NFG Here. (May be long winded :))

[billbeau]

NFG Here. Well someone needs to be thew NFG .

I have a dilemma. I am in search of a good bookshelf speaker
for my 2 ch rig. I am seriously looking at the Klipsch RB-81's but cant seem to
find somewhere to hear them. Here is my current setup.

Pioneer: SA-9500II 80w/ch Integrated, SG-9800 EQ,
TX-8500II Tuner, CT-F1000 Cassette, RT-909
10.5" Reel, Two PL-518 TT, PL-540 TT, PL-560 TT PDR-609 CD Recorder

Carver: Twin M-400 Poweramps 500w ea. as monos

DBX: 224, 228, 400X, 400XG

SAE: 5000, 5000A

Infinity: Qe's Current speakers.

My problem is that with my new Carver amps the Qe's are really
under rated for the amp. I tried listening to some Polk LSi9's and LSi7's but
the only place local is Frys and they tried to audition them using a HK home
theater amp that had a price tag of 199.99. High end gear there. They also
tried using some Sony DVD player to play my CD. I recorded a cd from a Talking
Heads LP. I sampled it at (^KHz and at 24bits per sample I then edited it for
EQ and db levels using Sound Forge. The final was recorded as a .wav and not a
compressed MP3 on to a RMG Green Tune Master Music CD-R. It does sound nice in
my GMC Yukon. It sounded very bad in there system. Lots of mids but that was it.
Sounded very hollow. Tried turning on a sub and that made it sound worse. The
bass was very muddy. Still no highs. In my Yukon
I play it almost totally flat. Treble set at 1 and Bass at 0. I have a 8 inch
sub powered by a 160 watt amp. Very nice highs almost to much so I know there
is allot of high eq on this CD. I have to blame the equipment and the lack of
knowledge from the Frys kids. So I was outa there.

Went on to Best Buy. Not my idea of a high end stereo shop
just like Frys. Anyways I was able to listen to a set of Klipsch RB-10s through
a ok system. These for there size sounded great. nice mids and highs. I knew I
had highs on this cd. Hahahaha. The 10's aren't going to work. To small and low
power handling but still nice. Went up to a pair of XB-10s. Now were starting
to cook. The mids and highs really came out. We added in a Klipsch 12":
sub at a low power setting and this really woke it up. This cd sounded great
even at the treb. set at 0 and the Bass at 0. I had the sales guy add some
treb. and things really sounded sweet. Alas the XB or WB speakers won't do. Low
power handling. They don't carry the RB-81s matter of fact the dont carry
anything from Klipsch higher than the WB-14. I did listen to some Vienna's
that ran 1400.00 ea. So the Klipsch price tag for the higher end bookshelf's
was not at issue.

So here is my dilemma. I really liked what I heard from the
XB-10s and the small RB-10s. I also liked the sound of the 12" sub from
Klipsch but I need to hear some RB-81s. I think these will fit the bill but
cant be sure till I hear them. I dont want purchase them if they dont sound
right. Im sure they will but still dont want to fork out that cash and be
upset.

Is there anywheres close to Fremont Ca. where I can audition
the Klipsch line? I am looking for bookshelf's and the 800.00 price tag of the
RB-81 fits the bill. I tried the Klipsch find a dealer thing but almost all of
the dealers are just HT setup outfits and don't have a showroom.

Oh I mainly listen to 70s and 80s rock and do alot of recording from LP to computer to digitize my LP collection.

[Mallette]

Sheesh, you have enough watts there to power most of the speakers on this forum at the same time... []

I am pretty much a Heritage sort, not just Klipsch but all of the greats of gone by. Frankly, I would fear connecting anything in my collection to that much power...

I'm sure you'll get some good steering on speakers inefficient enough to be used with such massive power.

Good listening, and welcome to this house.

Dave

[LarryC]

Did you try the dealer locator on the Klipsch.com website? I think this link will go there -- you plug in your zip code: http://www.klipsch.com/find-a-dealer/Default.aspx

[alliclaytor]

Just an FYI...I have some minty cherry RB-75's for sale. They go slightly deeper than the 81's and would be cheaper even with shipping to Cali

[billbeau]

Yep tried the dealer locator. Like I said in my post there all HT setup folks. No showroom.

Got pics of the 75's? whats the specs fopr the 75?

Heres a pic of the Carvers

[alliclaytor]

http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/t/108426.aspx ***see this link for a few pics/idea of price***

http://www.klipsch.com/products/discontinued/details/rb-75.aspx ***see this link for the specs of the RB75's***

[billbeau]

I sent ya a PM.The one thing is I have no idea what the RB-75s or the 81s sound like. I am just going by there smaller brother the RB-10 and also by the XB-10. Both were fantastic.

I do know that I will be picking up a RW-12d I really liked that sub.

[billbeau]

I can tone down the power on these amps and use them to Bi Amp these speakers seeing how Klipsch referance speakers have that capability. Running the Carvers full range is 200watts@8 ohms instead of the bridged 500 watts. I'll bet those RBs will sound hella nice bi amped