[Klipsch RF-7ii vs. KEF r900]

I've heard the KEFs recently, and they're very nice.


Sounds like you're buying new speakers, at full coin or very near to it. As this is not a small expense, you should listen to both and take some notes.



What sort of return or home audition policy do the merchants have? If you can get them in your room, it will tell you more than listening in a dealership ever will.



If a home audition is not an option, keep your room in mind when auditioning. What is the general character of your listening room, lively or more dead? What sort of placement flexibility do you have to work with? The KEF have wider dispersion in the upper registers than the Klipsch, and great off axis and polar measurements, so they are fairly flexible regarding room placement, but you'll be listening to a lot of "room". The Klipsch's more narrow dispersion in the upper registers will help you manage/reduce/eliminate first reflections so you hear less "room", and allows closer proximity to room boundaries without smearing the image with extraneous reflected sound. The Klipsch are less linear, but more vivacious in their presentation (better dynamics).



They're both fine speakers, but different, so go listen.

Very helpful post! Unfortunately, the setup will have to wait due to unfortunate events at work. My hours have been cut dramatically so time will tell when I'll be able to go audtion/buy either towers. Thanks for all who posted!

[Klipsch RF-7ii vs. KEF r900]

Has anyone personally heard both of these towers? The closest r900 dealer is 60 miles from me and the closest rf7-ii dealer is 30 miles from me. The towers will be in the living room which is approximately 15x20. It will be a 2.1 setup used for movies, gaming, and music. Types of music I listen to are 95% trance, 5% rock. It will be powered by either a Denon or Marantz AVR plus the Emo XPA-5 amplifier.

[Khorns/Belle/lascala vs. rf-7ii]

I'm located in So Cal, there is a dealer about 45min away from me that carries both the Heritage and Reference line. Once I have a some spare time I'll have to make a drive out there and do a comparison.

[Khorns/Belle/lascala vs. rf-7ii]

I don't have any good corners for the Khorns, but that really isn't a problem because more than likely I am going to be sealing them off. I will be going to a local Klipsch dealer that has both the Reference line and the Heritage line and I will make a comparison between them. I listen to mostly Trance, so that should be a test of how good the RF-7II or the Khorns can keep up with electronica. I currently have a set of the Klipsch RF-52, but I am either moving it into the bedroom or maybe selling them off and replacing them with a pair of Heresy's. Much of it will depend if I like the Heritage line or not. When I was at Best Buy, I had a chance to audition some other's; Martin Logans, Def Techs, Energys, and Bowers & Wilkens. All of them were auditioned through a Pioneer Elite SC-37, with my USB stick. All .mp3's were 320kbps. Song's listened to were Hed Kandi - Seemingly Sleeping, Hed Kandi - Beautiful, DJ Tiesto - Forever Today, DJ Tiesto - Sweet Misery, and Armin Van Buuren - Burned With Desire.

Here is what I thought of them....

Martin Logan Motion 12 - Sounded like crap! They sounded muffled and not clean at all. I believe my Klipsch 5.1 Promedia speakers did a better job!

Def Tech ( I forget which model, but it was one of the floor standing models) - It sounded a little thin, but cleaner. Better than the ML.

Energy's ( again I forget which model, but it was a floor standing model) - Again, it sounded thin, but bright and clean. On par or a little better than the Def Techs.

B&W 684B - These took it! They played cleanly, even at reference volume. Their imaging was excellent my brother and I had to double check to see if the center channel was on! The bass was lacking but the midrange and highs all but made up for it. It reproduced all the vocals nice and clean. Highs and mids have a very good balance between them. None of which was overpowering the other. They sounded airy, like if you were in the middle of a concert.

When I got home, since the B&W's were fresh, I immediately powered up my RF-52's and made the comparison. My RF's played everything a little cleaner. All the details were more alive and detailed, the bass had more authority than the B&W's. The only drawback was that my RF's didn't sound as full as the B&W, and because of the horns, they were brighter more in your face like if you were in the front of a concert, and not airy like the B&W's.

I've been having the upgrade itch for a long time so hopefully after this I will not have to upgrade my speakers ever again, thus that is the reason why I am considering the Heritage line.

[Khorns/Belle/lascala vs. rf-7ii]

For those of you that's heard these, how do the rf-7ii sound compared to the heritage's? I am in the process of upgrading my home theater, which is a mix of 40/40/20, movie/game/music. Setup will consist of the Marantz sr7005 or Marantz av7005 (if going with the rf-7iis) plus the Emotiva XPA-5.