for under ~$800, is there a better 5.1? i'm getting a yamaha receiver. tia.

unless you are a headbanger or wanna use them for parties. Klipsch owners swear by them....until they hear speakers by: Vienna, Dynaudio, Martin Logan, Monitor Audio, B&W, KEF, Castle, Mission, PMC, Epos etc..

Link is to a review in Sound &amp; Vision. You can go to www.energy.com to find a local dealer where you can listen to them.<ul><li><a href="http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/article.asp?print_page=y&amp;section_id=3&amp;article_id=6 78&amp;page_number=4&amp;preview=">act6 Review</a></li></ul>

That, and underwhelming materials &amp; craftsmanship = not a good choice in their price bracket. And their subs are really not very good either. 2nd Jody on Energy, and would also suggesy Paradigm (as I always do). Hey Joe, besides Sound Advice, who sells good stereo equipment in Sarasota?

I would go with the recommendations here that suggest Energy.

got them for $60 because they were missing the front two and the sub. They do great for rears in my small setup, although when I move I'll probably have to make my Monitor Audio speakers the new rears and get some substantial fronts. The center is really nice for voice.

well, I work at best buy and receive a discount so I suppose I'm partial to them, although they're definitely not known for the highest end equipment. If i was a $ballah$ and needed some nice equip, i'd most likely buy my stuff at sound advice.

Many years ago I used to work for the Wiz when they were in business. (Don't hold that against me -- I really do know about quality audio -- which is one reason I hated working there.)

Klipsch speakers were just about the brightest sounding speakers in the store. They sounded great when you first fire them up. But after extended listening, they were very fatiguing.

Paired with a good amplifier, they sounded fine. But since most receivers are very bright, and even distorted in the upper range, Klipsch were quite harsh when combined with most receivers. The exception was Denon receivers, which were not as bright as Yamaha, Onkyo, or less expensive brands.

I've been out of retail for 8 years, and have not listened to Klipsch speakers since then. And I have not done any critical listening of receivers either, except for my own Yamaha RXV3000.

-- P.

However the general consensus is that the Klipsch horn tweeters are very bright. As I mentioned in my post below, they sound impressive when you first listen to them. But they quickly become fatiguing.

Reggie, if you think that Klipsch are too warm, then you would absolutely HATE my Celestion SL700 speakers. Their sound is beautifully warm, with a very sultry midrange.
Those speakers make female vocals sound better than any other speaker on the market.

However they don't play very loud, and are not great for loud rock or home theatre. That's why I have separate systems for music and movies.

Reggie, I'd be curious to know some of the speakers you like which are brighter than Klipsch.

-- P.

I thought they were much more crisp. I also think that Polk speakers are brighter too. At least that was my impressions before I replace my polks ten years ago with some Stratus Golds.

Just recently upgraded to the RS7's, RC7, and RS7's. Can't wait to hear what they sound like in my new place.

As for the Klipsch quints, I have not heard them. What I had before the Reference series were the RSX-4's and RCX-4. They are the reference series satellite speakers. They sound fantastic for a satellite speaker. I would recommend them over the quints because they aren't much more. I think I paid a little over 500 for the 5 speakers. Worth the money.

Like you, I am not particularly fond of Klipsch speakers. However I dislike them because they are *too* bright. And they don't play midrange particularly well.

PSB and Paradigm speakers are bright. But they have a much smoother midrange and treble than Klipsch. Polks are also smoother than Klipsch, even if not quite as smooth as PSB. The PSB Stratus series are some of the nicest speakers I have ever heard at anywhere near their price.

Take this all with a grain of salt because i have not listened to Klipsch speaks in 8 years, and I have not auditioned PSB Stratus speakers in about 4 years.
FWIW, if I were starting over, I would get PSB Stratus speakers all around.

-- P.

Personally I like ML sound better than my PSBs - and at the time I got them I really liked the Mirage speakers better but their sound was so dependent on the location in the room (they need three feet in front of the wall plus nothing around them) and the PSBs would fit well with any room. I am running Definitive Technology center channel speakers as my rears - they have similar sound to the stratus golds

I don't think there's any speaker that is further down the opposite end of the scale than kipsch by comparison. They flat make me wince.

Now you've hit a soft spot. :-)
I actually upgraded my whole audio system because I was supposed to get a pair of Martin Logan speakers from a friend of mine about 6-7 years ago. That deal fell through, however. But I still have the audio system. And I ended up finding a great deal on my Celestion SL700's.

I agree -- I love Martin Logans. But they are considerably more expensive than PSBs -- even the Stratus series.

-- P.

I do agree with some folks that klipsch is generally bright, but I built new corssovers for mine with high quality components and they sound like diffrent speakers. Totally smoothed them out.

music. For me, my ear was trained to love them in movie theaters so it was a great fit. I don't know what "in your face" means though. I have the Synergy series from 1999/2000 tied to a Denon 3801. Sounds like a movie theater to me.