My Experiences
Posted: Sun Oct 11, 2009 1:43 pm
Great advise. I'll chime in with matching your front mains to your center. I started in 2003 with a Yamaha receiver and full set of Klipsch RF-7's, matching center (RC-7), and 2 RF series matching 8" in-ceiling surrounds.
The smaller RC-7 never reproduced sound to match RF-7's. Output levels were adjusted during the room/system calibration. I'm a musician and later audiophile, too. My first system was simply taking a good shot without much research.
After much research, I upgraded to separate high end components and located a much better pair of powered mains. My upright pair of RF-7's now flank my 60" Sony, and are toed-in, and wired in mono (each with a dedicated amp channel) as a matched pair of center speakers. The smaller RC-7 is out of the system. It sounds great.
My ceiling surrounds actually sound quite good. I know they could be improved - however, for very clear and matching rear channels, I'm good for now.
Internal settings of my components made big changes. In both the disk player and processor, all speakers are set to "Large". The digital signal is set to "Raw". All compression OFF.
I setmy processor to cross over everything at 50 Hz for a SVS Ultra PB-13. My mains were calibrated first with a sound level meter and test disk. 50 Hz was perfect for the mains. The THX recommended 80 Hz crossover removed too much bass off the mains.
I read the 8 Ohm RF-7's may drop to 2-3 Ohms during transient passages when driven hard. Sound can "break up" and become distorted when the Ohms drop during high loads depending on the amplifier. This happened with my Yamaha, but not my Proceed AMP 5.
I'm quite certain a proper set-up will help make your system shine.
Set-up and taming on-screen menus is huge. Now, I wouldn't consider a system properly set-up without a CD calibration test disk, analog sound level meter and graph paper. A processor's or reciever's auto calibration with mikes can work. It's dependent on the quality.
You're off to a great start by asking the right questions.
The smaller RC-7 never reproduced sound to match RF-7's. Output levels were adjusted during the room/system calibration. I'm a musician and later audiophile, too. My first system was simply taking a good shot without much research.
After much research, I upgraded to separate high end components and located a much better pair of powered mains. My upright pair of RF-7's now flank my 60" Sony, and are toed-in, and wired in mono (each with a dedicated amp channel) as a matched pair of center speakers. The smaller RC-7 is out of the system. It sounds great.
My ceiling surrounds actually sound quite good. I know they could be improved - however, for very clear and matching rear channels, I'm good for now.
Internal settings of my components made big changes. In both the disk player and processor, all speakers are set to "Large". The digital signal is set to "Raw". All compression OFF.
I setmy processor to cross over everything at 50 Hz for a SVS Ultra PB-13. My mains were calibrated first with a sound level meter and test disk. 50 Hz was perfect for the mains. The THX recommended 80 Hz crossover removed too much bass off the mains.
I read the 8 Ohm RF-7's may drop to 2-3 Ohms during transient passages when driven hard. Sound can "break up" and become distorted when the Ohms drop during high loads depending on the amplifier. This happened with my Yamaha, but not my Proceed AMP 5.
I'm quite certain a proper set-up will help make your system shine.
Set-up and taming on-screen menus is huge. Now, I wouldn't consider a system properly set-up without a CD calibration test disk, analog sound level meter and graph paper. A processor's or reciever's auto calibration with mikes can work. It's dependent on the quality.
You're off to a great start by asking the right questions.