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Happened into a great deal on some speakers! Any Advice?

post #1 of 19
12/31/09 at 2:19pm
Thread Starter 
As I mentioned in a different thread, I was all but ready to purchase a set of Def Tech 1,000s from Best Buy to upgrade my audio on my new theater setup. I went to listen to the Def Tech set last night and after listening to them as well as most all of the other bookshelf speakers and talking with the sales guy I decided that they just weren't going to cut it. I felt like I needed some towers to really do my big screen and big room justice. All of the tower speakers in the Magnolia room were out of my budget so I decided that I was going to shop online for a deal on a set.
As I walked out of the Magnolia room, there in the discounted items isle sat a pair of nice looking tower speakers. I asked the salesman what they were and he said, "oh, I forgot about those. I can make you a GREAT deal on them!" I asked what they were and he said they were Klipsch WF-35s that had been recently taken out of the Magnolia room. He said that they had been marked down from $750 to $475 for the PAIR! I knew he must be mistaken but asked if they had a matching center speaker. He didn't know which one it was so I looked it up on my Droid phone and found out it was a WC-24. He looked it up and low and behold they had one in stock and on sale for $349. I asked if he could do a little better on that one to make it a complete set and he gave me 25% off on it. So for just over $700 I ended up buying a pair of WF-35s and a WC-24! Not exactly what I had in mind when I walked in but the deal seemed too good to pass up.
I really had no intention of buying anything like this and hadn't done any research on them so now I am looking for any input on these speakers, since they were floor models I didn't get any owners manuals. Will my Denon AV-590 be adequate? There are 4 connection posts on the back of the R/L towers with metal plates connecting them, do I remove these? How am I supposed to connect them?
Any advice on this setup would be great!
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post #2 of 19
12/31/09 at 2:34pm
I have never heard them but it sounds like a steal. Klipsch has the MSRP at $1500.

You can find the owners manual here:
http://www.klipsch.com/na-en/support/owners-manuals/

And you can always call Klipsch direct if you need help. These speakers are very sensitive and your Denon should have no issue powering them I would suspect.

Enjoy and let us know what you think after you get them up and running.
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post #3 of 19
12/31/09 at 2:38pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by captainkidd View Post

As I mentioned in a different thread, I was all but ready to purchase a set of Def Tech 1,000s from Best Buy to upgrade my audio on my new theater setup. I went to listen to the Def Tech set last night and after listening to them as well as most all of the other bookshelf speakers and talking with the sales guy I decided that they just weren't going to cut it. I felt like I needed some towers to really do my big screen and big room justice. All of the tower speakers in the Magnolia room were out of my budget so I decided that I was going to shop online for a deal on a set.
As I walked out of the Magnolia room, there in the discounted items isle sat a pair of nice looking tower speakers. I asked the salesman what they were and he said, "oh, I forgot about those. I can make you a GREAT deal on them!" I asked what they were and he said they were Klipsch WF-35s that had been recently taken out of the Magnolia room. He said that they had been marked down from $750 to $475 for the PAIR! I knew he must be mistaken but asked if they had a matching center speaker. He didn't know which one it was so I looked it up on my Droid phone and found out it was a WC-24. He looked it up and low and behold they had one in stock and on sale for $349. I asked if he could do a little better on that one to make it a complete set and he gave me 25% off on it. So for just over $700 I ended up buying a pair of WF-35s and a WC-24! Not exactly what I had in mind when I walked in but the deal seemed too good to pass up.
I really had no intention of buying anything like this and hadn't done any research on them so now I am looking for any input on these speakers, since they were floor models I didn't get any owners manuals. Will my Denon AV-590 be adequate? There are 4 connection posts on the back of the R/L towers with metal plates connecting them, do I remove these? How am I supposed to connect them?
Any advice on this setup would be great!

The metal plates are jumpers between the high frequency and low frequency binding posts. You should leave them as they are and connect you speaker leads to either pair.

