RF-25 Home Cinema Concerns - NEW start up system

[teagster]

Hello

I am planning on setting up a Home Theatre system since I relocated from England to the States. I have been unaware of the Klipsch line until moving here and have heard some great things about them. I would appreciate any help or advice members can give me regarding my forthcoming purchase decision.

Firstly let me start by saying that I brought my Sony STR-DB930 amplifier with me from England and want to use it to drive my Klipsch speakers of choice. This is a 5.1 Receiver system that had raving reviews at the time I bought it, (2 years ago) and fell in what would be the $700-800 price range. Front: 100W + 100W, Center: 100W, Rear 100W + 100W cabable of 8 ohms or 4ohms speaker impedance. (Specs state 20Hz-20KHz, THD 0.09% all channels at 90W output)

After a run in with a very friendly but somewhat hard sell individual at Best Buy he convinced me that Klipsch Synergy was the way to go with SF-2's Fronts, SS-1's Rear and C-2 Centre. After trying to shop around I ran into the Reference RF-25 system and was able to hear this in a sound room at Good Guys. RF-25's Front, RS-25's Rear, RC-25 centre. It sounded good with the Yamaha receiver, but when I checked reviews it stated caution matching a Klipsch RC-25 centre speaker with a 'bright' sounding amplifier. The DB-930 I have was described in reviews as being 'bright' and as I do not like my music with too much Bass or my Movies with distorted bass this was a positive at the time of buying. Furthermore I have read bad reviews about the RW-10 sub that usually accompanies this RF-25 set. I have heard that the bass lacks impact and is unfocused compared to its smaller relation the RW-8 which had great reviews for Music and movie compatibility.

I guess I am asking for three things in the request for guidance.

1) For a mid-priced system, (in which to me I would consider paying up to a max of $2000 for my first speaker system), is the RF-25 system preferrable to the Synergy system so energetically explained to me.

2) Has anyone experienced problems when matching the RC-25 to previous amplifiers they may have had. (Too bright an amp causing too much harshness on sound quality).

3) Has anyone got some guidance on which sub-woofer would best team with the reference speakers should I decide to go that route. I want to listen to Action movies most of the time with Pop music CD's / SACD's some of the time and have the bass output not overwhelming on the music.

Any help would be appreciated for this newbee to the Klipsch world. Thank you

[GeorgeV]

I would look at the RF-35 system without the sub. I think this system will give you what you are looking for, a detailed sound stage without overwhelming bass. The RF-35s are strong in the bass region, so they should help your amp not sound too bright. However, if you could either demo the speakers at home or bring your amp to the dealer before for a listen before you buy.

[teagster]

Thanks George for the guidance.

I think I will take your advice and look into a set of RF-35's and hold off the sub right now. I am unsure whether this means I should build slowly and go for the matching RC-35 and RS-35's as well rather than match the RF-35's with RC and RS-25 counterparts.

Any thoughts on this?

[GeorgeV]

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On 2/13/2005 3:08:49 AM teagster wrote:

I am unsure whether this means I should build slowly and go for the matching RC-35 and RS-35's as well rather than match the RF-35's with RC and RS-25 counterparts.

Any thoughts on this?

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Definitely go for the matching RC-35 and RS-35's. One of the most important aspects of HT is to have matching speakers especially across the front.

My advice would be to build your system slowly and purchase the better equipment as you can afford it. One of my mistakes was to buy the complete 5.1 system on my limited budget at the time. I was never happy with the system and I have spent a lot more money now upgrading everything.