Klipsch Quintet II dilemma

[BC Dave]

Hello,

After hearing a set of five Klipsch Quintet II speakers my brother got as a Christmas gift, I was blown away. He had replaced four large speakers and these little Klipsches, supported by a powered 12 inch sub, were fabulous in his 20 by 24 room, with nine-foot cedar ceiling. So I went and bought four Quintets and the center channel for $199 CDN. My results haven't been as great. I replaced a set of Mission M73 towers a Paradigm center and Energy Take 2 rears with the Quintets and the sound is variable. On digital music channels they sound fabulous with jazz and the Dolby Digital sound on DVDs is excellent too. However, watching regular TV (like old Friends episodes) they sound a little tinny and shouty. I have the crossover in my Denon receiver set at 100 hertz and have fiddled with the sub placement (currently in front corner) but I am lacking fullness (a midbass gap?) My wife loves the smaller speakers's appearance on their tall stands. Could I sell off the Quintet fronts and center, get something a little bigger from Klispch and keep the rear Quintets without screwing up the timbral balance? Any other ideas? Thanks!

 

[tomd51]

Hi BC Dave;
A few years ago, I actually had a pair of Klipsch Synergy Series KSB 1.1 paired up with an older (late 90s) Klipsch center and quintets for rears. This worked quite well for small to mid-sized room with a larger percentage of movie related listening as opposed to music, but anything bigger (room-wise) would most likely yield the results you were getting w/the all quintet setup (audible compression, tinny sounding, etc.).

For the most part, assuming the speaker lines aren't vastly different (e.g., reference series vs. entry level series), speaker manufacturers tend to produce relatively similar timbre matching in their speakers, even models that are 3-5 years difference.

I would consider a pre-owned or new L/C/R set of Klipsch bookshelves and matching center, these three are the most important when it comes to timbre matching. In fact, Audioholics just finished up a bookshelf shoot-out that lauded the Klipsch RB-15s and considering their size, you'd have a better WAF, too. Here's the link... -TD

 

[jcPanny]

Klipsch bookshelf speakers

The klipsch speakers are not that great until you get up to the reference series. Ray recently did a shootout of inexpensive bookshelf speakers and the Klipsch R-15's tied as the winner. A couple pairs of these, a center, and a good 10" or 12" sub would make a nice HT.

http://www.audioholics.com/productreviews/loudspeakers/SpeakerFaceOffVIp1.php

 

[tomd51]

Coming from a full set of Quintets, I'm sure the RB-15s and matching center would be a step up in providing a larger, more well-rounded soundstage up front. If budget is a major factor, there's no reason you couldn't keep the quintets for rears. This all depends on how much you can spend, how much you're willing to spend and where the madness ends...

Similar to jcPanny's sentiments, a solid subwoofer would round out a nice, compact system.

Just my 2¢... -TD