H/K question

[dandre47]

Hey all. Just bought an H/K 3485 stereo receiver 120wpc and was wondering if anyone has had experience with this receiver or H/K and could tell me generally about their sound... I'm looking for speakers that will match well with it and need speakers that can handle power and high volumes (parties) as well as sound pretty good for normal listening (day to day). as far as i can tell klipsch's (rb35s or rb61s) would fit the bill aside from notorious brightness although i've heard some receivers offset it a little and sound smoother while some only multiply the bright sound. i"m not looking to have an overly bright setup so i was also considering some onix x-cs's used as mains (av123 promotes the idea since they are actually just x-mtms but video shielded and without the enclosure). any recommendations on speakers that won't break bank (about 400/pr street price or less) that will go well with the H/K? sorry to bring speakers into this forum but it's sort of an all around question that begins with the receiver...

thanks for the help

dan

[royphil345]

The Klipsch Reference Series isn't that bright sounding. However, their emphasis seems to be on efficiency rather than getting maximum bass extension out of their smaller speakers. You'd probably want to purchase a subwoofer eventually if you went with smaller Klipsch speakers.

Seems like a pretty good choice for your purposes and price-range though...You could go with larger "party" speakers like Cerwin Vega and give up some detail for critical listening.

[NickWH]

The Infinity Primus 162 was just reviewed in the October Stereophile...quite a glowing review and for $300/pair worth looking into (stated as being able to play loud with good low-end, among other positives):

http://www.infinitysystems.com/home/products/product_detail.aspx?prod=P162BK&cat=BFS&ser=PRI&Language=ENG&Region=USA&Country=US

Then again, Cambridge Soundworks is having a half-price sale on these towers...I would think they can rock pretty good:
http://www.cambridgesoundworks.com/store/category.cgi?category=spk_newton&item=k1t20zzz

The H/K sound is biased towards the dark side, with an over-emphasized midbass. They sound more powerful than the rating implies but they lack detail, nuance and present so-so soundstaging. Bright or somewhat analytical speakers would be a good match to put the end result back in balance. Laid back or muddy speakers with these receivers might put you to sleep.

[PeruvianSkies]

The Infinity Primus 162 was just reviewed in the October Stereophile...quite a glowing review and for $300/pair worth looking into (stated as being able to play loud with good low-end, among other positives):

http://www.infinitysystems.com/home/products/product_detail.aspx?prod=P162BK&cat=BFS&ser=PRI&Language=ENG&Region=USA&Country=US

Then again, Cambridge Soundworks is having a half-price sale on these towers...I would think they can rock pretty good:
http://www.cambridgesoundworks.com/store/category.cgi?category=spk_newton&item=k1t20zzz

The H/K sound is biased towards the dark side, with an over-emphasized midbass. They sound more powerful than the rating implies but they lack detail, nuance and present so-so soundstaging. Bright or somewhat analytical speakers would be a good match to put the end result back in balance. Laid back or muddy speakers with these receivers might put you to sleep.

I have not heard anything by Cambridge Soundworks, but have been curious about them...maybe someone around here has experience with them and they can chime in about them.

[NickWH]

Cambridge Soundworks made a name for themselves back in the day with the Ensemble sub/sat systems. They were modeled after Bose Acoustimass, but were less expensive. A long time ago I had a C/S HT based on the Ensemble II. For HT they were pretty good. For music they were not good at all (took me a while to realize this).

I have a whole hand-me-down system in my bedroom based on H/K gear and the C/S Tower III. This is a pretty good combo for not much money. The Tower III is a ported 2-way tower with an 8" paper woofer and a 1" fabric dome tweeter. Obviously not the last word in detail and refinement. But they have good bass that extends into the mid-40Hz range, decent mids and the soft dome is smooth if somewhat rolled-off at the top. I would put them up against 90% of the stuff you see at Best Buy and Circuit City, etc.

I have no experience with the newer C/S stuff (Newton Series). When Kloss was the lead designer they had more than a few award winning designs. I think they may have gone downhill since then. C/S was the original direct HT speaker retailer, now you have AV123 and Aperion Audio, etc., so the competition is fierce.

With free shipping and a 45 day return policy it wouldn't hurt to give them a shot.

[dandre47]

thanks for all the replies, i'm posting in the speakers section about an opportunity i have to pick up some klipsch forte IIs... check it out!

Dan