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Which surrounds to go with RF-3s?


Kathy

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I have just finished my first ever Home Page with HT Pictures. Please take a look at the pictures located at http://hometown.aol.com/bjsbuds/KathysHomeTheater.html and then let me know what you would recommend for side surround speakers.

As you will see I have Klipsch Reference Series front and center speakers. The rear speakers are in-wall speakers located 10' from the floor. The rear wall begins at 9' high and goes up to 14'. I think I could improve the sound quality by mounting side surround speakers. I would rather mount speakers rather than placing speaker on stands. To accomplish this I only have 9" of drywall (actually 6" of drywall & 3" of 2"x4"s) that is 8 1/2' up from the floor. This beam is on the left side of the great room, between the great room and dining room. The right wall is 14' high.

The first choice was to purchase the matching surrounds, I believe RS-3s, but they are quite bulky, and I fear would not look to esthetically pleasing. What do you think would be a good pair of surrounds to match my system? A Denon AVR-4800 is driving all the speakers.

I am certainly also interested in your opinion of any improvements that could be made to my Home Page.

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I can't remember which part of the BB I saw it on but someone had a picture of some RC-3's that were white and mounted on their ceiling. They said that they sounded good and IMHO were asthetically pleasing.

One thing that might help the front placement is to move the RF-3 on the right of your TV so that it is equal distant from the TV as the left. May not be necessary but you might notice an improvement.

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Come on honey why can't I spend some more money?

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If perfect sound is really REALLY important to you, you should have all matching speakers, but for side surrounds, and surrounds in general, it's not AS important as having matching speakers across the front. What alternative speakers did you have in mind for the sides?

Also, wife-said-no, if the RF-3's were both right next to the tv, stereo imaging might be lost/lessoned because they are already pretty close together. I don't know, just a thought.

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quote:

Originally posted by Dman155:

Also, wife-said-no, if the RF-3's were both right next to the tv, stereo imaging might be lost/lessoned because they are already pretty close together. I don't know, just a thought.

I guess my post was a little confusing. What I was trying to say is that the RF-3 on the "right" side of the TV should be the same distance from the TV as the one on the "left" side. The one on the left has a the stereo rack between it while the one on the right is next to the TV. I think that Avia says to take the size of your TV and divide by three. That should be the distance from the TV and the speaker. I think it was Avia, it might have been an article in The Perfect Vision.

Kathy-As Dman155 said the important part is the front image. If the speakers don't match, when the sound pans from left-center-right, it will sound funny. I personally like all my speakers to match. Just make sure that the speakers are a close match. I used to have a small pair of Sony surrounds and they sounded weak.

------------------

Come on honey why can't I spend some more money?

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I had submitted a pix of my white RS-3's on the ceiling. Kathy, I personally think they look ok, I have a 9 foot ceiling so that helps a little bit. I had no choice mounting on side walls, since I had only one wall available. If you would like some pictures, let me know. I can snap a couple for you to show you what it looks like. I tried to look for the post, but couldn't find it in my hasty search. I believe the subject was "How are your RS-3s mounted"

Mark

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quote:

Originally posted by Dman155:

If perfect sound is really REALLY important to you, you should have all matching speakers, but for side surrounds, and surrounds in general, it's not AS important as having matching speakers across the front. What alternative speakers did you have in mind for the sides?


Excuse me being a bit naive here, but are the Reference series truly matched?

I mean, yeah, mine sound good together, but I am acutely aware of the fact that each type of speaker (front, center, rear) in the Reference series has different drivers and different crossovers. Yes, the speakers themselves sound like they're all made by the same manufacturers, but there are differences between them.

Given that, is there any huge difference between using, say, RS-3s or using some other Klipsch surrounds? I mean, yeah, surround model A will sound different than B, but are the RS-3s really better "matched" to the fronts than others?

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wife_said_no - Thanks for taking the time to find the post.

