Zero

Congrats and good luck!!

Hey MKP, You should totally get a pair. Either that, or go straight for the Heritage line. C'mon. You can do it! Oh, and truth be told, I've always had other speakers in this house. A couple years ago, I ran a set of Wilson Audio towers. Now I'm enjoying some towers from an obscure Italian company called Rosso Fiorentino. Still, the RF-7 II's (and Klipsch in general) holds a special place in my heart. : )

Hey everybody, Before I say aloha to my RF-7 II's, I decided to throw together a quick video that's geared towards helping people get better sound out of these fantastic loudspeakers. I know that many of you are already hip to the little things you can do to improve the performance of your Klipsch speakers, but still, I hope that this video will offer something useful.

Thanks for the kind words and the well wishes everyone!

***SOLD*** Thanks St.LouisDOC.

"Not to be a jerk, but I think you are full of it". Haha Wonderful.

Joesportster, Aw man. *throws down my earbuds in frustration* Honestly, I have nothing against head-Fi. It's become a HUGE market, and I fully understand why so many people are into it. But.... I dunno man. I admit that there are plenty of cans, headphone amps, and combos that I haven't heard.... so I'm not going to close the book on that segment of Hi-Fi. Just the same, I've yet to hear a setup that's been able to strike an emotional chord. Whether it's listening to Senns best headphones on an expensive Woo Audio system or experiencing a humble Grado / iFi combo - I always leave the experience feeling cold. I suppose that's because to me, the musical experience isn't just limited to our ears. It's a visceral experience as well. Music interacts with everything around you. And with headphones, I just feel like I'm listening to a pair of transducers that are only a couple mm's from my ear. The illusion, and more importantly, the emotion of a musical event just isn't there for me. Who knows, maybe one day I'll find my head-fi huckleberry. Until then, I'm gunna continue enjoying my big, bulky loudspeakers.

I've yet to hear a headphone setup that I can truly get into. *dodges the bricks, rocks, and flames*

I'm sorry Twisted but what I said is not crap. Every single loudspeaker is compromised in one way or another. That's the nature of transducers as we humans currently understand and subsequently design them. So with that in mind, the only fair way to evaluate a product is to facilitate it's idiosyncrasies. To help you better understand what I'm talking about, let's use the K-Horn as an example... I think most of us here will agree that the K-Horns are fantastic loudspeakers. I'm also sure that most of us will agree that these speakers were designed to fit into the corners of the room, or at the very least have some kind of wall re-enforcement. They also tend to respond well to being positioned far from one another, and also respond positively to generous amounts of toe-in. So what does this mean? It means that the K-Horns, like most other loudspeakers, have specific needs that should be appropriately facilitated *if* you want to get an idea as to what they are capable of. There isn't anything BS about this approach. To hammer that fact home, here's a follow up to my example: What do you think will happen if we took those coveted K-Horns and pulled them far away a wall, positioned them close together, and gave them absolutely no toe-in? Do you really think that's a fair way to evaluate a K-Horn? Now what if we suddenly brought in 3 or so other loudspeakers that were designed to work in that kind of open environment? Odds are, the K-Horns are going to get absolutely wrecked (or rekt) in that comparison. Now does that suddenly mean that the K-Horns are a "flawed" design and boast of "no fidelity" because they have more specific needs than other design? Remember, this is EXACTLY what you're saying. You can write this post off as nothing more than "theory" and a case of "what if's", but in all reality, it stems from both common sense and a WHOLE bunch of experience. Disregarding it won't make it any less true. Oh, and by the way... spoiler alert: I've actually done the comparison listed above. As an aside, I'd love to get to Hope and meet the fine folks at Klipsch, but it certainly wouldn't be to gather definitive conclusions on their product line. I'd be in it for the people experience.

Dtel - You're right. Some products just stand out. It's almost like a sirens song - drawing you closer to ****** the cash outta your wallet. :D As an aside, I think it's awesome how you involved the fam. with the speaker auditioning process. etc - It's good to see a P-39f's owner. As for Harman International: Their methodology isn't much better. Sure, they level match, use a better switching interface, and hire employees who are trained to pick up on non-linear frequency behavior - but when you get right down to it - their conveyer belt is nothing more than a line of speakers that are connected to a singular component system. Now, if you're looking to design a fantastic all-around loudspeaker, then this is a great way to help you achieve that goal. But that testing methodology won't give you a true understanding of what the competition brings to the table. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure those Revel speakers sound way better than everything else on their conveyer belt. A fact that Harman proudly demonstrates every time somebody drops by for a listen. But... what do you think would happen if they took those Martin Logans, B&W's, and Maggies off of that conveyor belt and put them in a proper listening space? Heck... let's up the ante and find the best position for those speakers within a room and then connect them to equipment that best suits their character. Hmm. Methinks those Revels will no longer be a unanimous visitor favorite. Anyway, maybe I'm bias. I've put a lot of time into reviewing Hi-Fi gear, and one of the first things I've learned is that you should never purposefully disadvantage anything when comparing one product to another. I firmly believe that before you pass supreme judgement on a Hi-Fi component, you should get to know it's idiosyncrasies and then cater to it's needs to the best of your ability. Then, and only then, will you get a solid idea of what it, and other components like it, bring to the table.

