Klipsch SF 1 Floorstanding Speakers
Klipsch SF 1 Floorstanding Speakers
USER REVIEWS
[Jan 22, 2020]
Alaindex
Strength:
I bought a pair of Klipsch Sf1 used at a very decent price and felt that they were very good speakers..... Decent clarity, good bass.... until I purchased a pair of Axiom M50. Wow, what a difference! The Axiom is so clear in the midrange and the highs. Regardless, I think that for the price point, the klipsch sf1 are a good value but they are limited in the high frequencies. And by the way, the real test for good speakers is the midrange to my opinion and the klipsch are rather lacking some definition there Weakness:
Lack of definition in the midrange Price Paid: 200
Purchased: Used
Model Year: 2002
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[Feb 22, 2019]
Jey_hamel
Strength:
Klipsch SF-1 are good mid-HI-FI speakers, I wont repeat what already been said but for nowadays a use find could put some faces on music enthusiast and noise complains from the neighbours. definitely worth recommending if working properly. Even compared to the Tannoy Berkley's and Magnepan 1.6QR I own they hold their own signature Klipsch sound and had something different to offer. Weakness:
I bought a 5.1 Klipsch with in it 2xSF-1, 1xSC-1, 2xSS-1and a KSW 10. they all uses the same tweeter and the surround set slightly smaller woofer. My only complaint is that the 2 towers tweeters had different output, took them apart mesure them, all workin properly and measuring within spec. But had different output. and it seem to be a regular problem within Klipsch Tweeter. Woofer are made with plastic basket but personally don't have to say anything about them sound-wise, fairly descent magnet were used too. Overall if working properly nice pair of speaker. Price Paid: 150
Purchased: Used
Model Year: 2000
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[May 21, 2008]
marine4life75
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
Good range, Gets lound if you need it, Any receiver can make them sing.
Weakness:
Not as accurate as some, rear port needs room, magnifies poor quality audio inputs and setups. This speaker has HIGH highs and LOW lows. The midrange hits you right in the chest too. Essentially, this speaker has great range for its relatively small size and price. My biggest reservation is that they've been out for so long. Was I making a mistake purchasing something that originally came out in 1999? Once I remembered that my buddy's dad and other lifelong Klipsch owners still love their 70's and 80's era klipsch speakers, I felt much better about my decision. Between friends and family I've owned and listened to similar products at both higher and lower price/size ranges. I've actually regressed to these speakers from larger and more expensive Klipsch, Definitives, and Paradigms. Unless you have a dedicated listening room with all the bells, whistles, and positioning, these old SF-1's will fit the bill in a medium size room. Great for parties and social events. Similar Products Used: Older and Bigger model Klipsch, Paradigm, Definitives, NAD, Marantz, Denon, Yamaha, Onkyo, and inferior bargain brands |
[Dec 14, 2007]
robertanderson@insightbb.
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
price is reasonable, sensitive, detailed, clear, nicely built, attractive. these do a great job with jazz, new age, and folk music. i love listening to butterfield blues band - the harmonica sounds like it is live in the living room. yes, it comes through without apologies.
Weakness:
none noted i bought these after having to sell a pair of advent 6003 speakers that i loved. i was without any speakers to talk of for a while. then i bought these. at first i thought these were too brilliant and the sound was harsh. i bought good quality speaker wire, i got rid of the 16 bit cd player and got one with a 24 bit dac. i also got some high quality interconnects for this item. all of a sudden all the harshness was gone. nice, smooth, detailed, clear. yes, these are lively and bright. these make jazz recordings sound great- the way these handle horns and woods are fine. i love the vocals reproduced too. i would suggest vintage pioneer amp(good), vintage marantz(very good) new rotel (really nice) tube amp(excellent).
Customer Service excellent Similar Products Used: paradigm, vintage models, polk, def tech, b&w 600 series. Lots of listening to old and new stuff. these are great for the price- wonderful value! |
[Aug 07, 2006]
bob anderson
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
great sound for the money. a good value for certain. good bass, good midrange, good highs. works perfect with a mellow amp/receiver. try an old marantz. try a small tube amp. use good cables, use good cables, use good cables!
