I have just installed a 950 preamp and 770 power amp in a 7.1 system at a dear friends house. Holy Gushmoley! These things are nothing short of fantastic. The system uses all Klipsch Reference Series 7 speakers in a fairly large room (23x40x10 feet) with good acoustical treatment. I installed a 6x10 ft. (16:9) screen and a Christie LX45 projector. It looks and sounds so much like a movie theater that we, too, won't be spending much money on theater tickets in the future. Decoding and placement are dead accurate, and the sound reproduction is completely effortless no matter the level. At 0db the thing is just about too loud for ME , and I can crank it 6 to 8 db above that with absolutely nothing straining but my ears. And I like it LOUD.

I am a location mixer and dubbing mixer for film and video and have done several feature films. Never thought I'd see this level of achievement in consumer equipment. My hat is off to you guys. Why would anyone buy anything else when you can get professional level performance at this price?

------------------
Klystron

Yeah MAN, that sounds like a great space for MCAV! I enjoy reading these posts.

Looking forward to more details.

Still...you'll all have to stop with the raves or I'll NEVER see my Next-Gen Outlaw pre/pro!

Klystron,
The system you described here is exactly what I want. I am only concerned about the sound being a little "bright" with the Klipsch Reference series. What do you think, to bright or just right?
Any info on the quality of the sound would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Kevin

I went with the Klipsches because I knew that in that big room I just had to have horns. Most HT speakers are designed for rooms of 1 to 3 thousand cubic feet. This room has over 9 thousand. We put Eurospan acoustic treatment on the ceiling, plus there are heavy drapes, overstuffed furniture and thick Oriental rugs in there. Wide dispersion speakers would die in about ten feet, and my front row is at twelve feet, so horns were a must. As to brightness, they can be a wee tad bright especially with AC3 tracks (DTS is better in this regard, not as "brittle"), but turning on the Theater Compensation takes care of that completely. One of the requirements for this system was that all the speakers (except the sub) had to be flown. The Klipsches were small enough to do that, and their imaging really shows off the Outlaw's pinpoint placement of sounds in the field. Depending on the size of your room you may not need the big 7 series speakers, 3's or 5's may do you fine. But those horns make it sound so much like a big THX commercial theater it blows my mind.

Bottom line ... GO FOR IT!!! The Outlaw/Klipsch combination will not let you down!

------------------
Klystron

First of all, I'm now going to Klystron's friend's house to watch movies. :-)

But seriously, I, too, run a horn-driven system. JBL HT4V's up front, an HT4H in the center and HT-5's in the rear. I agree with Klystron that some Dolby Digital tracks seem a bit bright, but IMHO horn-based systems sound more "theatrical". They throw a huge, controlled soundstage that easily rivals your local google-plex. In addition, the blast from the compression driver doesn't break up as it pummels you with explosions, etc. (See Klystron's note about the 0db setting...)

I especially like how huge the soundfield coming from my center channel is. I have home theater seating that consists of four loungers attached by "wedges" to hold drinks, etc. The distance across the seating is over 12 feet, and the center channel sounds the same from every chair. In fact, if I walk around behind the seating area, I literally have to hug the side wall to clear the sweet spot coming from the center channel. It's that wide...

I will say, though, that music through my system does fatigue me sometimes. But it is a case-by-case thing, not an absolute.

If you like horns, get 'em! I think the 950/770 is a fine match.



[This message has been edited by peteypete (edited March 23, 2004).]

Ugh, horns. Who would listen to those.