nizl Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 Hi all, longtime lurker. So I ordered the Klipsch Ultra2 THX package based on impressive reviews and theater builds on AVS, such as Sandman's. (This package - http://www.klipsch.com/thx-ultra2-home-theater-system) I emailed somebody who's a pro installer and he sent this back: True story, had a client who got a "great deal" on those very same Klipsch speakers. He had to spend $3500 on a QSC DSP 322ua to fix the problems associated with "those" speakers. The speakers have a poor timbre match despite identical design. In essence, poor quality control of components (you get what you pay for). Something that is easily heard in playback... you have to spend a lot more to bring them up to par. You'll have to perform a nearfield analysis to determine whther the particular speakers you purchased have any timbre problems and which ones they are. I had never heard anything like this on AVS or elsewhere. I tried googling, but all I could find was the opposite: people impressed by build quality, excellent timbre matching, and evenness of integration. So I wrote him back and basically said, "Are we talking about the same speakers?" He wrote: Yes, those very same speakers. There were two speakers within the setup which were not timbre matched to the rest of the other speakers by a significant margin. We needed the QSC to fix the problem. The testing we do is not the testing they do in the magazines or the reviews. We test and compare those to the other speakers in the system. Two were problematic. We could only fix it with the QSC. Keep in mind as well, when was the last time you ever really saw a reviewer say something was not the greatest thing in the world for the money? Now, of course, I'm worried about my purchase. Has anyone ever experienced anything like this? I feel like I'm in a parallel universe. Not sure how a $13,000 MSRP classifies as "you get what you pay for". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 Smells like [bs] to me... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panacea Engineering Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 Sounds to me like the Installer is trying to justify the additional cost of the QSC to you and his client, which is probably one of their big ticket items. It could have been room anomolies that caused the additional need for EQ. Sure, blame the speakers........! There will be many others on here to help ease your mind Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 My gut tells me that he had a broken speaker and was trying to band-aid it with EQ. That said, there will always be some variation between speakers - it's just the nature of how they're made. When you want speakers to match perfectly, they need to be sorted...which is something Klipsch does in the Palladium lineup. At the Pilgrimages (factory tours), Klipsch was measuring every single speaker coming off the production line and each system has a certain tolerance window. When that speaker gets to your room, the assymmetry of the room acoustics is usually going to have a much larger impact, so there's definitely a point of diminishing returns there. All that to say, I wouldn't worry about one bad review. I've heard several installations with these speakers and they all sound incredible for what they are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1396083 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nizl Posted February 24, 2012 Author Share Posted February 24, 2012 Thanks all. Yeah, I cross-posted here from AVS to get some Klipsch owner's opinions. Thanks for putting my mind at ease. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tegal3 Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 Don't worrry about it and enjoy the system. I have no problem with mine and actually Ultra2 system is THE BEST HOME THEATER speaker system I've owned so far ( I used to have M&K S-150, PSB, NHT, Definitive Tech, Magnepan, and several Martin Logan speakers). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike 585 Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 On the other hand, aren't those some of the spreakers where manufacturing is being switched from China to Hope? And I saw first hand quality issues with Palladiums at my local dealer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quiet_Hollow Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 Be mindful that THX certification encompasses much more that just the speaker itself. Due to the specific response and dispersion characteristics of a certified speaker, If it's not deployed in the room according to THX placement criteria (for starters), all bets are off regarding how it will sound. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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