Heideana

No subwoofer, so consequently I thought the RB-75's and RF-5's were pretty bass-anemic. The RF-7's were magical and 3-dimensional once I got them placed to my tastes (thanks to Dr Who's advice), but then they were about 3 ft. from the wall, took up a bit too much space and dominated the room, so I moved them into an upper floor bedroom/TV room that's much larger where they happily integrated with an RC-7 and a pair of KG 1's on a Denon 2805. I was really worried about overwhelming my small room, which is why I called Klipsch Support to get their advice. Another option they suggested for my situation was a pair of Heresy III's with a sub-woofer for a great, focused-image without taking much space. You might want to call them and get their perspective as well. Hope that helps...

I'm pretty sure that turning them on their sides could alter the sound, as I think the horizontal/vertical dispersion flares on the tractix horns are slightly different, but I could be wrong.... Also, the space question...I toyed with getting RF-83's for my music room and was concerned about space, since its' + 12x16. I called and talked to Klipsch Tech Support and decided that Cornwall III's were a better match to the space. Flipside is that I used to run RF-7's in my small space and was astounded at how great they sounded compared to the RB-75's and RF-5's I tried before them. Hope that helps...

Thanks all for the words of confidence in my decision! I got them thru a local dealer in San Francisco. Its' a Pro Audio store that specializes in studio and HT stuff...their just starting to get into Klipsch and I was really happy with the discount I got on an RC-7 I got awhile back (it was about $200 less then Goodguys, who was the San Francisco Klipsch dealer before going out of business.).

So I got off the fence about RF-83 vs. Cornwall III's for studio/music room after talking with Klipsch Support and ordered a pair of the Cornwall's in cherry laquer...it seems the Cornwalls essentially have pro audio components which will deal with my keyboard when their used with it recording and practice. Also, my room size of 12 x 16 will do better with the Cornwalls since they can be placed anywhere and are a better match to my tube amp. I was worried a bit about the RF-83's in a room of this size, as my RF-7's were too big and underpowered by my tube amp and I didn't want to repeat that mistake. I can't express who nervous I am, as the Cornwalls are fairly expensive. [] I think I got a good price on them at $1575/each. Is that about what other folks are paying for them? Thanks to all who answered by previous queries while I was trying to decide which to go for! Unfortunately, there isn't a Klipsch dealer in San Francisco that has both to listen to side by side...

Thanks! It seems CW III's are the preferred speaker and Jim confirmed they handle keyboards ok. The specs of the RF-83 are what have caught my eye, particularily the bottom end since they go a bit lower then the CW III's...question is if its' useful or not. Also what the RF-83's really amp ohm requirements are. The RF-7's I've got like 4 ohms much better then 8, while it looks like the CW probably don't dip below 6 ohms from a CW review I read.

I'm contemplating upgrading from the KG-3's I'm currently using in my music room to something with more bottom-end in the next few months. I thought that I wanted a pair of CW-III's, but now I see the RF-83 and wonder if it'd make a better general purpose music room/home studio speaker then the CW III? I'm looking for a speaker to primarily use for hifi listening, along with some low decibel synthersizer/PA use for home playing/recording. I think I already know that the LaScala was initially a PA speaker and also sold as an organ cab at some point, but I don't want use a sub-woofer and I've already discounted it... Thanks for any advice or thoughts from the Forum...

I did some more "web mining" last night and finally found a few threads about amplifying keyboards. The threads I found expressed concerned about poor sound quality from keyboard amplifiers/speaker combos and suggest using hifi equipment for home/studio with caveat about not turning the volume up too loud. Named usable hifi speakers were either Heresey, Forte II's or La Scala's...curiously, I didn't find any other brands named which must be a tribute to Klipsch speakers' clarity and ability to reproduce keyboards accurately, eh???? Seems that home sound listening is more critical then live sound where everything is loud and distorted and a few even mention experience using Carver heads for live keyboard performances. Also, a few threads noted that you needed to use a tube amp for digital pianos to accurately reproduce piano sounds... Dr. Who is right in that it seems most keyboard players aren't tuned into who speaker/amp combinations can color their sound... Thanks again!

Thanks all for the comments! As I said, I'm pretty naive about keyboards, as guitars are my musical area. Thank-god I'm not playing live and so far the KG3's tweeters haven't gone up in smoke, probably because on current tube stereo amp is only 60-90 watts? It was on the low-end that I ran out of a bit of steam...although actually not that much to be honest. I looked at a few keyboard cabs, but wasn't sure of their quality and the stereo cabs were single cabs wired in stereo. Since I really like a wide stereo image, I tend to like to use two cabs, even for guitars (although a stereo cab is kewl for some guitar stuff). Also, all the keyboard amps I find were solid-state and I wasn't that impressed with their distortion ratings. All of this is what made I wonder about using maybe 40-watt stereo tube amp with older klipsch for home use (i.e. learning scales, chord construction and getting started with a new toy). Sounds like I need to do a bit more research...

