Hey guys, I am a complete newbie when it comes to sound systems. I have tried to do as much research as possible to learn about the different speakers out there and what would fit my needs and I believe I have made some progress (if not please tell me). I do understand that alot of people reply with answers saying to each his own or whatever the saying is and people just have to go out and hear the different brands and speakers to see what they like. However, there are no stores near me so I can't go check out the different brands. However, I was able to hear the icon Klipsch speakers at best buy and really like them and that is what has led me here. Basically I am looking for a sound system for my dorm room at college which can then be used as a party sound system at the rugby house I will live in senior ar and then as a sound system when I get older in just a regular house (if it makes it through the rugby house). I love blasting rap with my friends but I also like a lot of other types of music such as some classical and artists like dave mathews, jack johnson, state radio, along with some other more feminine sounding songs that hit really high pitches that I would be too embarrased to name lol. So in other words I need a sound system that can cover every part of the range and be loud. I have about $1400 to spend on this system and cant yet decide if I wanna go with a stereo reciever or a 5.1 receiver. Im not sure if it would make more sense to start with a 5.1 with my 2 speaker and I will purchase a sub next year or if i should go with a 2.1, get the speakers and sub and use that for 4 years and then get a 5.1 reciever and get more speakers from there. Also, I would prefer if I didnt have to worry too much about the speakers being blown. The reading I have done has led me to the RF-82s which I can get new and shipped for about $900. It seems to me people really like these speakers and they can be very powerful with a good reciever. As far as a reciever goes, I am looking at the Harman Kardon HK 3490 ($350). It gives off 2x120W. I have heard from others that harmans match very well with klipsch. If you have read this entire post, and I know its long, I really appreciate you spending your time on this. This is my first post as a member here. I would really love any advice people could possibly give me. Please feel free to tell me Im wrong about everything and what I should be looking at instead. Thanks so much for your time and comments, Ben

Sounds like you need a pair of La Scalas and a sub.  Buy 'em now and keep 'em for life.  Add more speakers when you can afford them.  If you want to rock a whole house, you need big speakers and La Scalas will fill the bill.  Also, many of them come with a utility finish that can be cleaned up after they make it through the tough years.

BTW, your message is not too long, but it would be good if you could break it up into smaller blocks of text.  It will be more likely to get read if you do that.

Thanks for the advice Islander. I looked up the Scalas and they seem very nice and word is they are LOUD. Could you by any chance recommend a receiver for the scalas? Do you think the scalas will have as nice a sound for more relaxed music with a lower volume as the RF-82s? And after reading online, people said it was soooo loud one may only need one scala speaker. Do you think thats the case? By the way, I had the post separated into paragraphs but when I posted it showed as just one paragraph. I then went back in to edit and even "shift clicked" with enter and that didnt work either. Thanks for the advice.

Sometimes Macs have trouble with the formatting on this site.  It can be done, but I'm using a PC, so I don't don't know about Firefox and all that stuff.

Most receivers will drive La Scalas just fine, but of course more power is better.  They sound good at low volume, too.  Two non-performance factors often make them popular with college students:  one, they're too big to easily steal, and two, drunk girls can dance on them in relative safety, although Klipsch recommends against it.

With most Klipsch speakers, the very high sensitivity means that everything going into them is revealed, so if you have noisy and/or low-quality electronics, the speakers will make it more obvious.  Crown K2 amps have a good rep on this forum, if you like pro sound gear.

As for Heritage speakers like the La Scalas, one of the things that helps make them long-term keepers is that there are so many ways to upgrade them as your interest and budget increases, so they can grow with you.  Mine are 1974 models and in three years I replaced the original crossover capacitors (easy and inexpensive) and the tweeters (with CT125s) and finally did the conversion to bi-amped JubScalas and the improvements at every step were easy to hear.

That's not to say that any mods are needed.  They sound fine stock

Another factor in the longevity of the Heritage Series is that they use pro-type woofers with pleated paper surrounds that last practically forever, unlike the foam surrounds that start to rot away after 10 or 15 years.  Just change the capacitors (the caps) every 20 or 30 years and you're good to go.