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Sorry to bring this up, but are there similar mods for the RF-5?

Yea I'm leaning heavily towards the 5008. I like that it has a full set of preouts. The 3 year warranty is a plus as well.

I currently have a Marantz SR6004 but the center channel emits static and two of the hdmi inputs play no audio. My current setup is 3.1: RF5 fronts RC7 center 10" Onix Rocket sub I will definitely not go beyond 5.1 anytime soon. I care more about sound quality than I do all the latest apps/networking etc, though it would be a welcomed addition to my setup. Audio quality is priority though. My living room is about 13x18 with hardwood floors, so pretty small. The majority of use is currently TV/Movies, but again, I want the audio quality to be there when I listen to music. My seating position when watching tv is about 11 feet away, with the L&R speakers being 12-13 feet away. I only need 3 or 4 hdmi inputs and one output. So, with a budget of about $400, what would you guys recommend on the used/refurb market to go along with these RF speakers? I like the Marantz sound compared to the older Yamaha/Onkyo with these, but I have heard that some of Yamaha's newer offerings are less harsh than they used to be. I have an RX-V1700 in the bedroom, and did not care for it with the RF's. What about Cambridge Audio's Azur offerings? Would the 50w/ch in the 351 be enough for the RF's? I have 110w/ch right now with the Marantz, but highly doubt I've come close to needing it in this room.

Ok I'll make the change. So if I want to turn the sub up a little, is it best to turn it up on the sub or in the manual setup settings on the receiver? It's set at 0db on the sub amp, and Audyssey put it at -8db during auto setup.

Ok so I made the recommended adjustments on the sub amp and ran it again. I understand distance is more of a function of delay, but Audyssey actually placed the speakers within 6-8" of how far away they really are from the listening position this time, so I'm not sure what the difference was. Here's the configurations it came up with on speaker size: Subwoofer: Yes Front: Large Center: Small LPF/HPF: 40hz Bass Mix: Mix So should I change the fronts to small and change the lpf/hpf to 80 hz? What is that Bass Mix function? I think i had it on Both before instead of Mix

Ah, missed the bandwidth adjustment. I'll have to rerun it after i set it to 1.0 huh? What does bandwidth do? I dont feel I know enough to know that I'd need to adjust that after the "baseline" setup, if it did indeed need to be adjusted. Also, I went back in to manual and my fronts were set to large while the center was set to small. Wonder why Audyssey did this? What does having them set to large with a sub do? Scrappy- it looks like dynamic eq was already turned on.

Ran it again. Distances came out much different this time. However, with the dials shown above, Audyssey put my sub level at -7db, which was barely audible at all. I bumped it up to -3 and it sounds much better. Not wall shaking, but sounds better. I may bump it up another db or two, we'll see. As you can see in the pic, its already at 0 on the sub. Also, audyssey doesnt say what it is crossing at. So I dont know if it is crossing at 80hz or what. It just says "auto." Should I leave it there, or manually change it to 80? Also, it set speaker size to "auto." Again, this is a 3.1, so it knows i don't have surrounds or anything.

Ok, here's how the dials are set now, before I run Audyssey again. Thoughts?

Thanks for the help. Setting to small and crossing at 80 definitely helped. There still seems to be some midrange missing, and the sub seems to almost be slightly behind where it should be. As in the bass hits just barely after you hear a bass drum hit in the mains or something like a footstep in King Kong. I will try setting it up with Audyssey again. It tried to say the sub was 28 feet away the first time, yet it is closer to the mic than my mains are, and it put them at 15 feet.

OK, so I have a Marantz sr6004. For now, I have a 3.1 setup with RF5's as mains, RC7 center and an Onix UFW-10 subwoofer. I just got around to setting everything up with this receiver, as I bought it used. I have never used a subwoofer before, as I've never had a large enough living room to need one. The way it is set up now, it sounds great watching Godzilla on HBO; plenty of bass. My problem comes in when I use the AUX port in the front (automatically switches to 2.1) to play music through my iPhone 6. It seems like the sub only wants to play the kick drums. It doesn't play the low end of the bass guitar, or the bass drops that are often common in metal music. I'm sure it is something to do with my setup. My bedroom setup is a Yamaha receiver with a pair of Paradigm 9se MK1's (no sub), and when the drawn out bass guitar strums or bass drops hit, they will rattle things off the walls. I know this sub and the RF5's should be able to do that to a greater extent, but I have no idea how to set it up. I would even say the bass guitars sound flat and borderline non-existent, while bass guitars should be very prevalent in metal music. Can someone walk me through it? Attached is a pic of the back of my sub for reference on the controls.

I might have the tv stand figured out. I'm thinking I'll remake it (my original drawing was actually for a 43" TV, which has now been replaced with the 51") to my original specs. My new idea is to attach two studs to the back side of the stand that I will use to attach a wall mount bracket, like this. Then I'll place the center channel on top of the stand, and can extend the TV to just behind the front edge of the center speaker, at a height that has the bottom of the TV almost touching the speaker. The speaker will hide the studs on the back side, and the ability to tilt will make the TV height a little more bearable. Studs will be secured to the bottom shelf from underneath using heavy duty L brackets. Lots of brads and wood glue will be used as well. Thoughts?

