Nathometheatre

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $2200.00 from Starpower

Summary:
I have owned my RF-7's for nearly two years. I have them as part of my 7.1 channel set up in my home theatre.
They over time have just sounded better and better! Even with new heavily bass encoded DVD's that have come out lately, they can handle just about anything thrown their way.
It is true that the horn loaded tweeters do soften over time.
They are fantastic speakers for the money! I also have the whole family of Reference 7 speakers, including the RC-7, RS-7's and a pair of RB-35's for my rear channel.
I have a SVS PB12-plus2 to handle anything under 40Hz, so I'm not missing anything audible.

Strengths:
Extremely effecient speakers. Basically any amp will power them fine, but with that said, it is true that the RF-7's will expose cheap gear! I'm using a Denon 3805, and they match well!

Weaknesses:
Size if anything. Aside from that, there isn't anything worth mentioning. Grilles could be better designed without using cheap plastic prongs.

Similar Products Used:
Every speaker brand you can possibly think of!

lslasher

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Visitors rate this review
4.86 of 5, 7.00 votes

Price Paid:  $1700.00 from Local store in NJ

Summary:
Everything that has been said about those speakers is true. The following review summarizes most of the experience of mine and others with those amazing speakres. Read more carefully than usual ;)
Sorry manfucaturing has stopped due to industrial considerations (and not sound!).
Huge sound, highly sensitive. _very_ spoiled in the sense that they require good components to sound right.

Many regard those speakers as "bright", I'm not sure about the right term, but this is true. They are in-your-face speakers and there's nothing wrong with it. Being perfectly balanced, laid back and adequate as with popular british speakers isn't always enjoying. I'd use the analogous between an original scotish wishkey and Jack Daniel's, which the latter is prefered by me due to its irregular sweetness but isn't consensous by others. So it's a matter of taste and not performance.

Now, about "harshness", this is something you would want to make sure you dont run into, as with any horn loaded speakers. To avoid this, you have to take into considerations a lot of parameters, such as quality of amplification, source, acoustics and time to burn in the tweeters, which takes many many hours with those, but in the end - it's rewarding. Out of the box you get harshness, but over the time with the right positioning, room acoustics and source and amplification you get the sweet jack daniel's feeling. Once you get it, you'll know. Sorry for the many who find those speakers harsh/too-bright when they auditioned them at stores, it's simply unfair to the speakers.

Visit forums.klipsch.com to read many many reivews on those, mainly are over enthusaistic at my opinion, because there is a small core of Klipsch fans there that overtake the forums pretty much. For example, DeanG is a known figure there which has a nice crossover upgrade solution for those speakers, that replaces the stock crossover with once that has top notch capicators for some hundreds of bucks.

Regarding amplification, it's a myth with those speakers. Since they are rated ultra sensitive; 102db, which means that you do very well with a few watts. This is due the horn that helps with the high frequencies by directing them better than a regular dome tweeter dispersion. However, impendance tests that were taken in 2002 by Sound & Vision show that the speaker has an impendance dips to about 3 ohms which means that the amplifier must be good in tracking those. So going for a cheap SS amplifier isn't recommended here, unless it's a T-AMP which is a diferent category. Check for damping-factors, and current bursts.

Positioning those speakers is critical as well due the horn. Some prefer straightahead, some toeing in 45 degress some less. Note that all Klipsch speakers take advantage of the corners and those much be places near corners in order to get the bass extended. Once they are - it extends very good, and you get full range. Last issue is with the foam positioning when out of box (due to shipping artifacts) - you have to push it forward otherwise it blocks the rear ports thereby reducing bass extensions.

Strengths:
See above.

Weaknesses:
Hard to fine tune. Randomly, you get an harsh sound. But if you've got the time and nerves to listen carefully and tune - then those are one of the best speakers that you'll listen to, if not the best. Period.

Price Paid:  $1700.00 from Local store in NJ

Summary:
Everything that has been said about those speakers is true. The following review summarizes most of the experience of mine and others with those amazing speakres. Read more carefully than usual ;)
Sorry manfucaturing has stopped due to industrial considerations (and not sound!).
Huge sound, highly sensitive. _very_ spoiled in the sense that they require good components to sound right.

Many regard those speakers as "bright", I'm not sure about the right term, but this is true. They are in-your-face speakers and there's nothing wrong with it. Being perfectly balanced, laid back and adequate as with popular british speakers isn't always enjoying. I'd use the analogous between an original scotish wishkey and Jack Daniel's, which the latter is prefered by me due to its irregular sweetness but isn't consensous by others. So it's a matter of taste and not performance.

Now, about "harshness", this is something you would want to make sure you dont run into, as with any horn loaded speakers. To avoid this, you have to take into considerations a lot of parameters, such as quality of amplification, source, acoustics and time to burn in the tweeters, which takes many many hours with those, but in the end - it's rewarding. Out of the box you get harshness, but over the time with the right positioning, room acoustics and source and amplification you get the sweet jack daniel's feeling. Once you get it, you'll know. Sorry for the many who find those speakers harsh/too-bright when they auditioned them at stores, it's simply unfair to the speakers.

Visit forums.klipsch.com to read many many reivews on those, mainly are over enthusaistic at my opinion, because there is a small core of Klipsch fans there that overtake the forums pretty much. For example, DeanG is a known figure there which has a nice crossover upgrade solution for those speakers, that replaces the stock crossover with once that has top notch capicators for some hundreds of bucks.

Regarding amplification, it's a myth with those speakers. Since they are rated ultra sensitive; 102db, which means that you do very well with a few watts. This is due the horn that helps with the high frequencies by directing them better than a regular dome tweeter dispersion. However, impendance tests that were taken in 2002 by Sound & Vision show that the speaker has an impendance dips to about 3 ohms which means that the amplifier must be good in tracking those. So going for a cheap SS amplifier isn't recommended here, unless it's a T-AMP which is a diferent category. Check for damping-factors, and current bursts.

Positioning those speakers is critical as well due the horn. Some prefer straightahead, some toeing in 45 degress some less. Note that all Klipsch speakers take advantage of the corners and those much be places near corners in order to get the bass extended. Once they are - it extends very good, and you get full range. Last issue is with the foam positioning when out of box (due to shipping artifacts) - you have to push it forward otherwise it blocks the rear ports thereby reducing bass extensions.

Strengths:
See above.

Weaknesses:
Hard to fine tune. Randomly, you get an harsh sound. But if you've got the time and nerves to listen carefully and tune - then those are one of the best speakers that you'll listen to, if not the best. Period.

Price Paid:  $1250.00 from used

Summary:
Just incredible. Buy them, and you won't regret it. If your ears suck and you don't like them, the resale value is great. I have the dean g upgrade and have nothing negative to speak of.

Strengths:
Everything

Weaknesses:
Big if your a wimp

Similar Products Used:
klipsch, jensen

Price Paid:  $1900.00 from audiolight

Summary:
RF 7 ! they are just great sounding speakers, take your time for broken the horns after the fun begins.

Strengths:
Powerful bass, astonishing detail, excellent soundstage , exceptional sensivity rating of 102 db /1w/m , good price.

Weaknesses:
cheap grill !

Similar Products Used:
klipsch rf 5 , boston acoustic t 1030