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Old lessons remembered= great sounding HT


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Over the past six months I've been slowly upgrading my home home theatre. Initially, it was a Sony HT in a box, it worked and sounded pretty good, for what it is. I've been dying to go all Klipsch with an Onkyo or Denon AVR. Thanks to friends and an awesome brother in law, I have a Denon AVR-890, Polk RT-1000P fronts, Polk PSW-10 Sub, JBL J-2060 Surrounds and a Polk CS-10 Center. The only thing paid for is the center, brand new for $96. Not bad for under a hundred bucks, damn near free for the most part. I really, really want all Klipsch, but every time I have some money, something more pressing comes up. This leads me to a very important lesson I learned very early in life, when I was about nine years old.

Use what you have to the best of its capabilities and just enjoy it. It is certainly better than nothing.

As a young guitar player, I had a "crappy" Harmony Rocket Electric guitar, Ross Distortion pedal and Sears Silvertone 1484 tube amplifier. All of my friends had good gear, but I always had great tone, was a fast learner and just flat out rocked. Most of them, well, not so much. The secret was to just use what I had, dial it in based on the strengths of each piece and stop chasing what I just simply could not afford. I applied this lesson to my current HT gear and have finally come to the point where I'm not chasing the last 5% of great sound. I've spent a bunch of time learning about each piece of gear, trying numerous settings, but mostly listening and dialing things in to sound as good as possible, in my room, to my ears.

I feel that I have succeeded and love the sound. In my seating position I am completely immersed in the sound, whether concert, movie or audio. I'd be surprised, if not for that lesson I learned so early on in my life, but to me, it is pure truth. Too many times, we get wrapped up in specs, looks, wants and chasing our own tail, rather than using what we have, and most importantly, listening and enjoying. There is so much gear available today, at reasonable prices, that it's hard NOT to put together a good sounding rig, for not so much money, especially if you go to the used market and avoid impulse buying. I've listened to systems at friends homes, that cost a small fortune, and most of them don't sound nearly as good as my lowly, damn near free system. A few of the guys have come over and heard my system and couldn't believe their ears. I told them "the secret" and they asked me to go over and tune their systems. I said sure, but it would be tuned to my ears, not theirs, and that they really need to put the time into learning their gear in order to get the best sound for them, but would be happy to help them with it. An audiophile friend gave me the greatest compliment that I could ever hope for, "It doesn't suck." Lol.

Eventually, I will have all Klipsch for my main HT. I truly feel that it is the best gear for reproducing sound, that I could possibly afford someday. I have Heresy's for my 2 channel rig, so I am not Klipschless, but for now, I'm just enjoying what I have and listening.

Sorry for the long post, but I hope that my situation might help someone else in a similar position.

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Words of wisdom right there.  Patience and Contentment is the key.

 

There is so much gear available today, at reasonable prices, that it's hard NOT to put together a good sounding rig, for not so much money, especially if you go to the used market and avoid impulse buying.

You are correct, there are plenty of ridiculous deals out there but 3 things must be in place to take advantage of them.....1)  Cash, 2) Patience, 3) Continually Looking....ok I'll add a 4th one...4)  Pre-approval from the significant other.  Notice I said "pre-approval".  It is wise to have their blessing before you even discover "the deal" because if it is "the deal", you better jump on it quick or someone that already has those 4 items in place will beat you to it.  LOL

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Great thoughts. It sounds like you are one of us. I'll tell you what, it's hard to beat a set of Heresy's and a sub at ANY cost.

I haven't tried a sub with the Heresy's on my 2 channel yet, I'm getting more than enough tight, solid bass without it, in the room it's in right now, but may need to use one if I set it up in another room and there's not enough bass.

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That's good to hear that you are getting adequate bass in your room as the Heresy's aren't typically known for solid bass.  When I heard Wakejunkie's, they definitely needed a sub in his room.

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I haven't tried a sub with the Heresy's on my 2 channel yet, I'm getting more than enough tight, solid bass without it, in the room it's in right now,

 

That's what everyone who's never run a sub with Heresy's always says ;)  

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Words of wisdom right there.  Patience and Contentment is the key.

