Jones

Hi, My receiver won't play HDMI out to zone 2; I have to use an analogue connected device. Since it does not have built in Chromecast, I am attaching a Chromecast to this HDMI to analogue converter: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08D7542PP/ref=sspa_dk_detail_3?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B08D7542PP&pd_rd_w=Xaxmj&pf_rd_p=887084a2-5c34-4113-a4f8-b7947847c308&pd_rd_wg=GpmZC&pf_rd_r=MZQ40YKPRQW24Q4PXFAT&pd_rd_r=d1117b16-080f-41b1-9e50-ec6367672d05&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEyMktLM0hSUFRXTlZIJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwMzc1Mjc0MU1ZVEM5QlhDN1Y4RiZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwMDUxNzUzMlEyTU9IRTgxQzI4NCZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2RldGFpbCZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU= The sound is OK, not as good as the eARC was (in main room, but it won't send that signal to zone 2). So, my question is if I can get better sound with a different kind of/better quality converter, or if there is some other kind of workaround I should try. My converter looks pretty cheap. It cost $11. I wonder if this would provide better sound, or would it not make a noticeable difference? https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0732NF969/ref=sspa_dk_detail_2?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B0732NF969&pd_rd_w=Xaxmj&pf_rd_p=887084a2-5c34-4113-a4f8-b7947847c308&pd_rd_wg=GpmZC&pf_rd_r=MZQ40YKPRQW24Q4PXFAT&pd_rd_r=d1117b16-080f-41b1-9e50-ec6367672d05&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEyMktLM0hSUFRXTlZIJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwMzc1Mjc0MU1ZVEM5QlhDN1Y4RiZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwMjc0NDY4M0E2Rkc0Slg2ODVXOSZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2RldGFpbCZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU= At least with that one I could use my own thicker analogue cables. Am I overthinking this, or can I get better quality sound? Thanks...

I have the Onkyo model, but I'm not sure exactly what you mean by pre-amp. It took me forever to actually get zone 2 working, because you HAVE to activate the zone 2 on your TV connected by eARC HDMI to the amp, but then you CAN'T get sound actually going to zone 2 over a digital connection. You have to use analogue input. I like this receiver a lot for the money (Costco had a deal on it for $400) but the drawbacks, for me anyway, seeing the issue there is with Zone 2 playback, is the limited way to make that happen. I use mostly Youtube music, but this device, even though it has wifi, does not have that google playback app as a built in feature. It has amazon, deezer, and some others, but not what I currently use. It also doesn't have built-in chromecast, which wouldn't be an issue (I can just plug in an external one in an HDMI slot) but the zone 2 won't play that because it is digital when I have to plug it in. I really need to be able to control music selection and volume when I'm outside listening to zone 2 and as of now, the only solution I have for doing that is using Airdroid on my phone to remote control an old phone I have hooked up to the analogue inputs on the receiver. It works, but it's clunky. If anyone can offer an alternative solution for me it would be much appreciated! J

I wish the survey had at least one more option: I like it, but haven't done it yet. I like the RP 500 sa as something that would sit on top of the towers and project sound off the ceiling. (I wish those would go on sale like the r41sa has.) However, my HT room and ceiling has odd dimensions. It is a new room, not quite finished-like I still need to mount the TV, etc. Do you think it is OK to bounce sound off of 2 different ceiling angles?

Whatever his intention, it is an interesting question about the subjective quality of sound enjoyment. If someone were to tell me that they prefer a particular 2.0 bookshelf system over all other alternatives, I'm not going to tell them they are wrong. I actually got into a (friendly) argument with my cousin about this. He claimed that the musical experience was objectively better with the best sound systems and I had to disagree-especially if one isn't familiar with extremely high quality speakers, or, like in the hypothetical case above, someone just really loves the sound they get out of any particular set of speakers. I mean, some people prefer to listen to vinyl records in mono after all...

Hi there. I have recently sampled the r34c, the rp404c, and the r52c. I returned the 34 because it didn't pair well with my r820f towers. It has 4 woofers, but they are small and I wasn't getting the full sound I wanted out of it. I really liked the 404c paired with those towers instead, but I don't have the depth restriction you do. This is my favorite speaker that I own. I also kept the 52c paired with r51m's and r120sw in another room. It's a cheaper center channel, but is fully enclosed and has deep and loud sound that I like, with 2 5.25 inch woofers. I would have to check, but don't think it is more than about 7 inches deep and you could push it right back against the wall as long as that chimney doesn't get too hot.

