AaronB123 Posted February 20, 2016 Author Share Posted February 20, 2016 Just some eye candy for you My Chorus pair, completely rebuilt cabinets (with the help of Forum member Mookie). Sold them about a month ago to fund my obsession with tube gear. The second photo is of the recommended/optional port tubes. They certainly make a difference. 13 (Medium).jpg12 (Medium).jpg Matt ♪ ♫ ♪ Wow those are absolutely gorgeous! If you don't mind me asking how much did you sell them for? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AaronB123 Posted February 20, 2016 Author Share Posted February 20, 2016 First of all welcome to the forums and congratulations on owning one of the finest speakers that Klipsch has ever put on the market! That said, I feel I must be "that guy" and point out that you have set yourself up for years of frustration. How so? You are trying to make a speaker designed for stereo (aka "2 channel") reproduction fit into a modern home theater set up. You're already feeling some of the pain too: what center works best with the Chorus? what surrounds? do you need a different receiver? should you try tubes? and on and on. I totally understand if you only have space for a single system and have decided to make it one with a screen and lots of speakers. This is a fun way to watch football games and concert DVDs, play Xbox/PS/etc, or get a thrill out of movies with lots of explosions. After all, we are on the Home Theater part of the Klipsch forums. About 20 years ago I was in your shoes: I had a nice stereo in my (one and only) living room. So I decided to just live with my TV hooked up to my stereo. It was OK. Then, as I slowly got into DVD and Dolby Digital/DTS, I decided my stereo (including my Klipsch Heritage speakers) needed to have their own room. First it was a bedroom, then it was a basement, then I moved to a house with two living areas and set up a dedicated two channel system in the smaller of the two. The Synergy speakers I decided to use in my home theater simply do movies/sports/concerts in a more convincing way than my Heritage speakers (which, alas, never found their matched centers or surrounds). Of course, I wouldn't dream of doing critical listening to stereo source material on my home theater rig. That's not what it's designed for. And I'm not alone. I would venture a guess that a slight majority of members here keep a separate 2CH system in a different room that is optimized for just music. I have heard hundreds of audio systems in my life but I've never heard a system that excelled at both music and movies. I will say that a rig that is optimized for music will do better with movies than a home theater system will with just 2 channel music. There is a psychological effect in play here too: some people can't maximize two senses simultaneously. I am one. Sit me in front of a 50+ inch hi-def screen and I will see everything. The accompanying audio almost fades into insignificance. But turn off the screen and I am suddenly aware of the audio. Better still: pick that TV up and completely remove it from the room. Now you've relaxed the visual cortex of my brain (it is no longer anticipating something to watch) and my hearing becomes very acute. I am totally unable to do "critical listening" when there is a screen in the room. From my experience, this is not at all uncommon. You walk into a room with a big screen in it and your brain says "Goody! What are we watching?" That's not conducive to effective listening. Consider the option nobody has yet mentioned: put those mighty Chorus speakers into their own stereo system and stop stressing about finding matching center and surround channels and AVRs and such. Just get a nice 50 watt tube amp and a high quality source (CD, vinyl, or HRA player). Keep the screens out and use that system for LISTENING. I predict you will quickly find yourself caring a lot less about trivial things like bass "slam" as you let beautifully lifelike and dynamic stereo sound produced by vintage Klipsch speakers wash over you (eyes closed for best effect!) Meanwhile, get whatever 5.1 speakers-du-jour are recommended to you here. Hook them up to your Yamaha AVR and fire up that big screen with a good flick. Be binary. Be happy. Good luck! That is a great idea and I have thought of that but unfortunately I don't have the space for something like that, as the room all my stuff is in, is the only room in the house available for entertainment. I do agree though and when I am listening to music on these I always just put it in 2 channel straight mode because I don't want any other speaker interfering with the beautiful sound these produce! