MrMcGoo

Proj, The military draft has been very politically unpopular ever since the war in Viet Nam. There is a general consensus that an "all volunteer" military is the best solution. The draft was used in the civil war, WW I, WW II, Korea and Viet Nam. In the civil war, wealthy people could legally buy their way out of the draft. I think that the current situation is far from requiring a draft, but it could change. If things do change, the country will take a lot of convincing to go with the draft IMO. Gay rights are beyond the scope of my knowledge of politics. No one is in favor of governmental control of the media. It would clearly be unconstitutional under the First Amendment to the US Constitution. However, all administrations try to "spin" the media as does the Pentagon. Spin is a political art form that has a major impact on public opinion. The Persian Gulf campaign and the war in Afghanistan both featured limited access to the front lines by reporters. A three star general did most of the official Pentagon announcements during Desert Storm. He kept the attention of the news media with the pictures of precision guided munitions blowing up key positions in Iraq and Kuwait. Bill

chuckears, The KV-4 matches the Epic line of Klipsch. The Epics used neodymium magnets and have a uniquie sound of their own. Consider acquiring and using a pair of Fortes, one for center and one for surround back (center). Bill

Michael, The KV-3 and KV-2 are voice matched so they should work properly together. This assumes that you set the channel level with a sound meter. You will probably get better sound from thr surrounds if you use 12 or 14 ga. wire due to lower resistance on the longer run. The rear center is not for dialog. It is for effects. Hence, it is not necessary to use a center channel speaker. Bill

artto-Nice quote from PWK!!! As far as Klipsch advertizing is concerned, it needs to change. The company should hire some experts to run focus groups. They would find out what people actually think about their ads. The reason that they are not changing is because sales are doing very well. Better ads would boost sales IMO. Re:Bo$e-It is just too much fun to resist the bashing. Poor quality products deserve the heat. The Internet may help folks to avoid giving their money away for a very poor product. Bill

Proj, My system is dead quiet without specially shielded power cables for digital components. I do use multiple Panamaxes. They provide about 50 db of noise reduction as well as protection from power spikes. I particularly like the fact that they will shut the system down if there is a sustained over or under voltage situation. Plain surge supressors do not cut it in my view. The over priced power cables for digital equipment are merely shielded with braided copper. You seem to be excellent in doing it your self. Why not give it a try? Bill

Johnny, Justin's response gives an excellent answer. IMHO, the most important parts deal with Klipsch's high sensitivty and low distortion. The Reference line of speakers are ideal for receivers that tend to be challeneged for power on very dynamic movies like Lord of the Rings. Not all shoppers will like the Klipsch sound. Some folks think Klipsch sounds too "bright". It takes some time to get used to the Klipsch sound. Some folks will never like it. Klipsch does not go well with components that are bright as well. Some folks feel that Rotel does not compliment Klipsch. (Many would disagree.) On the other hand, I will always buy Klipsch as long as the corporate philosophy does not change. It's the good sound with good build. Service has a good reputation. I have never needed it, but it is nice to know that it is there. I heard Klipsch corner horns as my first encounter with this brand. If I were to build a two channel system, K-horns would be my first choice. Bill

ZDoug, The 47 and 49TX have pre outs for 7.1 channels. If you use the main pre outs, it requires that you pull out the U pin that completes the circuit to the right and left front amps. Pioneer recommends speakers from 6 to 16 Ohms. Some individuals with 4 Ohm speakers have experienced shut downs. The acoustic calibration system can add several decibels right where the impedance on your speakers is at the lowest point. Hence, low impedance speakers are not a good match with the Pioneers. Some people report no problems. Others report shut downs. You may have better luck since only your surrounds will be powered by the receiver. The uhigher the crossover, the easier it will be for the amp to drive the surrounds. Probably 80 or 100 Hz would be best. Bill

Audio Flynn, It gets to be a bit more than $100 or $200 for interconnects. I stopped counting at $1,500 for interconnects in my home theater. (I use AQ as well and acquired all AQ at a discount.) There are about 50 connections on the back of my receiver. I do think that interconnects make a difference, but not in proportion to their price. Mark up is very high on AQ and Monster. I do have to admit that my system is dead quiet. I attribute this, in part, to the fact that most of my digital connections are toslink. I recently traded up in receivers. Dollar for dollar, it made a much larger difference IMO. Bill

