Sounds great!
How does it sound? In one word great! Beyond expectations. My reference is my more “high end” stereo set consisting of Magnepan 1.6 speakers driven by a Duson power amp. I can say that the sound of the Klipsch / Denon set given its at least 6 times lower price tag is stunning. Luckily my Magnapan / Duson set still outperforms it, and that is only to be expected, but the new 5.1 set really surprised me positively.
Of course there are some possible points of criticism. Like the center (RC35) has a clearly distinguishable different tonal character compared to the fronts (RF35). A bit more mid and less high … almost a tad “boxy” one might say. Does it matter? Not for CD stereo listening of course! And with surround sound it does not particularly hinder, possibly it is even designed that way to perform well with speech.
Are the Klipsch neutral? No, they have some character of their own and it is a matter of personal taste whether one likes them or not. I do. I have read lots of reviews and there seem to be lots of talk about them being “harsh” in the high frequencies and lacking low. Well … my opinion is different. Yes, they have a good deal of highs, but not exaggerated and certainly not harsh, nice and smooth. That is to me … and as I said, my reference is the Magnepans and they score very well in the highs, so I am used to that. Maybe the criticism was from people not being used to a lot of HF exposure, like listening to AM radio for an hour and then switching to FM … that sounds almost scary different!
The lows are there too. I must add that there is a RW12 sub to complement the set, but even with that switched off the RF35’s present good low range, tight, controlled, not boomy, and I know that my room acoustics show some peaks so any slight boomyness most probably is caused by that. I bought an SPL meter and next week I will do frequency range measurements and maybe I’m able to optimize and control some peaks by speaker placement and proper level adjustments.
And oh yeah … almost forgot about the always intriguing issue … crossover frequency and speaker size. I tried 80, 60 and 40 and front large or small. Turned out the best settings (to my liking) are speakers “small” and x-over at 80 Hz. The lower settings smear the sound to much, bass coming from 3 speakers then and that multi source bass mix seems to turn out less optimal … room acoustics again. So … I paid for large (bass capable) speakers to set them at small and cut them off at 80Hz? Yes ... that is the conclusion
Then there is bi-amping (via the passive filter of the speakers). Yes, it works well with the Denon 2106, flawless. Can I hear the difference? To be honest: no. I would like to fool myself of course, but I know that in a blind test I will not be able to tell the difference. Anyhow, I will leave it this way for it at least gives me the “good feeling” that I have utilized the systems possibilities to the max, front speakers driven by 4 amps, using all 7 amps I paid for with the Denon
And it certainly does not sound worse!
So … as you may guess … I am a happy camper now. I also like the Pro Logic II very much, it works like a charm. Even watching standard TV is a pleasurable soundscape!
Regards, QubyB.
