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I'm not familiar with the sub you have, but if it's of any size, then it's probably a safe bet that there are some big honkin' magnets in there. Personally, I try to keep all unsheilded sources of magnetic fields away from anything computer-related. Remember, your hard drive is a magnetic device, and although I doubt that the field would be strong enough to erase it, it's possible that it could degrade it over time. David

Thanks, Frankie! I'll try your method and visit the links you provided. I have an Avia setup disk and SPL meter, so I'm to the point of tweaking... Do you happen to know what the rubber wheel is that's set into the right side of the RSW-10? It's about 3" in diameter, and has a finger indent to assist in turning. It doesn't seem to do anything; I thought it might be a removable port plug, or something. And if anyone out there has a grill-cover solution for the rear-firing speaker, I'd love to hear it. Thanks, David

Hey gang... I'm just setting up and tuning my theater. The Klipsch manual that came with my sub was very minimalistic with regard to instructions. What's there assumes the reader already has an intimate understanding of crossover concepts, signal levels, etc., and therefore how the toggle switches should be set. I've read the posts I could find on setup, but am still somewhat confused on the best sub setting, with respect to my Onkyo TX-NR900, (which I've set to 80Hz for the crossover). The sub has a rubber-like adjustment wheel on the side, which is not even mentioned in the manual - I have no idea what it's for... I guess I can just play around with different settings until I find a combination that sounds good to me - I like a nice, tight bass, without being boomy. Also, on the RSW-10, is there some type of grill available to cover the rear-facing speaker? It only came with one for the front. My concern is not one of aesthetics, but for protection. I just don't like the idea of an exposed speaker. Thanks!

Gang, I'm confused on the best method to hook up my DVD player in my 7.1 setup. The Denon 2200 (DV-Audio and SACD) has new generation video processing on-board. For the video, should I go from the DVD component outs directly into my projector's component inputs (the projector has Faroudja DCDi processing), or should I go ahead and run the component outputs into my receiver first and then into the projector? I have an Onkyo TX-NR900 receiver, which should also do a decent job at processing video. So, three components, each with their own video processing. I'm afraid that daisy-chaining one processed signal into another processor will do nothing but ultimately "muddy" up everything. Then there is the question of the audio hookups for DVDA & SACD, not to mention the optical link between player and receiver for normal DVD movie playback... Also, any good sources for quality cabling that won't break the bank? Thanks!

Dear Misskel: Sorry about the hubby; I'm in the same boat with my wife... At any rate, I had my house wired for HT when it was built. The installer terminated the surround speaker wiring in the ceiling, to the left and right of the seating area. I've rewired everything since then to put it all on the sides and rear (7.1). In all actuality, you;'ll probably be fine - very few of us can say that we've got the perfect acoustical environment in which to place our gear, and for whatever twisted reason, you gals just don't appreciate the aesthetic beauty of exposed, free-standing speakers...! ;-) I think it all boils down into what works for you, and how serious you are about your listening environment, and how much you want it to replicate the true cinematic (and life-like) experience. The side surround speakers should be filling in the "wide angle" left & right "aural" stage that you get in real-life, and at the cinema. Audiophiles get all wrapped up in harmonics, standing waves, etc., but speaker placement IS important; with the surround speakers overhead, a car that is driving from left to right on the screen will sound like it's passing overhead. The center channel speaker (which reproduces dialog) doesn't make sense unless it's positioned straight ahead, as near to the screen as possible. I think you see what I mean... So it's all about tradeoffs and preferences. I hope all of this has helped you in some way. Sometimes, you just have to sit down and take the common sense approach. By the way, I'e heard that in-wall speakers tend to lack bass, because the sound out of the back of the speaker may be going into the attic, or dispersed into the full wall caviity, and not get "ported" back into your listening environmet. -D

Hey, gang I've posted here before regarding my 7.1 speaker placement dilemas in a 14x14 room; my side RS-3s are in front of the seating area, which is against the rear wall. But I'm having difficulty trying to figure out where to mount the rear RS3s. The guy who did the pre-wire when I built the house placed two junction boxes in the ceiling that was originally intended for the surrounds in a 5.1 setup. The ceiling boxes are immediately to the left and right of the seating area. I thought that maybe I would mount my rear RS-3s there, maybe angling them rearward. Any thoughts on this? What would be a good method of mounting RS-3s on the ceiling. Obviously the keyhole mounts would not work. Thanks!

