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Best center (2016 line) to pair with KLF-30


Colorado Cruiser

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Hi, tried searching the forums, but not having much luck.  My speakers are almost 20 years old, I have KLF-30 fronts, KSF-C5 center and KSP-S6 rears.  All driven by a Yamaha RX-Z9.

 

I'm starting to look at new receivers to gain some of the new features from the past 10 years.  As part of this, I started wondering about my speakers and how well they're matched up, and my gut says that my center isn't a good match.

 

Given that the KLFs are almost 20 years old, is there a center in the current lineup that would be a great sonic match?  Since I'll end up buying ATMOS speakers as part of the upgrade, I'm also open to changing my existing center/rears.

 

Any and all advice is greatly appreciated!  

 

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NONE!  Get the correct center the KLF-C7 you will thank yourself later.  Nothing is worse than a mismatched center.  Your center channel is the most important speaker in your HT and all the other speakers are anchored to it so it is vitally important that it be timbre' matched.

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Yes, the KLF-C7 is the matching center speaker and they're pretty decent, that's probably the best route to take. They show up on eBay quite regularly for decent prices too. If you feel guilty for buying used and spending so little use the extra funds to buy replacement crossovers and titanium tweeters. The money you'd save should easily pay for new parts for all three front speakers.

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 12/16/2016 at 2:28 AM, IbizaFlame said:

The RX-Z9 is one of the few receivers where I make this recommendation instead: buy a good preamp and keep the Z9.  That unit is an absolute monster to beat.

 

I second what dtr said, the RC-64 would be your best bet.

 

I've thought about doing this also, but unless I'm missing something I'd still need to add a second amp to get up to 9 channels of sound.  Any suggestions on a complementary amp to power atmos and rear speakers?

 

My problem is that I don't know enough about what's good, and would be a great match to the RX-Z9.  Or is it really that critical for the atmosphere speakers, and any decent amp would work?

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28 minutes ago, Colorado Cruiser said:

 

I've thought about doing this also, but unless I'm missing something I'd still need to add a second amp to get up to 9 channels of sound.  Any suggestions on a complementary amp to power atmos and rear speakers?

 

My problem is that I don't know enough about what's good, and would be a great match to the RX-Z9.  Or is it really that critical for the atmosphere speakers, and any decent amp would work?

 

You'd be capped at 7/2.1, but I'm not entirely sure Atmos has dedicated channels.  (Though, thinking about it, I'm pretty sure it's FvH channels that are technically your Atmos channels, so maybe).  The Z9 has Presence terminals which you should be able to use for Atmos if that's the case giving it a 9/2.1 powered ability.  I think those presence channels are distributed by the FmR and FmL channels, so it may not work still.  Regardless, if all you need to do is get a 2 channel amp to go with it, keep the Z9 and get one of the new Emotiva Bas-X amps, problem solved for under $400.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 12/16/2016 at 5:38 AM, jjptkd said:

Yes, the KLF-C7 is the matching center speaker and they're pretty decent, that's probably the best route to take. They show up on eBay quite regularly for decent prices too. If you feel guilty for buying used and spending so little use the extra funds to buy replacement crossovers and titanium tweeters. The money you'd save should easily pay for new parts for all three front speakers.

 

 

I just read about Bob Crites last night, and am considering doing the replacements both on the KLF-30s and a KLF C7 when I find it.  Are those the replacements you're referring to, or is there more than one source for these upgrades?

 

Thanks!

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7 hours ago, Colorado Cruiser said:

I just read about Bob Crites last night, and am considering doing the replacements both on the KLF-30s and a KLF C7 when I find it.  Are those the replacements you're referring to, or is there more than one source for these upgrades?

 

Thanks!

 

Crites is THE source... http://www.critesspeakers.com/

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks for all the suggestions, I think I've finally gotten everything to where I want it for now.

Installed Crites crossovers and titanium tweets in the klf-30s, and found a klf-c7 to go with them.  I'll do the Crites upgrade on it also soon.

 

I was surprised at the sound diff between the C7 and the ksf-c5 I was using for a center.  It's a totally different kind of sound, and seems to blend in much better.

 

I'm now looking for a second set of ksp-s6 to be far rear surrounds as supported by the Yamaha receiver. 

 

Thanks again!

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