Peter P.

As far as the hissing sound- keep the amp on but shut off your source-CD, stream, MP3, whatever. If the sound disappears, it's your source device. Try it with all your sources to see if it's isolated to one or more sources. If the sound remains even after all your source devices are turned off, then it's your amp, receiver, etc. The reason you may hear the sound from the rear of the enclosure vs. the front is, the cavity of the enclosure acts like a horn itself, amplifying the sound. Since you don't hear it from the front, I don't see anything to worry about. As to the tweeters, you could disconnect the wires to the tweeter (pay attention which wire connected to which terminal so you can reconnect them properly) and put a voltmeter across the tweeter terminals. It should read roughly 8 ohms. If they read a very high number or no number at all, they're toast. You could then connect your voltmeter, set to AC volts, and attach the leads to the wires you disconnected from the tweeter. A pair of clip leads really helps here. Play some music and watch the voltmeter. It should bounce all over the place in response to the music. Watch the numbers and turn up the volume. The numbers should go up. Cool, right? It means the signal is getting to the tweeters.

I think ScottE is confused. The receiver didn't blow out the subwoofer as it's merely sending a line level signal to the subwoofer amp; the sub's amp failed or the driver died. He needs a 12" subwoofer with a more powerful amp, or a second subwoofer. The 12" Klipsch Reference Premier subwoofer should suffice as it has a higher rated output of 121dB and an amp rated at 400W continuous/800W peak. I also recommend SVS and HSU Research. Replacing the driver or the sub amp will revive it and save the landfill, but if you're going this route, just add another subwoofer in parallel as it's clear you want more SPL than your current subwoofer can deliver. If you're lucky, once you determine whether the driver or amp is bad, Klipsch may have replacements, or check eBay. Don't replace the receiver as it's not dead, nor is it the issue.

Thanks for the update. You were wise to choose a pair of bookshelf speakers to replace your Optimus speakers, vs. buying a pair of floorstanders. The subwoofer will already fill the gap any bookshelf speaker can provide and due to size and placement issues you already had a location available (the place where your Optimus speakers sat), where you were sure you could put a new speaker. We often have to consider limiting factors other than the features of the speaker we want, when considering how to upgrade. I wouldn't chuck those Optimus speakers. Many times we later yearn for those speakers we had "way back when" (I know I do), so consider puting those bookshelf speakers to use in the garage, basement, workshop etc. where you'll still enjoy them.

Ain't gonna happen. Changing the woofer won't do squat for increasing the low end. You need a bigger cabinet, period. Or a subwoofer.

All that means is the low watt/high current amp is capable of driving speakers with very low impedance, even if they won't do it very loudly. That low impedance may not be across the full frequency range of the speaker but if it is some exotic speaker, that amp can handle it without damage. Most speakers are designed by engineers that are smart enough to design speakers for a wide variety of equipment. After all, they want to sell as many units as possible, no?

Correct; those extra watts beyond 8W only contribute to the sound volume. You could say those 92 remaining watts are wasted, or your amp has capacity that will never be used. Now, if you had inefficient speakers such as electrostatics, you might need all those watts. And since a hardly audible 3dB increase in volume requires a doubling of power, to get any meaningful increase in volume requires tremendous increases in output wattage, at tremendous expense.

The benefit is called "headroom". Any piece of music will vary in amplitude. Those intermittent, briefly louder instances are called "peaks", and require more power from the amplifier. So if your amp is playing at level "X" one of those peaks will come along and demand more of the amp's power to reproduce the louder signal. If the amp maxes out trying to faithfully reproduce that brief peak it will "clip", which means if you looked at the waveform on an oscilloscope it would look like an undulating wave but the tops and the bottoms of the wave will be flat. These flat portions indicate the amp is operating beyond its limits, which can damage the amp. If an amp has headroom, it has more power than is needed to reproduce those peaks. Some people consider headroom the ability to briefly generate considerably more power than its continuous output rating. Fair enough. Whether your amp has plenty of reserve power to drive your speakers or merely has the headroom to briefly reproduce those peaks the result is the same. Conversely, most speakers are rated in "Continuous" watts. Which means they can tolerate some peaks beyond that continuous rating as long as the amp has enough headroom to reproduce the wave faithfully. If the amp clips even if its output rating is below the continuous wattage rating of your speakers, when the amp generates that flat section described above, it is sending a DC voltage to your speakers. This is bad and if long enough in time can damage your speakers. The solution is to keep the volume down to a point where you don't hear distortion, even on those intermittent peaks. As long as you don't hear anything bad, you're not pushing your amp or speakers beyond their limits and don't risk damage to one or both.

Be sure and post what you wind up buying, and give us a review, regardless of what you choose!

...but they have consecutive serial numbers! 😀

THIS. You're not interested in the latest, greatest, and highest price. Check the used market. The subs I've listed below are from quality brands, which I found for you in the Dallas/Fort Worth craigslist listings. If the seller is willing to demo for you, you have a legitimate seller. If the ad is written intelligently, ditto. https://dallas.craigslist.org/ndf/ele/d/lewisville-rel-ht-1003-home-theater/7735849489.html https://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/ele/d/lewisville-martin-logan-dynamo-700w/7734501614.html https://dallas.craigslist.org/ftw/ele/d/fort-worth-rel-ht-1205/7736113584.html If you really want a new subwoofer, I'd suggest an SVS 1000 Series sub. Attractively priced, good customer service. I see nothing wrong with the Klipsch Reference or Reference New subwoofers. They are in your price range and should meet your less than demanding needs.

I have an SVS SB-1000 with my Heresies and it's perfect. Their on-line tech support quickly answers questions. I bought mine from their web Outlet and saved about fifty bucks. Generous return policy. The SB-1000 is a very compact, just over 12" cube so placement is easy and flexible. I was interested in the HSU Research subs because they can be played sealed OR ported. Great to experiment. I was just too cheap to pay the price difference between HSU and SVS.

What are your requirements? Do you have size limitations? Do you need speaker level inputs? How much are you willing to spend? Do you have a preferred design-ported or sealed? Any brands you are interested in? Help the forum narrow it down.

Like others have said, if your Denon AVR had a loudness button, you could engage it a lower volumes. But looking at the manual, I don't see that as an option. Tweaking your bass tone control at lower volumes is your best bet.

Is there any reason why you can't just use an equalizer to smooth out the LaScala's response curve? I know there are ahem, "purists" out there that poo poo tone controls and such but I say use 'em if you got 'em and no one will be the wiser.

Obviously, being a Klipsch forum, we're going to recommend the award winning RP-600M. But you're going to put them on stands, no? If you put them on stands, they'll pretty much occupy the same space as your Chorus speakers, so to me the switch doesn't make much sense. And I know you said "no floorstanding speakers up front" but the new floor standers are actually narrower, offering a smaller visual footprint. There's no chance you could get away with those? In the end, if it's bookshelf or bust, get the RP-600M. Search the interwebs and you'll find nothing but outstanding reviews. Looks like they're blowing out the original version at closeout prices to make room for the version II. That will leave much more money for a subwoofer, and you'll be well within your budget. I'm partial to SVS subwoofers and have an SB-1000 myself. I also like the HSU Research subs as they come with port plugs so you can experiment between ported and sealed designs to see what you like.