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthews Posted February 20, 2016 Share Posted February 20, 2016 Wow those are absolutely gorgeous! If you don't mind me asking how much did you sell them for? They were a fun project. Thought they were going to be keepers but the La Scala is my true favorite and don't have room to "collect". Sold them to a local fellow for $1200. Funny thing is, he contacted me just this morning wanting to know if I knew of anyone who might be interested in buying em'. Said he is down-sizing. Of course, I gave him a firm warning, that he perhaps has in his possession, the finest Chorus pair in the entire country I can hear it now, sellers remorse... Matt ♪ ♫ ♪ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AaronB123 Posted February 20, 2016 Author Share Posted February 20, 2016 I agree don't shot the messenger, the Chorus can whoop butt you need to do your part get a solid quality sounding amp. Oh the modern part that's a joke right? There has not been a new amp circuit design in about 40 - 50 years everything is just a twist on some other design, new devices yes there are but the circuits are all the same feed forward feed back nothing new in a switching amp or an analog amp. It is really simple there are good amps and bad amps most are poor to bad some, a few are excellent find one of those. Tubes SS same applies. Manufacturers would love you to believe they are inventing new ever day but it is not the case. You are for the most part buying bells and whistles along with poor to very average sounding amplifiers. Astounding so many get it so very wrong. Get a solid mosfet output amp they are near impossible to blow up the output devices look to John Hillig at Musical concepts for a top quality American source of sota amplifiers he can build you a better amp that you can take to the grave. I guess I should have used a better word than modern. I know exactly what you mean and many have told me the same thing. By modern I meant the receivers of today offer features that I need other than the sound itself like the pass through of HD and all that. I Was saying if I got an older amp I wouldn't be able to get all of those features I need to keep my system running the way it is. Right now I have my computer hooked to my tv through hdmi running at 4k and I wouldn't be able to do that through an older amp. I would need to either hook it up through 3.5mm to rca or optical at best which in my experience wouldn't deliver sound quality anywhere near as good as HDMI cables. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AaronB123 Posted February 20, 2016 Author Share Posted February 20, 2016 Aaron, If you have not solved your center issue, have you seen this Academy? NA! https://stlouis.craigslist.org/ele/5441362327.html Wow that is a really amazing find! I appreciate you posting that but I am way too far from that person. I guess I could contact them and see if they are willing to ship. I actually found someone in the garage sale section that has one for sale that lives in New York which isn't far from me but they haven't gotten back to me yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willland Posted February 20, 2016 Share Posted February 20, 2016 Aaron, Do you have room to do this and have two rigs(HT and stereo) in the same room? I had my Quartets with a Denon integrated stereo amp and the RF-63's with the RC-64 and surrounds with an HT setup. Same room, two systems. Bill 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AaronB123 Posted February 20, 2016 Author Share Posted February 20, 2016 Aaron, Do you have room to do this and have two rigs(HT and stereo) in the same room? I had my Quartets with a Denon integrated stereo amp and the RF-63's with the RC-64 and surrounds with an HT setup. Same room, two systems. Bill I may be able to squeeze more mains in but they would have to be the tower probably reference series since they are more narrow but I would definitely not be able to do that financially. As of right now really the only thing I could afford is a center and maybe some smaller rears. If I was to do that, it would be something I did later on down the road. Gorgeous setup you have there! those subs are very nice! How do you like them, would you recommend them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willland Posted February 20, 2016 Share Posted February 20, 2016 I may be able to squeeze more mains in but they would have to be the tower probably reference series since they are more narrow but I would definitely not be able to do that financially. As of right now really the only thing I could afford is a center and maybe some smaller rears. I understand the $$$ thing. I sold the Quartets for gas money on a trip to Chicago a couple of summers ago. Gorgeous setup you have there! Thank you. those subs are very nice! How do you like them, would you recommend them? Love them and I would highly recommend them. Bill 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Posted February 20, 2016 Share Posted February 20, 2016 (edited) First of all welcome to the forums and congratulations on owning one of the finest speakers that Klipsch has ever put on the market! That said, I feel I must be "that guy" and point out that you