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Seven RP-8000f a bad idea for a 7.2 setup?


audiowarrior

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Recently, I got three matching L/C/R and I was blown away by the sound imaging. Now I understand why “timbre match” is important.

 

Question: If I had seven identical tower speakers (rp-8000f II), would that be a bad idea for a 7.2 setup?

 

Assuming the side placements are at least 5 feet away from the listening position and the room is acoustically treated.

 

Or, is that overkill and going to cause ear fatigue?
 

Currently I have three (8000f II) towers as L/C/R, and (502S II) as sides and (600M II) as rears. 

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It isn't overkill, as long as everything is level matched they'll all be playing at the same peak dB levels.  I have 5 Heresys and it's the best sound I've ever had in a home theater and I've had over 30 pairs of Klipsch.

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  • 1 month later...

Here's my thoughts after trying many different set-ups for home theater over the years.

 

You're off to a good start with the three rp-8000f II for your l/c/r upfront. 

 

Buying 4 more rp-8000f  II's for your surrounds is not ideal for several reasons.

 

1) Having a large tower speaker limits ideal speaker placement for side and back surrounds

2) There's absolutely no need for a large full-range speaker as most of the surround material doesn't have very low frequency content. (Unless you specifically set up your system to do so!)

3) Cost!  You can get 2 side surrounds (rp-502II) and 2 back surround s(rp-600m II or rp-500m II) for about the same price as 1 set of rp8000f II's

 

My suggestion: follow #3 above and use the extra money you saved and buy a decent subwoofer, or two!

 

 

Tidbit's of knowledge I've gained over the years (Take 'em or laugh at 'em , it's up to you!)

1) The center channel and subwoofer(s) are the two most important speakers in a home theater.... this is where I dump most of my money and have had the largest return on my investment when it comes to sound quality. (But don't skimp on the other speakers either)

2) You can run all of the room correction programs until you are so thoroughly confused that you will believe anything the latest "expert" tells you.  But ultimately, I end up tweaking it until it sounds good to ME! 

3) Spend some time setting up your system correctly... don't cheese out and try to get it up and running so quickly that you end up cutting corners telling yourself that you will go back and fix that when you have time.... one almost never finds the time!!!  Also, don't be afraid to revisit it and tweak it to your liking as you settle in over the years.

4) Having all of the same speakers all around is not needed to enjoy a wonderful home theater experience.  People swear by this and tell you that you will hear a huge difference in the sound/timber because you have different tweeters, woofers, etc.  That's BS, just like expensive cables, cable risers, and tube connectors!  You will only hear it if you want to hear it.  Once your movie starts and everything is going full tilt, you will not notice any difference in sound as the car passes from the left channel across the center and then on to the right channel.  If one can actually hear these differences, then they are the type of person that will bi-wire their speakers and swear it makes a difference.

 

I hope at least some of this was helpful.

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I use 6 Towers in a 5.0 System.

Two Centers on each side of the fireplace running in Mono

running through a Crown XLS Drivecore 1502.

I have Klipsch RF 82II's as the mains.

The Mains are Not as Important as the Center.

The Best Speakers you have Should be in the Center Position.

Run a program in 5.1 and turn off The Center Channel.

Listen to What comes from the Mains. 

You might be surprised.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Will you be listening to movies exclusively, or will you spend much time listening to 2-channel music?  While the centre speaker is important for dialogue, the Main Left and Right speakers are crucial for good sound of music.  You can’t go wrong with matching L-C-R speakers, but as for Surround, while matching speakers all around are ideal, as others have commented, there is less info on those channels.  In a situation where the content all around is the same, as in the case of showing the viewer being outside while rain falls all around, the all-matching setup will shine, but not every movie contains content like that.

 

There is another type of program that benefits from all-matching speakers.  That would be sporting events and live concerts.  Outdoor or arena events, like big concerts, motorcycle or car races, hockey or baseball games, or maybe basketball games, all sound more realistic when you have speakers with matching timbre and sensitivity all around.  Although many of these types of events are not presented in Surround Sound, that’s okay.  Surround Sound often relies too heavily on the Centre speaker.  That makes perfect sense for movies, where your attention is focussed on the screen, but if you’re at a live event, the sound is coming from all around you.  If you have an All-Channel setting, which gives you 2-Channel stereo split between all your Left and Right speakers (probably marked 7-Channel Stereo, 9-Channel Stereo, or what have you), you will get quite a “you are there” effect.

 

Accordingly, having an all-matching speaker setup is the luxury way to go, where it doesn’t make a huge difference, but if you have the room and the budget, go for it!  In my system, I have highly modded La Scala IIs for Mains, while the Surround speakers are 1st-gen La Scalas.  I didn’t plan it that way, but after I bought the LS2s, I wondered what to do with the old Scalas.  The Surround speakers were Heresy IIs, which sounded fine.  However, the La Scalas were there, they were paid for, and I didn’t feel like going through the hassle of selling them.  Therefore, I slid them (old La Scalas slide great on carpet!) behind the sofa, pulled out the H-2s, positioned and connected the Scalas. To no surprise, they sounded quite a bit better than the Heresy IIs.

 

One thing was immediately apparent.  The La Scalas aren’t that tall, so they were firing into the sofa.  That issue was easy to address.  I just got eight 13”/32 cm. tall folding step-stools (4 per speaker) and shifted the La Scalas on top of them.  Using an ancient technique I saw on Discovery Channel for moving big statues, and with the help of a floor jack, the 125-pound speakers were soon on the stools.  Each step-stool is rated for 250 lbs, so the speakers are really sitting there securely.  How does that look? Well, the speakers and the step-stools are all black, and they’re behind the sofa and the armchair, so no visitors seem to have noticed.  There’s also a Heresy III for Rear Surround, making for a 6.2 system, with 2 subwoofers between the Main L&R speakers.

 

Good luck on your quest for great sound, and welcome to the Forum!

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On 8/5/2022 at 12:58 AM, rebuy said:

I use 6 Towers in a 5.0 System.

Two Centers on each side of the fireplace running in Mono

 

 

I ran two centers a while back  ,they flanked a big TV set , their was just no room at the traditional center position .It worked pretty well , way better than a fantom center . It could be an option for lots of people, but I think that it is viewed by many ( unfortunately ) as unorthodox , and therefore not a viable option. Seven RP8000f great idea 🤓

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On 6/19/2022 at 11:02 PM, audiowarrior said:

Thanks guys. I guess my only concern was… are the side towers going to be uncomfortable for the viewers sitting in the isle seats?

 

Could very well be.  I tried to do this with RF-7II's and quickly realized that this horn firing directly into your ear from 2' away was just not fun whatsoever.  I highly prefer the RP-502S on the sides if your outside seats are near the speakers.  Doing this is actually the most correct for an Atmos system but some speakers are ok with listening near field like that.  Personally I love Klipsch and all but I ain't firing a horn from a Klipsch tower directly into my ear at a 90 degree angle from 2' away, you couldn't pay me enough.  Just depends on how much room you have.  We did put a 7 channel 8000F system in a guy's house but his room was literally 50' wide.  That's different.  

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39 minutes ago, Paducah Home Theater said:

but I ain't firing a horn from a Klipsch tower directly into my ear at a 90 degree angle from 2' away,

Yeah; tried a setup with Heresy's up front, tower surrounds and CW's in the back. Room is only 16' wide and the tower horns absolutely were "too much."  Switched to dual RC-7's up front and RB-75's in the rear - and "forgot" about side speakers - note; this my TV sound system only :) 

 

So; unless you have a VERY WIDE room, I do not believe it is recommended.

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