Hello,
I am a
newcomer to the forums, and am impressed with the depth of knowledge contained
in the collective membership! As a
member of several other forums (not related to sound systems), I have found
these types of venues to be vastly helpful with issues that arise from time to
time.
I need
some assistance or suggestions in sorting out an issue I have with a nice pair
of RF-7’s that I bought new in 2005.
When I
first purchased the speakers, I had them connected as part of a home theater
system using a mid-level Yamaha 5.1 home theater receiver. I was then, and am now, using the RF-7’s as
the “front” speakers in a 5.1 setup. At
the time of initial installation, all seemed fine, and the speakers seemed to
perform pretty well. It took me quite
awhile to get used to the “brightness” of the Klipsch speakers, but I expected
that. At that time, bass response seemed
adequate, but not what others have described these speakers are capable of, not
to mention the advertising by Klipsch. I
chalked it up to inadequacies in the Yamaha receiver, and did nothing
further. Most of my listening was done
in the context of home theater movie viewing.
Also, at that time, I really didn’t spend that much time listening to
the system, and certainly not in the context of listening to audio tracks on CD
or other media.
In 2008,
I purchased an Onky TX-SR805 home theater receiver, and have been using that
ever since, again, primarily using the system in a home theater context. Again, I have not spent much time listening
or using this system, until now.
The
system is set up in a fairly large, carpeted “bonus” room, approximately 600
square feet, and the RF-7’s are spaced approximately 12 feet apart, on the main
back wall of the room, about a foot from the wall. The speakers themselves are as new, as is the
Onkyo receiver. I’d be willing to bet
there aren’t a 100 hours on the entire system. My issue is a
significant lack of bass response from the RF-7’s. In fact, bass response is almost nonexistent.
As with
most home theater receivers, the Onkyo lets the user choose different sound
fields. I have a nice Klipsch subwoofer that
I recently purchased, and using the 5.1 sound fields, the bass response is
nice, but only due to the subwoofer. If
I choose any of the stereo sound fields, or what Onkyo calls “Pure Audio,” and
remove the subwoofer from the equation, I get very little, if any, bass
response from the RF-7’s. I have removed
the speaker grills at elevated volumes, and can barely “feel” any movement from
any of the four woofers using any of the offered sound fields, including "Pure Audio."
I recall
a few years ago cycling the system between one format and another (likely a
movie to music), and someone had left the Onkyo turned on and it was cranked up
to an elevated volume level. The music
started and “hit” pretty hard when switched from movie to music, and I
wondered, at the time, whether the RF-7’s had been “injured.” However, since new, I have always had the
feeling that the RF-7’s were significantly lacking in bass response. Did I break something?
Forgive
my lack of technical expertise, or use of layman’s language in this post. I am not well versed in current audio system
nomenclature, having grown up in the 70’s with my beloved Technics SA-40
receiver and a pair of off-brand speakers that I could tear the roof off with
in college. J I still have
the SA-40, but have tucked it away for archaeologists to uncover someday.
Any
advice, or suggestions, would be most welcome.
Thanks in advance.
Nick