Adding beef to my HT!

[fgarib]

Hello all!

After reading silversports "Where's the beef" thread (http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/thread/742582.aspx), I've been really digging into my HT setup. I now have the following questions:

In that thread, it was mentioned that along with the timbers of the various speakers in your setup, the sensitivities should also match. Now in the hodgepodge that I call my HT setup, i had a whole melee of different speakers... For my fronts, I had the KHorns, (un)matched with a KEF Reference series center channel. For the sides, I had my old (and kind of gold) Infinity Sterling Series 3-ways, and for the rears I had my KEF surround speakers.

For my amplification, I am running a really nice NAD C252 (I think that's the model number) 2 channel power amp for my fronts, and a Rotel 1075 5 channel for the surrounds and center.

All of this is being run by a Lexicon MC-8 processor.

I don't know if this is the sort of mix and match that people do, but I was getting sick of it... There was just nooooo punch to speak of.

So my question is more of an opinion-seek. I've finally decided to do this:

a) improve my speaker placements. Already I'm starting to hear a difference.

(And this is where I would like for you all to chime in) Change my speakers: I'm going to move the KHorns out of my HT. I really feel they belong in my 2-channel with my Mcintosh solid state... I feel I get more bang for my buck there. Therefore, for my fronts, I'm going to have my KG4's that I had lying around the house. And hence, my HT will unfold as below:

Fronts: KG4 (as mentioned above)

Center: SC1 (belonged to a friend who was nice enough to just give it to me... LOVE LOVE LOVE friends like that!!)

Sides: A pair of SS 5's that are sitting with a dealer close to my house.

Rears: A pair of SB 1's that are also with the same dealer.

Opinions? From my understanding, the sensitivities of all the above mentioned are in the 92-95 range.

c) Finally, the question I had was about the gains in my amps. The Nad has a variable gain connection in the back, where I can fix the preout to that and adjust the gain with the little knob in the back. How do I get it so that the gains of the Nad and the Rotel to match?

I'm actually quite excited to move on with these changes so I look forward to hearing from all you out there.

-Fauzi

c)

[fgarib]

Hey all.. just wanted to add on... that friend of mine who was going to give me the SC-1 Center...

Well, it turns out he's a much better friend than I thought! It's actually an RC-3! I was most excited when I saw it.

Is that going to over power my KG's in the fronts?

Thanks,

Fauzi

[Buckeye_Nut]

What are you using for a subwoofer??

If you're lacking punch, that is the first area you should re-evaluate. Your K-horns or whatever will have plenty of pizzass in the mid to upper ranges, but they wont cover the LFE in movie soundtracks. With the addition of a quality subwoofer, 'punch' will most definitely NOT be an issue. Treating room acoustics is also a very important aspect you should address before you spend more money replacing amps, speakers...etc, etc.

Good luck...

[SilverSport]

fgarib,

you have nice friends...here as well...the sub will make a BIG improvement and as you saw on my thread about Beef in the HT, the set up makes a HUGE difference.

You have speakers from many different generations of Klipsch but it should still sound great if set up properly...I wouldn't get as concerned with their dB level as with their crossover areas...I set the crossovers unusually high for what I thought (darn the SPL meter and full speed ahead) was required for my speakers and it made a TREMENDOUS difference...

80Hz for the Heresys (were at 60Hz)

100Hz for the Academy (was at 80Hz)

80Hz for the rear Heresys (had KSF-S5s before)

Your Mileage May Vary...good luck and enjoy!

Bill