Klipschtastic

Don't mean to highjack but what devices are you all streaming with. I'm thinking about either Apple airport express or the more expensive sonos if it is really that much better. I have an Onkyo avr in the downstairs but need something for the main syastem. Do sonos and apple do a better job?

One last question before I dive into a KLF20 bracing project. One of my front baffles is rattling like an 85 Caprice with a trunk full of 15" subs. I am chomping at the bit to start this project but the weather is a little cold for glueing in the garage. As soon as the weather lets up, its on! I have lots of 5/8" thick (press?) board that looks like mdf. Its the type used for flooring. I also have a good deal of 5/8" thick (chip?) particle board. Would either of these be suitable for making shelf type braces with the center cut out for airflow. I have studied some old posts and have plan but i just want to make sure I use a sturdy enough material to make this as worthwhile as possible. Thanks Jon

Sorry, a forum member who has experince with these has encouraged me to give them more time to open up so I am going to play them a bit more before concluding to sell them.

I really like Steely Dan. I agree that Aja or Gaucho are great for showing off the system. I have all of their studio albums.

I tried them and decided to keep my (brighter) stock ones. Used maybe 30 hours. Will be shipping in original packaging for safe travel. Looking for $60 shipped. Thanks Jon

I was just playing some rap which I don't listen to much. I used my Onkyo 9050 integrated which has a bass boost function plus I turned the dial to plus 5. All in all its probably a +13 bass boost mostly at 70hz if I remeber correctly. Anyway the klf can really put out all the bass I could ever ask for. I mean they were hammering. Floor shaking, chest punching clean bass. Like I said though the main thing with these speakers is balncing them enough to where the bass isn't overcome by the mids on rock music. They really revealed the loose baffle on one of the speakers though, sounded like a ghetto blaser car with a rattling trunk...lol.

Nice discussion. It sounds like at the end of the day, the speakers we're debating may be close enough to each other that other variables such as placement, rooms and listening material may make it hard to come to a standardized conclusion. I'm going to stick with the stock mids and I ordered a pair of L-pads to knock the mids down 1 or 2 db. The eq is on loan and I can't use it with the new marantz I have anyway. The L-pad should hopefully balance things well enough that I can take advantage of the tone defeat and the nice sound of the Marantz PM6004 overall. I'll report back after I install the L-pads later this week. This is all new to me. It's getting interesting.

Thanks max2. I have been playing around with the eq and dropping the mids between 1k and 5k by 1 or 2 db. On hard rock 2db seems to effectively pull the bass up a bit and the sound is more balanced to where I could actually use tone defeat on maybe about half my recordings as opposed to almost none of them. I believe this may be what i was experiencing with the Crites mids. Michael said the mids he has tested vary and maybe I have some louder ones. The slight muffled effect I was getting may be simply the attenuation I was getting from the Crites mids. When I dropped the mid frequencies down about 1.5 db it sounded about like i remember the Crites mids sounded. That actually had a similar effect on bringing the speakers into balance a bit more between the bass and mids. The tweeter is the Crites titanium so no complaints there. The tweets never seem excessive to me.

Thnaks pzannuci. I sent you a pm. Also, what do you mean by straps? Leads? Wires? Sorry, new at this, never closely examined the networks. I just ordered a pair with 1" shafts should I ever have the audacity to drill a hole and mount them on the rear baffles...lol.

Well how about this for timing. My buddy was digging around in his dad's basement today and found some old recievers and an Onkyo Integra equillizer. He brought over and I hooked it up through my old Denon reciever since the Marantz doesn't have a tape monitor. I dialed the mids down a bit from I think 2k to 5k and the bass at 64 up a bit. Wow, these speakers really rock! I was hitting spl's in the mid 90's with peaks over 100 with Metallica and AC/DC and it sounded great.Normally I'm flinching from the mids before I hit 90db. I think the Marantz has a cleaner sound than the Denon at high volume though so I may just have to get the pm8004 with tri tone controls! Klipschfancf4. I put the plumbers putty all over the outside of the horn after removing it from the cabinet. It took a whole small tub for each speaker but I believe it was quite noticable.

Thanks for all the great replies. My living room is about 15x25 with the speakers on the short wall. My listening position puts me about 9 ft from the speakers but a lot of the time I am playing them while up and moving around or at the dining room table which is close to 20 ft away from the speakers. I have a layer of plumbers putty on the mid horns and I believe it has helped some. I also have the Crites tweeters. I am running them with the Marantz PM 6004 and it sounds a tad better than the Onkyo I was using. I was even considering moving up to the Marantz pm 8004 for the midrange control but with that much expendature I could just try a different Klipsch speaker. Moray, I repaired one bad rear baffle and have recently noticed the front one rattling under heavy bass. Even if I stick with KLF's it may not be this particular pair because of the finish issue. It would probably be easier to wait and catch a better pair with an oak or mahogany finish than try to refinish. After that I would make extensive repairs to the cabnet. I will try extending the bass ports. Thank you.