Weakness:
best with a mellow amp- even a low watt tube amp. need to have some really good speaker wire. don't like black. wife hates black anything. purchased at a closing location got a heck of a deal. i can say i did not expect something to perform so well in this price range. some reviewers comment these are a bit bright. all klipsch speakers are-even way back when, but these are never harsh. smooth, clean, clear, and beautiful on female vocals and jazz. if you listen to some jazz and vibes you can feel like you are there in the nightclub. if you listen to Sade or Nora Jone you will hear their voice for all it is worth. You want to have some good quality speaker cable (acoustic research high quality oxygen free copper- no monster. 0 oxygen free copper is key). you want to have very high quality cables for your components. then listen! Most all american speakers are bright. paradigms are also on the bright side; read other comments on infinity, mission, boston acoustics, acoustic research, etc. klipsch over all generate the most positive comments. mine sound really smooth with an old vintage marantz receiver. those sharp edges to the highs are gone. $160 for the receiver. $375 for the Klipsch and a medium priced CD player- sounds like LIVE in the Club! Similar Products Used: old advents, sansuis, infinity, b&w(too much for me), definitive technology, paradigm, jbl. blows all of these away. paradigm are ok. |
[Jan 15, 2005]
music fan San Fran
Casual Listener
Strength:
Brilliant sound reproduction, efficient and bright.
Weakness:
Needs a subwoofer (as all speakers in this price range do). Klipsch has a minimalist sense of styling- all black, no frills. I was worried about the WAF (wife acceptance factor) but once she heard the sound, she fell in love with them. The Klipsch SF-1 were discontinued in late 2004 (along with the SC-1 center channel and the SS-1 surround speakers), so these speakers can now be had at bargain basement prices while supplies last. List price on the SF-1 was $500 per pair (a bit steep, IMHO), but I got them at half price ($250 for the pair) factory sealed in original boxes. If you are looking for really nice entry level hi-fi sound from a top shelf manufacturer, these speakers will fit the bill. I got the SC-1 ($149) and a pair of SS-1 ($250) from Vanns.com to round out the set. That's 5 sweet sounding Klipsch speakers for $650. Like all Klipsch speakers they feature a tweeter behind a horn which spreads the sound and does most of the work. The tweeter-horns require very little energy to do their work, so the speakers, like all Klipsch, are highly efficient. This means you can run them off a modest amplifier and they still sound great. They are rated at 100 watts RMS but 50 watts would be more than enough to make them sing. They sound great at low volumes, they sound great loud, and they are especially nice with vocals and mid register instruments like guitars and saxophones. Where they lack is in the bass, so you will need a decent subwoofer. I got the Yamaha SWT-215, a $99 powered sub and it made a big improvement in the overall sound. Without a sub, the Klipsch Synergies have too much treble, and they really push it out so the overall experience is overly bright and sometimes a bit harsh unless you have a sub to balance it. With a sub, the whole setup sounds brilliant, sharp, rich, and full. Thrilling, in fact. The SF-1 have a port in the back for midrange and bass, which means you can't put them up against the wall; the rear port needs at least a foot to breathe and reflect that sound back into the room. You'll want to put the SF-1 towers at least 6 feet apart. The SC-1 will go in the middle somewhere. The SS-1, due to their pair of horns at 90 degrees which really casts a wide sound field, can go almost anywhere in the back and still sound good. What to compare them to? I have never owned real hi-fi equipment before. The Klipsch speakers are so much more efficient and clear than the cheap Yamaha bookshelf speakers I used to use, that I couldn't bear to have them both in the same room. I listened to some Klipsch Reference series, including the center channel RC-25 which I took home and listened to for a month. The Reference series speakers sound better than the Synergies, with more bass and more range, but the Reference series is not marked down anywhere, and a comparable set of those would cost twice as much as the Synergies. I couldn't afford a full set of Reference speakers, so I returned the RC-25. I was sorry to see it go. I notice that Klipsch sells a surround sound set of Synergy speakers, matched with a Klipsch subwoofer, for $699 (the 'Klipsch Synergy System 6'). I think that deal deserves a close look and a listen, if you can find someone (perhaps Best Buy?) that still has the old Synergy line set up in their listening rooms. The package deal includes smaller Synergy speakers than I have all around (SB-1 bookshelfs instead of SF-1; SC.5 instead of SC-1; SS.5 instead of SS-1) but a larger and more powerful subwoofer (the Klipsch KSW-10 instead of my Yamaha SWT-215). Overall, these Klipsch Synergy speakers have made me fall in love with music. Similar Products Used: Yamaha bookshelf speakers, Klipsch Reference series. |