I just purchased a Korg Triton Extreme that I patched it into my stereo and have been playing it thru a pair of KG3's. It sounds great and I'm thinking about getting another pair of Klipsch to use as stereo keyboard cabs for my home studio, maybe a pair of Forte's, as the KG3's run out of a bit of steam on the lower register. I'm pretty naive about keyboards, so don't know if there's any problems using Klipsch as keyboard cabs or if there's more appropriate models for home use? Also I'm thinking about getting a stereo tube amp as a head to drive them....Any suggestions appreciated! After pluging the Triton it into my guitar heads and playing thru guitar cabs I'm really sure that I want something more "hifi" to play it thru. Thanks....

What is it about the RF-7's that give them such a low impedence? The two woofers?

It's cyclical for me. I've rediscovered tubes over the past few years and finally understand what the allure is. I'm bouncing between collecting guitar amp/cabs, studio toys to play with, assembling an HT system in the bedroom, nice little system for kitchen and another one for the two front parlors that has 2-channel HT/HiFi/studio monitor functions. Goal is to slowly get what I want that will keep me satisfied and occupied for the next 30 years. How's that for a middle-age dream? I'm done with guitar/studio stuff for the moment focusing a bit more on HT. Now that I'm hearing Cornwalls are being revived, I'm thinking I want a pair of them for my little parlor system and move the RF-7's upstairs to the bedroom HT system to go along with the RC-7 I just ordered. Sounds like a lot raves over the new LaScala's being released, but having grown up listening to lots of jazz/rock on the old ones and then moving on to KG-3's and now the RF-7's, I've learned that I like that 35-40hz range without resorting to sub-woofers. Suspect I'm in a minority on this one... Can anyone tell me what price range I'm looking at if I want to upgrade from stereo 60 watts triode to the 120-150 watt range? I'm trying to sort out how impractical this is for my budget or its' a pipe dream. Also, does anyone know what the power handling capabilitiy of the new Cornwalls are?

Opps, I forgot about Clapton's derek days...for good or bad, I lost track of him after Blind Faith and suspect someone else here knows he's blues history better then I. I didn't pay him much attention until his George Harrison memorial and saw his bounderies being stretched again by that material again, especially the Indian orchestra. Now he's back with Cream for a few shows...I can't wait to hear whatever material is released! Baker is such a hot drummer and Bruce is so post-modern cool and the two's jazz groove always seemed to push Clapton out of his comfort zone to new levels. Dream would be have Stevie Winwood join them on guitar/keyboard and vocals and watch them achieve nirvana...hopefully the Cream re-union material won't be destroyed by overprocessing! Speaking of dreams, did anyone catch the Floyd re-union? I'd lost track of them after "wish you were here" and forgotten how good Gilmour is. I also initially poo-pooed that event until a friend sent me a DVD of their set...made me tear abit and I decide if they could put their differences aside as the ultimate metaphor of golf playing coorporate rock business men with Oracle sized egos at war, then the rest of the developed world might be able to grow-up, get along and help those needing help without engaging in colonialism. I guess this really makes me really old enough to pre-metallica as well. I saw a bit of their therapy movie channel surfing and was a bit appalled. I think whoever the member was that chatters non-stop would make me pretty crazy over the long-haul. My partner called out from the kitchen and voiced the same thought and he wasn't even watching or paying attention to the storyline...wow!

That's what I remember without peeking. Blind Faith really sticks out for me...the album was an 8th grade graduation gift and I still listent too it way too much. Everything runnig thru leslies is great...Metallic isn't on my play list, but sometimes the pumpkins are when I want to feel young...

Thanks! The other wow is how much more detail I'm hearing on the RF-7's compared to the KG-3's even thru the harshness. Makes me really happy that I endedup with them, as I'd been suffering from tone anxiety and feeling sad that I didn't have the space for full-blown k-horns.

Over the summer, I test drove a few Reference models courtesty Goodguys and finally ended up with RF-7's trying to get the same bass I was getting out of my old KG'3's. Complicating things is that I'd purchased a Rogue T-II to drive the system I was building and couldn't A/B it with the old Carver HR-722 I was driving the KG's with because of back surgery. For awhile I couldn't even get decent bass out of the RF-7's and wasn't understanding why Klipsch Tech thought I was way underpowering them given their rated sensitivity, until someone on the forum finally told me to change the impedence to 4 ohms and they opened up. Thanks to all who put up with questions during that experiment, I really learned a lot from you all! So I just had to ship my T-II back to Rogue for repair and finally had the opportunity to run the RF-7's with the Carver HR-722 that I'd been running my old KG's with. The HR was put in storage when I replaced it with a Denon 2805 for bedroom HT and I'd sort of forgot about it. Wow, was I surprised at the how differently it reacts with the RF's compared to the Rogue! The HR is rated at 90 watts at 4 ohms and has bit tighter bass/definition then the Rogue, but on the other hand the upper range sounds like ice picks, is really fatiguing and lacks any real gut punch on the mid-range. Also, the protection circuit kicks in at decent volume bass passages, which I assume is the RF's ohm drop in the bass register I keep reading about and why they were so happy to see 4-ohms from the Rogue? The T-II is rated at 120 watts in ultralinear and about 60 in triode. The bass is a bit looser, but not that much looser when in triode mode, guitars/pianos and particularily drums gave the gut punch, and there's no ice picks in the ears. I'm assuming that this is because the KT-88's are a bit more forgiving to source material then silicon and do better with the impedence dips, but puzzled why it has more gut punch in the mid-to-upper range? Also, subjectively it sounds a bit louder then the Carver even in triode mode.

