you don't turn it up too much, I would also not put a lot of consideration into how many watts per channel it has either. Once you get an external amplifier, those will likely mean absolutely nothing to you. The one thing I can think of that you will want for sure is decoding of the newer audio formats (Dolby TrueHD and DTS-MA) As far as getting surrounds, I got a pair of RS-62's that I like very much. However, I think that an RS-52 or even an RS-42 would be great with the 83's. There just isn't a lot of very demanding audio coming out of the surrounds. And with the pretty big price jump from the RS-52 to the RS-62, I think if I could have skimped without hearing any audible difference anywhere in my system, it would have been the RS-62s. On the other hand, I will never feel the need to upgrade them either though, because I believe they are the best surround I can get that would match well with the 83s, so there is the peace of mind. And grats on your 83s! I was in the same boat with the lust, and as soon as I heard a pair, I had to have! Let's see some pictures! You might be surprised, someone might have a good idea on how to better position them. Messing with the positioning is the cheapest and easiest way to improve a speakers performance. I was a little bored last night and decided to get out a tape measure and start measuring distances making sure they were both toed in exactly the same, and one was a little wider than the other so I fixed that and centered my seating position on them, and I was a little astounded at how much clearer the soundstage was. If you have the time, I would definitely suggest trying to tweak their positioning and angled right so they are pointing towards you. Even though what you are hearing now sounds fantastic, there is a chance it gets even better!

Wow, I was just coming on here, because going through some of my dad's stuff (he passed away about 10 years ago), he had an old Sony CD built in 1993 that I was wondering if it was worth hooking up. I tried to look up the model number, but I couldn't find any information anywhere on it. He was the type of guy that if he was going to spend his money on something, it was going to be something nice. I was wondering if it was worth hooking up for when I just wanna pop in a CD and don't really need the TV on. I'll give it a go, though I don't believe it had any digital outs, so it will be interesting to hear how it sounds.

Forte II's I suggest considering those as well. They would be pretty good for your bedroom. I think you would be much happier with them, especially if you don't really want to buy a new sub or take one out of your living (of course, it would sound much better with a sub).

Instead of using a switch, there are some pretty good stereo preamps with an HT pass-through. Not sure how much of a purist you are, but it would add another link to the chain when you are not doing music, and depending on the brand you pick, it might have to be on all the time as well to actually pass the signal through. On the other hand, stereo preamps tend to have better SQ than a ht preamp.

Cost per performance, the icon series is top notch.

Oops, not sure how I got them confused. It is indeed 33917. Sorry.

I just looked at that sub on Audiogon and would have bought it already, unfortunately the seller isn't willing to ship and is a good 3,000 miles away. If anyone in Florida is willing to act as a middle-man and will be able to ship it, PM me and maybe I can make it worth your while. He is located in the 18045 area code (North Fort Myers).

I really wish there was a way to hear them first. I am planning on the Epik Empire now, but will hold off for a few weeks in hopes of there being a well priced used one, or possibly a ridiculously good price on something else.

That my friend, is a pretty darn good looking sub. Very nice job at matching the oak on the fronts to it as well. Looks very nice together! I've not yet had a chance to listen to those speakers, but I am sure it sounds amazing!

Agreed, though after doing some research and in Klipsch's defense, I can't seem to find very many subs that can match that for 800$. Those are some pretty fantastic looking specs being able to keep a decent output at that low of frequencies! They seem pretty highly regarded so I think I am going to go for it. Does anyone have any idea what a used one usually goes for? My AC unit went out on my truck yesterday, so unfortunately instead of two subs and no AC in my car, I would rather have one sub and ac and another sub later on.

Welcome to the forum! I am happy Klipsch has made another very happy customer! Unfortunately the only problem you have now is lack of pictures! Lets see those if you can!

Whenever anyone mentions r&d, all I can think is 'not Bose'. And Scrappydue, I don't even have an RSW-10. I have an RW-10, it's pretty bad. I think it's about half the watts and without the passive woofer of the RSW. I haven't seen a lot of SW-115's for sale, are they a newer item? I am pretty much dead set on getting the most bang for my buck which means used. I have had very good luck on everything I have that has been used, it all seems extremely well taken care of, and have met some very good people as well. But those Epics Empires look very nice! I am going to see if I can find a shop somewhere around that demos them. I hate my area, there is extremely little in the quality home theater products. The one place I did go to, which conveniently was on my way home from work, closed up. I usually have to drive about 3 hours to get anywhere worthwhile. Also, good story Scrappydue. I had a suspicion mismatching subs would be okay as long as one were willing to take the time to find the best possible placement. I think for now I am going to buy a single Emotiva x-ref 12 and hopefully that will give me somewhat of an idea on how much improvement there is to be had. If I think it's not getting me in the relative direction I want to go, I can always send it back to get something bigger. If it is closer to what I am looking for, I can always add another later, or maybe even save up and get that Velodyne DD-18 that I REALLY want sometime next year, and toss the Emotiva in the back corner of the room somewhere.