OK, so I can get a great deal on either the yamaha tsr 700 or the onkyo tx nr595. Which do you think is the better receiver? I heard that the motherboard on the yamaha will have to be replaced and I definitely would not want to have to do that. Neither comes with chromecast unfortunately, but if it is wifi enabled, can I still cast youtube music just over the wifi? Or does that only work with their built in streaming services? Also, could I just plug a chromecast into one the HDMI ports, or is that not something that would work the same way? Thanks, J

So, I've ordered basically everything I'm interested in while it's on sale. I will test and report back.

Comparing the 34c and the 404c, the sensitivity is almost the same: 96db vs 97db respectively at 2.83V/1M. The materials of the tweeters and woofers are different however. The 34's are identical materials to my 820F's but the 404's are different all around. What is biggest concern for pairing? If it is sensitivity, then I think would be all set with the 404's. If it is materials, crossover frequency, or frequency response then I may have to stick with non-premiere. My wife is definitely NOT going to allow me to upgrade those towers any time soon! The R 52c is less money than both other options but only has the 2 woofers. I might get the 404's (and maybe even the 52's) while they are on sale and then return the ones that are my least favorite. I don't generally do that kind of thing, but it is so hard to tell what it will sound like until I have everything paired together. And then I still need to figure out the rear speakers. I really like the rp402s with the bipolar design, but again that would be mixing premiere and non-premier. There doesn't seem to be any bipolar reference model, so I might have to stick with something like the r51m's.

What do you think of pairing the rp404c with the r820f towers? There's a great deal on that center channel right now. Is OK to mix reference premiere with reference?

Is the r34c a good center match for the r820f?

I would love to hear more thoughts about this. I have the r820f towers and r120sw sub. I would like to get the premiere line to add as center and/or rear speakers for a 5.1 system. Sales person at Bestbuy said don't do it. What do all of you think?

Well, I picked up the r34c today. I have a while to return it if I find something better for the buck. The sales associate recommended that with my existing reference towers and subwoofer I should stay with reference and not add premier series speakers. So far the r34c sounds really nice to me but I really have nothing to compare it with. It has 4 3.5 inch woofers which I thought might sound a bit hollow, but I realize this is good midrange and I'm already getting plenty of base from the rest of the setup. I really wish Klipsch offered bipolar reference series rear speakers similar to the rp250s. I love the look of these and I would appreciate the greater side sound distribution in my room which is wider than it is deep, back from the TV. I could also just save money and go with the r51m. I have a powered version of these in my office and I'm happy with them for that purpose at least. What do you think? Should I splurge and add premier series bipolar rears, or would I notice inconsistent sound between the two levels of speakers? Thanks. J

The rp404c looks like a good center speaker? What do you guys think of ported vs not? front port vs rear?

Probably should keep it under $1000 for center and rears combined. Prime day and other huge deals are starting I think Monday, and I'm hoping to purchase things on sale. Looking around a bit, I like the look of the rp402s for rears. 400 right now on Amazon...

Hi all, I'm looking to buy a center and rear speakers to pair with existing r820f floor towers and r120sw subwoofer. I would like everything to be Klipsch, but I suppose it doesn't HAVE to be. These speakers will all be powered by a Sony str dn 1080. I will have the 5.1 setup in a large room and the receiver will also power a second zone 2 speaker setup on deck attached to the room. I don't mind spending more for higher quality if it is going to make a significant difference, but if most of the sound is coming from the towers then I want something that pairs well with them. I'm new to this and appreciate any advice you can offer. J

Thanks Bill. That is quite the household set-up you have there! Are any of those systems able to play the same music together at the same time?

Doing more research, I'm noticing lots of dual zone receivers are 6 ohms. I currently have an 8 ohm receiver. If I got one with 6, would that make a difference for my klipsch r820f tower or other speakers?

