Best combination for apartment dweller on a (Klipsch) budget

[BooyahAchieved]

Hey guys,

I'm interested in replacing the tinny sound of my tv speakers with some punch. I currently sit about 10' from the TV in a living/dining room combo. At first I will be adding only L/R speakers and a HT receiver, with more pieces added as they fit into my budget. I primarily will use them for listening to music and gaming, with occasional TV watching. I've got my speakers narrowed down to 2 choices: RB-51 or RB-61. Furthermore I have a friend who is going to give me a deal on a one of these receivers: Yamaha RX-V series 367 or 467; Denon AVR series 391 or 591. I don't have any feasible way to demo the combination of setups, so I'm looking for someone that has some experience (or at least an educated opinion ) with the pairings. Some people have told me that the Yamaha/Klipsch pairing sounds too bright, but I've also heard that the RBs have required a little more power recently which may remedy this. I can fit the more expensive combos in my budget if it's really worth the extra money. If you have other suggestions feel free to let 'em fly. I appreciate your help.

[SuBXeRo]

hello fellow apartment dweller. Biggest thing to avoid is a subwoofer. I have rf-3 II floorstanders and im on a second floor and it gives me the bass reproduction i was looking for but is in no way shape or form a replacement for a sub but gives that needed low frequency range repro. The rb-61 would be better, even the rb-81 is great. if you wanna get cheaper stuff, check out your local craigslist, all of my klipsch stuff has been used and i love it all. As for receivers, i like denon alot and onkyo, but i think id go denon, yamaha just aint my cup o tea. Sony isnt bad either or pioneer. HarmonKardon is absolutely fantastic as well. if u can get floorstanders, do it, way worth it IMO.

Just check out your local craigslist and see whats available. Klipsch is a very good brand, most people take care of their speakers and most are willing to demo them for you prior to purchase. i wasnt too keen on it at first but im happy i went this route.

[JasonJCarney]

what is your budget?

[Islander]

Many forum members, myself included, use Yamaha electronics and are very happy with them.

As for your system as a whole, if you're sure you want a simple system that will never grow or evolve, the basic receiver (or one step up from basic) and a set of matching speakers will sound fine.

However, if you think you'll want to upgrade down the road, get the best pair of speakers you can afford right now that you can buy without having to sell your car, fridge and stove and enjoy them until you can buy more speakers that will barely fit through the door.

If your significant other grumbles, tell her at least you're at home with her and not out spending your hard-earned money on hookers, booze and drugs, and doesn't Brad Pitt's voice sound like he's in the room when you two are watching this movie she picked out?


Also, does your apartment have concrete floors and good sound insulation? If yes, by all means get a sub. It will add a great deal of realism to the sound of movies and music. If not, get a sub but be a good neighbour and don't listen at high volumes at late hours.

[BooyahAchieved]

I have very particular neighbors, there will be no sub in this apartment until I move out in the next couple of years . I'm operating under a budget of $600, but that's because I've got someone selling me a new pair of RB-61s for around $200 (he owes me.) I'll also be buying the receiver at close to cost. Any combination would be under budget, but if I can save a few bucks by cutting features I can't/won't use, I'm more than willing. I'm really shooting for the best mix of audio quality and value right now, I'll worry about maxing out features on my next amp. I COULD go higher with my budget but the 61s seem like a good start, I'll have to see what I can scoop up the 81s for, if you insist!

[Islander]

If your budget is really tight, it's always better to buy a few decent components, rather than a whole set of mediocre ones. A year from now, you'll likely have more money and can add to what you have, rather than having to get on the trading up merry-go-round.

That said, some people enjoy the horse-trading of finding bargains and hearing their system steadily improve. In my case, I started out with an old pair of La Scalas four years ago and now I'm listening to a system I never dreamed I could ever have.

