tomO2013

I went back last night to the dealer, brought my own recordings and retested different speakers / amp combinations over a 3 hour period ( my dealer is very patient!). My takeaway - the amp had not been configured properly the first day. Dealer went and updated the firmware and reset the factory defaults in the advanced setup as somebody had enabled an output limiter I had not been aware of. MY wife and I sat down and did a back to back a:b testing session. We preferred the Yamaha 3060 over the Pioneer SC901 for both paradigm and klipsch. I could rattle off that it sounded fuller to us, more effortless but really one persons car is another persons ferrari. On the speaker front we threw in Martin Logan XT60's and Paradigm prestige 95f as well as the RP280 and RF-7ii's. Feeding all speakers with a powerful amp makes a significant difference - stating the obvious. My wife preferred the Prestige 95F and RF-7ii's and I preferred the RF-7ii's and Logan XT60's. Funnily enough when we ran a cary audio SLP98 against all the speakers the RF-7ii's stood out head and shoulders above the others for my tastes. Anyway I walked out with the RF-7ii's. I'd also agree with a poster in another thread. Listening to the RF-7ii's against the RP280's back to back and there is absolutely no comparison. The RP280's are excellent, but do not have the stage, presence and detail that the RF-7ii's have when you feed them a really good recording. I'm a happy camper.

I'd hoped to be able to walk into a dealer and hear one in person and compare. Surround question: Any idea on how it would compare with RP450C? Stereo Question: The modification that I see some people mentioning to do with the RF 7 mark i with respect to putting dampening material behind the horn... is this considered necessary with the RF-7ii?

If I were to go the RF7ii , getting my hands on an RC64ii is proving to be tricky, they are out of stock in most places. I'd like to create as good a balance between the front 3 for movies as possible. Would the RP450C timbre match the RF7ii well? Finally can you recommend any tweaks that you may have made to the speaker (E,g, deang cross over changes) ?

Hi Guys, I recently visited my local hifi dealer to listen to a number of different amp/speaker configuration setups in a (relatively) controlled listening room environment and make a reasonable comparison Klipsch, Paradigm, B&W, missions, etc... The Klipsch setup in the hifi dealer was really interesting. The dealer had Klipsch R28F, RP260, RP280's and RF-7ii's configured with an older Yamaha v363 receiver - still a very good receiver by all accounts, but certainly not something I had considered purchasing. The funny thing is that the v363 had no problem driving the sound to levels that were reasonable. Doing a side by side with paradigm prestige 85f and the klipsch speakers (plural R28F, RP260, RP280 and RF7-ii) were louder and from the RP280 upwards had a wider stage leading to a more 'live concert' sound. The paradigm on the other hand had a more pleasant base response and sounded more like I was listening to a studio recording (neither bad by any means, just different sounds). In the orchestral piece that I was listening to (tchaikovsky piano concerto number 1) there was more attack to the bass - e.g. I could hear more distinctly the double base being plucked on the Paradigm vs RP280/RF7-ii than I could on the RP280/RF-7ii. On the other hand I could hear the the higher end and was more precise and effortless on the klipsch where I could pick out the hammer action of the piano! Overall I am tending to prefer the Klipsch sound as it sounds more 'live performance' and as somebody who used to play in an orchestra for many years, the violin and piano is closer to what I would be used to with a real piano. I have a very eclectic taste in music that goes from Bach to Metallica (which sounded great on both). So far I am 70% leaning towards a klipsch based system and for want of putting a figure on it - 30% leaning towards paradigm. A few questions I hope the community doesn't mind answering.... 1. Of the speakers that I listened to my favourite so far is the RF7ii - using my own ears and also observing what others have said about 'brightness', it's horn sounded more precise and articulate if not considerably less forgiving than the RP280 which itself was considerably less forgiving of source material compared to the paradigm. In the experience of those that own/owned both is this fair to say that this speaker is going to require a beefier amp than the yamaha 3060 to really get a more rounded bass? 2. In hindsight the 3060 was set to 'straight' mode whereas the v363 was set to 'pure direct' - do you think this might account for the lack of output volume when I swapped amps? 3. I keep reading about a DeanG modification which supposedly improves crossover and all round smoothness. Those that have done this, have you found it made the speaker more forgiving of source material ? As it stands I have ordered the RP280 HT pack (RP280 (x2), RP450C, RP250S (x2) and R115SW configuration) however my dealer is offering me a 1000 canadian dollar upgrade on the front speakers to RF7-ii's or if I want he will swap over to Paradigm for a cost as well before I take delivery. I know there are RF7-iii's in the works so he is offering me this price to move older stock of RF-7ii's. Do you feel this is worth the upgrade for music and HT? Also welcome your opinions on RP280's , RF7ii's Thanks,