These speakers are incredible. Anyone that doesn't think that is probably imputing lower class input signal into them.
I drive mine with 2 rotel 1080 bi-amp 200 x 4 into each component . marantz sa-11 cd player. If you don't like the sound spend some good money on cables and speaker wire, best investment you could make.
No matter what music you listen to you won't be disappointed. I have a the matching sub and I never turn it on. No need.
After years of using these speakers I have yet to hurt them.

Bought used.. Rf-83's are ok.. My Rf-7's (Dean G mod.) stomps all over the 83's. I'm running each into a pair of Krell Kav-250A's . The Rf-7's rule , so much detail , midrange and upper end. Bass is beefy.. Steer from the Rf-83's..Weak all the way around.

My system is over 20 years old so I started to upgrade. I decided speakers were going to be my fisrt upgrade. I looked at several brand and decided on these Klispch Rf-83's based solely on the price I paid. If money did not matter i would not have choosen these. But since I am not rich I bought these.

How do they sound? Well I have a 14' by 19' listening area and they sound good not great. As one reviewer stated they need and equalizer so I attached my 20 year old Rotel equalizer to my system and with the proper adjustments they now sound much better. I feel I bought way to much speaker for my listening environment. These are made for a very large area. Since these are so efficient I cannot put more than 20 to 30 watts into them with out my neighbors complaining. But they rock. I did notice that when I listen to modern jazz the horns are too shrill but recently it seems the sound has tamed and I hope it gets better as they get broken in a bit more. The bass is extremely deep and mids seem ok. We'll see!

I am in no way unhappy with these I really enjoy them. Music sounds so much better than my old speakers. And I plan on purchasing the NAD M2 amp soon so I will post a review when that happens. I would recommend these if you have very very large listening area also they were a great deal for the price. But if I had to do it over iI would probably buy a smaller floorstanding speaker.

Have owned both the RF-63 and RF-83 speakers. All horn speakers tend to be best appreciated by those of an esotericlistening taste and the RF-83s in particular. They are room, source and cable sensitive. They produce an "in-your-face" sound that tends to brightness that encourages harmonic flutter. They require a fairly large room with a 16" x 16" being about the minimum for them to operate properly. These are speakers that really need a good 12 band equalizer. Definitely not for everybody.Both build and sound quality should be better for the price.

First, let me say this review is written by someone from Australia. The first disappointment we experienced with these speakers is that the speaker cones have been miss-represented by Klipsch. The cones are not 8" as they claim. The cones are only 7", and I don't appreciate being decieved by "over-bloated" manufacturing statistics to get a sale. If Klipsch is capable of miss-representing cone size; then what else are they capable miss-represented? We previously had a pair of Australian made Aaron ATS-5 speaker that these RF-83's replaced. Lets just say that the music experience we were expecting from the RF-83's have certainly not lived up to their review reputation. The RF-83's are more than $3000AUS more expensive that the Aaron ATS-5's, but the Aarons blow these Klipsch speakers in the weeds in every aspect. After having these FR-83's for over 6 months we have found that music fatigue develops after 1/2 hour of listening. Something the Aarons never did. We have now returned to the Aarons and put the RF-83's up for sale on ebay. The RF-83's really sound harsh to the extent that we would put then in the same catergory as cheap speakes under $500. Unfortunately we can only give 1, but we would have given 0 if allowed. Total disappointment, and I would recommend anyone wanting brilliant speakers to cjeck out the Aaron ATS-5's.

These heavy beasts will not dissapoint you. I have mine paired with a mid-range yamaha rx-565 and the sound is incredible. Play any type of music and the highs are so crisp and clear, you'll hear details you've never head before. Every breath can be heard, pic on the guitar, etc. You DO NOT NEED a subwoofer with these. 3 8" woofers on each speaker shake the whole house easily. Turn these up and they can put out some serious volume without any distortion. Even with my basic yammie amp I can rock my walls and hear them clearly in my neighbors house. Crazy!

All I can say is these put my last Bose home theatre speakers to shame, and actually I paid far less for these than those Bose lifestyle set.

Go hear them for yourself at a nearby dealer.

I had waited a long time before upgrading my RF-3II's which I was really happy with since 2003. At the time the RF-83 were not available yet and the RF-7's was really what I would have wanted, had I had the money to buy them. But side by side with a real-time switch, the RF-3II only sounded like a smaller version of the RF-7's and I was ready to accept the small difference in sound as opposed to a huge difference in price.

