Deang Posted February 7, 2002 Share Posted February 7, 2002 The maple is gorgeous. I had previously been using a set of RC7's and finally decided to do something I swore I would never do - own a set of towers with dual woofers covering lots of midrange. For the most part I prefer planars or monitors with mid/woofers no larger than 8". I made this decision after an afternoon audition where the RF7's left me smiling and feet tapping. It was hard for me to let go of my predjudices, but I could not argue with what I was hearing. The RF7's have a very quick sound for a tower design. They do not have that bloated, fat, woody sound you sometimes hear with even the best towers. The bass goes deep, sounds powerful, and yet remains surprisingly tight for a ported design. This they do without sounding like a box. Very impressive. With the two 10's and the slightly higher crossover (as compared to the other Reference models), I thought I would surely lose some detail in the lower midrange. I listened to some very familiar material and I could not tell any difference (in the midrange) from what I had been hearing with the RC7's. I know there is probably a difference but it must be miniscule. The mids are just as smooth as a baby's bottom and the RF7's manage to maintain this smoothness even as the bass is vibrating the floors and walls. I tried to smear the mids by juicing the SPL, but my 40 watt Anthem tubie couldn't do it. If there is objectionable IM distortion - I don't hear it. The treble is of course wonderful. The RF7's throw a nice image. The depth of the image caught me off guard and is fairly impressive for a $2200 set of speakers. I didn't notice the depth of the image during the audition - I can't really account for that. It's very noticable in my listening room however. The most dynamic speaker in the Reference Series line is actually the RB5, and when I traded mine in on the RC7's - I realized I had lost some of that when I got the RC7's home. I did however get the detail of the new driver/horn. It was an acceptable trade off. The RF7's come very close to the dynamics of the RB5. I was very happy to get some of that back. Very good slam/attack across the board. The RF7's are no Cornwall, Khorn, or LaScala - but then, they don't purport to be. They are part of a new breed and based on my listening experience - are perfectly capable of standing on their own ------------------ deanG This message has been edited by deang on 02-08-2002 at 02:06 PM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jethro Bodean Posted February 9, 2002 Share Posted February 9, 2002 deang. Let me be among the first to congratulate you on your purchase of the Rf7s. Was glad to read your informative review & hope that you will update as the 7s break in. I noticed a comment you made in the jihad topic Rf7s vs Cornwalls about the Dahlquist DQ-10. I had a pair of the DQ-10s for several years. I am interested in your impression of the Rf7s compared to the DQs. I realize that the speakers are a lot different, & you may not have heard the DQs for a while so this may be asking a bit much. At the time I had the DQs I had several friends with Klipsch (Heresys, La Scalas, Khorns). We thought that overall one was not really that much better than the other, just different. Just so I don't get those Cornwall guys all cranky again, I did not mention the Cornwalls in the above comparison cause I have only heard the Cornwalls once in a stereo store listening room, but thought that they were very nice. Jethro........ ------------------ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HornEd Posted February 9, 2002 Share Posted February 9, 2002 As one of the "Cornwall Cronies", Jethro, I appreciate your tolerance... and, deang, that is the most eloquent rationale for buying RF7's I have ever heard... I hope BobG gets a chance to savor it. I shall keep a "Klipsch Eye" out for your posts... and treat my vintage "Klipsch Ears" to another round of RF7 art nouveau. I have yet to hear RF7's under conditions favorable to that speaker... but the gathering reports of folks like you sure mark it as a winner. Tell us how you configured the RF7's with your other gear to bring out their best... particularly in multi-channel. Thanks for raising my interest with a well written post. HornEd =========================================== Brain MUST Be Engaged Before Shifting Into EAR! =========================================== "Where Klipsch Legends Cavort Six Ways to Someday!" FOREGROUND SOUND STAGE: KLF 30's: Left Main, Center Main, Right Main SB-2's: L & R Front Effects on 5' sand filled columns BACKGROUND SOUND STAGE: KLF 30's: Left Surround, Rear Effects, Right Surround LARGE MOUTH BASS: Twin SVS CS-Ultra subs, Samson Megawatt Amp KLIPSCH SPEAKER SUPPORT SYSTEMS: Mitsubishi RPHD1080i 65", Yamaha RX-V3000 Receiver Toshiba Pro Scan 6200, Toshiba Pro 6-head SVHS W808 in constant homage of the Eternal Tweak! Music Respite Room: Vintage Cornwall's in Transition Klipsched Class "A" Motorhome: On the road testing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anarchist Posted February 9, 2002 Share Posted February 9, 2002 Hi deang, HornEd got to it before me but I thought I would respond as well. I listened to the RF-7's last week for the first time and the experience was almost identical to yours. The difference was I heard that sound stage in the dealer's showroom. I posted my experience in a thread entitled 'Rock and a Hard Place' so I won't repeat it here. I also had a prejudice - I was determined to upgrade my system to classic Klipsch and was hell-bent on having three way Fortes or Choruses as my mains. Listening to the RF-7's threw a monkey wrench into the equation. Now I am certain I must have them and to feed that thirst for Classics, I will just have to build a dedicated listening room. ------------------ Fronts - KG4's Center - C6 Surrounds - S6's Sub - KSW200 Powered by - YAM995 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted February 9, 2002 Author Share Posted February 9, 2002 Crash - before you throw any cash down you probably should try to hear some of the bigger Heritage stuff or some Legends. That way you can make more of an informed choice. I have my idea of the 'ideal sound' and I would have to say that the RF7's come closer to that ideal