[Reference series 3 - No strength in bass]

dear rshop0103

my klipsches have ample bass compared to all other towers i hv owned however the bass rumble,like a subwoofer ,is absent in rf3s ,or so do i feel. coz my kenwoods do give a more visceral rumble ,but obviously they cant go as loud n easy as these rf 3s

i guess klipsches r a bit shallow when it comes to low bass, or they r perhaps tuned so,in order to omit distortion n stay clean n boom free

hope u get it

id like to hear from u

It has a weak bass (not completely without bass) but from what I hear from this thread and Klipsch customer service, a sub woofer is the fix. But as TNRabbit suggested I today I will check the connections inside and will post my findings.

[Reference series 3 - No strength in bass]

I haven't heard the RF-3's but spec wise they seem to resemble the RF-5's which pound out the bass. Something still seems wrong. Can you remove the grills and see if there is sound coming from each of the four 8" drivers?

Thanks for your suggestion. Yes all 4 drivers and the tweeers produce sound.

[Reference series 3 - No strength in bass]

What type of music are you listening to? For 2 channel, I think the bass sounds best playing rock or country. If I try to listen to any of the rap or hip-hop material, I find that I like it better with a sub as the bass is thin. Of course I noticed better bass when I stepped up to a higher reciever.

I listen to a variey of genre - rock, a bit of popular classicals, instrumentals, Indian fusion (movie sound trakcs -Slumdog and likes). The Onkyo I have sounds with good bass in my Bose (within what can be expected of Bose) and certainly a lot better bass than the what the my R3's produce now. As someone pointed out earlier today , there is something that is still missing - I would need to check whether al the 4 drivers are working.

[Reference series 3 - No strength in bass]

Well , after trying out various things I connected a Bose Sub Ihat I have. The sound is not room filling, but house filling !!!. The highs are extremley good, but there is a lot odf room to improve in my opinion - with a nice tightt sub. You are right , these speakers require a nice well engineered sub. Any recommendations in the not so exotic price range. ? This community is full of really nice people - appreciate the expertise, warmth and the friendliness of every one. Thanks a million.!!!

[Reference series 3 - No strength in bass]

In phase?

Thanx, Russ

Thanks for the reply. Pardon my ignorance. Would you elaborate what 'in phase' means? Is that the polarity ?

In phase means that the + on the receiver goes to the + on the speaker. If one of the speakers is wired backwards then the bass from one will cancel the other one out. It's also possible (less likely however) that if someone worked on the speaker that the speaker could be wired out of phase inside the cabinet.

Thank you very much for patiently explaining. I will check that out.

[Reference series 3 - No strength in bass]

In phase?

Thanx, Russ

Thanks for the reply. Pardon my ignorance. Would you elaborate what 'in phase' means? Is that the polarity ?

[Reference series 3 - No strength in bass]

Thank you for taking time to respond. Yes I did check the receiver settiings and every thing seems to be OK., b ut still no improvement in bass.

[Reference series 3 - No strength in bass]

Configuration - Reference series RF3 connected to Onkyo 100 W THX receiver., , no sub woofer connected. No bi amp or bi wiring done. The highs are good, mid OK , but the bass has no strength in it is very weak. I happened to bump into aTotem and a wharfedale - which seem to have a very good bass (tight for totem abd a bit boomy for the wharfedale ) without sub woofers .

Are Klipsch reference speakers are made to require sub woofers ? (I'm not very techie interms of crossovers and sort!!) Any help regarding improving the bass performance would be highly appreciated.

Thanks.