have set yourself up for years of frustration. How so? You are trying to make a speaker designed for stereo (aka "2 channel") reproduction fit into a modern home theater set up. You're already feeling some of the pain too: what center works best with the Chorus? what surrounds? do you need a different receiver? should you try tubes? and on and on. I totally understand if you only have space for a single system and have decided to make it one with a screen and lots of speakers. This is a fun way to watch football games and concert DVDs, play Xbox/PS/etc, or get a thrill out of movies with lots of explosions. After all, we are on the Home Theater part of the Klipsch forums. About 20 years ago I was in your shoes: I had a nice stereo in my (one and only) living room. So I decided to just live with my TV hooked up to my stereo. It was OK. Then, as I slowly got into DVD and Dolby Digital/DTS, I decided my stereo (including my Klipsch Heritage speakers) needed to have their own room. First it was a bedroom, then it was a basement, then I moved to a house with two living areas and set up a dedicated two channel system in the smaller of the two. The Synergy speakers I decided to use in my home theater simply do movies/sports/concerts in a more convincing way than my Heritage speakers (which, alas, never found their matched centers or surrounds). Of course, I wouldn't dream of doing critical listening to stereo source material on my home theater rig. That's not what it's designed for. And I'm not alone. I would venture a guess that a slight majority of members here keep a separate 2CH system in a different room that is optimized for just music. I have heard hundreds of audio systems in my life but I've never heard a system that excelled at both music and movies. I will say that a rig that is optimized for music will do better with movies than a home theater system will with just 2 channel music. There is a psychological effect in play here too: some people can't maximize two senses simultaneously. I am one. Sit me in front of a 50+ inch hi-def screen and I will see everything. The accompanying audio almost fades into insignificance. But turn off the screen and I am suddenly aware of the audio. Better still: pick that TV up and completely remove it from the room. Now you've relaxed the visual cortex of my brain (it is no longer anticipating something to watch) and my hearing becomes very acute. I am totally unable to do "critical listening" when there is a screen in the room. From my experience, this is not at all uncommon. You walk into a room with a big screen in it and your brain says "Goody! What are we watching?" That's not conducive to effective listening. Consider the option nobody has yet mentioned: put those mighty Chorus speakers into their own stereo system and stop stressing about finding matching center and surround channels and AVRs and such. Just get a nice 50 watt tube amp and a high quality source (CD, vinyl, or HRA player). Keep the screens out and use that system for LISTENING. I predict you will quickly find yourself caring a lot less about trivial things like bass "slam" as you let beautifully lifelike and dynamic stereo sound produced by vintage Klipsch speakers wash over you (eyes closed for best effect!) Meanwhile, get whatever 5.1 speakers-du-jour are recommended to you here. Hook them up to your Yamaha AVR and fire up that big screen with a good flick. Be binary. Be happy. Good luck! That is a great idea and I have thought of that but unfortunately I don't have the space for something like that, as the room all my stuff is in, is the only room in the house available for entertainment. I do agree though and when I am listening to music on these I always just put it in 2 channel straight mode because I don't want any other speaker interfering with the beautiful sound these produce! Aaron, If I may add onto your situation, I have both a 2 channel set up and HT in one room, and I use Forte II,and the KF-28's (Icon) with the Ssynergy center channel(Icon is Synergy). A real simple way to do both 2 channel,and HT would be to get yourself an amp splitter. I have one for my room and use 3 different types of tube amps, and the HT. So you'll be able to hook the AVR and a tube amp up, and just switch off for whatever you want to listen to.And the splitter is not powered, so it won't affect any of the SQ. With the splitter you can hook up one set of speakers to 6 amps, or vice versa. This is what I have http://www.ebay.com/itm/321968017679?