Ok, I know I keep asking similar questions comparing different speakers but I am really trying to settle into a long term speaker for my living room in my new home. My KLF's have bad finish as the previous owner painted them black over the original oak finish and they are chipping. I want to have speakers with a nice finish for my living room and the only decent refinish option would be black. It would be easier to buy another pair of speakers than try to refinish these satisfactorily with my limited experience on the subject. I like a lot of things about my KLF 20's and I know I want to stick with Klipsch but not sure exactly which model to try next. I was considering Cornwalls but after reading opinions online it seems that for the price and my budget the Fortes would be a more logical next purchase since they seem to run a few hundred dollars cheaper. My main complaint with the KLF's is that the midrange stands out a bit too much on most of the music I listen to. I can almost never get a satisfactory bass response with tone defeat on. They are CAPABLE of very powerful bass I know but it seems to take a good boost on the bass dial and sometimes loudness engaged to get them there. I need a bass increase of about 8db in my room for them to sound balanced on most rock cd's. I tried the Crites mids but they sounded muffled compared to the stock mids and took some of the air, instrument decay and size and depth of soundstage away. I would probably be more happy with mine if the mids were paded down just a tad. With the Crites mids however the speakers did seem to be more in balance. The mids played a bit lower and I could actually play rock with the tone defeat on my amp with staisfactory bass. How do the Forte 2's in particular compre to the KLF 20's as far as bass extension? Are the mids less forward? Is the bass more impactfull with the 15 inch passive than with the dual tens? I prefer not to use a sub as I drive myself crazy messing with the adjustments. Thanks again Jon

It looks as though the Cornwalls are going for about $800-1200 and the KLF's for $400-700. The KLF are a bit too in your face for me on some recordings especially at spl's above 80db. If the Cornwalls are in fact a bit less in your face I'm interested. Plus I really like the looks (I know sounds is the bottom line) and i can place them further back into the corners of the living room and even use them as nice furniture peices. Thanks for all the great replies. Good thing about these speakers is yu can always resell them easily.

In the quest to settle into my long term living room speakers, I am curently tweeking my KLF 20's with Crites midranges. They already have Crites tweeters. I am however, still keeping open the option of jumping ship and the Cornwalls have always appealed to me asthetically though I've never heard any. My KLF's leave much to be desired of the finish since the previous owner painted them black to better integrate into a home theater setup. To be a long term living room piece I am eventually going to need to refinish them, which would probably be more trouble than its worth or buy another pair and sell these. The Cornwall seems like it would be well suited for living room since it is less picky about placement and can be place against a wall. How do these two speakers compare, especially for rock music such as AC/DC, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, Black Keys, etc? The main compliant I have with the KLF's is the sometimes harsh nature of the mids, especially at high volume. The detail, clarity, imaging and bass response with no sub is what appeals to me about them. Thanks Jon

Hello all, I am struggling with the sound of my klf 20's. They are in my living room with a dining room behind it. The total dimensions are 15x25 and there are two couches in the room, one about 8 ft from the speakers and curtains at the back of the dining room about 15ft behind the listening postion. Other than that there is nothing really soft around. On certain recordings (Sade, Thelonious Monk, anything acoustic) they are just beautifull and I wouldn't change a thing. On others, mostly hard rock, (Ramones, Blue Oyster cult, Metalica) they can be overly forward in the midrange to the point of being unbearable at volumes at or above a sustained average 80db from 8 ft away (maybe the speakers are overkill from that distance?). It is to the point that I am reconsidering whether these are the right speakers for my musical tastes and my room. I am thinking a Marantz pm6004 because many reviews say it is a warmer sounding amp than the Onkyo I am currently using but I am doubting it will be enough different to really solve my problem. I'm thinking maybe an equallizer is in order to compensate for the less flattering recordings? I would dial down the mids and bump the lower frequencies up a bit. The reason I stay with these speakers is because of the clarity, detail and great bass capabilities. I feel like the elements I like are there, they just need shaped a bit. Also could someone give the rundown on how eq's work? Do they bypass the tone controls on the amp completely or do you just leave the bass and treble flat and only use the eq? Thanks Jon

I recently bought the Onkyo 9050 integtrated amp to play through my Klf 20's and though it is a really nice amp for for the money I find it a bit too thin on the higher frequencies. It just seems to lack a little body and richness in the male vocals and guitars. Sorry I have no audiophile vocabulary. The Marantz PM6004 was very well liked by whathifi in a review I found online and I would like to hear from others who have used this amp or similar ones in the series as to the difference in warmth vs Onkyo. I know Marantz is considered to be a good pairing for Klipsch and I probably should have bought it in the first placed but for some reason I am always drawn to Onkyo. The 9050 does have a DAC but I really can't tell any difference in SQ with my ipod. Whathifi described the Marantz as having a warm sound and they called it the best for under $1000. The problem is I haven't owned or heard very much different gear so my points of reference are pretty much limited to buy and try and getting a consensus online. To be honest I am on the fence as to whether to keep the KLF's or not because I find them too harsh to listen to hardrock of metal for any extended period. I have thought about trying the Crites midrange but really don't want to keep putting money into these only to never be satisfied. This would be a last ditch effort to try and taylor the sound to my liking. Or I could just sell them and go with a different speaker. How much difference can a different SS amp rally make? BTW I already have the Crites tweeters. Thanks Jon

