stl1cjg

Depends on alot of things. What type of AVR you running? WPC? How loud do you listen to your music? If you have a low wpc avr or one where the manufacturer has overstated wpc, and you like to listen to movies loud or listen to music at reference levels...I would say yes. If you turn the volume up and hear distortion, that is your speakers way of saying your AVR or current amp is being overworked. It is always nice to have the added headroom in the way of an amplifier for instances like these. That way when you you have big impendence drops when listening to music or movies at reference levels, it will sound, look, and feel, seamless. The speakers will not yell...they will sing. Think McClaren/Merecedes V-10 Formula One engine 2001 (if you are into F1) Some speakers need external amplification to make them sound their best, or really bring them to life. Klipsch makes very efficient speakers and each of us has differnt ears and listening habots. See if you can borrow a friends amp and find a part of a movie with big action scences, explosions, etc ....and listen to your favorite track on CD. Try them both once with your AVR only, and once with the amp and AVR. See if you can tell a difference. Remember is not what I or anybody else thinks....Its what YOU think sounds good.

I have the money to get either the 63's or 83's. The problem is taht I would not be able to get a seperate amp. My MArantz is only 90-95 wpc. Granted MArantz makes wpc on the lower end of the spectrum vs what they really output, and the Klpisch speakers are efficient...I know they would be missing something without the added headroom. With 63's I can get the center and the amp (XPA 3), with the 83's I would be missing the amp. No matter how efficient the speakers are they will still draw alot of current. BAsed on other responses the 63 might be the way to go especially for HT. I can already see that I will have upgradeitus. I will find someone in st. louis who has some I can audition. Also, somewhere on this forum there was a thread where someone who worked at Klipsch had talked about in detail the differences in the reference line. I enjoyed it very much but cannot find it. BTW Aint the 64 beautiful. I still think it is one of the best looking centers out there. Clean and simple lines with 4 copper plates looking at you.

Thanks all for the replies. DrWho, long term goals...have a very nice HT setup with ability to listen in 2 channel. I prefer HT over 2 channel now, but as I move up into higher quality systems I can tell I will like 2 channel more. I gues this comes with age LOL...I have never auditioned anything from the Heritage line. I will audition the Studio line sometime this week and compare. I talked to the Klipsch dealer and they said if I bought the 83's and did not like them, I could exchange them for a 15% restocking fee and get the 63's. Will post pics of HT and bar when complete

Youthman, very nice theater setup. Depending on if I go 63 or 83, I too, am looking at the XPA3. I can get the 63 and xpa-3 for the same price as the 83's. I just don't what to have buyers remorse and wonder what if. Thanks for your reply and nice work on your setup!

I am about 1 week away from pulling the trigger on my new speaker purchase. So far I have a Marantz SR6003 AVR. The basement will just need carpet and the HT is ready to rock. With the money in the bank I went to my local hi-fi store this past weekend and auditioned the RF-63's. They were hooked up to a Rotel 2x100 amp with a rotel cd player as the source. Auditioned with Pink Floyd Echoes and a homemade hodge podge CD of various stuff I threw together that represents everything from symphony, Madonna, hard rock, live Frampton, and 50 cent. I wanted to get a good idea of what the speaker was able to reproduce even with a compressed CD from I-tunes. Very crisp - but not too bright or forward on the high frequency stuff. I had a smile for most of the session, however, when Frampton's "Do you Feel" live came on the smile was ear to ear (and I have a rather large head)...get my drift. IMHO this speaker loves live music. I immediately fast forwarded to the 6 minute mark where the piano, guitar, and voicebox comes in. I could here more detail and seperation from the voicebox than what I am accustomed to. In between notes I could clearly here people in the front row cheering, talking and yelling. Although the highs were exceptional, I found that off axis listening (say 3 feet to right or left of the set) lost some detail, brightness, forwardness or whatever you want to call it in the highs. Probably due to the horn design???? Whatever it was it was enough for me to make a note. WHen Pink Floyds "Learning to Fly" came on I again was ear to ear with joy. The one thing missing was the bass was too thin. There wwas almost a subtle undertone of the bass being present like you could feel it, but could not hear it. I told the salesman this and he said that it was because the speakers were on a wall that angled away from the speaker and that the speaker uses the wall to fire its ports against. DOn't know how true or how much difference that really makes, but the wall was certainly not square with the speaker. They were about 2-3 feet away from it as well. I have heard this before from other members about how much more bass was present once they got the 63's home. All in all I really enjoyed the set. I can get both for 1800. I would like to get the RC-64 and finish my front stage. If not, for 2500 I can get the RF-83's. I would have to hold off on the center for a few months. The only problem is that there are no 83's in St. Louis to audition. In fact, the salesman said I was the first guy to audition the RF line in 2 MONTHS! ANyone have some insight to the RF-83's when compared to the 63's. Mainly HT 70%, 25% music, 5% gaming. I know the 83's should sound better, but for 2500 I need to verify that. I only have 1 more audition to do (PAradigm Studio 100 or Sig S4) I have heard them before and loved them too. But I believe my preferences are in the Klipsch line. Whatever you have heard or know....fill me in on the 83's. As always THANKS[]

Thanks! Based on your comments a 3 channel amp would be required to make the 63's or 83's sing.

In the process of building my dedicated HT in basement. All I have left is carpet and treatments. My room is 14 wide 24 long and 8 high. There is a half wall that separates the right side of the room from the bar and a half wall in the rear that separates the HT from game room. (acoustical nightmare) I will treat will thick HT curtains and wall panels. I plan on a 110” FP screen with a front stage. I have already purchased a Marantz sr-6003. Now I need to fill up the room with speakers and other goodies. I will mostly use the room for HT, but when we have parties I would like music to sound good with whatever I play…ie rap, rock, house, techno, classical. It all depends on what kind of party it is. Lets just say 85% HT 15% for starters. I have auditioned Klipsch RF-63 in 2 channel driven by a Rotel amp (? Model number). I enjoyed it. Then I told the guy that I was building a HT and he took me back to their auditioning room and let me watch the opening scene to Iron Man. I was blown away! He then told me that those were bookshelves in the room. (don’t know which ones but the room was much smaller than mine) HERE ARE MY QUESTIONS. Would it be wise to run RB81’s in my room (approaching 2700 cubic feet), or should I move up to a floorstanders? If I had to move to floor standers is the AVR powerful enough to fill the space adequately? I have seen some 3 channel amps on ebay for around $500 used (sunfire, adcom, rotel). Should I research these? My goal here is to put a quality system together with the ability to upgrade later. IMO – I would buy the best speaker I could afford then upgrade power/avr stuff later. What I don’t want to do is spend a fortune and have buyers remorse, OR spend too little then end up not liking how the system sounded and have to buy more. BTW – I have auditioned Paradigm (monitor, studio, signature) and Klipsch. Overall the s4’s were the best in 2 channel listening, but I know that I would spend a fortune trying to get the matching center, surrounds, and properly amplify them. I was still very impressed with Klipsch. Any help or advice is appreciated as well as constructive feedback. One more thing – The sub will be SVS. Thanks.