Home Theater Speaker Selection

[kooptaylor]

I have a Yamaha HTR-5280, Yamaha DVD, Sony 32" WEGA TV and KG4 speakers. I am looking to add center and rear speakers. Klipch webpage recommends SS-1 for rear and SC-1 for front. The guy at the store store recommends, Reference Series Center and SS-.5 for rear if wanting to stay within the same price range. His logic is, the front is far more important than the rear, invest in a better front and sacrifice slightly on the rear. Any suggestions? Thanks for your help.

[dougdrake]

kooptaylor - The key thing you are looking for (in audition to clear dialog) is as seamless a soundstage across the front as possible. That happens when the center speaker is tone/timbre matched to the front speakers. Your salesperson is correct that the center speaker gets a lot of work (like 80% of a soundtrack). Just as important, though, is the tonal matching.

Your best bet, as far as choosing between these 2 speakers (SC-1/RC-3) would be to take them BOTH home and audition them with your KG4s. Which provides the least change in tone as sounds move across the front soundstage? Test it with pink noise out of your Yamaha, as well as with DVDs with dialog and sound effects as people/objects move across the screen. Is the dialog also clear?

Remember, also, the recommendations in the Speaker Matching chart are based on currently available, new production Klipsch models. They are the "best" match out of the current lineup. Older speakers, like the KG4, many times also had center speakers that were later designed for them (remember, whoever heard of home theater in 1985 when the KG4 were introduced ?) which are no longer available. If you like the SC-1 or RC-1, great. If not, there are used center speakers that may be a better match for the KG4 (like KV-2, KV-3, or Academy -- or another KG4).

As far as the rears, an eardition is again the best bet. While it is true that the rears may be less important than the fronts/center, the rears must not be overwhelmed by the fronts. It is possible that the SS-.5 might be too small to keep up with the KG4s. Maybe not. Give it a try.

Doug