Toots - While the cross over is may not be matched across the Ref line. The horn is the same in very similar for better timbre matching. I have a PSB as my center now, will soon be replaced and it sticks out to my ear. Additionally, I think the in-wall line is much more directional and would have definite sweet spots. IMHO

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Kathy,

I have a set of White RS3's that are mounted 7ft up and 4 feet back of my couch. They are mounted on the side walls facing each other. I have a very light biege walls with a white ceiling and white molding and they look very good on the walls. Actually they blend in so well you actually have to focus in on them to really see them. They are a bit bulky, but for the sound, and dynamics of these surrounds, I wouldn't go with anyuthing else. Their bass response and overall clarity surpass their bulkiness. Just my 2 cents

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quote:

Originally posted by Steve P:

Kathy,

In your profile you left out ".com" for your web address.

If you make an html page you don't need the .com. - .com is for commercial web space.

I haven't had any problems bringing it up since the post started.

------------------

Come on honey why can't I spend some more money?

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Tom,

90 degrees to the right is an outer wall, and 90 degrees to the left there isn't any wall, except for a 9" drywall beam about 8' up. The great room is open to the dining room, separated only by a couple of pillars and a drywall beam. The dining room ceiling is also 14', the pillars are 8' and have a drywall beam (this is best I know how to describe)on top of them. This drywall beam is only 9" high and 10" wide. From the top of this box (at almost 9') to the ceiling is nothing but air. So this little beam is all I have to mount the left side surround, which is another reason I was hesitant on the RS-3.

Thanks to the others for pointing out that the .com was missing from my profile.

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Wow - tough room. I think the first thing you need to do is smack the architect upside the head. smile.gif

Seriously though, I don't see how you could possibly use RS-3's and be assured that you're getting your monies worth. The only solution I'd suggest would be to have some kinda wedge fabricated such that when it's mounted to the beam and the RS-3 is mounted to the wedge, the RS-3 is angled down into the listening area. Does that make sense? You'd also have to do the same for the other side to ensure like sound distribution and to maintain a certain amount of esthetics. However, this is just my opinion. YMMV, void where prohibited by law, prices & specifications subject to change.... smile.gif

I know you said you didn't want speakers on stands, but since you seem to be all about this, it may be the only solution you'll never second-guess. Know what I mean?

Tom Adams

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  • 1 month later...

I started this post back in February. Based upon the members recommendations I purchased a pair of white RS-3 surrounds, receiving them last week. They are sitting in my Great Room on a pair of bar stools with wires laying across the floor. Not a great look! Yes, they sound great, but I have not taken on the unenviable task of fishing wire through the walls and mounting the speakers on my limited space, because I cannot get over how massive these speakers are.

I thought I was a real enthusiast, but now I am not so sure. I am thinking about selling the speakers solely because of their size. Are there any SMALLER speakers you would recommend for surrounds that would match up well with my Reference fronts & center?

BTW, I had previously been using a pair of in-wall speakers, mounted approx 10' high in the rear for the surrounds (great room has 14' high ceilings), before purchasing the RS-3s.

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Kathy:

Welcome to our corner of the world! Klipsch makes a smaller version of the RS-3's in a model called the SS-1. It would still give you both good ambience and localization, but would not quite match timbre-wise with your Reference fronts. The other option would be to get the in-wall RCW-3 or RCW-5 speakers which would perfectly match your fronts.

PhilH

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I have the RCW3 - which is the inwall version with a 6.5" woofer and same tweeter as the other reference series speakers. I have RB5's in the front, RC3 in the center and KSW12 for the sub. I can tell you that the inwalls sound very good, especially for surround speakers, and were very easy to install. They also blend very well. When I use my AVIA DVD - there is a pan of pink noise - that blends very well between all of the speakers.

I personally like the look of inwalls for surround speakers, and I don't feel that I am giving up a lot in sound quality.

Try them out - they were a little pricy - about $700 for the pair, but I feel that they are well worth it.

Bryan

Mitsubishi 60" RPTV

Denon AVR3801

Denon DVM1800

Klipsch RB5 - front

Klipsch RC3 - center

Klipsch RCW3 - surrounds

Klipsch KSW12 - sub

JVS SVHS VCR

RCA DirecTV

Monster Power Conditioner

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Toots Mutant

Wish it were as easy as using identical crossovers. Klipsch speakers are well matched within systems. That we do not use identical crossover points is part of the effort we make to get the speakers to Sound well matched rather than merely appear so on the spec sheet.

The matched components Do use matching drivers but may not appear to if you look at the spec sheet. Different part numbers refer mostly to different driver impedances used in models with one vs. two woofers.

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