Question about RB-10's and a good matching amp

[videoCWK]

Hey guys. This be my first post here, and I have questions about the RB-10 bookshelf speakers. So here I go.

- How's the bass pickup? I like bass with my music, and when it comes to explosive video games/movies, it's not the same without a pretty good amount of bass. I know I'm not going to get the earth-shattering effects of a standalone sub with these, but really what I want to know is whether or not the bass is weak.

- I've heard that Kilpsch speakers emphasize on treble a lot. Now I do like a lot of treble, but would you guys say it's too much?

- Exactly how powerful are these? These will most likely go to my video game setup in the basement, so would you say they're closer to "hear it on the 2nd floor" powerful or "disturb the neighbors" powerful?

And now for amp questions. Which is really just one question. Now, being 14 (turning 15 in August) I can't afford the best of the best as far as home amps go, but what would go best with these speakers without going over around $250? I could probably try to get the amp for my birthday if it was about that much so it wouldn't end up costing too much for me.

One more thing. What brand should I buy my speaker wire from? And don't say Monster, since I'm familiar enough with audiophile stuff to know that you pay too much for quality that can be matched with a coat hanger (if you don't know what I'm talking about, search Google for "monster cable coat hanger"). And thanks in advance for whatever help you might be about to give.

[BuyOtherSoundEquipment]

Wow, these teenage audiophiles are coming out of the wood work lately! (myself included, although I turn 20 in August)

The RB-10s are going to give you far better quality sound than any "micro shelf system" or whatever boxed crap most kids buy at Wal-Mart. They will provide excellent and clear-sounding treble, and certainly not "too much" of it. You'll find that in the audio world, too much is never enough!

As far as the bass is concerned, to be completely, brutally honest, the RB-10s are not going to give you the floor-shaking bass you seek. The bass extension (pick-up, you call it) goes down to 90 hertz. What that basically means is that the speakers can't "dip down" into the low frequencies far enough to really pound. The woofers are simply too small to move enough air (acoustically speaking) to create a powerful *thump*.

This can be countered in many ways.

You could 1) start off with the RB-10s, and save up for a dedicated subwoofer (best scenario), which will really pound the ground.

2) You could go "gray market" and find some nice stuff (particularly on ebay), sometimes New in Box for much less than retail. It should be noted that the speakers won't come with any warranty this way.

Just one example:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Klipsch-RB-61-RB61-Pair-of-Black-Bookshelf-Speakers_W0QQitemZ230248466098QQihZ013QQcategoryZ14991QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

A sub will still be needed to make the set up complete, but something a little larger will at least fill in the "gap" for a little while

3) you could try out a set of promedia 2.1s, which include two satellite speakers and a 6 1/2" sub for well under $200 without the need for a receiver (a source switcher would come in handy, though). Keep in mind, they are not "meant" for home theater use, but my pair certainly can crank out the bass (because of the sub) on anything I play. You'd just have to work the the line-in 3.5mm jack to connect your stuff. Still doable, though.

If you do stick with the actual home theater speakers, any basic receiver from the likes of Pioneer, Yamaha or Sony will work and can be attained for $200 and under.

Your journey will be a long and exciting one, have fun!

[videoCWK]

Audiophilism (probably not a word) runs in my family. I get it from my dad

Anyway, thanks for all the help. I'm not a big fan of gray market buying, I like to buy right from the company, so I might just settle for something from a lesser company (as much as I'd hate to). I like warranty, and I like knowing that my "like new" condition is actually going to be like new instead of being like that N64 game case I got that didn't close right. I actually do have plans for a pair of promedias sometime, but those would be to replace my Logitech Z4 speakers. My friend has promedia 2.1's, they're great. I'd never heard any kind of computer speaker that would play back an audio recording and have it sound like it did when I said it (we recorded ourselves trying to be creative once because we knew it would be funny) out loud. Thing is, the RB-10's are for the basement, where I'd like to have something more fit for that kind of environment. Computer speakers are great if you're sitting right at them, but down there you won't be sitting very close to them, and I want something that'll be a little more room filling. I do stuff from sitting and gaming to playing DDR to watching movies to having numerous friends down there at once doing any of those three. For that it'd be better to have speakers made more for that sort of stuff. As for subwoofers, I could either go with some other company's subwoofer or get something inexpensive from Klipsch, which would most likely be an RPW-10 (since it's not much more expensive than the KSW-10). It looks good enough, though I'd have to wait until I had a job to get one since $350 is a bit much. I could probably do without a sub until then, though.