Regarding the speakers themselves, impulse buys are part of this hobby. Klipsch are generally good HT speakers and it seems likeyou got a good deal. Your Denon should give them adequate power so you should be good there.

Give them a listen and see what you think. If you don't like them, I imagine Magnolia will take them back or you could sell them yourself.
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post #4 of 19
12/31/09 at 2:59pm
Thread Starter 
I went ahead and hooked them up with the jumpers in place and ran the audessy deal to calibrate and they sound really good. I have never owned decent speakers so I have nothing to compare them to but they can definitely shake the room and the detail in the sound seems very good.
I put in "the dark night" Blu Ray and I still have a hard time hearing some of the dialog. It is WAY better than it was with my little HTIB sony speakers but it seems as if the sound effects and background sounds kind of bury the dialog at times. Is this normal or just because of my poor room acoustics? (Concrete block wallls/tile floor, lots of echo) Should I try to adjust the center speaker to help boost the dialog a bit?
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post #5 of 19
12/31/09 at 3:03pm
Congrats on the purchase. It's the room.

Ron
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post #6 of 19
12/31/09 at 3:07pm
Thread Starter 
I just listened to some music, Dan Seals, Johnny Cash and Billy Joel to be exact, and it sounded spectacular! Vocals were clear as a bell, better than anything I can remember hearing. When I watched the dark night it was much harder to hear the words, often they were garbled and hard to make out. Is this normal?

When I run the audessey calibration should the speaker size still be set to small?
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post #7 of 19
1/1/10 at 6:14am
Thread Starter 
I played with a little more this morning trying a couple of different movies and it wasn't as bad but still, music sounds beautiful and movie dialogue is hard to understand at times. Not as bad as 'the dark night' but not as good as I feel it should be. Any suggestions?
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post #8 of 19
1/1/10 at 6:38am
(Concrete block wallls/tile floor, lots of echo)

You need to treat the room, i.e. carpetting, sound absorption panels, etc.
Speakers should be set to large unless you have a subwoofer.
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post #9 of 19
1/1/10 at 7:05am
Thread Starter 
I do have an Energy sub. I currently have the speaker size set to small. I intend to start working on some room treatments but I am having a hard time understanding why the music sounds so good yet the movie dialogue is so bad. I hesitate to start modifying the rooms acoustic dynamics until I know I have the system set up properly.
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post #10 of 19
1/1/10 at 7:52am
When i play music on my receiver it sounds better as well but it also plays ina different sound mode. I have yet to hear any music that was in 5.1 so my receiver switches from 5.1 to another mode and i usualy have to listen to the other modes till i find one i like. Usualy i use 3 channel stereo. I lower the center level quite a bit.

When i first got my jamo set i had my receiver set to "small" and when i went to large the center really got better. Everything got better actualy, things sounded more full and the midrange seem to move more forward wich i like.

I would sugest you change the speaker size in the receiver first. Also check your levels. I like my center a little higher then my front and i like my rear just a tad lower then my center but the room size and distance is what matters with this.
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post #11 of 19
1/1/10 at 8:27am
For the center channel, it sounds like your mains might be overpowering your center. On your receiver try bumping up the center channel 3-6 decibels and see if that helps.
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post #12 of 19
1/4/10 at 6:28am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by ack_bk View Post

For the center channel, it sounds like your mains might be overpowering your center. On your receiver try bumping up the center channel 3-6 decibels and see if that helps.

I did end up boosting my center speaker by about 5 DB and it helped quite a bit. We were able to understand movie dialogue on "the dark night" much better. Unfortunately the movie was so bad that I wish I hadn't bothered, oh well.

Is having to boost the center speaker to understand the words indicative of improper calibration, poor acoustics, crappy movie audio or is it normal?
I had no problem understanding the words while watching football or listening to music but that Dark Night movie audio was terrible. It was coming through in Dolby True HD too.
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post #13 of 19
1/4/10 at 8:25am
Quote:


I did end up boosting my center speaker by about 5 DB and it helped quite a bit. We were able to understand movie dialogue on "the dark night" much better. Unfortunately the movie was so bad that I wish I hadn't bothered, oh well.

