Duncan

I don't know your situation, but getting good speaker stands that fit correctly and putting them at the correct height is a real pain. I was going to do this myself with the 502s, then just realized it's much easier just finding some wall space to mount it. I was going to go with these https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07KRVDSB2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 and then found a spot where I could mount them on the side of a bookcase. Since the wood was only 1 inch thick, I put an M12 bolt with a nut to hold it in place. The base now is at about 58", with tweeter is sitting right around 62-64", which sounds a heck of a lot better than when I had it on a 26" stand. Most stands that hold that hold the weight of the 502s are only 26-28" tall, which is not good for surround speakers. The taller ones typically hold only 5-8 lbs speakers.

I'd definitely go for the RP-8000f. You can always add a second sub later. It's much harder to upgrade towers. The difference in price between the 402s and 502s is not great, so it's worth it to go for the 502s. Currently, I have the 502s as surround and 402s as surround back. I could update the surround back to 502s as well, but with the sound content being so minimal with surround back, I seriously doubt I'm going to hear a difference. Even with the surrounds, I'm not sure how big of a difference there really is between 402s and 502s, although there is a big difference in size between the two.

I've tried towers as rear surrounds and didn't get much out of it, not that there is much content going to surround back speakers anyway. I have the 502s for surround and surround back and like how they sound. I agree with the others that the RS-52 ii will probably be a better surround speaker than a tower, but I've seen others who love having towers as their surround or rear surround. It's easy to switch out speakers and try different setups, so I'd say give it a shot and see what you like best. I personally had extra towers myself and started building a separate system in my game room.

RP-8000F would be a great choice. As far as the AVR it just depends on what you are going for and what price you are willing to pay. It also depends on if you want to purchase new or if you will be scouring the used market. Klipsch speakers are easy to drive, so you really don't need massive amounts of power to drive them unless that's just what you want to do. Some AVRs that are easy to order and offer something that's affordable while being high quality would be the Denon X3600H ($899), Denon X4500H ($1199), and the Marantz SR-7013 ($1599). There are also monster AVRs out there such as the Denon X8500H ($3999) or the Marantz SR-8015 ($3199). I have the SR-8012 ($2499) myself in my HT which puts out 140 watts/channel and a Yamaha A770 in another room, which puts out 95 watts/channel. Either receiver drives my Klipsch speakers easily. Many people use their COSTCO membership to pick up decent AVRs for a much lower price. Yamaha has some good AVRs but it looks like the availability right now is very low.

I have the Marantz SR-8012 with140 w/channel which replaced a Yamaha RX-770 with 95 w/channel. With any of Klipsch speakers I have, I honestly don't notice any difference. There might be a difference if you are going to push the speakers to its limits, but at normal listening levels, I can't tell. Your Denon AVR should work just fine for now in my opinion. If the OP wants HDMI 2.1 eventually, then I would just wait. If someone was looking to buy an AVR right now and wanted quality with a reasonable price, I'd recommend the Denon X6700H.

I have the RP-5000f paired with the 404c in a game room, and I also have the RF-7 iii's with the RC-64c iii for my HT. I think they are all great speakers. While the 404c sounds great, you know the sound is coming from a speaker. With the RC-64 it seems as if the person is standing there in front you speaking. I think your idea of getting the 8000f with the RC-64 would work well. Most of the sound of any movie is coming from the center channel. Having a beefier center channel is only going to make it sound better. Your AVR is just fine for now, no need to replace it. I have the 502s for surrounds and think they sound great. When you really want to get into wall-shaking sound, add some 15" subs. The price difference between the 8000f and the RF-7 iii is just crazy. Sometimes, I wonder if it is really worth it.

The 280Fs are great speakers, along with the 440 for the center channel. I do think that one 12" sub is not going to be enough in the end, but you may start with one, and add another later. It'd be much better if you could do a 15". I would not go for upfiring speaker. I tried it and thought it was complete snake oil, as do most others, a complete waste of money.

The r-52C seems to be the recommended center channel to go with the 820F if you want the matching series. I don't see an issue with going with the 504c if you want something beefier. Most people will recommend not going with Klipsch for the subwoofer and instead going with SVS or some other company. I have dual 15" Klipsch 150-spl subs and enjoy them. I'd recommend either dual 12" subs or a single 15".

You don't need to bi-wire your speakers. Bi-wiring is largely not recommended as there is no noticeable improvement to sound quality.

I'd definitely look at your settings. You need to get in there and mess around a little to get better sound. I'm not sure if you ran it through YPAO or just hooked everything up and left it. If you haven't looked at your settings, I would expect it not to sound good. Do you have a separate subwoofer running? How you set your speakers, including crossovers, depends on if you have a separate subwoofer. Once you've messed with the settings, I would look at what "mode" you are running the AVR in. For example, if you are in "cinema" mode, then the center channel is going to be enhanced quite a bit over the front towers. If you put it into "music" mode, then the center channel is going to be off and everything is going to be directed to the towers. Your source material is also important. If you are listening to music based on high-quality source material, I've found pure or direct modes to sound great. However, some of the medium to low quality music on YouTube sounds terrible in pure/direct mode. If you are playing low-quality source material, then surrounds always seem to sound terrible. I remembered one time thinking something was wrong with my speakers when I first started using a 5.1 setup. I tried a variety of source material and realized this makes just as much of a difference, in not more, than anything else. Taking low quality music that sounds passable on two speakers, and using a mode that outputs sound to 5 or 7 speakers makes the quality just terrible.