The audio wire business is largely a "snake oil" business IMHO. Big increases in price for very small if any useable benefit. That said, I believe I get much better response from my RS-7s when I changed to 12 ga. stranded zip cord from 16 ga. Lower resistance definitely helps on longer runs. Video seems to benfit from better cables. Signals run over 30 Mhz in some HD applications. Silver plated copper seems to help on component video. Unfortunately, the snake oil boys price the good video cables for far more than they are worth. If we stop paying ridiculous prices, the snake oil boys will rethink their marketing strategy. Encouraging others to be cautious consumers can only help. Bill

Proj, Klipsch may still have some good ideas. You are a regular on this board obviously. If they treat you right, you will probably be a life long customer. If they do not treat you right, it will cost them more in the long run IMO. Klipsch gives some of the best customer support in this industry. Give it a try. Bill

Boa, I am with you on this issue. Patience is the best strategy until it all gets sorted out, IMHO. I do not want to shell out a grand to just have standards change and much better machines become avaiable. Notice that when Pioneer put the firewire port on the 47Ai, they did not offer to upgrade the DV-47A. (And I am still a died in the wool Pioneer fan, but I do not like to give my money away either.) Bill

Proj, My RSW-15's passive radiator has always moved a bit less than the active driver. I am more concerned about the noise that yours is making at high volume levels. Your idea of using an allen wrench on the seals was a good idea as long as you do not over do it. The suspected leak is sometimes referred to as "chuffing". If the allen wrench does not solve the problem, you should definitely call call Klipsch customer service. They should be able to help diagnose and solve the problem. If you work with them and the problem is not solved, you may get a new RSW-15 from Klipsch. Bill

Dale, THX has a boatload of standards. For example, amps must carry a stable 4 Ohm load to be Ultra certified. RE-EQ rolls of treble due to theatrical versions being mixed very hot to pass treble throug movie screens. Adaptive decorrelation only works when the surround channels are mono, i.e., it adapts mono surrounds with decorrelation to sound like stereo to widen the sound field. Timbre matching helps in very big rooms where the sound changes timbre from back to front. THX Ultra2 can take 5.1 sources and make them 7.1 sources. Today most THX feartures are duplicated with the receiver manufacturer's substitute features. What is frequently not duplicated is high quality construction required for THX certificaion. Not many receivers can carry a stable 4 Ohm load for example. Denon's THX certified 4802 has about the same nominal output in watts as the non-THX 3803. On the test bench the 4802 is about 60 watts higher in output all channels driven. For high sensitivty Klipsch speakers the 3803 will work great, but for M&K 4 Ohm speakers the 4802 will be better IMO. IMO you tend to get what you pay for. That said, not everyone needs or wants THX features. Bill

Lanelec, Use a Rat Shack sound meter to set all channels to 75 db. You can use the test tone generated by the 3803, or you can use a test DVD like Sound and Vision's disk. Bill

Proj, It sounds like you have developed an air leak. The seal is leaking at high SPLs I suspect. You should call Klipsch service for warranty help. Bill

Mempho, Welcome to the board!!! The fellow that I suspect built your speakers is a regular on this board. He will probably be your best source on the finer points of construction on your speakers. There are also many knowledegable folks here on all Klipsch heritage speakers. Unfortunately, I have newer models designed for home theater, hence I can't answer your question. Be patient and you will get amazing answers here about heritage speakers. Welcome again. Bill

Colin, There is a lot to be said for your point of view. Music is about transient reproduction. Low impedance speakers in particular can require more current to reproduce a loud transient in the bass frequencies than many amps can produce. Thr RF-7s allegedly averaged 6 Ohms per Sound and Vision tests. They dipped to a bottom of 2.8 Ohms per S&V. It takes a solid (not necessarily over-powered) amp to do justice to these speakers IMO. Bill

