How do you select speakers when you can't audition?

I have been on a quest to improve the sound in my living room. I have asked the question should I replace my Denon AVR4800, add side surround speakers, and I am just not sure either of those will solve my quest.

I currently have Klipsch Reference Series speakers (RF-3 & RC-3) for my fronts and center. MTX in the rear. The room is 17' x 24' with 14' ceilings. This my living room, so I can't add wall treatments to improve the sound.

I have bet I have read over 100 threads trying to figure out what everyone thinks are the best speakers. Each time I come across one, and look for a local retailer, there are none around.

So, what would you think would be a step up from the Klipsch Reference speakers, and how do you make a selection without being able to audition?

You are right, I do need to be more specific. My Klipsch speakers are certainly loud enough, as is the SVS powered sub.

I remember loving my NHT classic speakers with NHT sub, but I replaced them with the Klipsch shortly after building my house, close to 10 years ago.

I don't feel surrounded my music, or that crisp tight sound that l like. Same thing when watching movies.

Both places I used to go to audition speakers are out of business. Although, I am not convinced that speakers that sound so good in a small room, with proper acoustics, will sound as good is my large open room.

I will continue to search for other owners that have upgraded from their Klipsch Reference speakers.

My room is very challenged when it comes to adding acoustic panels, as you can see below. Really the only wall that anything can be placed upon is the half wall where the TV and speakers are. The sub is in the back right corner is that photo. Moving around the room clockwise, is a wall of tall windows & a door. I don't see anywhere I could add treatments there. Now to the rear, where the only wall begins at 9' and goes up to 14'. That is where my rear speakers are mounted. The last side of the room, there isn't very much wall, and is mostly open to the dining room.

Another poster indicated maybe I could move the furniture around to be opposite the vaulted ceiling. My ceiling is not vaulted.









I do appreciate all your suggestions and recommendations, please keep them coming.

It just keeps getting more interesting. Yesterday, when the Magnolia guy was here, the sound on my receiver kept going up and down. It was so strange, as neither of us was touching anything. He had pulled the receiver out to look behind it. I had never heard that before, so I thought he must have disconnected something. After he left, I pulled the receiver out and one of the center channel speaker wires was disconnected resting against the back panel. I reconnected, and thought all was well because I no longer heard the sound going up an down.

After reading the responses to my thread, I decided to sit down and listen very carefully. I was watching a football game, and moved down to sit in front of the right speaker. The center was just fine, but the voices coming from the right speaker kept going in and out. The receiver was on the Dolby Pro Logic setting. I changed it to 5 channel stereo, and the voices were consistant. Next, I checked the speaker connections to be sure they were not loose.

Then I moved over in front of the left speaker, put the receiver back on Dolby Pro Logic, and the same thing happened, the voices kept going in and out.

Maybe this is part of the reason the speakers are not sounding good to me. Does this sound like a receiver problem, or something to do with my DirecTV HD-DVR? I think I will try a Blu-Ray movie later to see if the same thing happens.

Yes, Maggie's favorite thing to do is to sit and watch TV, just waiting for any kind of animal to be on TV..then she goes crazy. Ugh

I did figure out when I switched the receiver from Dolby Pro Logic (this is how the Magnolia "HT Expert" told me I should be watching TV) to THX on the receiver, and the In and Out went away.

What a game between LSU and Arkansas!

Okay, I found a local store that advertised a Home Theater division to their store, and their web site said Paradigm and Klipsch were two of their brands. So, I thought okay I can go listen to Klipsch Side Surrounds and see if they think this will help my situation. I thought I would also listen to the Paradigm speakers which receive lots of praise on this forum.

Well, their Home Theater division had four setups and two were in semi-close rooms, and the other two had two half walls in the middle of there huge store. As for the Klipsch that they carry, they only have Klispch small on-wall speakers, which they said was Klipsch's lowest level.

They had a pair of Paradigm Studio 60 v.5 speakers & a cc-490 center hooked up in one of the wide open layouts. The room had a Paradigm sub, but no surrounds. I listened to Boston from Augustana. It was beautiful. Then I went into one of the semi-closed rooms and listen to the same song on the Paradigm Signature S-8s, and full surround. He said they were $9,000, so I they had better sounded good.

Anyway, I came right home, downloaded the song Boston from iTunes and listened to it thru my Apple TV on my Denon AVR4800 and Klipsch RF-3 & RC-3 speakers. Talk about depressed. There is no comparison the Studio 60s sounded so much better. Now, maybe their source was better than the download from iTunes, but the room acoustics were certainly no better than mine.

So, one of the poster here told me to get on with it and make a decision. So, I think I am going to see if I can find the Studio 60s for less than they had them. Also, a local guy is selling a used pair of Studio 100 v.3, that I may try to listen to.

Looks like this journey is going to be much more expensive than the $1,500 I thought I was dropping on a new Denon receiver.