robbiey60

Why does no-one debate that a 100w subwoofer amp is enough and a 600w subwoofer amp is not needed?

Scrappy has a youtube video of some electronic drums whose kick drum sounds ridiculous with RF-7ii's. However, they sound ridiculous even with my receiver, I've had it up to +5 with no subs on. That's just on the receiver and not using an SPL meter. Point is, single frequency bass notes especially in the upper subwoofer realm isn't a very good example of why a external amp is needed. Transients and dynamics is what really shines with an amp, not dubstep. I can flex my woofers enough that I'm scared for their life with just a receiver, that doesn't really prove or disprove anything.Once again my findings were different. Both my 90wpc receiver and my 50wpc integrated hardly moved the woofers and started to distort approaching reference. My amc amp and 2 NAD amps move a lot of woofer and do not break up. Just reporting on what works in my room with my gear.

Just my findings/suggestions on the amp topic. Take subs out of the equation, strictly 2 ch. Play some dubstep(I know it wont appeal to everyone but show me something with more bass). Raise the tone control or eq around the 40-60hz range around 2-4db. Crank it to reference and above. That right there will show the difference between a low to mid receiver and a good power amp. Now do you NEED that or WANT that? I personally am happy I have that.

Yea I have to question WHY in ceiling??

Palladium is top of the range, completely out of my price range and I have a lot of $$ in all of my gear. At a guess I would say at least 20k for the cheapest floorstanders. Next in line is the rf7ii which I recommended, top of the reference ii series. Reference premiere is the new series replacing reference ii, their best speaker is the equivalent to rf82ii. No replacement yet for the rf7ii, all other models are newer versions of the smaller reference ii line ie rf82ii and down. Reference is the bottom tier, direct replacement for synergy and icon lines. And just to confuse you even more there is heritage and cinema. Scrappy can tell you more about cinema, heritage fits somewhere between rf7ii and palladiums depending on who you ask. Not sure what you mean by lcr lacking in stereo and bass, lcr means the same identical speakers(3 rf7iis) as your left, center and right. For stereo listening you would use only left and right. On the rear ports, my rf83s are only 10cm from the rear wall and have PLENTY of bass. Not a huge room though, and if you get the subs I recommended your mains wont have to produce that bass.

Sorry I neglected the fact you wanted atmos. Although atmos does not interest me I will say I would MUCH RATHER have an awsome 5/6/7 channel system than have a mediocre 5/6/7 ch + atmos. Like the amps, you may not even need ceiling speakers and if you do, they could come later without sacrificing on the main speakers.

Gday mate, I am across the ditch in NZ so I will assume prices may be similar? Also I will assume there is not a huge used market similar to here? I would recommend definately an rf7ii based system, here the price is $NZ5000 for 2 rf7ii. If you can swing it a 3rd rf7 as center would be best but rc64ii is a more than competent center. From there it depends what speakers you want/can fit. I am not a fan of bi/dipole so I would go rf82iis as surrounds, and maybe rb61/81 as rear surrounds. I have just dropped back to 6.1 from 7.1 as I felt it images better but ymmv. This will be close to $NZ10000. Spend big on a sub. $NZ3000 will get something decent ie svs pb13 ultra etc. Get a decent mid range receiver with pre-outs for future amp purchases. You may not even need seperate amps. This would be what I would do IF all is brand new and of course pricing reflects that of NZ. Later upgrades would be a 2nd sub and seperate amps. Bear in mind this is just my opinion, you should get a lot more round here lol. Good luck anyway mate!

Ok all set up. I must say it is a bit overkill and will probably drop back to just 5.1 but I needed to know how they all sound together. Have watched a few movies and running a flagship front 3 has made me aware of things I have not noticed before. 1st I can now hear when re-eq is enabled or disabled. Up until now I have never been able to hear the difference, now it definitely sounds brighter when disabled. 2nd there is a clear difference in sound between the rc64ii and the rf83s. Not enough to seriously annoy me but I can clearly hear the 64 is quite a bit brighter than the 83s. If I enable thx processing it brings them closer but like I said it really doesn't bother me as they all still sound amazing together. These 83s in 2ch are incredible, incorporated into my system they have raised it to the next level.

I agree totally. Considering the effort for you to obtain these wonderful speakers, the risk of driver damage is not worth it. Enjoy your new toys, don't break them. Bill Yea they didnt stay at that level for long, breaking these beauties is the last thing I want to do. Have had the 82iis at that level multiple times and for prolonged periods thats why I tried. It is nice to know they did it lol

Yea music is depending on my mood 2.0 with a bit of eq or 2.1 with no eq, subs a bit hot. Movies subs are always on

Had some friends over to visit and cranked them to +6 for a short burst. They thought the subs were on

Man! I haven't even had my subs on that is how great these things are. Absolutely everything I imagined them to be and more.

Ok quick update on original impressions in the bass department. Have had a bit more time for critical listening, still in 2ch. The 83s are quite a lot better in bass response. The 82iis have almost as much output but sound very boomy compared to the tight ccontrolled bass of the 83s. These speakers are getting better by the day! I have 2 days off lol so will set up rest of speakers tonight and try a movie or 3 haha.

This! We all know when we run 5 or 7 channels on a receiver the power per channel drops significantly from just 2 channel use. So bi-amping off a receiver even for just 2 channel will actually be 4 channels driven therefore power per channel drops the same. No power gains to be had from bi-amping off a receiver.