[JasonJCarney]

You can get abrand new pair of F2's for $360 shipped right now.Most on here will tell you that synergy does not measure up in terms of sound quality to the RF's but I would disagree. I have heard almost every klipsch speaker out there (except the heritage stuff and ultra super high end stuff). All were via home theatre set ups and not with music as I rarely listen to music. The F2's are a quality set of speakers. You can add the C3 center for $200 from Vann's and you'll be set. You really need to listen to the speakers to be able to judge for yourself. Those will set you up for a while until you get the upgrade bug. I feel like I am set for a few years....next upgrade is the THX Ultra's!

[JasonJCarney]

another option I thought of would be to buy the RF surrounds that match your bookshelfs. Then get the RC62 center. That would give you almost the best center you could get (rc64 is out of your budget) and then when you have extra money you could just purchse a set of floorstanders that match your current stuff. Move the rb-61's out wide or in the back (for your 7.1) and you won't have to touch your surrounds.

[BooyahAchieved]

Thanks for the impressions/opinions guys, this forum has to be one of the friendliest I've ever seen for first time posters. I'm actually going to get a chance to check out the 61s and some other speakers tomorrow with a couple of the receivers.

[Fresh123]

The Rb 61 are a nice set of speakers u will be happy with them i am using them as rears right now. I have a rc52 for sale if your interested it would match up with the bookshelves nice.

[SuBXeRo]

$600 is definitly a working budget, you can get a full reference system used on craigslist for that, alot of times people part out their systems. Aside from that, even buying new, you can still start off with some nice stuff. You would be surprised at how many features of a receiver you most likely wont use. Some of the mos important features i look for in a receiver is the ability to adjust crossovers, speaker distances, individual channel volume gain, channel powerl and connectivity (ports available). The internal processors are very important as well but as long as you stick with a good brand you should be happy with your purchase. My denon AVR-1707 is an older receiver i got from when i bought my rf-10 system which i recently sold.....i kept the receiver because i like it so much. It doesnt have any HDMI and thats the only downside really. The sound is always crisp, powered my current system just fine, i would have liked a little bit better user interface but it was just a matter of getting used to it, it also didn't have 7.1 out or even 5.1 out so i could feed it to an external amp.

Just as a note with upgrading in the future, internal amps in receivers, even in some of the most high end receivers wont yield the rated power they say they will with all channels driven. I have read plenty of sound and vision mags and everytime they review a receiver of any brand, once all channels are driven they never yield what they say they do, however, 2 channels driven typicially yields more than the rated power. So with that said, your processor will eventually be outdated and you'll need to upgrade, one of the best things you can do is buy an external amp, amps have a usable lifespan that puts the life of a processor to shame by many many years. When getting a receiver, see if you can get one with a 5.1 or 7.1 out so that you can toute the audio to an external amplifier. By doing this you add another component that sets you up for an upgrade to just a processor down the line instead of a receiver. The component amp will yield more steady power than the receiver will. Nopw dont get me wrong, this is just an option, my denon was pushing my rf-3's just fine and louder than i could realisiticaly play them in my apt so a receiver will do you good for as long as you're in your apartment.

For right now, i'd certainly concentrate on a good set of speakers as pretty much an receiver you choose will do the job, klipsch's are very efficient and dont need a lot of power to be loud for you. Also, make sure you get a high current receiver, i have an older sony that isnt high current and well, pushing a pair of rf-7's with it isnt an option, getting a high current one doesnt limit your options down the road. Hell, you might even have this receiver for 5-7 years and upgrade speakers along the way.

Your f/l, f/r and center are the most important pieces to your surround system so choose them carefully. RB-61's are a great start, especially at 200 bux, that leaves 400 more, a good receiver will really run you about 250-350 id say but you have to weigh your options. Having a stereo setup at first for tv watching isnt bad at all, its the same as your tv but they is a hell of an upgrade, it sounds so much clearer. The rb-61's can always become rears in your system so you arent losing out, you have a very workable situation.

Def stay away from a sub, i dont care how low you put it, the waves are so large they trvael through the wall, to put it into perspective, those sound waves at those low frequencies are actuallty meters in diameter and they will travel through walls. It sucks but true.