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT. I have it hooked up the the 3 amps and out to my speakers.I've tried things with it and without it and have not heard a difference in SQ. I also have a manual audio switch that has 2 outputs and 4 inputs, and again no loss on SQ or imaging. And if you're not sure on tubes, get an entry level Class A SET for about $200.00 and try it out. I have 2 turntables, a laptop with external hard drive, a cd player hooked up and no issues whatsoever. This is my set up front end and amps with switches. This of course would be if you use only 1 set of speakers without getting a 2nd set up. If you did get the 2nd set up, you could still use an audio switch for the SET amp,unless you went integrated. I squeezed 2 set ups in my room which is 14 feet wide, but loses 7 feet just because the fireplace is there. I would also look at going used for everything even if you did a 2nd set up,maybe an RF or RFII type system. Edited February 20, 2016 by Jim 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cincymat Posted February 20, 2016 Share Posted February 20, 2016 (edited) Welcome to the forum. The Chorus are very fine speakers. Enjoy yourself. Hang on to your wallet as best you can. There are those here that are more than happy to help you yearn for better. Mark Edited February 20, 2016 by cincymat 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AaronB123 Posted February 20, 2016 Author Share Posted February 20, 2016 First of all welcome to the forums and congratulations on owning one of the finest speakers that Klipsch has ever put on the market! That said, I feel I must be "that guy" and point out that you have set yourself up for years of frustration. How so? You are trying to make a speaker designed for stereo (aka "2 channel") reproduction fit into a modern home theater set up. You're already feeling some of the pain too: what center works best with the Chorus? what surrounds? do you need a different receiver? should you try tubes? and on and on. I totally understand if you only have space for a single system and have decided to make it one with a screen and lots of speakers. This is a fun way to watch football games and concert DVDs, play Xbox/PS/etc, or get a thrill out of movies with lots of explosions. After all, we are on the Home Theater part of the Klipsch forums. About 20 years ago I was in your shoes: I had a nice stereo in my (one and only) living room. So I decided to just live with my TV hooked up to my stereo. It was OK. Then, as I slowly got into DVD and Dolby Digital/DTS, I decided my stereo (including my Klipsch Heritage speakers) needed to have their own room. First it was a bedroom, then it was a basement, then I moved to a house with two living areas and set up a dedicated two channel system in the smaller of the two. The Synergy speakers I decided to use in my home theater simply do movies/sports/concerts in a more convincing way than my Heritage speakers (which, alas, never found their matched centers or surrounds). Of course, I wouldn't dream of doing critical listening to stereo source material on my home theater rig. That's not what it's designed for. And I'm not alone. I would venture a guess that a slight majority of members here keep a separate 2CH system in a different room that is optimized for just music. I have heard hundreds of audio systems in my life but I've never heard a system that excelled at both music and movies. I will say that a rig that is optimized for music will do better with movies than a home theater system will with just 2 channel music. There is a psychological effect in play here too: some people can't maximize two senses simultaneously. I am one. Sit me in front of a 50+ inch hi-def screen and I will see everything. The accompanying audio almost fades into insignificance. But turn off the screen and I am suddenly aware of the audio. Better still: pick that TV up and completely remove it from the room. Now you've relaxed the visual cortex of my brain (it is no longer anticipating something to watch) and my hearing becomes very acute. I am totally unable to do "critical listening" when there is a screen in the room. From my experience, this is not at all uncommon. You walk into a room with a big screen in it and your brain says "Goody! What are we watching?" That's not conducive to effective listening. Consider the option nobody has yet mentioned: put those mighty Chorus speakers into their own stereo system and stop stressing about finding matching center and surround channels and AVRs and such. Just get a nice 50 watt tube amp and a high quality source (CD, vinyl, or HRA player). Keep the screens out and use that system for LISTENING. I predict you will quickly find yourself caring a lot less about trivial things like bass "slam" as you let beautifully lifelike and dynamic stereo sound produced by vintage Klipsch speakers wash over you (eyes closed for best effect!) Meanwhile, get whatever 5.1 speakers-du-jour are recommended to you here. Hook them up to your Yamaha AVR and fire up that big screen with a good flick. Be binary. Be happy. Good luck! That is a great idea and I have thought of that but unfortunately I don't have the space for something like that, as the room all my stuff is in, is the only room in the house available for entertainment. I do agree though and when I am listening to music on these I always