synergy listener wants to upgrade to reference

[Hoju]

hello, i finally have decided to move up and upgrade but i am looking for the best cost/performance ratio. i have a small 26 X 11 room in my basement and do not want somethin overkill. i will 1st replace the front 3 speakers. my old ones were the SB-3 and KSC-C1. now im going for RB-25 and RC-25. what do u guys think of this set up?

[Bill H.]

Hojo,,

Sounds good. Also check out the RB 35's......for a little more, Good Luck in your quest!

[meuge]

I think as far as price/performance ratio it is hard to beat the RB-25s if you're going for reference series. They are some nice speakers. If you want to squeeze the most out of them, match them up with a nice sub and you'll be reveling in the newfound audio glory.

[Scp53]

I second the above to get rb25s, matching center and surr speakers(later to come). I had(and still own) the sb3's and now got rb25s. the difference is HUGE. your gonna miss the bass from the sb3's to some extent but a decent sub will more than make up for it. but I should I also note that even though the 25s are bass shy compared to the sb3s, the 25s bass is soooo much better. i dare you to have a synergy 2 channel sys comparo to a 2 channel ref sys. you'll switch back and forth and think that the voice and all other sounds is muffled on the synergys. it REALLY is. your gonna really like the refs.

as far as which ones, as I already said, get the rb25s because i own them. very nice for there size. if you go to the 35s the size really jumps up and so does weight and price. to me I d get some floor standers like the rf15s before the rb35s. when I looked for different bookshelfs I decided how far Im willing to go. I called my cutoff point at the 25s series stuff(have yet to get the rc25 and surr speakers). they're smaller speakers and have very good price/performance ratio and a BIG sound.

with the money you save by not going to the 35s you can spend it on a sub. to me you can have a VERY nice surround setup but with out a good sub the speakers sound like crap. and vis versa.

[Hoju]

thanks for the feedback! do u think the velodyne CHT-10 would be a good match for the RB-25s?

[doudou]

it s normal the synergy line sound muffled after listenning to the ref:the ref have a better sensitivity.

so even if the synergy have a good one, the ref sound about twice louder with the same amount of power.it can be the opportunity to buy a new amp with less power but with a better quality.

[marksdad]

you said you did not want overkill? right? your room size could accomodate almost any combination of speakers, but the speakers you are looking at are a bit small for the room, unless you have space issues. you would do better with floor standers, or if you have time and patience go heritage there again is the next step. it depends alot on your budget, but buying the bookshelf speakers will only leave you wanting to go the next step. this is an expensive hobby, some say a disease, so i have learned over the last few years to do alot of research then audition than buy as much as you can afford. but the room you speak of deserves floor standers, book shelfs cannot match floor standers for overall soundstage, or imaging, and the larger the cabinate in most cases (klipsch) the better the sound. comparing the speks on the site is the first step, especially the lower freqs, i personally like the lower freqs coming at me from all channels when the signal is available, and book shelfs cannot deliver that ambience.

[doudou]

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On 8/27/2004 7:46:21 AM marksdad wrote:

you said you did not want overkill? right? your room size could accomodate almost any combination of speakers, but the speakers you are looking at are a bit small for the room, unless you have space issues. you would do better with floor standers, or if you have time and patience go heritage there again is the next step. it depends alot on your budget, but buying the bookshelf speakers will only leave you wanting to go the next step. this is an expensive hobby, some say a disease, so i have learned over the last few years to do alot of research then audition than buy as much as you can afford. but the room you speak of deserves floor standers, book shelfs cannot match floor standers for overall soundstage, or imaging, and the larger the cabinate in most cases (klipsch) the better the sound. comparing the speks on the site is the first step, especially the lower freqs, i personally like the lower freqs coming at me from all channels when the signal is available, and book shelfs cannot deliver that ambience.

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i agree.

floorstanders are better than bookshelves except if you have space issue.

and if you buy some good floorstanders you won t need a sun if you listen to music.(i got some SF1 and they go down to 40Hz, so when i listen to music i don t turn on the sub).with the money you saveyou would be able to buy some floorstanders instead of bookshelves + sub.

it may be good to wait a little and buy floorstanding spearker from the rf line or some heritage speakers.

[Kenstr]

I will agree with some of the other's who suggest the RB-25's over the RB-35's. I run 2 HT's one with RB-35's and an RC-7 and the other with RB-25's and an RC-35. I love them both the the RB-25 setup has the bigger bang for the buck. I'm not a big fan of the RC-25 - I had one and moved to an RC-35. It just sounds better with the RB-25's to me.

I have the RB-25 setup in room that is 20x25 and it is plenty loud.

[Scp53]

I will agree with some of the other's who suggest the RB-25's over the RB-35's. I run 2 HT's one with RB-35's and an RC-7 and the other with RB-25's and an RC-35. I love them both the the RB-25 setup has the bigger bang for the buck. I'm not a big fan of the RC-25 - I had one and moved to an RC-35. It just sounds better with the RB-25's to me.

I have the RB-25 setup in room that is 20x25 and it is plenty loud.

__________________________________________________________________

I thought bookshelfs would be sufficient. floor standers have advantages but it doen't mean that bookshelfs won't work in larger rooms too.

ps: when are you going to get a sub. you have TWO nice setups and no sub.

whats up with that??? and what is the sound difference between the rb25 s and the 35s? to me you get more bass/depth and slight spl increase...

[Audio Flynn]

you said you did not want overkill? right? your room size could accomodate almost any combination of speakers, but the speakers you are looking at are a bit small for the room, unless you have space issues. you would do better with floor standers, or if you have time and patience go heritage there again is the next step. it depends alot on your budget, but buying the bookshelf speakers will only leave you wanting to go the next step. this is an expensive hobby, some say a disease, so i have learned over the last few years to do alot of research then audition than buy as much as you can afford. but the room you speak of deserves floor standers, book shelfs cannot match floor standers for overall soundstage, or imaging, and the larger the cabinate in most cases (klipsch) the better the sound. comparing the speks on the site is the first step, especially the lower freqs, i personally like the lower freqs coming at me from all channels when the signal is available, and book shelfs cannot deliver that ambience.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I agree with MARKSDAD to a point. I do not remeber if he had the RB-5 s.

if you get a book shelf it needs to have an 8 inch woofer like the SB-3. and really anchored to the flloor it it will smaer the soundstage.

Lead filled stands or painted concrete birdbath pillars are a must.

i would put the SB-3s int he rear for multi channel musioc and RF-5 or RB-5 in the front.

RB-75 or RF-7 are certainly an ultimate destination.

Wait till the 1 year same as cash sale from the dealer to get a beter size speaker.

Your room is big!

[Hoju]

ok after researching some more threads. i have found out that my best bang for the buck would be RB-25 with an RC-35. that way i have an 6.5" cones all in the front. i read that matching cone sizes will provide great soundstage. i have also found a great deal on velodyne CHT-10 on one call for $200. for the surrounds, that will have to wait later for an upgrade and i will probably use the synergy SS-1 for now. if the upgrade big hits me down the road i can always move the RB-25s in the rear. and get something like floorstanders (RF-25/35) like the previous posters suggested. this is my final set up:

J&R : Klipsch RB-25 $399

J&R : Klipsch RC-35 $399

onecall: velodyne cht-10 $190

total : $988

[yromj]

I wish I would have seen this thread earlier. My setup is an RB\C\S-25 w/ an SVS 25-31PCi tuned to 22Hz. I agree w/ your selection of the RB-25s. I was going to suggest that you get two pairs of RBs and use one for the front one for the rear center in 6.1. Later you could replace the synergies w/ another pair of RBs.

John