Why does the Yamaha receiver have on the back ports for extra zone SP1 and extra zone SP2? Does this mean that I can run both 5.1 in one room and 2 speakers outside simultaneously? I'm liking the Yamaha more and more. It is sold out almost everywhere.

The towers are R820f. At this point I still have to purchase the outdoor speakers, the center, and rear speakers. The rear speakers will probably have to run wirelessly through the center speaker or amplifier. I'll probably start a whole new thread here on those when I get to that. I want the amp to have enough power to run all of those speakers at the same time with good power/volume. Thanks for the advice.

Yes, I read that very long first review (most of it anyway) as well! I think I would have seen more users complaining about the zone 2 feature being broken if it really was. I have heard that Sony is more of a brilliant/sparkling sound while Yamaha is a bit warmer. One thing I think I like better about the Yamaha mentioned is that it seems better suited for wireless speaker connections than the Sony. Maybe that is why it was originally $300 more expensive. My only dislike is that it does not seem to be too friendly with the google platforms I use almost exclusively. Probably is not a deal breaker as long as I could just run whatever I want on my phone through it's Bluetooth operation. It also seems like the Sony is more powerful. I wonder if the difference in watts would be perceptible...

I'm concerned about the following Amazon review below that I found on the Sony above: "The audio zone 2 and the HDMI zone 2 functions are completely useless. This device has too many disfunctional quirks to even list. But I will mention one... if you have a 2nd tv plugged in to HDMI Zone 2 and change the input on that TV it shuts down the Main Zone HDMI output. Also, if you change the Zone 2 audio output, it will decide on its own to change the Main zone audio as well. I’ve been working with this device for weeks and have dug into every setting in this system and there is no way to make this device work properly. Do not buy this device if you want to utilize any of the zone 2 features. Also, this device automatically turns off your 7.2 Setup if you turn on the Zone 2 audio. Also there is no pre amp out except for the Zone 2 audio out and it doesn’t work on any of the video input options like satellite or Blue Ray." I want to emphasize that I REALLY need to have zone 1 and zone 2 working together at the same time when I want them to. Maybe this amp was defective, or it is due to user error, but I need to be able to listen to just zone one or two, OR both at the same time.

This looks like a really nice amp. Are there things about the Yamaha that make it better than the Sony I listed above? One of my concerns is that I don't use Alexa or Spotify. I use google/android and YouTube music. I'm not sure if the Yamaha would be fully compatible with those. I do really like the idea of being able to have wireless speakers throughout the house controlled by the same amp. Would I have to buy specific powered Yamaha speakers for that, or would there be smaller external Yamaha amps that would power my existing speakers?

Hi all, I'm finishing a room in my house which was was a storage room above the garage. Now, it is going to be livable space with a sliding door that opens out onto a deck that extends a bit into the front yard. The room is about 600 square feet. I am going to have large Klipsch tower speakers and a subwoofer in that room. I will probably want to add a center channel speaker that that will control wireless rear speakers for that indoor home theater/music area. I am having the carpenter install speaker cable that will extend over to the wall (each side of the sliding door) that goes out to the deck. I will be purchasing outdoor speakers (just 2) for the deck and yard so that I could have music playing off the amplifier in the room either just in the room, outside, or both. Any outdoor speaker suggestions would be appreciated. My main concern at this point is what kind of receiver I should get. I don't want to spend more than $800. It need to be able to control music for 2 zones with pretty good but not incredible power. I like the idea of having Bluetooth capability to run YouTube music from my phone as long as the audio quality would not be significantly reduced. I probably would not need more than 5.1 sound (eventually) inside, and 2.0 sound outside. (Although I would entertain any suggestions about the possibility of adding an outdoor subwoofer. When the slider is open and I'm sitting on the deck, I assume that a lot of sound from inside would also be heard outside. Right now, I'm interested in something like this: Sony STR-DN1080 7.2-ch Surround Sound Home Theater AV Receiver: 4K HDR, Dolby Atmos, Bluetooth, WiFi, Google Chromecast Black https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XKRWWSG?ref=emc_p_m_5_i I would love to get advice from people on this forum who are much more knowledgeable about these things than I am; thanks in advance! J

Thanks, I'm just gonna pick up some CL rated cable at home depot for 39 cents a foot. That way, I won't have to worry about anything once it's in the wall. J

Here is another...