Peter P.

Did you warn your neighbors?

Good suggestion, Wirrunna. If it's not the phasing, it's the room. I know the speakers are a bear to move, but try locating one so that now both speakers are on the adjacent wall, just for test purposes. That may be one clue the room's dimensions are affecting the sound. Cathedral ceilings, lots of door openings, wall/floor construction; many factors can affect the sound and cause bass cancellation. Can you try another, different pair of speakers in the same locations and see how they perform?

Every response above contains a good chunk of truth. Who cares how much power the amps have? There's no way anyone would USE all those watts unless they were trying to smoke out Manuel Noriega. The owner was probably all wrapped up in name-dropping what he owns rather than a love of music. It was the room acoustics I tell ya!

I'd rank them by original price (used prices will roughly follow along) and maybe woofer size. Typically, the larger woofer and the larger cabinet will play lower frequencies. You'll also find as you go up the chain that the speakers are more efficient, but Klipsch Heritage Series speakers are already so silly efficient, beginning with the Heresy's, that I don't think it matters much. ( I should clarify that while the Quartet and Forte are not technically "Heritage" series speakers, they share some of the qualities, and the fan base, due to their performance. I guess you could say the Heritage series can be identified by the fact that they're usually made-to-order.) The Heresy's are at the bottom of the list but by no means slackers. Some people complain they have a limited low end since they only reach into the 50Hz range, but rock music doesn't go lower than that so they'd be a perfect rock music speaker. Next up would be the Quartet as it has a 10" woofer and a 12" passive radiator. The Quartet's larger brother is the Forte, with a 12" woofer and a 12" passive radiator. By the way, $450 for a pair of Forte's is a very good price. Of course, that depends on what you expect the cabinets to look like. At the top of the list is the Cornwall, with a 15" vented woofer.

There's a Klipsch KG SW Subwoofer on eBay. It was listed for $50, and shipping to me would be roughly $60. I bid on it and currently am the high bidder. A couple days after the auction started, I receive an e-mail stating the auction has ended. I assumed the seller was simultaneously selling it locally, and they must have sold it. But no more than 24 hours later, the same photos of the same item appear in another auction under the name of another seller. The starting price is $90, and there's only local pickup. I contact the seller to find out what's going on and he says (sic) "It is still listed I have no ideal what could be happening but I will not be taking it of early" . Any ideas what's going on? Am I getting ready to be scammed? Update: Disregard; it appears someone else just so happens to have a similar KG SW subwoofer for sale and their auction started a couple days after the original. Now listen; don't any of you go and outbid me! Original Ad Second Ad

At least it was easy to diagnose!

You opened up the back and let out the 1985 air?! They'll never sound the same...

I'm gonna question whether it's possible your speakers are too "acoustically large" for the small room. You may not be able to sit far enough away from them for optimal results. I think your room dimensions, the exposed hardwood floor, and the room openings are a bigger factor than you imagine. With all that escaping air, I question how much positive effect any room treatments will have.

Spikes won't do squat for bass; don't even bother. Neither will fancy cables. It's the new house with the new room with the VAULTED ceiling. Your best bet is to mount the couch 10' off the floor where you were on the ladder. Seriously; the acoustics of the room are doing something to cancel the bass. First thing I'd try is to place the speakers against the adjacent walll, JUST AS AN EXPERIMENT. If you notice a change then it's a speaker placement issue. If not, then it's the room shape and dimensions. For the next experiment, place the speakers in a room with no vaulted ceiling and see what happens. I think the speakers aren't pressurizing the room because something is happening caused by the vaulted ceiling or other room dimensions. Another experiment you should try is to stand tight with your head backed into a corner of your room. In fact, try this with all 4 corners. As you listen to your music you should hear the bass reinforced when standing this way. It's merely to show you that bass response can vary greatly depending on your listening position, as you discovered when on the ladder. If I may recommend an excellent CD for testing bass frequencies in your listening environment-seek out a copy of Boston Acoustic's Rally Bass Collection. The Collection consists of 3 discs with each disc focusing on a particular type of bass sounds. Disc 1's tracks focus on "Extension, Attack, and Musicality". Mostly a lot of low bass cuts from the Neurodisc catalog. Disc 2's tracks from Rykodisc's catalog were "selected for testing detail, musicality, and transient response". Disc 3's tracks from Windham Hill artists presents "Well controlled bass... to make sure your system is in balance".

