muleman

From previous procurmeents, I had a pair of oiled oak FORTE II's and a pair of oiled oak KG1's. Upon integrating my home theater, I had nothing to loose by using the FORTE II's for the front L and R, the KG 1's for the surround L and R ,and purchasing a center channel and a sub. After a lot of shopping an a lot of discussions on this forum, I decided to buy a Klipsch RC3-II center and and SVS 12" cube 350W powered sub. I am driving all of this with a MARANTZ SR6200. With this mix/match of speakers, I find the HT sound absolutely phenomenal. I read all about the timbre matching and the search for vintage center channels to match the FORTE's, and theres nothing wrong with keeping your eyes open. But I found the RC3-II a cost effective center channel that seems to perform well. I will admit, however, that I've left myself some room to upgrade. However the FORTES and the KG1'1 will remain a permanent fixture. PS- the SVS 12" power cube absolutely rocks. I believe I can actually break windows with that beast.

see the chain I initiated on "SUBWOOFER for HT"

consumer reports only evaluated a very small subset of avaiable speaker products. They seemed to be directing their survey to the consumer grade products and not the high end stuff. The interesting point I read in their 2003 buyers guide is that "all higher price speakers provide is a nicer cabinet" - which I dont really believe

Just to follow up: (I know I'm replying to my own posts). I purchased an SVS PB1-ISD cube subwoofer. It has a 350 W BASH amp and a 12" driver. I hooked it up to my HT and it sounds totally awsome. Remember the aquaduct chase scene in Terminator 2 Judgement Day where the T1000 is chasing Arnold and young John in a semi? That comes through excellent with this sub. I am very satisfied with this sub. Music also sounds great but I need to enable the crossover and adjust accordingly when playing music. For movies the crossover is disabled and the box plays the LFE form the 5.1 track. It just fit between my main speaker and TV. MY HT is now complete as follows: Klipsch Forte II front L and R (oiled oak) Klipsch RCIII-2 Center Klipsch KG1 surround L and R SVS PB1-ISD powered sub Marantz SR6200 A/V receiver Toshiba DVd Hitachi 57" widescreen HD ready TV Scientific Atlanta HD cable box.

Just to follow up: (I know I'm replying to my own posts). I purchased an SVS PB1-ISD cube subwoofer. It has a 350 W BASH amp and a 12" driver. I hooked it up to my HT and it sounds totally awsome. Remember the aquaduct chase scene in Terminator 2 Judgement Day where the T1000 is chasing Arnold and young John in a semi? That comes through excellent with this sub. I am very satisfied with this sub. Music also sounds great but I need to enable the crossover and adjust accordingly when playing music. For movies the crossover is disabled and the box plays the LFE form the 5.1 track. It just fit between my main speaker and TV. MY HT is now complete as follows: Klipsch Forte II front L and R (oiled oak) Klipsch RCIII-2 Center Klipsch KG1 surround L and R SVS PB1-ISD powered sub Marantz SR6200 A/V receiver Toshiba DVd Hitachi 57" widescreen HD ready TV Scientific Atlanta HD cable box.

In my internet searches for the right sub I have come across something called the "Carver Audio Knight Shadow" - its a 10" 500W mini sub with apparently good reviews (except for one). This seems to meet my space and performance requirements. Its a "cousin" of the Sunfire line made by Bill? Carver. Does anyone have any experiene with this product or where I can find one? They are apparently hard to find... HornEd - how does this compare with the SVS PCi unit you recommended to me?

Wow, I have been off-line for a few days and it looks like there's some great discussions going on. I havent purchased my sub yet, but on HornEd's suggestion, I have been looking into the SVS PCI in detail, and was leaning that way. Interesting remark about their build quality, however. I wonder if others have had a similar experience. I will have to look into your other suggestions as well. Appreciate the suggestions. For my setup, I am space limited. My listening room is 12.5' wide. With 2 forte II's, a 57" TV and a component rack, the allowable space for a sub is limited ( assuming a front positioning). The rsw-10, SVS PCi (@ 16" dia), or other similarly sized sub would just fit. So guess I need good performance in a compact design. PS - would you tell me more about the 15" Sw series II ? I think I need more information to differentiate between the old ones and the new ones you described. MULEMAN

HornEd, you lost me on a couple of acronyms - what are "SVS PCi's with internal BASH amps". I would like to look into these. Are they a Klipsch product? MULEMAN

HornEd, Your reply was very informative (as well as very humorous). I really dont want to build my own. And based on your advice, I believe that I am going to keep targeting that rsw-10. I dont mind paying the money, but I need to resolve the internet .v. retail purchase. With respect to the RC3 II, I guess I have left myself some room to grow. IF a good Academy comes around, perhaps I'll take a shot at it, just for "kicks", y'know, being the muleman that I am.

corrections - my TC is 57" vice 67" and "I am now considering adding a subwoofer" vice "I am not considering adding a subwoofer" There are some other typos as well. Seems the more I use computers, the worse my typing gets.