 

There is so much gear available today, at reasonable prices, that it's hard NOT to put together a good sounding rig, for not so much money, especially if you go to the used market and avoid impulse buying.

You are correct, there are plenty of ridiculous deals out there but 3 things must be in place to take advantage of them.....1)  Cash, 2) Patience, 3) Continually Looking....ok I'll add a 4th one...4)  Pre-approval from the significant other.  Notice I said "pre-approval".  It is wise to have their blessing before you even discover "the deal" because if it is "the deal", you better jump on it quick or someone that already has those 4 items in place will beat you to it.  LOL

My wife is awesome about my guitar and music hobby because I never spend money we don't have, always discuss things with her, even though she doesn't have any real interest in it, and include the whole family in the equation, which means asking her and our children for their opinions/ input. I also take the time to make sure they all know how to use it correctly, so they can enjoy it as much as I do, with no worries of them blowing anything up or things sounding like crap. I know guys that do the opposite and no one else can touch "their" system. To me, that defeats the purpose of having it in the first place, for the whole family to enjoy.

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I never spend money we don't have, always discuss things with her, even though she doesn't have any real interest in it, and include the whole family in the equation, which means asking her and our children for their opinions/ input.

I love seeing marriages like this.  I've been happily married for 18 years.  I've learned over the years that if my wife and I are not in agreement over a purchase, we don't do it.  It's just not worth it.

 

I also take the time to make sure they all know how to use it correctly, so they can enjoy it as much as I do, with no worries of them blowing anything up or things sounding like crap. I know guys that do the opposite and no one else can touch "their" system. To me, that defeats the purpose of having it in the first place, for the whole family to enjoy.

My 8yr old knows how to turn on and off the theater room equipment.  The Harmony One helps a lot. 

 

Sounds like you have a very healthy family. 

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I like reading stories about people's audio adventure and happiness. Reaching the summit is always nice but, it is the road up the the mountain that makes the adventure fun.  The great stories are from the long trek!

Don't most the folks here get to the summit and sell everything so they can start over?

 

It's the circle of (Klipsch) life!

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I never spend money we don't have, always discuss things with her, even though she doesn't have any real interest in it, and include the whole family in the equation, which means asking her and our children for their opinions/ input.

I love seeing marriages like this.  I've been happily married for 18 years.  I've learned over the years that if my wife and I are not in agreement over a purchase, we don't do it.  It's just not worth it.

 

I also take the time to make sure they all know how to use it correctly, so they can enjoy it as much as I do, with no worries of them blowing anything up or things sounding like crap. I know guys that do the opposite and no one else can touch "their" system. To me, that defeats the purpose of having it in the first place, for the whole family to enjoy.

My 8yr old knows how to turn on and off the theater room equipment.  The Harmony One helps a lot. 

 

Sounds like you have a very healthy family.

A healthy marriage and family come from good communication. Twenty one years coming up, not all easy, but a lot easier when you have someone to lean on. I picked up a Harmony 350 remote last week, gotta fix a few buttons that aren't controlling some AVR functions, but other than that, it works well.
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I like reading stories about people's audio adventure and happiness. Reaching the summit is always nice but, it is the road up the the mountain that makes the adventure fun.  The great stories are from the long trek!

The journey is fun, but it's time to take a rest. Lol. There's been plenty of adventure, trying to get all pieces to function well as a unit, getting the AVR tuned, dealing with the room itself and learning the strengths and weaknesses of each piece. It's been well worth the work.

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That's what everyone who's never run a sub with Heresy's always says ;)

 

I haven't used a sub with my Heresy IIs, and I get very tolerable bass. I'm sure a sub would help. ;)

 

Bruce

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Who wants tolerable??? Tolerable is unacceptable here Buddy. :D  Now go get that subwoofer and turn tolerable into carnage! Mass Weapons of Destruction! More wooferage! 

Now that's more like it! 

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