Before these I had a bunch of Cerwin Vega speakers. A pair of E310 floor standers, a HT-S10 10" sub, a pair of HT-SAT5 and a HT-CNTR25 originally hooked up to a Kenwood VR309. I bought them back in 1999 and wasn't really a huge audiophile back then. I think the entire system cost me about $2000 including the receiver. I had them hooked up to the Denon 3805 for a couple months and I could really hear a difference in the quality of the receivers. The Kenwood is garbage in comparison.
I liked the E310's. They were powerful with a nice low end. The satellites and center were just average and I actually blew the tweeter in the center when somebody else had cranked the volume up all the way because they didn't know how to use the receiver (had it on the wrong source). I put in a movie and when the THX sound started the tweeter popped (and almost my ears too).
The difference between the Cerwin Vega's and my new Klipsch speakers is like night and day. The Klipsch's are much more detailed and accurate. I can hear things in music and movies that I couldn't before. The RW12d shakes the house and is a huge improvement over the HT-S10. I could never go back to anything less.
Anyone that has come over and had a demo has been amazed at how the system sounds. Mind you many are used to a HTIB or nothing at all. I still like the look on their faces when they're first hearing it though.
I'm using the RB81's as fronts and surrounds right now. They can go really loud yet still sound crisp thanks to the 3805. I eventually plan on getting some RF82's for fronts, when I move my gear in to it's
new location in the basement, and use the 81's as rears.