Then one day I go to my favorite audio place and there they are, tall, deep, somewhat slimmer, but OOH so warm but SOOO powerful, the RF-83's which instanteneously knocked my socks off. They were too expansive for me, I just said to myself "hey buddy, you need to make more money to afford these".

For months I would go to that store, bring a CD, stay for an hour and just enjoy the ride. The amp driving was just a little theater receiver by Marantz of the 4000 series, and it was already so sweet to my ears.

I bought a pair 3 months ago and also upgraded my receiver to a Marantz SR7002 (from an old Denon 1802). The mix of the two is simply wonderful. These speakers litterally disappear, making you forget on-the-spot that you are listening to horn-driven speakers. My dad owns a pair of RF-7's and comparing the two, I have to say the RF-83 better suits my listening needs, with smoother and higher highs and more precise mids. The high-compression drivers on the RF-83 really makes for a punchier, dryier bass and yet is able of lower hz than the RF-7. I do NOT need a SUB to enjoy anything stereo anymore. The bass from these speakers is simply "what it should be" and anything more would simply be decadent.

They need a big room to be at their best, however. I would simply go with the RF-63 with a smaller room.

I used to think nothing could get any better than the RF-7's until I heard these, I tell you. Long periods of listening would actually tire my ears with the RF-7's as opposed to the RF-83's which you simply forget and just enjoy the music with only my own time being the limit. I took out old stuff I was tired of listening just to re-discover it on the RF-83's and what a pleasure. Words don't do justice.

They are the main speakers of my old theater setup which (still) consists of the RC-3II, RS-3II and RCW-5800 for the sides and two RW-12D for the subs. Having a dedicated KSW-10 sub for the center channel allows me to keep the actual setup for movies and BOY does it ever blow me away!!! I really enjoy this setup.

Klipsh must learn how to finish the job, though. The veneer on top of these speakers is at best flimsy (they say furniture-grade!!!) and for a speaker of that price, well... Every veneered corner has little chips that come off just by being there. My RF-3II (not even veneer!!!) did the same, so on that level, they have not improved.

However, the cabinets are really stirdy and feel strong. No boomyness whatsoever on the RF-83's, they just tell what the music wants to say. Everyday I come home, I want to just sit down and enjoy them.

When you read that "they just take everything you throw at them", well, IT'S TRUE. They do NOT show signs of harshness when played at loud volumes, and to be honest, when some stuff you know by heart so well, I actually got scared at times, thinking "should I bring the volume down for this part?" but NO, not at all. They are strong, heart-punching speakers with a pure and flat response that will rock your world as much as it is rocking mine right now.

I listen to SACD classical music (I'm a classical musician), Progressive rock, Blues, Jazz, well, it would be easier to simply say I listen to everything but country and folk... No offense, it just does not move me.

By the way, these babies are heavy...

These speakers are a sound investment. I got them as demos so they were more or less broken in. I traded some Tannoys which I thought were a bit too colored for my taste. The Klipsch RF-83 has a rather flat and clear presentation. I believe this reflects the trend in speaker design today. On the whole I think they have lower distortion than the Tannoys.

I would suggest that they be coupled to a warmer sounding amp. I have two amps. An Onkyo and a Cambridge model. The Cambridge integrated produces a slightly thin sound through the speakers. the Onkyo gives the better presentation and is rather astonishing .

Klipsch has come a long way in its speaker quality. These have little in common with the type of product they were putting out 15 years ago. If you are in the market for entry level high end give these speakers a listen.

my God this is one serious speaker...with proper equipment it could last you a lifetime!

I purchased my pair of Klipsch RF-83 Speakers approx. 1 year ago and shortly after wards noticed a very small indentation when the lighting was directed towards the speakers in a particular angle. I contacted the Klipsch Company and without hesitation they shipped and paid all expenses of the shipping and also the return of the speaker with the very small indentation. Afterwards Klipsch consumer relations department kept in close contact with concern that I was satisfied with everything else pertaining with my purchase of my Klipsch speakers. The deep rich quality of the highs and lows that these speakers produce is nothing short of incredible. I can either turn the volume very low or direct most of the power from my 130 watts per channel onkyo receiver with no distortion or loss of sound quality, in short these speakers are an awesome investment, and I'm completely satisfied with their performance that exceed my expectations that I would expect from the Klipsch Company.