First Stereo/HT System

[andrewdestroyer]

Well, I have been itching to buy my first stereo/HT sound system for
several years since I bought an HD television (Panasonic 50" plasma) and I am
looking to get some feedback from the folks who really know! I
finally have enough cash and having a nice sound system with HDMI pass-through to
go along with my HD television and PS3 is feeling long overdue. I have spent the past couple months
researching various systems with a focus on performance and cost and I am now
thinking that I want to buy into the Klipsch Reference II series. I would love to buy the RF-7 II for my fronts
but I am not sure that I have the space and I am also not sure that my
neighbors would appreciate hearing my sweet system since I currently live in an
apartment. To save $1,000 per speaker
and in part to keep my sound system from overwhelming my living space, I am
thinking of going with the RF-82 II for fronts. If I buy a house which could be five years
from now, then I would consider buying the RF-7 II for fronts and moving the RF-82
II to the surround channels. The center
channel selection is a bit trickier. I
was thinking of going with the RC-64 II which may be overkill considering I won't
have the RF-7 II for fronts but I don't want to buy the RC-62 II and then down
the road want to replace when I move/upgrade.
One distinction between the 62 and 64 is that the RC-64 II can be
bi-wired/bi-amped which I think is cool.
After considering this for a period of time I am now thinking that the
RC-62 II is the way to go if only for the cost break. As for receivers, I think I would rather buy one
powerful receiver than buy a separate amplifier especially since I will only be
driving three speakers to start. This may
be just an aesthetic issue for me since I don't really want the extra component,
maybe down the road I will change my mind.
For a receiver, I like the Pioneer SC-57 since it has plenty of power
and all the bells/whistles for a reasonable price. I know that it has class D amplifiers instead
of A/B but the reviews have been pretty good for both sound and video. As for a sub, again I am worried about the
neighbors so I will forgo for now. We'll
have to see how the system sounds without a sub first before I would consider
buying and if then probably just a small one until I get a house and I can let
the system off the chain. Here is a cost
break down based on Amazon prices:

RF-82 II (2): $1,198

RC-62 II: $549

SC-57: $1,795

Extra Crap: $500

Total: $4,042

At
the end of day with all the extra crap like component stand, wires, and power conditioner,
I'd like to stay under $4,000. Let me
know if you have any comments. I am
certainly open to suggestion since the die has yet to be cast.

[derrickdj1]

Welcome to the madness. The SC 57 is a great choice for an avr. You may be able to find it cheaper if you look around the internet or can find an open box item at a retailer with full warranty( BB). Others will chime and give suggestion.

[tmassey]

Welcome to the forums!

What you have sounds great, though I would put more serious consideration into deciding between the RF-7ii and RF-82ii. You should start off by visiting a klipsch dealer if there is one around you, and having a good listen. Judging from your prices, you are planning on paying retail (or close to it) for everything. I think you would be happier to wait it out and see what kind of deals come up for the RF-7ii. You may end up only paying 300-400 more and get a much better pair of speakers. The only problem is you really should get the RC-64ii to match the RF-7ii, but again, you could probably get one for close to the price you were planning on spending on the RC-62ii.

You should also look more into the receiver. It's rated at 140w per channel, but that usually isn't the case. I think you would be happier with something like http://app.audiogon.com/listings/onkyo-tx-sr876-thx-ultra-plus-ii and spend the extra 1000$ you save on an amp like the Emotiva XPA-3 to get your 3 fronts going for now which is what will need the extra power the most. Depending on where you go with the fronts, I know the RF-7ii's will really enjoy the extra power you can get form an amp. My RF-83s did for sure, and they are a pretty comparable speaker to the RF-7ii.

That is really just an example, but what you should know and consider is buying things new at retail. Awesome deals can be had if you can wait it out and keep checking audiogon.com. You could potentially turn a 4,000$ system you paid 4,000$ for into an 8,000$ system you paid 4,000$ for. Just gotta keep an eye out. And a lot of people here are very happy to help out on the search.

I wish you the best of luck with your home theater stuff!

Edit: I am still seeing a PAIR of RF-82ii's on audiogon.com for 650$.

Another Edit: A member on this forum is selling the RC-62ii for 300$ in the Garage Sale thread, though it may have already been sold.

[Scrappydue]

i agree with massey on a lower receiver and an external amplifier. and aslo the prices you had for 82ii's being 1198 is msrp and can be had for a little over 900 from places like acoustic sound design and sound distibutors. look around and ask all the questions you can from the pro shoppers on here. we as a team can get you alot more bang for your buck []

[derrickdj1]

The Pioneer Elite SC 57 is a highly reguared amp. It is a Class D 3 , which mean it will operated all channels very close to the stated output. The SC 57 has 9 separate amps inside. It is also 4 ohm stable, which mean you can run RF 7II without a problem. Even rated at 140 watt this thing can go much higher for transient peaks. Heat biuld up in not a problem since it is a class D3 and stay relatively cool. This avr is Pioneer's Flagship. The extra features that it has are also great and the connectivity is excellent. I wish I could trade my SC 35 for this one. I will most likely say that when the next new avr come out, lol. The SC 35/37 are not 4 ohm stabel. People do run RF 7II without problems with those amps.

[Scrappydue]

The Pioneer Elite SC 57 is a highly reguared amp.

that is alot of money....[]

a brand new emotiva umc-1 can be had for 500$. an xpa-2 and xpa-5 for an additional 1610$ with the sale that is going on right now. so for 10$ more i'll take the seperates with the headroom. but that's just my opinion [H]

[andrewdestroyer]

Thanks everyone for the input and the good advice. I have spent a little time looking at separates but I think I moved away from the idea due to my lack of experience. I will take another look and see what I can find. Also, thanks for the heads up on the garage sale section of the forum and the Audiogon website. I don’t mind buying used as long as I have some comfort level that the equipment is in very good condition.

I have gone round and round in my mind on the RF-7 II versus the RF-82 II. It is clear to me that the RF-7 II is a more desirable speaker than the RF-82 II but I feel like Klipsch is charging a premium for the RF-7 II or selling the RF-82 II at a bargain depending on how you look at it since the price difference between the two is substantial. Regardless, I am still leaning toward the RF-82 II since I think they will fit my living space a little better.

I am interested to know if anyone is using the FLAC file format for audio playback and how they are going about it. Actually, I am interested to know how folks are playing digital audio files in general. Other than a high quality CD/DVD player like Oppo BDP-95, I imagine it may involve a separate computer with “server” capability but I really don’t know.

[tmassey]

It probably defeats the purpose of going FLAC, but I use a
program called TVersity. It is free and open source and seems to work
very well. What it does is it acts like a server on your home network,
and it pretty much sets itself up. All you have to do is install. Once
installed, it transcodes pretty much any format of music or video into
something usable depending on what device you are using to play it. I
use a Xbox 360 to play it and it seems to work out extremely well. It can also be played with a PS3 and Wii, and a ton of others They
are also currently working on integrating an open-source version of
AirPlay. Not sure if it will be backwards-compatible with AirPlay, but
definitely something very interesting. I run it on my laptop and once I
installed it, I pretty much forgot about it. It automatically searches
whatever folders you want it to for music and videos. Check it out here

It
obviously won't be as good as getting a BDP-95, but for it being free,
you won't have anything to lose for trying it out. There are also
devices that you can buy that plug into a USB port on your computer and
act as a really nice soundcard you might be interested in as well.
Unfortunately I forgot the name of the company that makes them, but I am
sure someone around here can remember. I just seen it about a week ago
in another thread.

Be sure to check out these RF-82ii as well. That is the same seller I bought my speakers from and he was a super nice guy. He says there is a ding on them about the size of a bb, but for that price, I think I could look past that.

[derrickdj1]

I use Samsung Allshare or Serviio, which is similar to TVersity. I think these programs are pretty good being free. Your storage abilities are only limited by your hard drive space. I also use my Samsung 3D BD for streaming music and other internet content and to access Netflix. I like Pandora better than many of the other radio options (free). V tuner can also be use in WMP for even more radio stations. The avr has XM and Sirus, but free is better.

[ivanhurd]

I didn't read all the replies, so someone may have already mentioned this...I *just* bought some reference speakers and I highly recommend contacting each of the authorized dealers listed on this site to see what you can get on a package deal. I really think you can knock some serious money off of that price you got there. You may even knock enough off the price to justify going with the larger speakers. With the money I saved, I was able to get everything I wanted and I still spent less than I was expecting to. Do some shopping around, seriously...

p.s. The best price I found was thru audioholics as far as the online dealers. Then my local dealer was willing to beat the price and not even charge me tax so I think I did pretty well on the whole package. I almost paid an extra $900 until I decided to shop around a bit...You may not see these big of savings, but I bought a 7.1 system...