Hi ya'll... I've been lurking around here the last two days or so, trying to soak up some info so that I can make a good choice on speakers.
I went over to a friend’s house the other day and we watched a bit of a movie with his Bose system. And I do admit, that his Bose system sounds better than my existing system. He has practically the same receiver that I have, so the difference is most probably the speakers and minor room differences.
Anyway, so I came on here researching Polk Audio speakers cause I believe the Bose are over priced, but now find myself incredibly attracted to what I'm hearing about the Klipsch Reference speakers. For me, I dig the looks of the gold cones. Sound is most important, but cool looks score points too.
Current 5.1 Setup:
Onkyo HT-R557 Receiver
Onkyo SKC-750C Center
JVC SX-F7TH Front (x2)
Onkyo SKM-750S Rear (x2)
Onkyo SKW-750 Sub
Mitsubishi 72" HDTV
Room Size is approximately 17x20 (guesstimation)
OK, so as you can tell, I don't have the best equipment. As a matter of fact, my JVC fronts I believe absolutely suck. The Onkyo receive is a recent (2 year ago) upgrade from SA-AX7 Technics. I believe I went in the right direction with that, but again, I'm very much nowhere near an audiophile...
So anyway, on to my question. I've never had or watched a movie on any of my systems and had that "oh my god" experience that we all crave. I've heard some neat stuff, but never that ultimate experience. To that extent, Kevin's (the friend) Bose Acoustimass 10 IV speakers are closer to that experience than I have now. And, in doing my diligent research, I find that I tend to agree with the consensus that while they appeal to some, based on their construction and capabilities, I feel they're over priced. I do agree that they're missing a lot of mids and don't care for pushing mids out of the sub (if you can call their bass module a sub).
HHGreg and Best Buy carry the newer model Klipsch lines, but not the ones that I like, so auditioning them isn't really possible for me. I've found some used (local) Klipsch RF-3ii's combined with a RC-3 Center for the front for $700 ($500 for the fronts and $200 for the center), but that seems a little high considering that they're older and I can get the RF-25's NIB off eBay for around $450 or the RF-35's NIB off eBay for $799 and the RC-35 NIB for $165. Or even the RF-52's for $568 or the RF-63's for $719. Either way if I wait; for about another $300 or so, I could get newer speakers, but are they better for me? Are the RF-15's too small? Are the RF-35's too big? Which ones are right for me? I don't know... What's the difference in all of them? my head hurts!
I'm not looking for the million dollar audio system, just something that makes me happy that I spent the money.
In a perfect world, I'd find something (2 fronts and center) in the $500 range that I can later add to (rears & sub), but I can stretch myself to the $700 range if the deal is worth it.
Lastly, what does it mean when you guys say that X sounds "forward" or "harsh" or "bright" ??
Thanks for reading my novel!
Lastly, I'm 90% Theater and 10% Music; but that'll change if I have a better sounding system...
Ed