Trying to sort out pictures, not sure if I am doing it properly. 1st pictures of new rf83 compared to rf82ii. Subs no longer seem so big haha. These speakers are just amazing! A welcome addition to my system. I have not yet set up all speakers properly so have not watched a movie. I have been listening solely in 2ch for now, subs turned off. These 83s are everything the 82iis are but better. Hats off to the rf82ii for bass, on my NAD with some eq added those things really hit hard. The 83s top them obviously but it was closer than I thought, just proves the 82iis are good, just not this level of good. The 83s serve up bass effortlessly, I notice the triple cones don't move as much but still provide the same level of bass and they do it without added eq. Where they really leave the 82iis behind though is the mids and highs. I am sure some of you already know this but for those who don't the 83s just sound huge. The 82iis are sharp and closed in compared to the open and smooth sound from the 83s, yet they loose no detail or crispness at all. Awesome speakers! Will post more pics when I set the rest of the room up.

So after waiting almost 3 weeks they have finally arrived! I am just as excited as all the guys getting their new 7s. Am stuck at work so pics will come later..initial impressions they are big. Both sound and size. More to come

Did you try cutting the ground wire in the adapter? As soon as I did that the hum stopped.

I have an EP4000 running 2x 4ohm loads into twin 15s with a Dspeaker antimode 8033, it is ridiculous lol. To fix the hum I had to cut the ground wire inside the XLR adapter. I cannot remember where I read it but some googling should give you more info. I also read that some receivers dont provide enough of a signal in the sub preout when running with pro gear, something about level differential? I did have to turn the amps gain up to 3/4 but audessey still sets it around -6 I think, and it kicks *ss. Before the antimode the subs were still crazy, this has just refined them. I will have to check the switch settings on mine, what final ohm load are you running and is it in stereo, bridge mode or parallel mode? Also double check you have the cutoffs off.

I did not know this. I am runnong windows 8 and have vlc player installed, is there another program on top of that I need?

I am interested in the answer also. I currently have a ps3 for Blu-ray duties but also have a decent pc hooked up. It has a dvd drive but I have been wondering if installing a blu-ray drive would be worth it? I no longer play the ps3 as I have moved on to pc gaming so if it would work I could take the ps3 out of the equation. One thing to note I currently cannot bitstream the hd audio to the receiver as mine is very old and bitstreaming results in horrible noises. I have got around this by using pcm and that works fine, is a pc blu-ray drive capable of decoding hd audio and sending multichannel pcm via hdmi?

I have a mismatched system currently and am awaiting a new set of mains which are also slightly mismatched. I think you hit the nail on the head about designs and manufacturers. Sure they arent exactly the same BUT you will still have a kick-*ss system with SIMILAR speakers all around. For me I am willing to live happily with mine. If you personally dont have an issue with it, thats all that matters. Dont get me wrong, in a perfect world I would have identical towers all around. The world I live in is far from perfect lol. Enjoy your klipsch!

I could get lucky one day, there is a set of heresy for NZ$900 lol. Those prices I quoted are for brand spanking new mind you, the heresy are 2nd hand. And amazingly a set of original rf7s just came up on trademe(NZ ebay), if I hadnt just purchased rf83s I would have jumped on them. 1st rf7s I have seen over here. There is one shop here claiming to have new rf83, for NZ$7990!!!

So they wont be here until next week, stresses me out but I kind of expected it being easter weekend and all. We have just moved(renting for another year at least) and I was holding off on setting my system up until my new speakers came. I have just the 82s set up but I think I will have to set everything else up over the long weekend. Oh well, when they do come it will be that much better!

I have audessey xt(not 32) and thx processing, both of which do a good job sorting my system out.

Hi Robbie, congrats on the new RF-83's! I used them for several years in my HT and absolutely loved them. I've owned just about every older Reference Speaker Klipsch has made, Forte II, Chorus II, KLF-32, CF-2, and CF-4 and I still chose to keep the RF-83's. It wasn't until I purchased LaScalas that I even considered replacing the RF-83's. They are incredible speakers and if you feed them power, they sound even better. I personally think can expect to have one killer Home Theater! If you like the sound of the RF-82 / RC-64, you should have no worries about pairing the RC-64ii with the RF-83. Take a look at my Complete Rf-7ii System Purchase (Best Deal Of My Life) thread. If you look at the 5th post in that thread, you will see where I make this statement... For HT, I didn't hear any noticeable difference. I remember swapping the RC-64ii with the RC-64 and again, my ears didn't hear any difference. I would have jumped on them as well. It's hard to pass up a great deal. Take a look at my RF-7 vs RF-7ii vs RF-83 Comparison Thread. I believe all three speakers are fantastic, especially for HT. When I did that comparison thread, it was in my living room in a 2ch setup so it was easier to hear the different qualities they possess. I personally do not think one is necessarily "better" than another. They are all 3 Flagship Reference speakers. All 3 have very similar sound in bass. The high's do vary though. RF-7 being the brightest, RF-83's having the most laid back sound and the RF-7ii somewhere in between. I chose to keep the RF-7ii because they were right in between and to my ears, I preferred that sound the best out of the 3. Hope that helps and looking forward to the pics. Thanks Youthman, I have been following your posts for a while! I remember way back when I was running F30s and an rc62ii and looking at your setups and thinking wow, 1 day I would love a setup like that. That day has very nearly arrived. This is my end game(for now, lol) to improve on these speakers I would be looking at NZ10k easy for lascalas, Khorns etc. I almost feel content! Now my receiver is a bit old...