[jjennings2510]

Hey, just thought I would give my opinion on the topic. I agree with all of the other posters. You can get a pair of Synergy floorstanders within your budget and if you check online you may be able to get a pair of Reference floorstanders. But with you being in an apartment I think you're doing the right thing for your situation. Get some bookshelf speakers. Because with it being an apartment your space is probably limited and as others said you don't want to disturb your neighbors.....and with floorstanders you are probably going to be tempted to turn the system up sometimes. At least with the bookshelf speakers the bass extension won't be quite as low as the floorstanders. Plus you can move the RBs to surround duty if you do upgrade to floorstanders a few months down the line or if you don't like the directional sound then you can move them to the bedroom for a nice 2ch system. If your neighbors are that picky then I would definitely avoid the sub for right now because all of your quality subs (Klipsch, SVS, Velodyne to name a few) are all going to push some nice deep low bass. Even though you can turn the volume down you'll probably have to keep the gain so low that it wouldn't do you any good. And where's the fun in that? Lol. But patience is key. As the others mentioned keep looking at craigslist and look for deals.......as far as the receivers go all of those are good choices. I'm not a big fan of Yamaha.....they make great receivers and as far as the bright sound it didn't affect me. I'm new to home theater but my friends all have Klipsch setups with Yamaha receivers and the high end is very crisp but I wouldn't consider it too crisp or bright....because with my parents Onkyo receiver and Klipsch setup the high end is very crisp as well. That's just a characteristic of Klipsch which I like. They sounded the same so I had to ask the experts in this forum what the heck a "bright" receiver is. But I'm not a fan of Yamaha because in my opinion you don't get quite as many features as similarly priced receivers from other brands and I don't like their automated speaker setup. It does an ok job but for some reason it was way off when my friend did his setup...so he just did it the old fashioned way with a spl meter. But once he got everything setup correctly it sounded great. So if you just want something thats pretty "automated" as far as getting you the best sound then I wouldn't do Yamaha. Denon and Onkyo both use Audessy automated systems which is a little more on point in my opinion. You may have to make minor tweaks (for my parents and my own system I had to adjust the sub level bc for some reason it always set the sub level at -15 so i could barely hear them) but for the most part everything should sound outstanding after the setup. That's just my experience. Maybe my friend had a faulty model? But that's just my two cents....as I said once everything is setup they will probably all sound amazing with the Klipsch speakers. The best thing is the get as much listening time as possible on the different setups. Best Buy uses Yamaha receivers in their speaker room. HHGregg uses Denon and Onkyo in their home theater area so if you have those 2 stores in your area you should be able to get an idea of how Klipsch sounds on the different receivers. Generally the stores are setup the same nationwide.....so the home theater areas should be pretty similar wherever you're located. And if your Best Buy has a Magnolia store in it then they probably have all of the brands setup......hope that helps.

[dtel]

I went ahead and called you neighbors and took a poll. This was there choice. []

[jjennings2510]

I went ahead and called you neighbors and took a poll. This was there choice.

[Y] Thumbs up because for some reason I think you probably read their mind!

[Cal Blacksmith]

Best Klipsch setup for an apartment, 7 Khorns. OH, you want to walk around in the apartment? Sorry[:$]

[Me Loves Khorns]

Or Jubs!!!

[Coytee]

When I was in an apartment, (during college and afterwards), I had two LaScalas, two Electrovoice Interface D's (think Cornwalls in size), 10" Akai RTR, cassette deck, turntable, couple 'Peaches crates' of LP's, some goodies by dbx and yet a couple other items.

Get what you want that is within your budget and don't worry about the neighbors.....just be respectful of them and you'll never have a problem.

[Youthman]

When I first got married, we lived in an apartment. I had a pair of DCM speakers (3 way with 12" woofer), no subwoofer. We were watching Operation Dumbo Drop and a cop knocked on my door to say the neighbor upstairs called in a complaint. Give me a break!

Unfortunately, there isn't much sound barrier in an apartment.