Nope; there is a window to the right, and a closet door to the left, so anything directly to either side of the seating area is out. As it is, I had to mount my L/R surrounds on the sides, in front of the seating area. I'm hoping that the angled design of the Klipsch RS-3s (with rear angle pointing back toward the seating area), and Klipsch's wide dispersion technology will help. Height for all my surrounds are about 3 feet above ear-level, as recommended in the literature. So, what do you think? Would a wedge bracket angling my side surrounds somewhat back toward the seating area, and then angling my rear surrounds downward help?

I'm getting ready to install two RS-3 rear surrounds to complete my 7.1 setup. My room is not ideal to start (14 x 14), and I will most likely need to have my seating up against the rear wall, so I understand that my installation is not likely to be optimal... Any advice on where to locate them on the wall, or the distance between them? Thanks!

I'm getting ready to install two RS-3 rear surrounds to complete my 7.1 setup. My room is not ideal to start (14 x 14), and I will most likely need to have my seating up against the rear wall, so I understand that my installation is not likely to be optimal... Any advice on where to locate them on the wall, or the distance between them? Thanks!

Hey, Jon started it! I didn't intend to get into an engineering discussion, honest. I was just trying to find out if the 20AWG wire in the coax was adequate for my RSW-10... - Are those custom stilts, or ready-made?

Wow, Tom! I want the name of your contractor! I had considered custom, but the estimates I'd been getting all came in aroung the $7K - $10K range, which I thought was outrageous. These were with guys who build custom from the ground up. We have quite a few home theater stores in the Dallas area; media rooms are standard fare with most of the larger home builders here. Folks have been building some extravagant cinemas in their homes, so these are probably the kinds of prices that these guys can demand. Mine was a small job, and I wasn't asking for exotic woods or anything. I wanted equipment/speaker pillars on each side of the screen that would extend up to the ceiling and tie into the cornice molding that would hide the screen housing. My only other request was that it not be pine. So maybe I should just go to a regular cabinet store. Thanks for the advice!

Thanks, Jon. When I said patch cables, I was referring to a length of speaker wire terminated on each end with either a banana plug or binding post pin - the kind of pre-made speaker cable that Monster sells or that you can buy at in any audio department. And I'm using gold connectors, so I'm hoping the signal loss will be minimal. If I remember correctly, the electron "skin effect" you refer to is called histeresis, and it's true, electrons tend to travel on the surface of a conductor. But the thicker the conductor - either solid or by using many twisted strands, as in speaker cable - the greater the surface area. Copper purity also plays into it. It all helps reduce the resistance to electron flow (and keeping those electrons from bunching up and causing that pesky arcing thing). I was just concerned that RG58 coax (I think the center conductor is like 20AWG) would not be adequate for a sub. But, it is only a line level signal, so maybe it will do okay.

Yep, it's video cable, and it's stiff. But since it's in the wall that doesn't matter - you never see it. All my speaker wiring and coax terminates to faceplates having either RCA phono jacks, binding posts, or coax F connectors, depending on the application. So, using regular patch cables, I just connect my receiver to the jacks on the wall in the front of the room, and plug in my speakers, etc. at their location. I was concerned that the coax center conductor would not be adequate for my RSW-10 sub. Thanks for the reply!

