nht vs cerwin vega

100 watts is to the 8 in subs in the 2.5i. would probbly sound better with twice that. amp is carver tfm15. used sub output for the signal. im not shure if that is correct. i do have a klipsch ksw12 cut off above 70 hz. mainly for movies.

If you are using the sub output to feed the 8-inchers, then you are only givng them signal below the sub xover (maybe 80hz), when their internal crossover is probably designed at more like 250 Hz. Your lower mids and upper bass are probably non-existent. That would certainly keep it from 'getting loud' ;-)

Feed both sets of binding posts a full-range signal, or just jumper them and use one good 150-200 wpc stereo amp, and you'll be fine.

gregadd, thats a pretty lousey response, the guy didnt ask for us to evaluate his gear, he wants help makin the best of what he has & you run his gear in the dirt, way to go dude.

ill tell ya what, i can remember when i would of loved a pair of cerwin vega .

GMARCOTTE,work with what you have before thinking about lascalas, ive owned a ton of klipsch speakers & they too can be harsh.

if im reading your description correctly you are biamping the nht's with a tfm 15 on bottom & the rest of your power is supplied from the hk reciever & the mids & highs are too low to compete with the bass .

try turning down the gain on the carver & turn the volume up on the hk, you can also try just the power from the hk to run the nht's & see if that puts your sound more in sync.

experiment with what you have before doing any upgrades.

gmarcotte:
As Bigjow suggests, work with what you have. E-mail the people at Cerwin and ASK them about x-over modification to tame the sizzle.
As you suspect, the sound "imbalance" is x-over related and designed to be so.
Alternatively, check out a recent thread at AA -- "remember when CW were audiophile" or s/thing along those lines. Cheers

inscrutable, i suspected i may be loosing something in the mid bass region, i will go back to bi-amping with fullrange signal. at that point i could swap the sp wire at the speakers to give a full 100 watts to the mid-highs. ive been a little weary af just turning it up with no cliping indicater on the hk. i think i will also run the sp with just one amp like gregm suggested, both with the hk and then the carver only. thanks everybody for the comments!