Paulparrot, The DV-45A has, I believe, Burr-Brown 1736 DS DACs with 3 DACs for 6 channels. The VSX-49TXi uses Burr-Brown 1704 DACs, one per channel. The 1704 is Burr's best (most expensive) DAC. I prefer to use these DACs via a pure digital connection when possible. I have yet to hear better DACs. When I use the analog inputs on my VSX-49TXi, I redigitize the analog signal to (1) perform proper bass management and (2) do the room acoustic correction that the Pioneer offers. The price I pay is in any information loss from redigitizing the analog signal plus raising the noise floor from -95 db to -83 db. The benefit is in improved sound IMO, in spite of the costs. I would clearly get better sound if I kept it digital all of the way to the 49's DACs. Bill

Fini, Firewire connection only works between the Pioneer DV-47Ai and the Pioneer VSX-49TXi receiver. It allows the 49TXi to be passed the digital SACD signal via the firewire ports. The 49TXi receiver uses its own DACs and bass management to give much higher quality sound. All other SACDs (except the Denon 5803, 9000 combo) must use the analog inputs to the receiver. Hence the sound quality tends to be lower as well as having bass amangement problems on many SACD players. Bill

Spin, The auto on feature of your sub may not be sensitive enough to turn te sub on. My RSW-15 had this problem. I set the receiver level on the LFE channel to +9 db; I then turned down the volume on the sub to compensate. I also used a sub cable the has a Y on the subwoofer end. The Y splitter goes into both the right and left line-in on the sub. This doubles the input to the sub. Also try setting the mains to small on the receiver setup. Bill

Fini- The DV-45A is too new to be certain, but its price to performance ratio seems to be the best avaialbe today. Pioneer's build quality seems to be headed upward IMO. They want the reputation that they have in RPTVs to be matched by their audio products it seems. Boa-I can't afford a DV-47Ai to go with my 49TXi--yet. So I have not investigated which DVD-As go over the firewire port. I am waiting for the copy protection on DVD-A to come off in any case. That way I will not have to upgrade/replace the machine in a year or two. Roboforst-Multi-channel music sound mixers have no idea as to what they are doing on many remixed SACDs and DVD-As. They are learning as they go. It will be years IMHO before multichannel music is where multi-channel movies are today. Bill

Spin, You said the Pro Logic II gives no bass. Pro Logic II is for 2 channel sources, not 5.1 sources. The .1 is the Low Frequency Effects (LFE) channel, i.e., the subwoofer channel. Your DVD player's setup menu must be set to "bitstream enable" to get 5.1 movies to the receiver via either digital coax or toslink connections. Your receiver should have the toslink or coax set as the input to go with the DVD. Your receiver will then automatically play SW II in DD 5.1. There is lots of bass in the LFE channel in SW II. Speakers other than your mains need to be set to small. Mains can be set to large or small, but small is usually best with a RSW-12. It avoids bass cancellations and mudiness. Hope that this helps. Bill

Fini, The DV-45A looks less expensive when you eliminate 6 interconnects and a swticher. Bill

James McCall is not alone when he claims to hear little difference between separates and receivers. A fellow on another forum claims that unless it is a $200 receiver vs. $7,000 separates, he cannot tell the difference in double blinded tests. He owns separates. I personally hear little difference in high end receivers versus mid to high end separates, hence I use a Pioneer VSX-49 TXi receiver. Separates that I would consider would run at least double what I paid. I can't see spending the money for very little improvement that MY ears cannot detect. If you have better ears, your results may vary. In that case enjoy your separates, but please don't criticize other folks decisions until you have listened a mile in their ears. Bill

The big advantage of separates over AV receivers is that the amplifiers are better and last indefinitely. Separate pre\pros that are upgradeable need to have both software and processor upgrades IMO. Separate manufacturers are usually about a year behind receiver manufacturers. For example, Pioneer and Denon were the first to produce THX Ultra 2 processors. Flagship receivers are upgradable. Denon and Onkyo have upgraded both software and hardware on their flagships. Pioneer announced an upgrade for the VSX-49TX for November, 2002. So far there has been zero follow through on Pioneer's part. Bill