I've been trying to find a manufacturer of AV cabinetry that would accommodate an 85in diagonal drop-down screen. What I have in mind is two taller cabinets (one on each side of the screen), and a lower, center section, like a credenza or something. It would appear to be a wall unit when the screen is up, so I want the gear and speakers hidden behind doors and grills. The center section would have to be relatively low and accommodate an RC3 center speaker, while the taller cabinets would house my gear and RB3s. I see tons of this type of cabinetry for big screen TVs to fit into, but nothing for drop-downs, and I'm really not interested in going the custom route. Salamander has come the closest of anything I've seen, but they don't have the width needed in the center section for my screen. Anyone have any suggestions? Thanks!

Hey, gang... I had a room prewired for HT when the house was built. The installer used RG58 coax for the sub run, which he terminated in the right rear corner of the room. I've already replaced his 16awg speaker wire with Monster in-wall CL3 14awg stuff. I think the braided shield on the sub coax would be adequate, but am concerned that the core wire is too small a guage. Am I good, or should I replace the coax, too? All my speaker runs are < 20 feet, into an Onkyo NR900 receiver. The sub is a RSW-10, and the rest are reference products (RB3/RS3/RC3). It's a small 14 x 14 space, so I'm not going to drive this stuff hard, but I want it to be clean. On another note, I was a bit confused when I took the sub out of the box and saw both right and left inputs. From what I read in the forum, I can use either channel, or connect to both with a "Y" adapter. Any preferences? Thanks to all who reply!

After several months of research and reading specs, I thought I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted: a DLP projector that had a native 16:9 aspect ratio, since my HT was to be used primarily for DVD movies. So I was leaning heavily toward the Infocus Screenplay 110. But then, all the new second generation, higher resolution DLP chips started cropping up in stores, so I was hesitant on actually going with the "older" DLP technology. The other problem I had was that, even with several high-end home theater stores in the area, hardly any carried a variety of projectors that a person could compare side-by-side; a larger demand for big-screen TVs dictate that. The projectors that were available for demo were usually higher-end, prohibitively expensive ones, and I just wasn't comfy spending money on a projector that I couldn't demo first. Finally, I found a HT design company who didn't operate an actual retail store, but who had some projectors that they demo'd out of their offices. The guy had the new generation, high-res Infocus Screenplay 7200 DLP projector, which looked pretty awesome. He then switched the output over to a new Epson PowerLite TW-100 LCD projector, and jeez, even though the lumen output and contrast ratio specs are typically better with DLP technology, the image from the Epson was every bit as good as the Infocus. In fact the LCD had richer colors than the DLP. The Epson was less expensive (MSRP=4999, but it can be had for less than 4K), and the bulb life is rated at 3000 hours (1000 more than most DLPs), so cost of ownership is reduced. It has Faroudja DCDi video processing, and even has a screen trigger interface. Bottom line, I bought the Epson TW-100. I've read in several places that Epson understates their specs, whereas other manufacturers tend to "nudge" their figures up. The TW-100 contrast ratio has been listed as 600:1, but the unit is shipping as 800:1. Epson USA told me there was no change to the projector, they just understated the spec in the literature when the unit was first marketed. Anyway, this was a pretty lengthy explanation of my experience. Hope it helps. By the way, check out www.projectorcatalog.com. They have specs on about any kind of projector you can get, and allow you to compare them side-by-side.

Hello, everyone! My listening position will need to be relatively close, if not against, the rear wall of my 14' x 14' HT. Unfortunately because of door/window placement, my RS-3 surrounds will need to be located forward of this position by about 3 to 4 feet if I mount them on the wall. Should I use brackets that would allow me to angle these back toward the listening area, or keep them flat against the wall? The builder pre-wired for L/R surrounds that would be directly to the left and right of the listening area, but on the 8 ft. ceiling; it would be nice to utilize the existing cabling, but how would RS-3s do pointing straight down? Also, I have a pair of RS-3s for the rear surrounds. What would be a good rule of thumb for placement, considering I will be sitting against the wall? Thanks!