just put it in 2 channel straight mode because I don't want any other speaker interfering with the beautiful sound these produce! Aaron, If I may add onto your situation, I have both a 2 channel set up and HT in one room, and I use Forte II,and the KF-28's (Icon) with the Ssynergy center channel(Icon is Synergy). A real simple way to do both 2 channel,and HT would be to get yourself an amp splitter. I have one for my room and use 3 different types of tube amps, and the HT. So you'll be able to hook the AVR and a tube amp up, and just switch off for whatever you want to listen to.And the splitter is not powered, so it won't affect any of the SQ. With the splitter you can hook up one set of speakers to 6 amps, or vice versa. This is what I have http://www.ebay.com/itm/321968017679?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT. I have it hooked up the the 3 amps and out to my speakers.I've tried things with it and without it and have not heard a difference in SQ. I also have a manual audio switch that has 2 outputs and 4 inputs, and again no loss on SQ or imaging. And if you're not sure on tubes, get an entry level Class A SET for about $200.00 and try it out. I have 2 turntables, a laptop with external hard drive, a cd player hooked up and no issues whatsoever. This is my set up front end and amps with switches. amps.jpg switches.jpg front end.jpg This of course would be if you use only 1 set of speakers without getting a 2nd set up. If you did get the 2nd set up, you could still use an audio switch for the SET amp,unless you went integrated. I squeezed 2 set ups in my room which is 14 feet wide, but loses 7 feet just because the fireplace is there. I would also look at going used for everything even if you did a 2nd set up,maybe an RF or RFII type system. That's definitely an idea that I have considered too, just running a tube amp for audio and the HT receiver for movies and stuff, a splitter is a good idea. I also pretty much at this point only buy used, it's pretty much the only way I can afford such high quality stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Posted February 20, 2016 Share Posted February 20, 2016 The amp splitter was I think $42.00 new in the box. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete H Posted February 20, 2016 Share Posted February 20, 2016 Welcome to the money pit! I've never had the pleasure of hearing a set of Chorus but I'm sure they sound great. The center channel is just something that you will have to make a decision on, based on suggestions, budget and space and if you like it then walk away, or on the other hand, you could then buy a second center and A/B them, keep the best one and repeat while at the same time you will be buying other mains or building multiple rigs and then you're favorite center might not match up with what you've decided to go with for HT and then you can but some more.....................................................hell, just delete your information from the forum, block the site and you just saved $20,000 or just take the red pill and get accustom to hearing things like "what did you buy those for" "do you have a problem that we need to get you some professional help with" "if you spent half as much time doing blah blah blah as you do with your audio" "can you turn that down" I took the red pill! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted February 20, 2016 Moderators Share Posted February 20, 2016 If I'm not mistaken doesn't the RF-83 have powered 15 inch subs? No, the RF-83's have three 8" woofers. Here they are next to the Chorus II's I had. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjptkd Posted February 20, 2016 Share Posted February 20, 2016 I've personally never liked the Academy center, its barely a step up over the KG 2.2 / 2.5 to me. Also, there is a big difference between the RC-64 and the RC-64 II, kind of like comparing the RB-81 to a RB-75. In my experience, with movies and TV shows timbre matching hasn't been an issue with mis-matched gear, so long as sensitivity and output are close. I could definitely see if you were running 5.1 music where you'd want everything matched but for TV? Most of the sound comes from the center itself. Actually, I just brought home a pair of KLF-10 speakers, with Crites tweeters (had never heard any Crites improvements, so I simply wanted to experience a little for myself). Having just sold my C7 center 2 weeks ago, I put my KG 2.2v center between them. I thought they (the 3) sounded great together. Now, I have not experienced a long and varied run with that combination, but surely sounded excellent to me. But then, I may be more modest, because I like the KG 2.2 sound. My opinion, anyway. Yes, I agree, the KG2.2 is actually a very nice speaker and so is the Academy. My beef with the Academy is to me, it just doesn't hold up well against any of the other dual 8" center speakers. The RC-7 is leaps and bounds ahead IMO. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete H Posted February 21, 2016 Share Posted February 21, 2016 The RC-7 is leaps and bounds ahead IMO. It's a really solid center for sure. I'm still going to build a version with 2 10's to better match up with the RF7's 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AaronB123 Posted February 21, 2016 Author Share Posted February 21, 2016 I've personally never liked the Academy center, its barely a step up over the KG 2.2 / 2.5 to me. Also, there is a big difference between the RC-64 and the RC-64 II, kind of like comparing the RB-81 to a RB-75. In my experience, with movies and TV shows timbre matching hasn't been an issue with mis-matched gear, so long as sensitivity and output are close. I could definitely see if you were running 5.1 music where you'd want everything matched but for TV? Most of the sound comes from the center itself. Actually, I just brought home a pair of KLF-10 speakers, with Crites tweeters (had never heard any Crites improvements, so I simply wanted to experience a little for myself). Having just sold my C7 center 2 weeks ago, I put my KG 2.2v center between them. I thought they (the 3) sounded great together. Now, I have not experienced a long and varied run with that combination, but surely sounded excellent to me. But then, I may be more modest, because I like the KG 2.2 sound. My opinion, anyway. Yes, I agree, the KG2.2 is actually a very nice speaker and so is the Academy. My beef with the Academy is to me, it just doesn't hold up well against any of the other dual 8" center speakers. The RC-7 is leaps and bounds ahead IMO. That's a nice one but for some reason when I look on ebay they only have it in canada. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AaronB123 Posted February 21, 2016 Author Share Posted February 21, 2016 The RC-7 is leaps and bounds ahead IMO. It's a really solid center for sure. I'm still going to build a version with 2 10's to better match up with the RF7's Ha, perhaps I should just build a custom center! That would be really awesome! How would you go about doing that, where would you buy the drivers, ebay? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClintonH Posted February 21, 2016 Share Posted February 21, 2016 The RC-7 is leaps and bounds ahead IMO. It's a really solid center for sure. I'm still going to build a version with 2 10's to better match up with the RF7's Ha, perhaps I should just build a custom center! That would be really awesome! How would you go about doing that, where would you buy the drivers, ebay? This is where I ordered my drivers for my RC-7 hybrid LCR speakers. The 8" drivers out of the RC-7 have been replaced by the K1122 8" out of the RC-35, I measured it compared to the original with TS specs and it is within 1/2 dB through the range. I would call it a wash since it was 2 different test jigs and newer or older drives etc. http://reconingspeakers.com/product/klipsch-k1122-ob-8-lf-speaker/ Here is my thread on building these if you want ref and if need help feel free to ask. https://community.klipsch.com/index.php?/topic/161905-lcr-rc-7-hybrid-tmm-configuration-or-mtm/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete H Posted February 21, 2016 Share Posted February 21, 2016 The RC-7 is leaps and bounds ahead IMO. It's a really solid center for sure. I'm still going to build a version with 2 10's to better match up with the RF7's Ha, perhaps I should just build a custom center! That would be really awesome! How would you go about doing that, where would you buy the drivers, ebay? Forget about the rabbit hole, you just jumped into the worm hole! I'm being totally honest here and looking out for your best interest; I would pick a center that you want to try and find it for a fair price (and we will help you with that) and by fair price, you should be buying it at or below FMV so if you don't like it, you're out shipping or gas at the worst. You need a baseline for your center with your mains and you can't get that from here, you can only get that from hooking something up and I was serious about buying 2 different speakers for a center because you will know within 5 minutes, which one you like better, sell the other and repeat. When I was building my first Klipsch HT system I decided I wanted it based on the RF7's and ultimately ended up with an RC7 for my center (until I build the one with 2 10's to match the RF7's) Here's the progression. 1. cheap *** Onkyo center for an "in the box" surround sound system. (about 6 years ago) 2. Single and double RB61's 3. RC35 4. RC3 5. Pair of RP3's on the left and right of the screen but run as the center channel. 6. KP250 7. RC7 The ultimate choice was a compromise of space requirements and sound. And now...........................................................I'm going to build a center. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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