Ok so I'd like to get add some in ceiling surrounds to compliment my rf 3, rf c 3.0 set up. Honestly I'm not a big home theater critic, I just want the complete surround sound. I'm tempted to go with a pair from Home Theater Direct for $129; unless you all convince me its blasphemy. If so what Klipsch models would be appropriate for the rf 3's? Any other satifactory budget options? Thanks

Thanks Pzannucci. I actually used plumber's putty on the mid horns and that seems to help a bit. Plus I believe I was a bit hard on the KLF's and may owe them an apology. Yesterday i went into a new hi fi store here in town and listen to come RF 7's and some B&W towers (not sure the model). The B&W's sounded just as bright if not brighter than the RF7's in the store when cranked up with Joe Satriani' wailing guitars. The Rf 7's sounded awesome BTW. I think I'm going to try the Crites midranges next. and then possibly crossover stuff.

So the repo man is coming after my Onkyo 8050. Actually a friend loaned it to me for like a year while she was in an apartment and couldn't really use it...lol. So now I need to replace it with either another 8050 or the new 9050 integrated amp. I like to try new stuff whenever i can but the 8050 isn't bad at all. I really like all the features like the wireless Pandora radio and zone 2 which I will use for my whole house audio when I set it up. I do however like the looks of the 9050 and the Phase matching bass feature which I think i may like because with out a loudness button I feel the need for more bass at low volumes. I really expect that I would like this feature and I also like the gamble of possibly better overall sound from the 9050 (which may or my not be true). On the other had the 8050 has everything I need in one box. The 9050 does have a DAC through a 1/8 jack. I am a bit behind on tech stuff so: 1) What device could i use to stream Pandora with the 9050's headphone jack? Apple TV? 2) for whole house audio I could still have another reciever through the line out on the 9050 right? 3) Do you all think I should try the 9050 or just stick with an 8050? BTW the amp will be running KLF 20's Thanks Jon

I haven't been on the forum for awhile because I lived in an apartment for a year and half so didn't really use my KLF 20's. Now I'm in a house and ready to crank them up again. I've always liked the lively and dynamic nature of the KLF 20's but on many recordings found them a bit too harsh. So much in fact that I was just about ready to give up and look for some other speakers. I am really reluctant to let go of these though because in a time of skinny delicate looking speakers these things are heavy duty, loud, dynamic beasts. Mine have the Crites Tweeters and stock midranges. Being effectively a newb at the technical aspects of speaker despite having own rf3's since 1999, I began to try and pinpoint the offending driver or drivers. I occluded the tweeters with my hands and immediatly realized the midranges sounded overbearing, especially with guitar heavy music like metal (Metallica Ride the Lightning or with harmonized vocals like on track #8 on Steely Dan's Pretzel Logic). At high volume levels it sounded like the vocals were coming through a megaphone. On Jazz music, the horns do sound great and I'm happy with the way piano comes through without the occlusion. I covered the midranges' (throats?) with clear postal tape (the type that one would use to seal a box) and Metallica never sounded so amazing. The megaphone sound was gone and these speakers were godlike with the powerful bass and beatiful,crisp highs. I also learned that I am not at all offended by the Titanium tweeters. In fact, they're perfect. My excitement for these speakers is renewed again and I would love to find a way to replicate this sound through upgrades. I'm thinking the Ti midranges with Bob Crites' attenuation modifications to the crossovers may be in order. Could someone who has made these modifications please describe the difference it made in the sound of the midrange horns? I would like to dial back the midranges as much as is reasonably advisable. Thanks Jon

Onkyo TX 609 for $299 on accessoriesforless.com. I have that one and I like it. I haven't heard enough other receivers with my RF3s to really comment on sound quality though.

My Onkyo with audessy set my mains at +5 and they are Energy speakers that aren't as efficient as Klipsch. It set my sub to -12 and I had the gain only at about 1/3 volume. There was not nearly enough bass for me so I turned the gain of the sub up a bit and usually set my sub at -3 to 0 for music.

http://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/ONKTXNR609/Onkyo-TX-NR609-7.2-Channel-3-D-Ready-Network-A/V-Receiver/1.html Check this one out.

Onkyo has something called WRAT. Wide Range Amp Technology which begins with the tx 609 AVR. The 509 does not have this. Whether its marketing BS or not, well it probably is. The point is however, it is a step up in the "guts" of the receiver. The 8050 also has this. I highly recomend looking at accessoriesforless.com because I think they have the tx 609 for about $300 or less. It is refurbished but it still comes with the full warranty. I have both the 609 and the 8050 and really like them both.

Beautiful speakers! It is fine to have variety of speakers even if you don't "need" them. Each have their own strengths and suit particualr listening spaces. I like my KLF20s for the rocking living room and my Energy Conossuer C-2s for the ht in a smaller room.