Just grabbed some RF-7's, new home.....being built...help choose other speakers?? (1 Viewer)

[jonathanR]

Hi there:

Couldn't pass up the great deal of Refurbished RF-7's directly from Klipsch on ebay. Picked them up today.

I'm also currently planning to build my home...late summer/fall. Also going to structure wire the whole house, looking 5.1 upstairs bedroom and 7.1 HT/Den. Not going the fully automated $$$ way. Want to wire for future though.

My home theater room/den will be about 3,000 cuft. Which Klipsch speakers should I match w/ it. RC-7 (center), R-5800's for surround & backsurround? Bummer is there no LA area Retailer that has theses to demo and I wanted to test these at reference levels. I called at least (10), including Ken Cranes and no luck. Or should I go with KS-525 for the surrounds. This is my first MAJOR up grade. The fronts & center will go into a built-in cabinet. Using floor standing for the surrounds and back won't work (wife and young children). Told my wife, I'm gonna stick w/ these speakers for at least 10 years, (not sure she bought that, lol). Thanks for any help or tips.


Jonathan
Cali


Current Gear:

JVC 52G786 52"
Onkyo TX-DS898 (will upgrade to 200w/ch/pre/amps later)
Moxi DVR HDTV(Cable)
Panny S77
Sony (5disc)
Xbox w/ XBMC
Maxtor Network Drive/Server
Harmony Remote
JBL S-38's (front)
JBL Center (same class)
JBL Surr ("")
JBL Surr Back ("")
SVS 20-31CS+
Sampson Bridged 700
AudioSource SW-15 (first sub lol)

 

[Bobby T]

I also have RF7s. Since it look's like you have the room I would get 2 more RF7s for surrounds and a RC7 center channel. If your going to do 7.1 then you could get
A) 2 more RF7s
B) 2 RF5s
c) 2 RB75s
D) 2 RS7s

 

[jonathanR]

Hey Bobby:

Don't let the 3000cuft. fool you, I have 10' ceilings going in. So its basicaly a 20' x 15'.....not in stone yet, but about 300 sqft. And the children, foot traffic and speakers all around is a problem. Its not a dedicated HT its more of a Media/TV room thats by itself.

I'd be using it for 85% HT & 15% Music. Just trying to get a little feed back from people who have Klipsch in-walls and what thier opinions are. Really trying to avoid using speaker stands or floorstandng for the surrounds. I definitly want surround speakers that can give me that impact though, thats why I was thinking about using KS-525 for the side surrounds. They should match well w/ the RF-7's and RC-7.

Jonathan

 

[Bobby T]

The RS7s are wall mountable. They have keyholes built in on the back. Anything from the 7 series will be the best match. + they are being discontinued so you can get some great deals on them.But the KS525 is also a very capable speaker.

 

[jonathanR]

Bobby:

Thanks maybe I'll check those out also. I was thinking about building a custom cabinet enclosure for the entire wall. Since I can pretty much create any kind of openning & ventalation, is there any way I can conseal the RF-7's? The back of the cabinet wall would be the backyard, so I was planning any way to vent the whole area housing the electronics. Don't want to hinder the sound, but there has to be a way I can hide them, yet still provide the ventalation for the Klipsch. Any ideas?

Jonathan
Cali

 

[Bobby T]

the RF7s don't normally do well enclosed. Maybe by building a false wall to put them behind, and use sonicly invisible material to hide them. But they still need some room to breathe.

 

[LanceJ]

Placing a rear-ported speaker into *anything* is a no-no. If the output from the ports can't join the output from the woofers in an unimpeded manner, something is going to go wrong as far as bass quality is concerned.

 

[jonathanR]

LanceJ:

The front wall would be about 13.5'. Even if its not an enclosed cabinet, would a false wall, like Bobby T mentioned work? Like I said I'm building the house as a general/owner, w/ subs for everything so I can pretty much change anything on the house. I can even make the cabinet or false wall for the speakers 30" to 36" deep if I need to and provide venting system for the speakers and electronics.

I've seen alot of home theater pics here on the forum and quite a few have sacrificed the looks of their areas so that the sound would be optimal. But there has to be some compromise that will work and not take a big hit. Like I said it would be for 85% HT, I'm not an audiophile. I really want the entire wall to either look or give the impression of large whole wall cabinet. The RF-7's are roughly 46"H x 16"D x 11.5"W. So if I make the area 30" to 36" deep, Im still providing about 14" to 20" of breathing room, be it of course I have a way to vent the back of that area. Just need to know what other acoustic changes I need to make inside the area housing the RF-7's.

On a side note....Saw the RC-64....now that looks like a man's Center Channel. Might save up for that and skip on the RC-5. Also noticed that Klipsch has new surround models, (RS-42,52,62). Has anyone tested these out??

Jonathan
Cali

 

[LanceJ]

Jonathan: I'm not trying to sidestep your question but I cannot really predict the resulting sound when a speaker like this is installed in such an environment. But I will mention this one situation: years ago we had a Magnavox system with rear-ported bookshelf speakers w/6" woofers. When we moved to another house, due to family decorating decisions I had to place each speaker inside a built-in shelf. The resulting enclosed area behind the speaker was @1.5 cubic feet; we raised the shelf to eliminate any gaps on top or bottom but still had a narrow open slot to one side. Man did the bass IMPROVE! Kind of boomy but much better overall than just having the speaker sit in the open. This was an exciting development for a 16 year old just getting into Rush.

What I'm afraid may happen in your situation is the bass could 1) become very overbearing; 2) get really boomy or sloppy i.e. lumpy frequency response as the ports' output finally snakes its way to the open air; or 3) bass becomes very thin because the ports' output reaches you out-of-phase compared to the woofers' output.

Have you thought about a pair of their in-wall speakers?

BTW: I'm also a fan of large center channels (i.e. something with larger than 5" woofers), with whatever crossover point is used.

 

[jonathanR]

Hmmmm:

Thanks LanceJ, something to think about. Thing is I already purchased the RF-7's, lol aint going back. Could always build around the RF-7's, provide at least 12" or more behind and also on the sides. Then do a false wall. Hmmmm. Something to think about. Have till August till Construction begins.