Perhaps one that actually told us something

Thanks all! I'm working on getting the 60 degree equalaterial triangle going. I take it that the RF-7's don't need to be placed in corners so I don't need to worry about how far away they need to be from my slanted corners? I thought I read a few times on the forum that they work best when placed in corners?

Dr. Who, do you mean 60 degree angle once the speakers are centered in the corners and maybe 2 feet out from the walls as I slide forward/backwards to get rid of any boominess? Thanks for explaining what's odd about using RF's for monitors. It sounds like you've got to take the mix out to the car stereo for a final check if I'm following your analogy? I'm pretty much a novice and not picky yet. Truth be known I'm pretty happy to use Pro Tools as a tool to work on my guitar playing

Here's a quick and dirty diagram of my room. The x's are where I've got my RF-7's. I forgot to note in the diagram that the ceilings are 10 ft. tall. I didn't realize using RF's as monitors was that odd. Their what I've got in my music room for for listening to things where I'm learning Pro Tools. I plugged my Digi 002 into a spare input on my audio amp they seem to reproduce any of my bass or guitar doodlings pretty accurately. Drum tracks feel pretty much like there's a real drum in the room. Is the problem because their frequency is not flat enough? Eastlake.pdf

I've been playing with the placement of my RF-7's in the front parlor of a victorian "Eastlake" home for a few months and I'm still not sure about how best to angle them in the front slanted-angle/bay window corners for best image and bass response. I've got them projecting through the sliding door opening into the second parlor and listening to them from a desk in the middle that doorway for both music and Pro Tools monitoring. Does anyone have any information or thoughts about placing speakers in corners with slanted backs, especially ones with windows in them? Thanks in advance...Hopkins

Thanks for your reply John. The vision of some faceless nerd carrying on Mr. Paul's vision of a two-way makes me smile a bit. I take it lower the cross-over frequency is what the customizing of the RF-7's cross-overs is about that I've been reading about?

Does anyone know why Klipsch started designing two-way systems? I think that I've been reading on the forum from time to time that PWK didn't have anything to do with designing the Reference series and probably wouldn't have approved of them (or something to that effect) because they are either: a) two-ways, or aren't fully horn-loaded. I didn't think too much about the conversation, however I just read in his biography that his life dream was to was to make a full-range, horn-loaded two-way loud speaker, i.e. the Jubilee. It made me wonder if anyone that had worked with him had a hand in moving Klipsch to start designing two-way systems. It would seem he must not have been too opposed to direct radiators as woofers or he wouldn't have used them in some of his designs and he was moving towards two-way systems. Could just be coincidence I suppose?

I have to replace the amp on what is turning into my HT system that has a pair of KG3's and KG1's. I'm looking at a NAD T753 for $850, or a Denon AVR 785 for $412 or Denon AVR 885 for $536. I don't really have any way to audition any of them on my Klipsch. Anyone have any recommendations on NAD vs. Denon for the extra money? The Denon AVR 885 looks pretty attractive for the price.

I don't really truly understand the technical details about Evidence Audio Siren and LyricHG cables, but I can't imagine using anything else and I've been slowly replacing all of my audio gear cables with them over the past few years. I definitely think they are sonically better then any of the 14-16 guage lamp cord I've used for hifi stuff or monster cable I've used for guitar and recording equipment over the years. The selling point for me was after I spent a lot of money on my guitar equipment to get rid of a flopping sounding dropped-D guitar string and wasn't successfull until I got my first set of cables from Tony. They also got rid of the fatiguing high-end frize that you sometime get from distortion devices or overdrive which made my older "metal ears" pretty happy. Anyhow, I thought I'd share that as a favor, he made me a set of biwired Siren cables and a few sets of 3-foot LyricHG cables with neutron endings when I recently got my RF-7's. I might be fooling myself, but they seem to make my old Sony MSD-D40 CD/MD unit sound good enough to live with until the Blue Ray war plays out. I recently got some balanced cables to start replacing the monster cables in my recording rig and he told me that David Gilmour was using his cable and he was busy doing set-ups for both David and Roger Waters for the Live-8 re-union. I don't know how different hi fi audio cable is from instrument and recording cable, but thought I'd share my expereince and the Pink Floyd bit to the list...hopefully I'm not sounding too much like a commercial. If anyone is interested, he's website is at: http://www.evidenceaudio.com/

I had a pair of RF-5's and ended up swapping them almost immediately for RF-7's. Bass is soooo much better and the high-end is much clearer. I was worried about room size but the RF-7's seem to be quite happy in my 10 x 12 room.