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Free Crazy Idea to Klipsch Product Management


onemoretime

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I've been full of ideas (and possibly something else) all day today, so at the risk of making a fool out of myself I'm throwing this one out to the forum & lurkers from Klipsch Product Development:

 

What if Klipsch were to make Heritage-series surrounds for home theater?

 

Maybe it sounds silly at first glance, but think about it. How many forum members are using Heritage speakers in their HT setups? How many goofy, un-elegant ways have we tried to elevate a Heresy to ear level without creating a danger for small children and pets?

 

Envision a smaller version of the HIP with heavy-duty woofer, horns for mid-range and tweeter, and porting. How cool would that be? If you can build a mini-LaScala for the desktop (Klipsch blog), why not something like this?

 

I run a market research firm for a living, and would be happy to suggest ways to test which would be low-risk. If anyone's interested, that is...

 

 

 

 

 

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I've often wondered why they don't have surrounds that match the RF-7ii, actual compression drivers and wrapped in veneer.  They're already building the THX surrounds in Hope, shouldn't be that much bigger of a deal to use veneer and copper woofers.  

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7 minutes ago, MetropolisLakeOutfitters said:

I've often wondered why they don't have surrounds that match the RF-7ii, actual compression drivers and wrapped in veneer.  They're already building the THX surrounds in Hope, shouldn't be that much bigger of a deal to use veneer and copper woofers.  

Agreed, it would be nice if the RS-62IIs had been available with the top and bottom pieces veneered like the Palladium surrounds.  

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1 hour ago, Scrappydue said:

So are you talking heresy sized? For so that huge. Now a nice pro 8" woofer based would be cool. Something like the kpt-8000 I think but in a veneered wood cabinet? 

Noooo - not Heresy-sized. Anyone who likes that sort of thing can have it already.

 

Smaller, yes perhaps like the KPT-8000, although I'd prefer more of a bookshelf format that can be put on a stand and angled in toward the listener.

Ideally, it would be a three-way design as well.

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1 hour ago, MetropolisLakeOutfitters said:

I've often wondered why they don't have surrounds that match the RF-7ii, actual compression drivers and wrapped in veneer.  They're already building the THX surrounds in Hope, shouldn't be that much bigger of a deal to use veneer and copper woofers.  

But aren't there surrounds which match the Reference Series overall?

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9 minutes ago, onemoretime said:

Another way to think of this - wouldn't it be great to have bookshelf speakers in the Heritage line? Granted you'd ideally want nothing smaller than 8" but that would still count as a bookshelf, right?

Are you familiar with the KG bookshelf speaker line?

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32 minutes ago, onemoretime said:

But aren't there surrounds which match the Reference Series overall?

 

They have copper woofers yes.  The finish doesn't match at all other than they happen to be kind of black.  Tweeters are just normal tweeters and not compression drivers. If you had some ref premiere towers they're great, but if you're going with RF-7ii's, there's room to improve.  I know of at least one other dealer who has been matching the THX surrounds with the RF-7ii's now that the 62's are gone.  Would be nice if there was a better alternative.  

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55 minutes ago, MetropolisLakeOutfitters said:

 

They have copper woofers yes.  The finish doesn't match at all other than they happen to be kind of black.  Tweeters are just normal tweeters and not compression drivers. If you had some ref premiere towers they're great, but if you're going with RF-7ii's, there's room to improve.  I know of at least one other dealer who has been matching the THX surrounds with the RF-7ii's now that the 62's are gone.  Would be nice if there was a better alternative.  

Sonically, are the THX surrounds a good fit? Is it just an issue of cosmetic matching then?

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6 hours ago, FuzzyDog said:

The RS-62IIs had 1" titanium compression drivers according to the spec sheet.  Are you talking about the new Reference Premier surrounds?

It says titanium horn loaded tweeters. VERY much different from a compression driver. Not very many have had compression drivers. Rf-7/rc-7, 63/83/64, 7ii/64ii, RB-75. Think that's it. 

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2 hours ago, onemoretime said:

Sonically, are the THX surrounds a good fit? Is it just an issue of cosmetic matching then?

 

I can't really say, I have some on hand but have never mixed and matched them.  I would think that they're pretty flat like the normal THX stuff.  My gut says to not mix them up due to playing around with a THX center and RF-7ii towers, but like I said I do know one other guy who mixes RF-7ii's and THX surrounds together.  

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Other than timber in the Reference line, the surrounds for the Reference series can be of several sizes for the woofer.  Anything from 4 1/2 to 8 in. can work.  Since we are talking surrounds, this is an HT setup that should have a sub or two in the system.  Surrounds can be XO at 80 or 100 Hz when using a sub.  The woofer size then becomes less of a factor since autocalibration should match things pretty well.

 

This is one reason Klipsch can use the small Atmos modules.  The bass is taken care of by the larger tower and subs in the system.  There is nothing magical about matching woofer size except personal tast IMHO.

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5 hours ago, derrickdj1 said:

Surrounds can be XO at 80 or 100 Hz when using a sub.  The woofer size then becomes less of a factor since autocalibration should match things pretty well.

i couldn't disagree with this more. if you think crossing at 80 hz that a 6.5" woofer would sound the same as a 12" based model you are wrong. i know, that you have to not believe what you said. perhaps worded wrong? 

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To much emphasis is put on all matching speakers and woofer size.  The Reference line uses the same type of driver and timber matching is pretty darn good.  What a surround is doing in a multichannel system is providing ambient and directional cues.  Effective use of the system XO allows tailoring of the system integration.  Sure an HT system may sound slightly different with different size speakers but, this is not to say that a good HT can't be put together with surround having smaller woofers than the main.

 

This is one reason a subwoofers are an integral part of the HT.  I'm not talking about extreme mismatch of speakers, like using an HD 500 or quintet for a surround with RF 7's.  I use 6 1/2 in. woofers for side surrounds, 5 1/2 in. woofers for surround back.  There is no lack of performance or problems keeping up with the RF 7's in a large room.  Why, because of the subs.

 

I knew others would feel different on the issue, which fine.  Next month an area GTG will be held and feedback will be presented by some of our forum members.  Subwoofer placement in the front and back of the room allow for greater flexibility in speaker selection and room setup.  It is my belief that Klipsch dose not make surround to match the RF 7's for this reason and offer various size surround speakers.  I don't think their engineers just overlooked this issue blindly for all these years  or production is a major obstacle.

 

It takes thought, trial and error in putting the HT together.  It's not just about the performance of any one speaker.  System synergy is needed for the speakers and gear.

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