carbon summit Posted February 12, 2010 Share Posted February 12, 2010 I can't remember what year my C-7 is but I do remember my Academy is a 1992. So it is possible that my C-7 is close to ten years newer if it was made in 2001 and maybe the crossover in my Academy is just a little worse off than the C-7 and that could be why the dialog is a little weaker in the Academy than the C-7. Can you tell I'm really trying to justify to myself to redo the crossover in my Academy? [] I remember when I had KG 5.2s in front and 3.2s in the rear with a KV-2 at center how big a difference the Academy was over the KV-2. It was night and day! There isn't anything near that big of a difference between the C-7 and the Academy. Just a noticeable difference in the ease of hearing the spoken dialog. Any other C-7/Acadmey owners who have had them both at the same time switched back and forth? Edit: I just looked at the stats between the two and the C-7 is 99dB @ 1watt/1meter and the Academy is 96dB @ 1watt/1meter so that might be what I was hearing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fotog Posted February 14, 2010 Share Posted February 14, 2010 Keeping the 20's and selling the Forte IIs. I'm going to have to hear a pair of KLF line to see what I'm missing. I just bought the C-7 because ... In my opinion - the 20's are the star of the KLF line. 30's and 10's have their slot, but nothing fits my ears as nicely as the 20's. Mated with a C7 and you are approaching nirvana. Best of luck in your quest for the grail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amusingisthedawn Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 I'm trying to decide on which way to go as well. I haven't heard the 30's, so I can't compare, but I love my 20's. I have a small 15x15 room...so it's almost impossible to use 20's as surrounds without them being a foot away from your head. I have S2's hanging on the side walls and surround effects sound great. I will be building my own KLF 20 center, so I will have a C7 with nowhere to go. Do I find another C7 and use them as my side surrounds and put the S2's as rear surrounds? I would love to go KLF20's all around, but like I said...how the hell do you put towers as side surrounds in a room this small. I could however angle the C7's right to the sweet spot, but will a C7 sound better than an RS-52 or a KSP-S6? On that note...what settings do you KLF20 users set your crossovers to? I have HT set at 120hz Mains/LFE and 120hz for everything else. 2ch is 60hz Mains/LFE in direct mode. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carbon summit Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 I of course recommend going with a second C-7: http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/p/131179/1329005.aspx#1329005 No self serving interest in that recommendation!!! [] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zappa883 Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 I run both the 20's and 30's and C-7 at Full Range seeing the receiver does it's thing and cuts them off accordingly reassigning the hard labour to the sub. My 20's are about 4.5 feet from my skull. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amusingisthedawn Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 What do you mean by full range? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CECAA850 Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 What do you mean by full range? The receiver sends the speakers a full signal, as opposed to sending a signal without the frequencies below a cutoff point, determined by your crossover settings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amusingisthedawn Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 Hmm...don't you feel the KLF's "clean-up" a bit when you don't force them to go so low? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zappa883 Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 The 905 senses that you're running a sub and won't allow them to go low. Only works in full range though. Found that I had better luck playing with speaker levels vs. x-over points. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InVeNtOr Posted February 17, 2010 Author Share Posted February 17, 2010 gpbusa, did you get those klf-20's hooked up yet? how's the shoulder? if you like i am willing to come over and lug them around. we can take them back to my house (hopefully when you leave you forget all about them....lol) and hook them up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rgdawsonco Posted February 17, 2010 Share Posted February 17, 2010 Frankly, I don't think the C-7 is a perfect match in a typical KLF-20 HT system. Here's why: Its a two-way speaker and sounds different than the KLF 20. Also, the tweeter is oriented as if the speaker is designed stand vertically, instead of horizontally - in other words it disperses 90 degrees vertically and 40 degrees horizontally, when laid on its side as is typical - the opposite of the KLF 20's. And, my C-7 sits below the screen and therefore about 1 foot or foot and a half below the tweeters in the 20's. While it is not perfect, its the best you can do short of canabalizing a klf-20 and creating a monster center. I keep the C-7 on when multiple people are in the room. But when it is just me sitting in the sweet spot, it is alot better to just turn it off. If you're sitting off axis a center helps keep movie dialog in the center, but if you are seated in the suite spot, you are better off without a center, specially with how well the 20's image there. I have not tried the C-7 with the Forte II's, but I suspect it is an even worse timbre match. I would guess that the Academy is indeed better with the Forte. As an aside, the C-7 sounds noticably better when oriented vertically, IMHO, but who is going to use it that way. It looks stupid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carbon summit Posted February 17, 2010 Share Posted February 17, 2010 Also, the tweeter is oriented as if the speaker is designed stand vertically, instead of horizontally - in other words it disperses 90 degrees vertically and 40 degrees horizontally, when laid on its side as is typical - the opposite of the KLF 20's. I have not tried the C-7 with the Forte II's, but I suspect it is an even worse timbre