need help setting up klipsch speakers

[twisted1272]

Have klipsch reference series rf-35 front towers with klipsch quintet microtheatre (four surrounds and center channel). anyway, the front towers seem to drown out the rest of the speakers and I dont get much sound at all from the rest of the quintets, have to turn them almost all the way up to hear them well. Are the front towers just that much better, or are the quintets just that bad? I have the sony str de897 and you can adjust the output of each speaker, so I have the surrounds set at +10 for the most output, but I still do not get the "surround" effect.

[Bill H.]

Hi,

Both are unique in there own ways. Reference and Synergy series. If you can afford it......look into purchasing some refernce surround, and center channel speakers...........look at the Klipsch site (upper left logo) for compatable speakers to your Ref 35's......good luck.

Matching Products

In-Wall/In-Ceiling RCW-5

In-Wall/In-Ceiling RCR-5

Center RC-35

Subwoofer RW-12

Surround Speaker RS-35

Bookshelf RB-35

[Scp53]

the rf35s are better for sure but they cost more too. the reason you have to crank the other speakers up so much more is because they have smaller drivers and less sensitivity than the rf35s. upgrade your system when possible. you'll like it a lot more. get a better center at least.

scp53

[Frank Speaker]

Sometimes there isnt much coming from the surrounds in movies.

If its not too much trouble, do a test by putting the 35s on the sides and 2 quintets in front and see if the 35s are still so loud.

A good demo SACD for surround sound is Pink Floyds Dark side of the m00n that sends sound all around the system.

[dougdrake]

Highly recommend getting a calibration DVD like the AVIA or Video Essentials, and an analog sound meter like the one at Radio Shack and calibrating your speakers. It's virtually impossible to do by ear.

Also, as mentioned, your Quintets will have to work hard to keep up with the Reference mains, but proper calibration will help a lot.

[marksdad]

at 1 time i had an ht very similar to yours, nice large front channels and very small center and rears, no matter what you do they will not sound right. they are voiced differently, and they have different potentials. the front channels will always overshadow the other speakers, the only solution is go to smaller fronts, or larger center and rears. i spent alot of money and time finding this out the hard way

[colterphoto1]

hey, congrats on your RF35's. Unfortunately, your Qunitets will not be able to keep up because they are far less efficient. Klipsch literature shows the quints at 90 dB with 1 watt input, and your RF's must be something like 96 dB. This is the efficiency rating of the speaker. Assuming that your receiver gives the same power to all speakers (many older pro-logic only receivers only give the surround about HALF the wattage, compounding the problem), your surrounds will be at least 6 dB quieter. It takes twice the wattage to give 3 db more, so if your front RF's are getting even 50, watts, your Qunitets would need 200 Watts to keep up and they would melt down by then.

Add to this the problem that Quintets because of their size are only rated down to 100 Hz, they arent' putting out hardly any bass (20 Hz to 100Hz is 20-40, 40-80, 80-100 about 2 1/2 octaves of bass notes totally missing)

My advice would be to get RB35's as new rear speakers that will match, but not take up as much room as RF's when finances available. Retain QUintets (with subwoofer?) for a office, bedroom anywhere you need a second system. The two speakers as you have them now are fairly incompatible.