Help with Setup

[ARPRINCE]

Hi to all. I'm new with this stuff and is looking forward setting up my new system soon.

I have a BOSE LS12 and was looking into their new LS48. It's very expensive and based on the sound that I hear from my LS12 when watching DVD movies (listening to music CDs is actually great), I'm thinking it's time to check out options beyond Bose.

So, I was looking into the Klipsch CINEMA 8. I'm checking out ONKYO TX-NR801 and YAMAHA RXV-1400 receivers ($900 budget) because of the THX certification. Both are 7.1 channels. Is this an overkill to the Cinema 8 or am I on the right track?

Any inputs would be highly appreciated. TIA.

[PhilMays]

Welcome to this madness!

I have never heard the Cinima 8 series so I really cannot comment on those. However you are looking in thew price range to get a reasonably good reciever. I have owned both Onkyo and Yamaha and for me the Yamaha is more sonically pleaseing to my ear. Some will say the Yamaha is bright with Klipsch but I feel bright = detail.

There are many other brands available in that price range as well. Additionally the Denon products are great and others may share other product that may be just as good.

Either way you go, I feel you will more than like the end results.

[dougdrake]

Also, please do not let "THX" dissuade you from fine receivers that may not carry that logo. It costs money to get that logo on your gear, and there are many items that meet/exceed THX specs but do not pay the price for the logo on their case

[ARPRINCE]

Well I actually thought only a THX certified receiver will belt out a THX sound so I got fixated to this tag that I am only focusing on receivers that has it.

So when I was checking DENON's website, the cheapest receiver they have with THX certification cost 4.4K!!!! I was out of there in a in a jiffy (maybe I should have looked more thoroughly)!!! hehe

[gcoker]

Listen to doug...up to this year Yamaha did not carry any

recievers (that I know of) that were THX certified. I could

care less on that certification. It has nothing to do with

any sound formatt like Dolby or DTS.

[Griffinator]

THX certification is handed out to anyone who is willing to ante up for it.

The Kenwood VR-8070 is a THX certified receiver, and it's a piece of crap. For $600, you can find plenty of receivers that sound better than this plastic junker, have more features, and far better DSP.

When that thing hit the street two years ago, it was all I needed to be convinced that the THX certs mean absolutely nothing.

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Well I actually thought only a THX certified receiver will belt out a THX sound

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Think again. A THX certified receiver does not, by itself, produce true THX system sound.

In order to "belt out a THX sound", one needs a proper THX parametric equalizer, an outboard THX processor, a proper THX-capable 10.3 preamplifier, with some heavy duty monoblocks to drive all 13 of those channels. Oh, and you also need media that's encoded with the THX instruction sets in order to engage all this equipment.

[007]

I believe I can speak with some experience here having heard the bose systems many times (I have probably watched over 50 movies on a bose 5.1 system) and owning the rsx speakers found in the cinema 8 and 10. The cinema 8 comes with 4 RSX-4 satellite speakers and 1 RCX-4 center satellite speaker. The cinema 10 comes with RSX-5s and 1 RCX-4. The RSX-5 are noticeable louder and are little more open then the 4s. The RSXs can be bought individually so by no means do you have to buy the cinema 8 or 10 or even a Klipsch subwoofer with them. You can mix and match. I have 2 RSX-5s for fronts, 2 RSX-4s for rears and 1 RCX-4 as the center.

No bose system can compete at any level with the RSX speakers. They simply get destroyed. The RSX sats have tons more midrange and treble. They are much louder, sound much more natural and clearer. Bose is most notably horrible for movies. In fact in most cases you cant understand dialog. The RCX-4 is wonderful for dialog. Its loud and clear! The also bose system distorts pretty easy. It starts to sound really bad when pushed. The Klipsch RSXs can be played much louder and sound so clear in fact you dont even want to turn them down because they sound so good. When you push the bose you sort of clinch your teeth and hope nothing breaks. When you push the klpsch, you better hope you dont hurt yourself.

With bose, you dont get any treble. You really miss out on a lot of special sound effects in movies such as sward fights for arrows flying in the air. You also really miss out on any kind of music with any sort of treble which pretty much includes all music, lol.

As far as the subwoofer goes, you will want to go with at least the RW-10 found in the cinema 10 package. The 8 is not bad but does not fill the room quite like the 10. That being said the 8 is still a world better then any bose acoustical bass module. The Klipsch RW subs are pretty trick. They feature a front firing slot-like port which if very long and offers low distortion. The driver is also of reference quality so its very tight and musical. If you can swing the RW-12 then that would be the way to go. Never skimp on bass!

The best part about the RSXs (like all other Klipsch speakers) is they can powered with literally nothing. I was running my RSXs off 30watts/channel and that was even more then they needed to blow out my ears. You dont have to spend a fortune on an amp or receiver unless you want a quality DAC and lots of features. I spent about 900 bucks on mine but I got it for the features and quality. One thing which really sucks about bose is the hidder features in their decoder or I should say lack thereof. Bose does not even offer DTS!!! Let alone prologic1/2 or neo:6. Half the time I hear a movie on a bose system I wonder if the Dolby digital signal is even being decoded or bose is simply trying to do some sort of cinema surround sound bose-upmix crap. I tend to think the later is true. bose-upmix crap is probably a trademark, lol.