match. I would guess that the Academy is indeed better with the Forte. As an aside, the C-7 sounds noticably better when oriented vertically, IMHO, but who is going to use it that way. It looks stupid. The Academy tweeter is the same way. I've always wondered why they made it that way. I've never tried either the C-7 or Academy vertically since it would block the bottom of my TV but I imagine it would sound better which brings me back to wondering why Klipsch didn't make them the right way other than size restrictions maybe. I put my C-7 in between my Forte IIs and it didn't sound bad at all. I found it was easier to hear the dialog of the movie too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InVeNtOr Posted February 17, 2010 Author Share Posted February 17, 2010 going off what you said, has anyone attempted to build a "better" C-7? what i mean is keep the same shape but rotate the horn? you would have to redesign the box making it wider, maybe a tad shorter and maybe a tad not as deep. maybe that's why that one guy (don't know the name) made a klf-20 into a center channel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BusaDude Posted February 17, 2010 Share Posted February 17, 2010 How do you think your C-7 sounds with your Forte IIs? Have you tried the Forte IIs with the C-7 for HT use or just to compare the two in a 2 channel setting. Before anyone says it I know the Academy is the matching center (I have one) but I've read on here a few guys have used the C-7 with Forte II and Chorus IIs and felt it was a good match. Wasn't sure if this was directed at me or not... I thought the C7 sounded VERY good with both the Forte II's and Chorus II's. But this was just in a 5.1 home theater setup playing 5.1 DVD Dolby Digital movie soundtracks. At that time I didn't have an SACD player, so I can't comment on how it would have sounded with multi-channel music. By the time I got things setup for SACD, I had already put a Forte II inbetween my Chorus II's in a 6.1 channel setup... and that sounded GREAT with everything. I know people say the Academy (never heard one) was THE matching center to the Forte/Forte II, Chorus/Chorus II... but in my mind it would have made more sense to pair it up with the original Forte/Chorus as they all used the 90x40 exponential horns. Whereas the Forte II and Chorus II were made with Tractrix midrange horns, which is what the C7 used. And of course, the C7 was the matching center for ALL of the KLF 10/20/30 line. I'm sure the Academy would sound pretty good with any of those speakers, but that's how I was looking at it. In any event, I only had a C7 between my Forte II's and Chorus II's, so I can't say what an Academy would have sounded like in my setup. gpbusa, did you get those klf-20's hooked up yet? how's the shoulder? if you like i am willing to come over and lug them around. we can take them back to my house (hopefully when you leave you forget all about them....lol) and hook them up. InVeNtOR... I'm way behind on getting things organized and have spent most of the past week messing with the La Scala's I purchased a couple weeks ago. The 20's haven't been moved and won't be connected to anything for a while. I wouldn't mind working something out for you to listen to them at some point, but I really do plan on keeping them. The shoulder is about 3 months into a 6-9 month rehab... I had a full thickness tear of the rotator cuff, wear/fraying around the biceps tendon attachment and several bone spurs. Have some pictures and videos taken during my surgery posted on my Facebook page. The Academy tweeter is the same way. I've always wondered why they made it that way. I've never tried either the C-7 or Academy vertically since it would block the bottom of my TV but I imagine it would sound better which brings me back to wondering why Klipsch didn't make them the right way other than size restrictions maybe. I put my C-7 in between my Forte IIs and it didn't sound bad at all. I found it was easier to hear the dialog of the movie too. I believe it is based on the THX specs for all "cinema" type speakers (controlled dispersion in all channels). But particularly for center channel speakers, so that they have controlled horizontal dispersion in the center channel... to lock dialogue to the screen. And I'm talking strictly home theater here, such as when you have sounds panning across left/center/right or right/center/left to get the "blend" correct and sound good. Take a look at the Klipsch's THX Ultra2 line, the KL-650-THX and KL-525-THX all have vertically oriented horns. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amusingisthedawn Posted February 17, 2010 Share Posted February 17, 2010 As soon as I get to it and make a KLF 20 center channel, I'm taking the C7, and getting another C7 to use as side surrounds. I am not sure if I will be mounting them vertical or horizontal. Probably horizontal angled down to the couch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InVeNtOr Posted February 17, 2010 Author Share Posted February 17, 2010 no problem man. i was just joking about leaving the speakers. i couldn't afford them even if you offered them for $200. i just want to hear them before i decide to sell my fully modified rf-7 set up. i just like moding stuff. i would love to tear into a pair of those and update crossovers, foam, binding posts, horns, etc. i have know several people in your shoes with your shoulder. my farther in law has had both shoulders done. it's a nasty situation. it takes years to feel better. good luck with it. if you get some spare time let me know. take care. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vman71 Posted February 19, 2010 Share Posted February 19, 2010 I love my KLF-20's & C7 for HT. I'm using my KSP-S6 for rears but have thought about trying my Chorus II's, since my KSP-S6's sit right on top of them. For many reasons I can't change my KLF speakers out for something else but I'm lucky because I have no desire to. DeanG upgraded my KLF-20 xovers, my C7 has the full "popbumper" xover and all diaphrams have been changed to the titanium versions. For HT, I do let the LFE goto my RSW-15. I watch movies with happiness and enjoyment. Klipsch forever! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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