I've reviewed the posts that I could find that touched on this topic, but the replies given were mixed... My Onkyo receiver is rated at 110W for each of the 7 channels. For my 7.1 setup, I've been considering either the Klipsch Reference Series (RB-3, RS-3, RC-3, RSW-10), or the Synergy Series (SB-3, SS-1, SC-1, KSW-10 or -12). Both the RB-3s and SB-3s are rated at 100W continuous. Offhand, it would make sense to have speakers with a rated continuous wattage that is equal to or greater than the receiver's rated output. But in actuality, do I really have a problem here? Thanks in advance!

Hey, gang! Does anyone have any experience with online Klipsch purchases, or any recommendations for a good online dealer. I've found some pretty decent prices on the Web, but if you read the Klipsch warranty, the warranty is void if purchased from an unauthorized dealer. Read many of the dealer's return/repair policies, and I find that they say to use the Klipsch warranty. Kind of a catch 22. I don't anticipate any issues, but for the price of the speakers, I'd hate for them to be essentialy without warranty right out of the box, or worse, find that the serial number has been removed, or something. The problem is, purchasing the speakers I want from an authorized dealer puts them over-budget... Any suggestions?

From what I gather, THX is not an "encoded" format like Dolby Digital, etc., but rather is a set of benchmark standards that gear is certified to, in an attempt to ensure that the mastering of the CD and the playback hardware are capable of reproducing the listening experience in the way that Hollywood intended, for both commercial and home cinemas. As for THX ES, Ultra, or Ultra2 certifications, I've not listened to them in a properly tuned environment to compare them one to the other, and I know technical advancements rapidly change things, so I may be admittedly way off base here... Call me cynical, BUT, given the durability of today's gear, and the revelation of the Japanese electronics industry's "planned obsolesence" design strategy, I wouldn't be surprised if the differences in certs were even discernable to most, but a new "feature" to spur sales. Same holds true for the THX group, since they charge manufacturers a fee to put their gear into the cert program - it's a win-win situation for everyone, except maybe the consumer. Any thoughts?

Hey, Gang! I've got a question from my 7.1 IN A SQUARE ROOM post that I'm still struggling with, regarding speaker selection. Poster "bruinsrme" had a similar question in his HELP WITH 7.1 UPGRADE post, so maybe we can both be helped by answers to this... Was considering the following: RB-3 front L/R pair RC-3 center RS-3 L/R surrounds In-wall RCW-3 rear surrounds The RCW-3s are essentially an in-wall version of the RB-3 bookshelf speaker, from what I understand. Is this a good choice, or would I be better served by using the true RS-3 surrounds for the sides AND the rear? Thanks, -David

I've attached a .pdf drawing of the room in question. Michael, to answer some of the issues you posed, I do own the home and, as you can see from the drawing, have a walk-in closet, which I would rather like to keep as a closet. I'm hoping the 3x3 ft. entrance would act somewhat as a "trap" for some of the reflections that may find their way there. I'm trying to find out as much as I can about wall treatments, not just to enhance the listening experience, but to also keep the theater out of the rest of the home. This room is on the second floor, and even though at the time of construction I added insulation in the walls, ceiling and floor, I'm afraid the whole house is gonna "go to the movies" when I crank up my system... So, what about my speaker selection? Should I go with a more diminutive line of speaker for this environment? Thanks for responding, everyone! -David room.pdf

I have an Onkyo receiver that is THX ES certified, and would like to set up my home theater with 7.1. Unfortunately, my room for all practical purposes is 14' square, with an 8' ceiling. What would be the a good recommendation for speakers in this environment? I've been looking at the Reference Series RB-3 for the front L/R pair, an RC-3 center, RS-3s for the L/R surrounds, and in-wall RCW-3s for the rear surrounds. Would use the RSW-10 sub. Does this sound reasonable, or overkill for a 14 x 14 room? Any other recommendations/suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks