elitensupreme Posted September 2, 2013 Share Posted September 2, 2013 Hello, I am currently in the process of putting together a nice set up for two different areas of my home. The first is my living area, the second is my pool house. I want something that is both visually striking and powerful sounding for the living area. For the pool house I just want something that sounds nice with good low's. I would prefer to not need a sub woofer in the pool house and don't mind a sub woofer in the living area. I think I may know what I'd like for the living area but am pretty undecided for the rec room/pool house. In the living area I am planning on mounting all surround/side speakers to the wall. In the pool house there are 4 shelves I will be placing the speakers on that are relatively high in the room. The pool house is 20 by 34 and the living room is 25 by 18. Living area idea... A Sony STR DA2800 ES Reciever- http://discover.store.sony.com/ES/receivers/STR-DA2800ES.html'>http://discover.store.sony.com/ES/receivers/STR-DA2800ES.html Klipsch WF35 Front - http://www.klipsch.com/wf-35-floorstanding-speaker/details Klipsch WC24 Center - http://www.klipsch.com/wc-24-center-speaker/details Klipsch WS24 Sorrounds - http://www.klipsch.com/ws-24-surround-speaker/details For the side speakers I am torn on using additional WS24's or possibly WB14's. http://www.klipsch.com/wb-14-bookshelf-speaker/details Pool house idea... One of the less expensive speakers from the THX line up on all 4 shelves paired with a Sony STR DA 1800 ES. http://discover.store.sony.com/ES/receivers/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrappydue Posted September 2, 2013 Share Posted September 2, 2013 ok i am gonna chime in on this as i won all the speakers you are talking about lol. lets start with the pool room first. that room is huge! you can go ahead and scratch the thx line as HAVE TO HAVE A SUB!!!! no way around it. i mean they have zero low end, trust me. now the living room. you'll notice i have the same setup you are talking about in my living room only in 5.1. if you are looking for reference level volumes i can assure you that these speakers will not give it to you. i can also assure you that if you are going to watch more movies in here than in your pool area that the center is very sub par as far as centers go. and also now that i think about it i have no clue where you are gonna buy any of the icon w line as they don't sell them anywhere anymore. i literally think i bought the very last new ones that newegg was selling a month ago. so with knowing all that let me ask you a few questions. main one being what is your budget total? and what is your listening levels you are looking for? you are gonna want big speakers in the pool room if you dont want to use a sub. i can see why you want nice living room speakers as that is exactly why i have them they are gorgeous and sound great but are limited by their size to reach high levels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elitensupreme Posted September 2, 2013 Author Share Posted September 2, 2013 A local audio store has the entire wf-35 set up for sale still in the box. The only thing they dont have is the wb-14's. Really the volume does not have to be ear shattering. As long as the sound is crisp, clear and powerful. I literlly listen to all genre's of music (from Pavoritti to Pink Floyd to Snoop Dog) but the living area speakers will be for movies mostly. The system in the pool house will be for music predominately. They will get some Monday night football use during my Monday night poker nights. The pool house is a large open room indeed. It also has ceilings that peak at about 10 feet in the center and is 8 feet or so on the edge. Not sure what my budget is. Maybe 5 K. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elitensupreme Posted September 2, 2013 Author Share Posted September 2, 2013 Also, how would 4 Synergy S-20's do in the pool room? That would only cost me a grand (Plus another fot the reciever) but would the bass be there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrappydue Posted September 2, 2013 Share Posted September 2, 2013 sweet 5 k is a great start. so lets go with the pool room first. do you need surround sound or would 2 channel work? you could look for a nice used set of klipsch cornwalls and find a good integrated 2 channel amp for a grand for both easily. boom no sub and pool room taken care of. as for a local store having the setup you are talking about, how much? i payed 1000$ for all 5 speakers and i would not have wanted to pay more than that. like i said pretty but if this is your primary movie setup i would go in a different direction. i also am not a fan of sony receivers as i dont think they even compare to other brands such as pioneer onkyo denon and a few others. so like i said 800 will get you a nice set of corn walls and they have lots of output and tons of bass. and you could buy a 2 channel receiver for 200. that leaves you 4 grand for the living room stuff. if you have to have really nice looking stuff you could go for the icon w but if the reference line is nice enough looking maybe in cherry? i would recommend the rf-62ii home theater. and then an internet dealer subwoofer. something like svs, hsu, rythmik. and a good avr with pre outs to add amps in the future. where are you located also? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrappydue Posted September 2, 2013 Share Posted September 2, 2013 oh and the synergy s-20 sell for 319 a pair on amazon and i dont think they would cut it even a little bit in a space that big. be cautious as it sounds like you are looking in the wrong places for pricing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrappydue Posted September 2, 2013 Share Posted September 2, 2013 sent you a pm, check your inbox Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elitensupreme Posted September 2, 2013 Author Share Posted September 2, 2013 Some good food for thought. If I break the 5K mark it is not the end of the world. That being said I would prefer to give my money to Klipsch for the Woofer as well. I have no problem checking out the reference series what so ever but I would still be pairing it with the Sony ES. I am a fanboy and my TV is a Sony with 4k Pass through. I really believe in the ES stuff they make. As far as the pool room I like the idea but I'd still prefer to have four speakers pumping sound into that room. If I break my budget I can live with that...I will just have to sell it to my significant other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustang guy Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 Scrappy is right, the Cornwalls have great low end and are fairly big speakers (3'h X 2'w). How big are the shelves in that pool room? The reference system is wife friendly, but the heritage speakers are also worth a look. The Heritage tend to be big and bulky, so sometimes wives aren't too thrilled with them. They sound great, though. As