Here is just a very basic explanation. The 625fa has a sensitivity of 96dB, which means it's very easy to drive. If you put in 1 watt of power, the speaker will play at 96dB if you are sitting 1 meter away. In order to raise the volume 3dB, you will double the power, so if you want to play at 99dB, which is quite loud, you need 2 watts of power. If you are going to crank it to 102dB you will need 4 watts, 105dB is 8 watts, 108dB is 16 watts, 111dB is 32 watts, 114dB is 64 watts. Klipsch speakers have a very high sensitivity, so just a little power will get them very loud. The average speaker sensitivity is 88dB, like the SVS Ultra Tower, so to reach 112dB it would take 256 watts. Something with a sensitivity of 84dB would take 1024 watts to hit 114dB. In a home theater you are typically listening to movies at 70-85dB, and can have spikes up to 90-95dB. If you really crank up your system you might be hitting 100-105dB at some points. So even with sensitivity ratings of 84-88dB, you are typically not using a lot of watts at any one time. On the other hand, the more speakers you have hooked up, the type of cable you are using, and the sensitivity of the speakers all put a drain on the receiver, lowering it's overall power output to each speaker. There's a case to be made for people that decide to go for powerful receivers in the 125+ watts per channel range if they have big home theaters and crank up their systems. The average user will be just fine with something even as low as 80-95 watts per channel.

I have used a 404c with 625 fronts and thought it sounded very good. I'm sure either one would do well with the 625.

You don’t need a lot of watts to drive most Klipsch speakers. I have a Yamaha that puts out 95w per channel and it has driven all my Klipsch speakers just fine. Many of the Yamaha AVRs are out of stock right now. You might look at Denon, maybe the X3600H.

The RP-8000 is fine for your room and I'd go with 15-inch subwoofers. 12-inch are ok for small rooms, but you're going to want more bass.

I am definitely no expert on anything, but just my 2 cents is that you need to think about what you want your final set up to be. If you are talking about the best possible sound, then just running in-ceiling speakers, with the t.v. as the center speaker is not going to get you there, no matter what receiver you use. Again, I'm just a beginner myself, but this is my opinion. To me it sounds somewhat like a budget set up, so I personally would go with a budget AVR such as this Yamaha AVR $399 . Anything with a Zone 2 will work since you are just running a very basic set of 4 speakers. One of the best AVRs out there is the Marantz SR 8012 $2,499 , but I really don't think the sound is going to be better with this than any other AVR with your set up. If you have the funds, you might think about getting a real 5.1 set up. I have a feeling that you are going to be underwhelmed with just the 4 in-ceiling speakers. You could turn those into Atmos speakers if later you decide to add a full system. Here's some common mistakes in setting up a home theater from the Audioholics webpage (https://www.audioholics.com/home-theater-connection/common-mistakes) "All ceiling speaker surround system" Using round speakers that fire straight down for LCRs is wrong, and if you have ever gone to a parade of homes, that’s all you see in million dollar-plus houses. Sound appears to be the disembodied Voice of God, and sounds don’t correspond with the action on the screen." Here is a link to a good overview of what you might look for in an A/V Receiver "How to Choose the Right A/V Receiver/AVR Shopping by Techno Dad"

It looks like a great set up. Depending on what you like, I'm not sure if one 12-inch subwoofer will be enough for you. I was using the RP-5000f as my fronts will only 5.25 woofers with one 120-SPL, which is similar to 120-SW, and it was ok. It was a decent balance. I added a second 120-SPL and the bass definitely sounded more filled out. The RP-280f's are bigger speakers than the 5000f and you might want a subwoofer that can keep up. You might start with one 12 inch and later add another. It is a big price jump to a 15 inch, but if it's in your budget, you might consider it.

I just put the RF-7 iii's and the matching center in a 12 x 16 room. We sit about 9 feet away from the speakers and it sounds fantastic. I've listened to the RP-5000f and the 625FA, and they just do not compare. Yes, the 625FA's sounded good, but these definitely blow them away. I have dual subs and when the four 8" subs on the RF-7 iii's get cranking with the dual subs you can feel the sound blowing you back. This was not possible with the other 2 speakers. I have heard good things about the RP-8000f and the RP-250F, but I haven't had a chance to hear them. The only thing with the smaller room is that you can't really crank the speakers up to their full potential. However, they sound good at all listening levels. I say go for it, don't listen to the haters, and I'm sure there are others who would agree.

Although it seems a little too close, I think most people are 9-10 feet away from their speakers.