I will tell you this, those RSXs will blow you away, they are very small and produce very loud clean and beautiful sound. Bose does not even compare. A better compare to RSXs would be mirage or KEF or Polkaudio , Energy even B&W makes some nice sats now. But I honestly think the RSXs are the king of the sats this year still.

[007]

oh, and here is my suggestion for ya

2 rsx-5's front

4 rsx-4's rears

1 rcx-4 center

rw-12 or 10 sub (strongly earge you to get the 12)

receiever, yammie or denon

the speakers should run you about ~1350 if you ask for a deal at any retail or authorized store. You can also hold off on 7.1 for now because klipsch is coming out with RVX54;'s which are floor standing versions of the RSX-5's but are 5 way! They look very impressive

[skonopa]

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On 9/22/2004 12:41:28 AM 007 wrote:

Bose is most notably horrible for movies. In fact in most cases you can’t understand dialog. The RCX-4 is wonderful for dialog. It’s loud and clear!

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Ain't that the truth! I remember playing with a Bose Lifestyle 35 system, watching that "Lost in Space" movie. I remember watching the scene where the ship was about to hyperspace through the Sun. On the Bose, all you hear is just a big loud "blob" of sound effects! You could not hear any of the dialog, although the characters where speaking (you could see thier mouths move on the screen). I took that same DVD home onto my Klipsch setup (granted, the RF-7s are a bit more then the Bose and even the RSX), and I could clearly hear all the dialog, plus the sound-effects did not seem so "mushed" together into one big "blob'o sound".

To the original poster! I agree with '007' here. If you are looking at a small sub-sat type system, then I would definitly look into the RSX satellites and the RW series subs. The system '007' layed out, plus the Yamaha RXV-1400 would still be nearly a $1000 cheaper than a Bose Lifestyle 48 system, but would be so much better in sound quality. If you don't want to go as big as even the RSX-4 or RSX-5's, Klipsch just came out with the RSX-3's, which are not much larger than the dual-cube speakers that are part of the Bose LS-48 system, but still sound way, way better. Although I've never got the chance to hear the larger RSX speakers, I did hear a complete 5.1 RSX-3 setup, and I was impressed.

But if even the RSX is to rich for your budget, then look into the Quintets. I've done numerous side-by-side tests between the Klipsh Quintets and the Bose setups, and hand-down, the Quintets beat out the Bose in both clarity and loudness.

And of course, there is always the used market...

[ARPRINCE]

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On 9/22/2004 12:51:06 AM 007 wrote:

oh, and here is my suggestion for ya

2 rsx-5's front

4 rsx-4's rears

1 rcx-4 center

rw-12 or 10 sub (strongly earge you to get the 12)

receiever, yammie or denon

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Honestly, I got hooked on the KLIPSCH Cinema 8 the first time I saw it (on the net - hehe). I read reviews and feedback and would soon drop by an authorized dealer to check it out. He was actually selling me an HK receiver on the phone when I asked if he had YAMAHA or the ONKYO.

I wouldn't mind going with a bigger sub (RW-10) but I was thinking that the room is not that big (it's roughly 12'x12'). Based on the price at J&R, a cinema 8 would cost me 1195, change the sub to RW10 would be 1345, get your speaker recomendation would be 1450 (using RW10 not RW12). I can leave with the speaker cost but would not that be an overkill on the room size?

Anyway, I'm still checking out RECEIVERS as what other people on the forum has suggested, with THX or no THX.

[meuge]

Don't buy it at J&R, especially if it's the J&R in downtown Manhattan. They gave me a lot of bad looks there when I advised someone who was about to buy an expensive Bose system. I see you live in NJ. There is a store chain called '6Ave Electronics' in NJ (www.6ave.com). They are an authorized dealer, and will give you a good discount off the retail price... I am not sure if I am supposed to mention how much, so you can email me if you're curious.

My 2 recommendations as for what you should check out are:

2x RSX-5

2x RSX-4

1x RCX-4

1x RW-10

or (price this one to see what the price difference will be)

2x RB-25 (mains)

2x RB-15 (surrounds)... you can also get RB-25s for these if the difference

1x RC-25 (center)

1x RW-10, but recommend an RSW-series subwoofer

The 2nd system is a whole level above the previous one, but may only be a little more expensive. I think you should listen to both, and decide for yourself. But considering the fact that retail for the RSX-5 and the RB-25 is about the same, the choice becomes pretty clear.

When it comes to receivers, I'd recommend Yamahas over others.

[ARPRINCE]

Hey Meuge? Did you get my email? Anyways, I checked out a KLIPSCH dealer (He was also pitching a DENON receiver) near my place. He was giving me 4 RSX-4, RCX-4, and an RW-10 for 1.1K. Not bad I think but when I took hold of the RSX-4, ahhhh, well....it looked liked a very huge...weird egg. Although it sounded real good, I really don't like the styling. I think I would go with the RB-25 and the RC-25 and would just get a speaker stand from Sanus.