You're probably in the minority with regards to the Dark Knight. But no movie gets 100% approval. The Dark Knight was 94%. To each his own...
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_dark_knight/

Bumping up the channel level on the center is probably the best thing if you have dialogue problems. Like was said above, treating your room is the next move.

The Denon 590 should have no problems driving your speakers as the Klipsch are very efficient. Enjoy! Good purchase on the speakers, very nice looking!
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post #14 of 19
1/4/10 at 8:28am
Quote:
Originally Posted by captainkidd View Post

I did end up boosting my center speaker by about 5 DB and it helped quite a bit. We were able to understand movie dialogue on "the dark night" much better. Unfortunately the movie was so bad that I wish I hadn't bothered, oh well.

Is having to boost the center speaker to understand the words indicative of improper calibration, poor acoustics, crappy movie audio or is it normal?
I had no problem understanding the words while watching football or listening to music but that Dark Night movie audio was terrible. It was coming through in Dolby True HD too.

captainkidd, FWIW, I have to boost the volume on my center more often than not, so it's not a bad thing IMO.
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post #15 of 19
1/4/10 at 11:33am
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the responses guys!

I am shocked that so many people liked The Dark Night, I thought the storyline was really bad and impossible to follow, some of the acting was terrible (batmans 'loud whisper' voice for one) and of course the aforementioned audio problems. However the 125" 1080P Blu Ray picture that the Epson 8100 threw as well as the room shaking explosions and gunfire were sure impressive!
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post #16 of 19
1/4/10 at 11:48am
Wow that's a great deal, I thought WF-35s were selling at $750 each, and if you got them for $475 for the pair, that's insane. You only paid $237.50 each, LOL that's unheard of from Bestbuy/Magnolia. Where they brand-new? I just checked on Bestbuy's website, and the WF-35s are still at $750 each.

-edit- nevermind, just re-read your post and they are floor demos, right?
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post #17 of 19
1/4/10 at 12:02pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by khaliss View Post

Wow that's a great deal, I thought WF-35s were selling at $750 each, and if you got them for $475 for the pair, that's insane. You only paid $237.50 each, LOL that's unheard of from Bestbuy/Magnolia. Where they brand-new? I just checked on Bestbuy's website, and the WF-35s are still at $750 each.

-edit- nevermind, just re-read your post and they are floor demos, right?

Yes, they were out of the box. They had them set up in the Magnolia room. They were supposed to be marked down from $750 to $475 EACH but the kid that sold them to me mistakenly told me it was for the pair.
He even gave me 25% off of the sale price of $349 for the WC-24 center speaker. It was originally $499 and ended up being $261.75.
For $736 I think I got a pretty nice set of speakers!
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post #18 of 19
1/4/10 at 12:11pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by captainkidd View Post

Thanks for the responses guys!

I am shocked that so many people liked The Dark Night, I thought the storyline was really bad and impossible to follow, some of the acting was terrible (batmans 'loud whisper' voice for one) and of course the aforementioned audio problems. However the 125" 1080P Blu Ray picture that the Epson 8100 threw as well as the room shaking explosions and gunfire were sure impressive!

I loved Dark Knight too, you may want to give it a second chance down the road. I have spent a lot of time calibrating all my gear (speakers, projector, etc) and have watched hundreds of movies over the last few years and what you will find is that it is the source material that dictates the dialogue and special effects levels. Some movies on Blu are heavy on the special effects side and light on the dialogue side. I have left my center channel boosted about 3db and it definitely has made a difference for movies.
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post #19 of 19
1/4/10 at 1:28pm
Nice catch on those, I did an informal review around here on them a while back. I think it was in the klipsch owner thread. If I remember right they were a little smoother than the reference series from klipsch but we listened without a sub and they really lacked punch on the low end. I'm sure your sub fills out the low end nicely. They were good looking speakers, but I felt like you were paying more for the looks than the sound at full price. At the price you paid though, changes everything around
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