Hello all, My recently integrated home theater is up an running. It consists of the following components: > FORTE II (ioled oak) fron L and R > RC-3 series 2 center > KG 1 surround L and R > Marantz SR6200 HT receiver > Toshiba progressive scan DVD > HD digital cable box (scientific atlanta) > Hitachi 67: widscreen HD monitor (57SWX20B) I had initiated a discussion about the right center channel to match the Forte II's previously on this forum. Got some good advise before purchasing the RC3 series 2. Of course, many would think this is OK while any would think that I violated the laws of perfect timbre matching. End result is that I believe that this center blends quite nicely with the forte II's. I felt the RC7 was too heavy to rest on top of the TV, and the price delta between the rc3 and rc7 was too large for me. I am not considering adding a subwoofer to this HT system. Originally I thought that my Forte ii's would suffice for this application, as the MArantz 6200 vectors the low freq to the front l and r channels in the absence of a sub. I dow find that, when watching movies, I dont sense that gut wrentching LFE that Dolby digital and DTS offers. IT should be noted that, when playing music in stereo through my beloved forte's, there is no need for a sub Now the chouice - because of the limited space remaining inthe width of my room for a sub, I have been looking at the KSW 10 and the RSW 10. Once again there is a huge difference in price. I would like to know just how diffeent these two subs would be inthe HT application. I really like that rsw-10 but I would like to know if buying this would be overkill (realizing that the word overkill is not in the audiophile's vocabulary). My other question it this: I find significant price variations in the rsw 10 between "stone and brick" dealers and internet dealers. The difference is about $350 bucks (non trivial). The internet dealers advertise that their equipment is brand new in the box. The rsw 10 is doable for me at the internet price but not for the stone and brick reatil price. However I am concerned about getting a refurb unit or no manufactures warrenty. I would appreciate feedback of my two questions. MULEMAN

your gonna love this TV. Suggest getting high definition digital cable. we are currently getting HBO, SHOWTIME, NBC, and ABC in HD with more to follow.

I also have Forte II's next to a Hitachi 57" RPTV (the 57SWX20B) MY Forte II's are about 2 ft from the TV (this is the distance from the side of the TV to the side of the speaker. I have had no problems. You can check for interference by watching the TV witht he speakers on and off. I never tried butting them up against the TV.

Well gang - I ended up buying a new RC3-II. I spent all day yesterday hooking up my HT: Hitachi 57" widescreen HD ready; Digital cable with HDTV; MArantz SR6200 rcvr; Toshiba progressive scan DVD; FORTE-II (oiled oak) front L and R; RC3-II center; KG-1 surround L and R (oiled oak). I couldnt part with my FORTEs or KG-1's. I purchased about $200 worth of connectors and wired away. The SR6200 has a setup mode where you specify the speaker size and the presence of a subwoofer or not. In my case I dont have a sub to the 6200 allocated the low frews to the FOTRE-II's, which can handle it. The 6200 also required entry of the distances from speaker to listener to set the time delays, and a test signal to adjust the relative volumes. Once I did that, I dropped in the new Peter Gabriel disk which is digital-tosslink connected to the 6200. I was in awe at the sound!! The 6200 has what is called "circle surround" for music - totally awesome - the gathering of Klipsch speakers I am currently using seem to sound incredible. Next I dropped in the DVD "we were soldiers once..." whick is in dolby digital - the experience was incredible. My listening room is approximately 12.5' by 18'. I know I still have lots of listening to do, but for the first test I am satisfied with the use of the RC3-II and the FORTE II's and KG-1's. I will check in later with an update... I do want to say that this forum has been extremely helpful, and fun. The info exchange was very useful to me to make what I thought was an informed decision. I know that I'll be hearing from you all about my combining the RC 3-II with the FORTE-II's but hey, my ears are happy

you're right, Doug. I didnt think about it that way. The best car I ever owned (and still own) is a '92 Acura legend I bought in '96. I looked at that black academy on ebay last night, when it was 300 bucks. I guess it sold for 560. Maybe I'll troll for an academy.

thanks jhawk. I will check those new center channels you mentioned.

DD, thanks for the link. I read the postings - all very interesting. If I came home one day with three more FORTE-II's, one for the center and two for the surrounds, I think my wife would throw me out of the house! These speakers are pretty sizeable. Besides - I am way too paranoid to purchase a used speaker, which is why I would be concerned about getting an Academy as well. How do you know the real condition when buying a used speaker? It looks like I have two options: 1) purchase an existing new Klipsch center channel (perhaps the one closest to the Forte II's efficiency rating?) and end up with a complete Klipsh HT (driven by a Marantz SR 6200) with the KG 1's in the back. 2) move the Forte's to anoter stereo in the house (exlusively used for stereo music listening) and purchase a new complete speaker set.

Hi everyone. I am building a home theater. I have a pair of Forte II's (oak) and a pair of KG 1's (oak). I am wondering if I can us ethe Forte II's as the front left and right channels, and use the KG 1's as the rear L and R surrounds. That leave the center channel. Should I go out and buy a knipsch center channel? IF so, what one would best match the speakers that I already have? The Klipsch website say that I should match the Forte II's with a center channel product that they dont make anymore. I would appreviate very much your thoughts on this. I see that Klipsch has a variety of centers that they currently make. I have been trying to find out if I can get a good match with a current product or not. Also, I wonder if using the KG 1's as the surrounds is a good ideal. Everything I read seems to indicat that a hom etheater should have the same speakers all around. That would mean that I would need ot purchase an entirely new set of speakers. I dont want to really do that since I really like my Forte -II's and my KG-1's they have been with me for over 12 years - are in mint condition, and still pumping strong... JOE