The number and placing of "house" shoes in front of the speakers can be critical for proper imaging. Sometimes you'll even hear differences depending on whether you place a left or right shoe between the speakers. Boots sound different than shoes; sneakers absorb their own frequencies. I hope Adam will show us the finished speakers after his restoration job.

What's missing from the sound of that speaker-bass, midrange, treble, or all three? I refuse to believe all three drivers are being impacted by a bad crossover as each element is driven in parallel from the input terminals on the crossover. I suspect maybe one driver or one segment of the crossover is bad.

They make Optical to RCA converters. Cheap, too. HERE'S' just a sample. That may make your life easier.

I'll say the LaScala's will play insanely louder than the Forte's without breaking a sweat. But they won't go as low. Choose your weapon.

Okay, I get it- you're using the headphone output on the TV to feed audio to the receiver, and you're using a splitter cable to turn the headphone output into a stereo input. I believe the typical maximum output level on a CD player is 1V. I also believe the typical turntable cartridge output is typically vastly lower; about 1mV for moving coil cartridges and 3mV for moving magnet cartridges. Headphone outputs I believe are in the 1V range. Your TV's headphone output is easily overdriving the phono input into distortion, hence the noise you hear. You have to plug the TV's headphone output into an input such as the CD, but you will control your listening volume with YOUR RECEIVER, once you set the headphone volume output to a level that doesn't produce distortion. Most TV's should have a pair of audio out RCA jacks which would provide an adequate level for your receiver and you can use the CD, Tape, or AUX inputs on the receiver. If you've already got junk plugged into those jacks, you should be able to buy a switcher box to connect two devices to one input on the receiver. As to the 10% less audio in one channel; I wonder whether your TV has menu settings to adjust left-right balance, perhaps separately for the TV's speakers vs. headphone output. Either way, verify both are set to center. Report back with your results.

Please clarify-is the sound distorting REGARDLESS of the source (tuner, phono, CD, etc.) or is it just the "Samsung TV headphone OUT through the Phono input"? If the latter, how are your generating an output signal through the Phono input?

Why not just step down from 12 to 14 gauge the last few inches to the speaker connector? Make a pigtail with male/female connectors of some sort to make the transition. A few inches of a different gauge wire, and the associated hardware, aren't going to make a whit of difference with regard to performance.

Ask me that after I've eaten a bowl of chili.

I saw a picture on an older craigslist ad where a seller mounted his LaScala's from the ceiling in his bedroom, so I see no reason why it couldn't be done. However, I think you're going to lose bass even if you invert the speaker. The tactile component of the bass frequencies will couple to the ceiling, not the floor. Since the floor is more directly coupled to the listener, whether seated or standing, they experience a different type of bass. And I'm gonna hazard a guess that the midrange and tweeter were designed to not be so close to a room boundary. Signal bounce may cause some unusual results. Perhaps rig up a temporary mount such as a tall platform, to see whether it works, before drilling holes and such.

What more reason does he need-sounds no different then president T-rump. (the lower case "p" was deliberate ;-) )

You should ask the wife to dust behind your equipment when she's done washing the dishes. But ask her from a distance so you have a better chance to avoid flying objects.

The price tags were the show, not the equipment.

Is this the first speaker you've used with a rear-facing passive radiator? If so, experiment with the distance from the wall. If not, then it's your room acoustics.

Play the system "as-is" and tell us if you hear any deficiencies. We can work from there. And what; 5 posts and no one has told Joe to replace his capacitors yet? You guys are slackin'... ;-)

If you can't hear your wife, it's quiet enough. ;-)

One possible solution to the failure to turn on at lower volumes is to turn the volume UP until the sub turns on, then lower the volume. Some electronic circuits have what's called hysteresis, which means the turn on and turn off points aren't quite the same, so there's something of a lag. Once it triggers on, there may be some leeway below that turn on point before the circuit shuts it off. Hysteresis is not a design feature, just an electronic artifact.