The KHorns are no joke. Anybody here think I could convince Klipsch to ship out a pair to me for review? Bhaha. Now THAT is a joke. Anyhoo, I confess that I've participated in numerous 'side by side' comparisons throughout my Hi-Fi journey; be it at my abode, at different abodes, or at manufacturer facilities. My general take away from these events is that they are a fun way to get a round-about idea as to how each product performs. Is this demo methodology good enough to draw up definitive conclusions? Hell naw. That's OK though. If you have a good time and walk away from the experience with a greater sense of knowledge, then that's all that matters. I'm glad that some of you had a chance to rock out in Hope. It looked like a whole bunch of fun.

Dtel, Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts. You mentioned a very important factor: room / setup. As most of us here already know, there is no one situation that'll benefit every type of loudspeaker. Some speakers sound best when placed right against a wall, while others tend to strut their stuff when placed far out into a room. Some respond best to heaps of solid state fuel while others prefer the warm glow of a tube. The bottom line is that if you want to get the best performance out of a loudspeaker, then you'll have to accommodate it's idiosyncrasies. This leads me to the aforementioned comparison mentioned earlier in the thread. I can only assume that Klipsch was having a bit of fun at the event. I say that because when I look at the pictures, all I see are a bunch of speakers that are lined up against a wall and (seemingly) tethered to a component system. Suffice to say, this is not exactly the best way to go about comparing different loudspeakers to one another. Anyway, when you get right down to it, none of this stuff is truly important. I'm sure it was a fun event. That said, I certainly wouldn't draw any definitive conclusions based on that kind of comparison. And no, I'm not saying this because I like the RF-7 II's. I've had plenty of experience with the KHorn's and other products from the Heritage line. I know what time it is.

I'm going to assume that the A/B/C comparison Klipsch performed for some of you was done mostly for fun.

If I can get the RF-7 II's to work in my ridiculously small room, then I'd imagine the Premier products will work in most real world spaces. Meanwhile, I'm jealous of all of these high-production value reviews. Ohhh well.

Great review! Thanks for sharing.

Thanks Vital. Yeah, their Starkers in Tokyo album is fantastic!

Maynard - Thanks for sharing. Those monos look particularly mean!!

Maynard - Thanks for checking out my channel! I know you're retired, but I'd love to see the stuff that you've made. Got any links or pictures handy?

Going to see 'Weird Al' in just over a month. PUMPED!!!

So you only have $200 to spend eh? Now that's a challenge! I can only think of one hybrid integrated that's worth considering at this price - and that is the Quinpu A6000 MK II. The good news is that this unit delivers exceptional sound for the buck. The bad news is that it's discontinued. The worse news is that the reliability is rather spotty. Still, if you want to learn more about the unit, then check out my review of it by clicking here. Another product worth considering is the Jolida 1301. It's long been discontinued so if you want one, you'll have to put in some time to sniff one out. I believe Jolida replaced this piece with the 301. Still, the new unit sells for over twice your budget of $200.00. And therein lies the problem.... Look man, I'll be honest with you - it's tough to find excellent sounding tube gear (be it full-on tube, or hybrid) under the $500 price point. This holds ESPECIALLY true if you're concerned about sundry things like warranty support should something go wrong. If your mind and wallet is dead set on going cheap, then accept that you'll be taking a risk no matter what you go with. If that's cool, then go for it and let us know what you encounter! But if the idea of taking that risk isn't too awesome, then I'd encourage you to save up some cash and wait until you can purchase a used Anthem integrated or something from the likes of Vincent Audio. Good luck!

Reasonably close over here. Even though I've lived on the east coast for most of my life, I still pronounce things the "west coast" way.

Thanks for the feedback boys! AllenTracy - It sounds like you've had a very fun, very rewarding Hi-Fi journey. I hope you continue rediscovering awesome sound! That said, I can't fully answer your questions because I'd be revealing information that I'd rather save for the upcoming comparison review. What I can do though, is hip you to what my reference rig consists of. In short, I'm running an AMR CD-777 (source), a Karan Acoustic KA I-180 (integrated amp), and Rosso Fiorentino Volterra (loudspeakers).

Thanks for the comments boys. As for the upcoming comparison: I put a lot of time into the project. Hopefully that'll translate into a highly accurate assessment.

Thanks guys! You all are awesome! For what it's worth, I plan on uploading a comparison video sometime in the near future. In that video, I'll be talking about how the RF-7 II's, B&W CM9's, Def Tech Mythos STS's, and WLM Stella's compare to one another. I think it'll be a lot of fun. These products are all priced similarly, yet are quite different from one another in terms of design. This won't be a shootout so much as a discussion piece.

Hey guys. I'm almost embarrassed to ask this but, if you watched my video and liked it, then please give the video a "like" on youtube. I'm hoping that Klipsch will find enough of a reason to mention it on their FB page. Not only will the plug help to validate the review, the support may also be enough to convince some Klipsch fans to step into a set of RF-7 II's.