Soundstage, bass dynamics, efficiency, price.

None so far.

I spent about 4 months auditioning and researching speakers to purchase for my home theater/audio system. Thanks to this site and the great reviews of the Klipsch RF-3's I went to my local dealer and gave them a listen. DAMN!!! I bought them on the spot for $720/pair. I suppose I could've done better on the Internet, but I think it's only fair to give your local dealer where you audition speakers your business as long as they're willing to deal.

Anyway, these speakers are by far the best I listened to in the

Similar Products Used:

Older Klipsch, Polk, DefTech, Vandersteen.

Terrific sound.Value.Efficiency

Bass is stong and quick,but this speaker can only go SO low.

I love their sound,lifelike and crystal clear. With a small H/K reciever(65x2) and ksw-12 sub,the sound is overwhelming. I have a feeling they could take a lot more amplifier power and sound just as good. Harsh horns? Havent noticed dont clip the power and you'll get great sound. Some listeners think the sub is overkill,and they go deep enough,so give these a listen. I love'em!

High volume, power, clarity, sensitivity, soundstage, immaging

Overpowers my center, does not replace subwoofer .. well so they aren't really weaknesses hehe.

I must first thank the previous reviewers, as almost everything they said about these speakers is true. For such loud and powerfull speakers they truly dissapear and create a great soundstage, even in my apartment. They make all my music jump alive. They even keep a great bass 'intensity' at a low level, something you don't get from most speakers. (they also do a great job of drowning out the neighbors)

For dvd and home theater they work great, but they definitly don't fill the 'rumble' from beflow 60hz from subwoofers, but they have great punch for explosions. I haven't yet matched a subwoofer because i live in an apartment. They almost overpower my Klipsch sc-1 and took some tweaking to get the front channels balanced. In situations where i am reduced to Pro Logic i often switch to stereo mode as the speakers immaging is almost better than the surround decoder.

Find them listen, and buy. I find them great for someone who wants a quality speaker for both HT and music without skimping on quality.

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha, jbl

Wow!!!!!! Crisp clear sound. I can hear every detail. Solid build.

The grill! Don't tip these forward with the grill on.

These speakers are excellent. I bought the whole package rf3's, rc3, rs3's and ksw12 sub. For the price and even for more than the price these speakers are worth more. I am glad I went with the horn type speakers. The clarity is amazing. I had it narrowed down between 3 sets of speakers. Paradigm reference series, definitive techs and these. The paradigms sounded great but lacked the clarity of these. The deftechs where nice also but just didn't seem to hang with the klipsch.


Note: I removed the gold connector on the back and biwired them. It seems to have improved the sound(which I didn't think is possible).

These speakers go great with a marantz mm9000 amp and marantz av560 pre amp. They compliment each other well. I have heard the denon series receivers also work great.

Definatley listen to all the speakers you can before buying. also check what kind of reciever in the store is driving them. A cheap reciever doesn't do these justice.

Similar Products Used:

paradigm, def techs

Wow!!!!!! Crisp clear sound. I can hear every detail. Solid build.

The grill! Don't tip these forward with the grill on.

These speakers are excellent. I bought the whole package rf3's, rc3, rs3's and ksw12 sub. For the price and even for more than the price these speakers are worth more. I am glad I went with the horn type speakers. The clarity is amazing. I had it narrowed down between 3 sets of speakers. Paradigm reference series, definitive techs and these. The paradigms sounded great but lacked the clarity of these. The deftechs where nice also but just didn't seem to hang with the klipsch.


Note: I removed the gold connector on the back and biwired them. It seems to have improved the sound(which I didn't think is possible).

These speakers go great with a marantz mm9000 amp and marantz av560 pre amp. They compliment each other well. I have heard the denon series receivers also work great.

Definatley listen to all the speakers you can before buying. also check what kind of reciever in the store is driving them. A cheap reciever doesn't do these justice.

Similar Products Used:

paradigm, def techs

Wow!!!!!! Crisp clear sound. I can hear every detail. Solid build.

The grill! Don't tip these forward with the grill on.

These speakers are excellent. I bought the whole package rf3's, rc3, rs3's and ksw12 sub. For the price and even for more than the price these speakers are worth more. I am glad I went with the horn type speakers. The clarity is amazing. I had it narrowed down between 3 sets of speakers. Paradigm reference series, definitive techs and these. The paradigms sounded great but lacked the clarity of these. The deftechs where nice also but just didn't seem to hang with the klipsch.


Note: I removed the gold connector on the back and biwired them. It seems to have improved the sound(which I didn't think is possible).

These speakers go great with a marantz mm9000 amp and marantz av560 pre amp. They compliment each other well. I have heard the denon series receivers also work great.

Definatley listen to all the speakers you can before buying. also check what kind of reciever in the store is driving them. A cheap reciever doesn't do these justice.