for the sub, there is good feedback on the Klipsch SW-115. If you decide to buy that sub, call a dealer for pricing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heritage_Head Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 Some good food for thought. If I break the 5K mark it is not the end of the world. That being said I would prefer to give my money to Klipsch for the Woofer as well. I have no problem checking out the reference series what so ever but I would still be pairing it with the Sony ES. I am a fanboy and my TV is a Sony with 4k Pass through. I really believe in the ES stuff they make. As far as the pool room I like the idea but I'd still prefer to have four speakers pumping sound into that room. If I break my budget I can live with that...I will just have to sell it to my significant other. Sony ES is really good stuff. And is as good as any of the other brands in the same price ranges. Good luck with your system should be fun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RRFL Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 Hello, I am currently in the process of putting together a nice set up for two different areas of my home. The first is my living area, the second is my pool house. I want something that is both visually striking and powerful sounding for the living area. For the pool house I just want something that sounds nice with good low's. I would prefer to not need a sub woofer in the pool house and don't mind a sub woofer in the living area. I think I may know what I'd like for the living area but am pretty undecided for the rec room/pool house. In the living area I am planning on mounting all surround/side speakers to the wall. In the pool house there are 4 shelves I will be placing the speakers on that are relatively high in the room. The pool house is 20 by 34 and the living room is 25 by 18. Living area idea... A Sony STR DA2800 ES Reciever- http://discover.store.sony.com/ES/receivers/STR-DA2800ES.html Klipsch WF35 Front - http://www.klipsch.com/wf-35-floorstanding-speaker/details Klipsch WC24 Center - http://www.klipsch.com/wc-24-center-speaker/details Klipsch WS24 Sorrounds - http://www.klipsch.com/ws-24-surround-speaker/details For the side speakers I am torn on using additional WS24's or possibly WB14's. http://www.klipsch.com/wb-14-bookshelf-speaker/details Pool house idea... One of the less expensive speakers from the THX line up on all 4 shelves paired with a Sony STR DA 1800 ES. http://discover.store.sony.com/ES/receivers/ LaScala are visually striking and powerful. Then there is the Khorn and the Jubilee. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuBXeRo Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 For your pool house (lucky bastard), I would most likely recommend the RB-81 II's. I haven't heard them first hand but if they produce bass similar to the RB-5's, they can handle their own for sure at moderate to higher volumes. That's the catch though is the moderate-higher volumes. Personally, I think that in that size room you have with bookshelfs, I would get a sub. A single downfiring SVS cylinder sub would make for small footprint and easy placement as bass waves are "omni-directional). Unfortunately, for the most part, you are limited by physics and how a speaker works. Generally, bigger bass means bigger drivers or special porting which means more volume for the enclosure. If you want something more bassy off the bat, the floorstanders RF-62 II or the RF-82 II are very good contenders. I don't necessarily recommend the RF-7 II's (if they have the same bass curve as the original 7's) because their bass picks up only at higher than average volumes. Don't get me wrong, if you want concert volumes, you will have so much bass that you wont know what to do with. That's if you went floorstanders in the pool house which you don't want. If you aren't using the pool house for home theater at all and just music, get a regular stereo receiver. Harman Kardon makes awesome receivers and they sound great with klipsch. It sounds like you want to just use 4 speakers so you can easily run 2 speakers on each channel and bring your nominal load to 4 ohms which those receivers can handle that and handle it very well. How do i know this? I have a, wow, probably 13-14 year old HK (just realized its been so many years) that rocked my RB-5's at a party, no sub needed. For your home, I had the Icon W series and they are truly beautiful cabinets with a wonderfully open sound. Their downside? Bass. I had to cross them at 60hz to prevent the low end from becoming harsh and muddy. That is the only drawback. For your size of a room, being it is similar size to my living room now, having a speaker with larger drivers will help improve the size of your sound stage. Something like the RF-62 II may be a good start for you. The 62 II and the 82 II sound very similar and are similarly capable but i have always chosen the 8" drivers over the 6" drivers. I just feel like the 8's give more to the overall sound than the 6" drivers do. I have been running my RF-5's with my TV as my RF-7's havent arrived on the moving truck but I can say this, although the 7's lack the low end bass i like to have, their imaging is huge! That is why i love them for home theater and home theater only....The RF-5's which have 8" cones versus the 10" cones of the 7's are more versatile for both HT and music a like and have a gloriously deep low end. That makes the RF-5's great for apartments, you don't need a sub and you won't feel like you are missing anything that you should be hearing but you also won't blow your neighbors out of the beds. I had a sony received a number of years ago and wasn't a huge fan. I think that there are way better options out there for the same money such as denon, onkyo, yamaha, marantz, pioneer and integra (which is onkyo owned). I have a marantz and i am quite pleased. Receivers can have great output but are usually noticeably deficient when it comes to producing good, crisp, low end bass. You can have the muddiness by crossing your speakers at 60-80 hz given you have a speaker with full range ability (not a satellite like the quintets or even the wb-14). You are good with a subwoofer in your home so i would again recommend SVS, they have fantastic customer service that was what sealed the deal of happiness with me. There are other brands like emotiva, rythmik, epik, sunfire and velodyne just to name a few that you can check out as well. Personally, i enjoy having my floorstanders running full range (but they are also truly full range down into the sub-bass region) with no crossover and having a sub work in tandem from 60hz down. If you want to spring into the world of separates, it truly is a pleasurable albeit sometimes frustrating way to go but in the end, You would be hard pressed to get me to choose a receiver over a dedicated amp and processor combo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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