UMC-1 Manual It's really not difficult to wire everything up. It's all pretty self explanatory. You will need 7 RCA cables though. If I understand correctly, and you are trying to build a 7.1 surround setup, it's just a matter of hooking up the 4 surrounds (your F3s) and your center to the XPA-5 via speaker cable, and then connecting RCA cables from each of the 5 channels on the back of the XPA-5 to the 4 surround and center preouts on the back of the UMC-1. And the just run an RCA cable from the front left and front right preouts to each of the XPA-1s and run speaker wire from each of the XPA-1s to their respective fronts (RF-7 IIs). So to get the amps and speakers all hooked up, all you will need is 7 RCA cables and 7 speaker wires. From my research though, the XPA-5 can be fairly picky on the quality of RCA cables. Sometimes a faulty RCA cable will send it into protect mode, which is really just protecting itself and your speakers from power surges. So if you do need to buy the RCA cables, I suggest not getting the cheapest you can find. Monoprice.com usually works well for us in the States, not really sure what your options are in Australia. Also, I believe the shorter the RCA cables, the less interference will be picked up, as well as being cheaper, so keep in consideration how far away your amps will be from the UMC-1 when buying. Most likely, the most time spent configuring your UMC-1 will most likely be speaker settings once you get it all hooked up. Their automatic room correction isn't the greatest, but will give you a good starting point. I am constantly tweaking my crossovers, and sometimes when I think I got it right and it sounds awesome, the next day I decide to tweak it more and make it sound even better. Bottom line is, it will sound great out of the box, and even better when you hook the microphone in and run the automatic room correction, but there are a lot of settings you can tweak to get the most out of it, if you want. It sounds like you had a pretty faulty amp from before if you couldn't turn it up very high without it going out on you. I am thinking once you get the XPA-5 hooked up, the F3s will really open up, but at the same time, the RF-7 II's just might put them to shame being behind those XPA-1's. What you have is going to sound amazing, and I am looking forward to hearing your thoughts. We are also going to need pics when you do get it all hooked up, and any questions, please feel free to keep asking!

Nice find and quick reply, thanks! Those look like they would be perfect and I would have a dollar to spare!

Yeah, the RS-52 would be perfect for you then, and good luck on Ebay! Being in Russia, Ebay is probably your best bet to find what you need. I am not sure on how particular you are on the condition of the, but if you do buy used, it never hurts to ask for pictures. "small scratch" sometimes has a completely different meaning to the seller. The last thing anyone wants to do is pay for shipping back and forth from Russia.

I have been on the hunt for the last few months for two good subs and have found a few pretty good deals, most notably Redline's RT-12d. The more I listen to what I have, the more I am sure the system is suffering from the lack of a good low-end. The RW-10d is a pretty good sub for what it is and worked wonders with my previous VF-35s, but is completely overpowered by my RF-83s. Now I am wondering how to get the most bang for my buck. I figure there are three different routes I can take. I would like to spend around 1500$ max... which would you guys consider to be the most cost effective approach? 1. Buy one very good sub. There are a lot of fantastic subs right around the $1500 mark. I know Scrappydue loves his svs pb-13 ultra, and would fit right in my budge if I went used. There was recently a showroom demo Velodyne DD-18 for $2000 semi-locally as well which would be an amazing sub. $2000 seems like a lot though because I could have a pair of Klipschorns for that. 2. Buy two matching subs for around $750 each. Because I am being held down by trying to match brand/model, the deals I get probably won't be so great or it may take a very long time for one to show up that I need. I have toyed with the idea of getting a pair of Emotiva X-Ref 12's new because they are on sale, but I think I could still be better off going with used. 3. Buy two different subs. Because I don't have to worry about brand/model, I am thinking I could find a pair of two very good subs for right around my price range. If I did go this route, should I try and get two subs that are close in RMS or Peak power? If I got two subs, with one being a lot better than the other, would it make sense to put the good one up front and the lower powered one in the back? As you can see, I am pretty new to the idea of running two subs, and have almost no clue as to how important it is to match them if I did get two. Will $1500 even get me a good enough sub for use with my 83s? I do about 50/50 music/movies, but I feel that music is more important when it comes to the sub. I have a better idea of how a song should sound than how a movie should sound.

Hi! Welcome to the forum! What other speakers do you have for the rest of your system? It is best to try and timbre match your speakers, but it's not really important for surrounds to do so. The RS-52s should work very well for you either way, and that is a lot of money to pay for the RS-52 IIs. It really depends on how much you can get the RS-52s for as well. If they are cheaper for you, they would probably be the way to go.

That is true, though I don't think anyone would really notice much of a difference either way, so it is usually best to go with whatever is most cost-effective. If you did go with a WDST, it might be better to position the speakers a few feet out from the center as well, so that the inside facing tweeters/woofers are directly facing the listener. You could possibly get a front-wide effect to from the out facing tweeters/woofers bouncing off the walls. Not sure if that specific setup has been tried before, but it could be worth a shot if you find a good deal on some WDST speakers. I would suggest either RB-61 or RS-52s at the most. Anything bigger would be overkill for what they are.

I think the only thing you should have to worry about with Klipsch when it comes to amps is not getting a brand known for sounding "bright". Emotiva is widely considered to be the best bang for your buck and they have a very good return policy. To add-on to what previous posters have said, if you are dead-set on doubling up on the RMS, you may want to consider saving yourself some money and just getting a two channel amp or two monoblocks for your fronts and getting an xpa-5 for the rears. Also, according to Emotiva's podcast last week, they are releasing a new line of amplifiers that might be right up your alley. The specs are not yet official, but they have an XPR-5 coming that is said to be 400 watts over 5 channels and an XPA-7 which is said to have 350 watts per channel into 7. As far as pricing goes, no idea, but most likely a lot cheaper than anything else around those power ratings.