[Jun 10, 2003]
Ferry Andoetoe
Casual Listener
Strength:
Smooth and to strong bass
Weakness:
middle tone could be better I've got these SF-1s with a friend. He'd told me about a Sale of his favorite store. A Harman Kardon minded store. I have a AVR85 HarmanKardon and this HT receiver has 5 times 85Watt output. So feed 'm. My room is small about 4.5 x 5 and it was not my intension to buy any speaker at all unless they show me Klipsch and JBL en another thing. I buyed the FS-1. Just simply sounds much better than JBL's. Allthough they were 400 euro each I get two of them for 500! I have the Cherry version. Connected them on the Harman Kardon and even still busy with calibrating the HK I must say the FS-1 sound good. It's bass is smooth. The high's are OK and the mid's can be better but that's something I had to find out with the HK receiver. In some reviews I read they use a subwoofer. I will try this later. For a stereo set the FS-1 is for it's price (americans pay really less) a very good choice. Tonight I will try to blow the neighbours from their seats. Similar Products Used: Sony reference speakers (about 1990) |
[Mar 25, 2003]
Pit10
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
Sensitivity, lows, mids, highs, build quality.
Weakness:
None yet. I am very pleased to meet these babies. Before the purchase I listened lots of products in the same price range. Very very balanced, true, and neutral sound. No domination of any freq. It produces what is on the track, nothing more nothing less. Bass goes very deep, shakes everthing in the room. Treble and vocals are sweet. Very sensitive since it is 94db. I haven't passed the 12 (half of the way) on the volume knob yet. I don't stop listening before 4-5 hours at weekends. Build quality is very good too. My friend Alper who is an audiophile also likes them very much. Similar Products Used: Mission 760iSE |
[Mar 24, 2002]
Bernard Breton
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
Amazing sound quality Great price
Weakness:
Placement can be tricky I bought these speakers after a few days of listening room exercise and I have since then been simply amazed by the sound of these speakers. Firstly, amazing sensitivity (94 dB) and very impressive at reproduction of vocals. Try some Diana Krall or Loreena McKennit on these! Also, these speakers do have a lot of bass for their size. If used for a home theater system, there is no real need for a sub. I would strongly advice you to take a look at these before buying anything else in this price range. My only complaint is about sensitivity to speaker placement. Due to its back bass-reflex design, you MUST clear the back of these speakers and ensure that the air-pressure that does build up behind them will not make any nearby furniture to vibrate. |
[Mar 11, 2002]
Ralph Stark
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
Clean, Crisp, Full, Smooth Sound
Weakness:
Over priced, but all retail speakers are. Quite honestly I went to listen to speakers to get ideas for a set of home built speakers I planed to build. I have long felt that most store bought speakers are not worth the money you spend on them. After listing to a set of mirage’s and some others I was starting to get disgusted with the idea of store bought speakers. I told the salesman “for $300 dollars I could build a set speakers that would blow anything in this room, prove me wrong!” Oh man did he the Klipsch SF-1 blew me away. The 6.5” Mid-Woofer is tight and give a strong clean base. That is very well balanced with the horn tweeter. One real weakness that most store bought speakers suffer from is a dip in response around 2-3khz where the Woofers performance ends and the tweeters begin. In the SF-1 there is no noticeable dip. The sound is smooth and clean crossing over at 2khz, just where it should. When I flattened out the treble and base the SF-1 still sounded great. When I got these speakers home and hooked them up I was floored. They sounded better in my living room. I have now ordered the matching center channel and rear channels. The Klipsch aren’t cheep, but they sound crisp, tight, smooth and very clean. At a MSRP of $500 I would build my own, but if you can find a deal for around $200 to $300 pick these speakers up. Round out the system with a nice 12” sub-woofer and won’t believe your ears. Pure listening joy. Similar Products Used: Ininfinty, Home built speakers, Bose 301''s |