So in the picture I posted in my first post, that is with the couch pulled all the way to the edge of that wall leading into the kitchen. I added the end table in the drawing. So as far back as I can pull that couch on that wall, it's ~15" away from that speaker with where I have the speakers currently sitting. Also, in that drawing, the south wall and east wall have windows. The first picture I attached is looking towards the east wall, so there are twice as many windows on the wall to my right from that viewpoint.

brackets really are great - for sure - Can you post a link to what you are referring to, please?

Yea I won't be building any stadium seating in the living room, haha. We'll only be in this house for a couple of years. May just have to deal with less than ideal listening conditions in this house I guess.

I've read that a vertical center is better than a horizontal for off-axis viewing (which may happen from time to time). What about using something like the RB-81 II in that middle section of my stand, elevated as high as I can get it inside there? Just an idea...

Thanks! I actually drew it out that way on paper last night. I'm going to send the sketch to her and ask if we have room for that set up. It would require removing the chair from the room all together, but I'd probably be ok with it. I attached a pic of my sketch, haha. I'm back in Houston now, so I can't do any shifting until I move there in March. By then she'll be used to however it is I'm sure. I'm not sure if this would be ok with one speaker near a corner and the other nowhere near a side wall. See attached.

Yea I don't know if I can afford to build the stand any deeper. The ridiculous stands that Samsung is using on these new plasmas (and probably the LCD's too) take up entirely too big of a footprint. Between that and the 12" depth of the RC-7, the cabinet would have to be pretty deep. I'll try moving the towers around behind there like you've suggested. I may see about removing those feet on the bottom, placing the center on top of the cabinet, then building a matching riser to go on top of this for the tv. That would put the TV about 5-6" higher than it is now. The woman has already asked if we can make it shorter if I rebuild it, so she won't be a fan of this idea. She thinks the TV is too high as it is.

I considered that, but it puts the tv considerably higher than eye level, and I'm only sitting about 10' from it, so even small increases in height seem like a lot at that distance. The front of the speaker would be flush w the front of the stand, and the back will be open behind the speaker itself. Why would it matter that the cabinet is enclosed in there if the front is flush w the edge of the stand?

I think i have them 10" from the side wall and 8" from the rear wall right now, toed towards center a little bit. That pic was take. Before i toed them.

I see. Would it be better to have the center above the tv (and above ear level) or below the tv (and below ear level) with the L/R's at ear level? What if the L/R's are elevated a little above ear level and the center is above the tv, angled down (yet considerably higher than ear level)?

Pictured below is my current setup. Note that I am planning to remake the TV stand, as I built it with my old RC-3 dimensions in mind. I have obtained an RC-7, and as you can see, the two middle columns are too narrow for this monster. My original idea was to have the center speaker located where the AVR is right now (in the pic), and the AVR placed on the bottom where the speaker currently sits. The left/right speakers are RF-5's. The attached picture was taken from my chair with the camera at eye level, so this is basically my view. So my question is, with the center speaker placed where I originally intended for it to be in the stand, will it matter that the tweeter in the center is lower than the tweeters of the RF-5's? Not only will it be lower, but it will also be below ear level, while the RF-5s are pretty much exactly at ear level. I know I can angle the center up a little bit, but I read on another thread where someone made a good point that the sound, sweeping from left to right, would noticeably dip when it crossed through the center channel, and it would distract the viewer, as opposed to a seamless sweep if the tweeters were all in line, or close to it. Another scenario question: there's about 15" between the couch and the RF's, with the lower woofer being blocked from view, so i was considering building short speaker stands to elevate them above the couches some. However, this will increase the distance between the height of the L/R's and the center - now with the center being below ear level and the L/R's now being above ear level. if I did this, should I make my TV stand shorter and mount the center speaker over the TV on that center piece of trim between the two windows? (assuming I can find one narrow enough to mount there that will hold the 42 pound RC-7) How would you guys set this up? Again, I'm planning to rebuild the tv stand. The current one is 48" wide and the top sits right at about 27" high. The TV is a 51" plasma. I was considering rebuilding it in the same design as attached, but 72" wide and about 2" shorter which would put the center of the tv closer to being in line with the L/R tweeters, but again, this will also lower the center channel 2 inches, putting the bottom of the center channel about 14" off the ground (as opposed to 16" with current dimensions). This would also put the center of the TV at eye-level when seated. If the L/R tweeters are above the couches, as well as the top woofer, does it matter that the bottom woofer is below/concealed from the viewer by the couch? Am I being too anal about this?

It was nice meeting you as well Billy! Killer system you have there! All we have up here right now is a cheap old Sony receiver. Can't wait to get my Marantz up here and hook everything up. Thanks again for handling the transaction for me!

Once again, HUGE thanks to Tasdom! Can't wait to get it all hooked up! Mxr dad - you're in Houston? That's where I am right now. Katy area, work downtown. You?

No kidding! Amazing how things like this work out!

Every damn day! Hmmm. If I can make a deal with him and send payment via paypal or send you a money order or something, would you mind picking it up and holding on to it for me? Strange request I know. Something car guys do on car forums all the time Not strange at all here bud. You'll find this place to be much more than another forum. I'll be happy to pick it up and hold it til you come through Albuquerque. I just sent him a message and will let you know. Much appreciated!