Thanks for the input y’all. I had the opportunity to acquire the 52c to do a comparison with the 34c. Aesthetically, the 52c is more appealing and appears to “match” my 820f’s due to it’s size. As far as sound...that is were it gets kinda interesting at least for me. The highs seem about the same, the mids appear to have a little more presence, and the lows have more articulation and tone ( maybe due to it’s sealed design ). Interestingly enough, when I reran my auto cal it set the xover at the same point as it set the 34c. As for output, it seems to have more despite my auto cal setting the level 1.5db less than it did for the 34c.
After these initial findings, I’m thinking that Klipsch set their recommendations based on price and power capabilities...that’s just my humble opinion.