[My First Setup (with questions)]

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As this is the single biggest factor in how any future audio expense is going to perform, you may want to make this decision VERY carefully. 15 foot ceiling height if at all possible.

Unfortunately, my theater/music room will be in the basement.  8'-0" to 9'-0" ceilings is best I'm going to get.  The rest of the parameters are open for design.

 

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These two are mutually exclusive. It's not because of the speakers per say, but rather the electronics and other equipment involved to pull it off. As distortion goes down, the ear's tolerance for SPL goes up. We can handle a fair a bit of clean sound (80dB SPL in the mid range and 110 dB SPL in the bass is not unreasonable), and it takes the right gear and room to keep things able to play that "physical".

You bring up a good point I've never thought of before.  If the sound is clean, I may never stop turning them up.

 

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Sure those KG's will go loud, but they need to be high passed to do that. Which places a tall order on that sub. The limiting factor in all this.

 

High pass the KG to increase their power handling, at the same double or quadruple your sub count to pull as much program power out of the Onkyo, putting into the plate amps instead

This is an interesting approach, too.  Would I high pass the speakers using the receiver?  As in setting the KG's filter at 100 Hz and let the sub(s) try and keep up?  The KG's don't have the low/high frequencies separated at the binding posts like some of the other speakers I have.

 

I appreciate your response and suggestions!

[Klipsch KG 5.2 Compatibility]

Enjoy!  I purchased a pair off of CL that sound fantastic.  It's amazing how much bass comes from 1 active 10" woofer.

[Puff The Magic Dragon- Audio Nirvana]

7 hours ago, Rxonmymind said:

Usually when I'm very tired then everything sounds like crap until I find that ONE song or tune that scratches the proverbial itch.  Soothing, calming and sonically good. 

I usually have a couple goto CDs that give me a baseline which starts me off right even on a bad day. I KNOW how their supposed to sound and it's something I know won't change regardless of the circumstances happening in my life. Then I go sit down and chill with a glass of port or wine. 

I'm just now getting into this hobby.  I've been working through my CD collection trying to find my handful of CD's that do "it" for me.  So far, Grateful Dead's American Beauty has been hard to beat.  It just sounds damn good through my KG5.2's.

[My First Setup (with questions)]

Thank you for your replies, Jim.  I thought I read somewhere that 65 was reference level on Onkyo receivers.  Maybe I'm pushing too hard.  I'll check on getting an SPL meter.  It'd be a handy tool for sure.

 

Do you think titanium diaphragms would help with the little bit of distortion I do hear?

[My First Setup (with questions)]

Jim, currently I only have the KG5.2's hooked up, as I don't have the space to hook everything back up.  I've only tested the whole system together a couple of times.  So, from the best I can tell, the distortion is coming from the horn of the KG5.2's.  It seems like they both sound the same (eliminating an issue with just one of the speakers).  I am conscious of the bass levels to insure I don't get distortion from the woofers.  The room they are in is a wide open room in the basement (kid's play room).  It's probably 15'-0" x 30'-0".  Carpet on the floors, drywalled walls, and no windows.  I've sat pretty close to the speakers to try and isolate the distortion (pretty loud when you're 12" from the speaker) and eliminate other factors.  The receiver has a range of 0 - 80.  65 is about as loud as I can get it before I start to hear distortion.  Not sure what reference level is on Onkyo receivers.  Mine doesn't have an option to use a relative scale.  Part of me thinks the receiver could be part of the issue but the other part of me thinks I may be expecting too much from these speakers.  Even though Klipsch speakers are advertised to be none to very low distortion, is distortion a higher volumes common?  I figured people here have WAY more experience with Klipsch speakers than I do.

[My First Setup (with questions)]

First off, I look forward to reading through the forums.  I wasn't able to view topics until I registered.  I've been on here multiple times (reading and dreaming) since.

 

Background (I'll try and keep it short):

I first heard Klipsch speakers at my brother-in-law's house.  He had just purchased a 5.1 system with Quintet speakers and a Klipsch sub.  I wasn't so much focused on the stage, semblance, etc. but more the pure volume and clarity these speakers had.  It started at an early age, but I like my music/movies LOUD (drives my wife crazy - Ha!).  Most speakers I've owned (all low-fi) couldn't pump out the volume without distortion like the Quintet system was doing.  From that point forward, I wanted to own Klipsch speakers.  Fast forward a few years, and I'm currently working on house plans to custom build a house.  This house will undoubtedly have a dedicated theater/music room.  How big?  I'm not sure, yet.  The cool thing is it allowed me to start piecing together a surround sound setup.  At this point in time, I definitely have to adhere to a budget.  All of our free money is going towards building the house.  So, I've been scouring Craigslist and Goodwill until I've put together my first 5.1 system.  Over time, I plan to keep scouring the web and will replace speakers/receivers as I find better ones.

 

Mains:  KG5.2 ($250 on Craiglist)

Center:  RC25 ($80 with the RB25's on Craigslist)

Surrounds:  RB25

Sub:  Proficient Audio Systems S12 ($52 on Shopgoodwill.com)

Receiver:  Onkyo TX-SR607 ($40 on Shopgoodwill.com)

 

I think this system sounds really good with music/movies.  I really don't have to use the sub for a majority of what I watch/listen to.  It's crazy how much bass comes from one active 10" woofer.  The question I have is regarding higher volume.  I can push the volume to a point where I hear distortion.  I mean, it's loud, but it's not LOUD.  I may be expecting the speakers to do something they're not made to do, but all of the reviews I've read say these things will "boogie" when you want them to.  Honestly, I want speakers that will go loud enough that I have to stop the volume increase due to listening discomfort rather than me stopping the volume increase based on distortion.  The KG5.2's are completely stock in regards to diaphragms and crossovers.  Would titanium tweeter diaphragms fix this issue?  Do I need a better receiver (I had an older Kenwood hooked up to them at one time and noticed the distortion, as well)?  Should I keep an eye out for different Klipsch speakers that would better satisfy my quest for volume?  I appreciate any insight you guys can give me.