Similar Products Used:

paradigm, def techs

good sound

cheap cabinets!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just a word of caution to those who may be considering buying the rf3's , the cabinets are very cheap and klipsch does not seem to care a whole lot about it, i am on my third pair because the cabinets keep coming unglued . if i had to do it all over again i would not buy these speakers and mainly because of klipsch's attitude towards thier customers , christ you would think you are dealing with a emachine rep when you call them or they put you on hold and forget about you or they say they will call back and dont.I bought these speakers pretty much on klipsch's reputation and quickly learned a lesson , this is my first klipsch product and most definately my last!!!

Similar Products Used:

jbl's ar's

Clarity.

Easily damaged during shipping. Grill cover mounts are weak.

I was shopping for speakers for arround 1500. After reading the reveiws here I decided to give the RF-3s a listen. What a surprise. Nothing for 1500 sounded as good. I use these for music. Bass is good enough, you need a sub for HT though. This speaker sounded better in my home than in the showroom. At this price, you should at least listen to them before you buy. Here's what I'm using.

Harmon Kardon PT 2500 pre amp
Carver A-220 power amp
Harmon Kardon CD-R2
Yamaha belt drive turntable
Grado cartridge
Stax electrostatic headphones
monster interconnects
12 guage biwire (may upgrade to kimber4tc)

By the way, bass is inproved if you biwire these speakers.

Similar Products Used:

Polk, Bose, etc.

Clarity, Detail of highs, Midbass slam for HT, Tight bass, Efficiency

Vented boxes, Crossovers

I have the Klipsch mated to an Outlaw Audio 1050 receiver. Other components are a RC-3 center, KSW-12, and surrounds.

Home Theater first:

The RF-3's were made for Home Theater. They have a midbass punch that many speakers lack (particularly Polk, in the same pricerange). The horns produce startlingly clear explosions, gunshots, glass shaterring (ok, I'm an Action Movie fan, I admit it).

For movies I cross over to my KSW-12 at 60hz, and they blend reasonably well. With the output of the KSW-12 and the immediacy of the sound from the RF-3's, it makes for a rather impressive HT experience.

Now, for 2 channel.

No HT speaker can be truly great unless it is good at music, too. Movies have music, you know?

The RF-3's perform quite well at music. The horns do have a distinctive sound and I would not recommend buying any Klipsch speakers unless you can listen to them first. The horns let the RF-3's do things that few speakers in its price range can. The RF-3's have a high-end detail and can keep a handle on music at high volumes as well as conventional speakers costing three times as much.

Biwiring is important and I would recommend it whole-heartedly. The poster below that commented that biwiring is a gimick is incorrect. The impedances created by the crossovers separate the low-frequency bass information from the high-frequency treble information, preventing (to some extent) the extreme bass signals from interfering with the highs. I have found the difference audible.

The impedance curve of the RF-3's makes it largely unsuitable for tube amplifiers, although they can perform well on more modest solid-state amplifiers. (The Outlaw is only 65 watts/channel, and reaches deafening volumes.) You may wish to pair them with somewhat warmer electronics if you want to tone down the horns a bit.

A couple of negative points, the boxes are vented (Why, Klipsch, why?) and the bass reproduced in the 45hz region is created almost exclusively by the port and is audibly muddier than the higher-frequency stuff. I would recommend keeping the RF-3's at least a foot away from the rear wall to not reinforce this sound too much, but experiment as you see fit.

Also, the internal wiring is a little on the light side. (Why do I have 6' of thick OFC monster cable to then go into nearly a meter of quite thin aluminum wiring?) But since I'm quite happy with the speakers I don't have much ground to stand on for this one!

Room positioning is quite important with these speakers, move them around until you find the right spot, the sound will be remarkably better if you take the time!

Overall Rating? 5/5 Value Rating.... In my opinion, these speakers sound better than several pairs of $4500 B&W's that I've heard, 5/5

Excellent clarity with anchoring bass. The two 8 inch woofers are equivelant to a 15 inch single woofer but provide a much quicker response. I love the horns. Some enthusiasts may complain "it's too bright"....then adjust your equalizer. I have inthe past cranked up the high frequencies to my old Advent towers. No need with these babies. They sound great with flat settings. When listening to speakers at an audio store, listen to them flat. This will tell you how they are REALLY designed.
These babies work great for front speakers and rock in stereo mode. No need for a sub, even though I have a KSW10. For the price they can't be beat.

None

I recently upgraded my entire system. These are the main bad boys. I have always respected the Klipsch name since I first heard a pair of Klipschorns. These are not Klipschorns but then my budget and my listening room can't do the Big Klipsch's. I am extremely satisfied with the sound and have the complete reference series which I would highly recommend. You gotta love the horns. If you listen to any jazz you will really appreciate the sound.

System:
Sony 36"XBR Television
Sony STR-DE945 Receiver
Sony DVPS-360 DVD
Klipsch RF-3 Mains
Klipsch RC-3 Center
Klipsch RS-3 Surrounds
Klipsch KSW-10 Sub

Similar Products Used:

Paradign Reference