than Heritage. However, everybody else has their own idea of that 'ideal sound' and it's not the same as mine. As a matter fact - I'm outnumbered on this board 10 to 1. Jethro - My friend Mark has had DQ10's for over 20 years. During that same time period I had Advents, powered Advents, AR11's powered by a GAS Ampzilla amp and Thalia preamp, and then Magnepan 1.5QR's driven by my Luxman amp and Athem preamp and CDP. Where I was always chasing refinement and detail - Mark was always pacified by the DQ10's. The DQ10 certainly throws a huge soundstage and is one of the best overall sounding speakers ever made. However, they are not that transparent sounding compared to some other offerings and they do tend to sound a little shrill at the higher SPL's - of course, Mark thinks they sound great even when they are begging for mercy. When I first got my RB5's, running them with a Boston PV1000 - I really felt it gave me 80% of the Magnepans transparency and over the top dynamics that blew the DQ10's away. It was the first time I heard a system that I thought sounded better than DQ10's all the way around. Mark agreed it sounded great but really likes the DQ's throw sound everywhere approach. Well, when I decided to trade the RC7's in on the RF7's I have now - Mark decided to ****** up those RC7's and is running them with two Boston PV1000's. He loves the sound but can't get used to the directional imaging. He's running the system with an original Adcom GFA-555 and a Toshiba DVD player and so you can say that the Klipsch aren't playing at their best. I just can't convince Mark that the upgrades really make a difference. He is caving a little however and seriously considering a CD player. So what about those DQ's? Well, Mark wants to set them back up and so I talked him into buying the upgrade kit from Regnar and changing out the caps. He then picked up two more GFA-555's off of AudiogoN to bridge in mono for them. I wanted him to buy a slightly used GFA-5802 or Bryston but he wouldn't go for it. He just loves those 555's. After listening to those RC7's for a month or more - I think what Mark is going to find when he rolls his DQ's back out is that yes - they really do throw a nice soundstage, but they also sound compressed, a little dull, and more like speakers playing recorded music. ------------------ deanG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary W. Graley Posted February 9, 2002 Share Posted February 9, 2002 RF7s are in the house today as well, but the wife is less than please! I upgraded from RF3s and have been explaining for the past month that the RF7s are BIGGER...but she didn't believe or realize that bigger really means BIGGER...oh well! Other than the briding the wife problem they sound very good! nice detail and crisp clean and deep sounding to my ears. The RF3s were very good as well, but lacked what I needed when playing music, HT it worked well. These 7s are pretty tall suckers, I know my wife would love me to trade the whole lot in for some Bose acoustimass cube system... Picked the Cherry colour by the way, matched my Oak cabinet pretty good... G2 This message has been edited by Gary W. Graley on 02-09-2002 at 07:17 PM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted February 9, 2002 Author Share Posted February 9, 2002 Wives are people too. Mine puts up with me well enough - she's a real sport about it. My real problem in the past was getting dedicated time on the system without everyone making me nuts. I decided the best solution was to move everything out of the living room into our bedroom upstairs. Now I can listen and play in peace! ------------------ deanG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jethro Bodean Posted February 10, 2002 Share Posted February 10, 2002 HornEd. Thanks, & you are right. Deang is most eloquent and very thorough. Deang. Wow!! Thanks for the indepth review. That was a lot more that I was expecting. Very good. I do agree with most of what you say about the DQs, I will say I tend to agree with your friend Gary about the shrillness at higher spl. While I did notice this sometimes it seemed to be on poor quality recordings. Never noticed it when playing any of my prized Mobile Fidelity lps. You are right about the soundstage. That was the part that amazed everyone who ever listened to them. Mr Dahlquist was on to something with his "phased array" design. Seemed like most anywhere was the sweet spot. Hmmm, maybe he shodda horn loaded his 4 upper drivers. The heritage brotherhood would even approve of that as they seem to be a bit put off by the single horn in the new RFs. You are out numbered here but it looks like the RF7 crowd is growing. You, Theears, now Gary G. Maybe me next. I just got to go listen for myself & it is a long trip. Gary. Deang is right. Wives are people too. It just seems most did not get that gene that thinks big boxes & towers, with wires running to all sorts of strange electronic equipment, surrounding a big screen, is proper interior decor. I think most of us men got that gene twice. Jethro....... ------------------ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted February 10, 2002 Author Share Posted February 10, 2002 So jethro - what happened to your DQ10's? What prompted you to make a change? ------------------ deanG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Cornell Posted February 10, 2002 Share Posted February 10, 2002 OK got me going! I own 2 pair of cornwalls, no surprise to most here, so here i go! My opinion is, ive put down the RF-7s not to long ago! You can not compare 20+ year old speakers to todays technology! Cornwall, and heritage owners, have been top of the line for so many years, some of the KG series, 15 years ago, still sound better than the new line! I no longer put down any Klipsch, to me if you own them, your as good as me! Im having a problem matching theater speakers to these cornwalls, ive spent a lot of dough, on speakers i aint hear with them! If i had a choice between a 1970 chevelle, in mint condition, or a new car, id go wth the 1970! The RF-7s are impressive as hell! The cornwalls are a mondo square box, that take up a lot of room! Also a lot of weight, in my case 432 pounds! Ive had placement problems as well, They look very nice standing on their own, im ganna try rear placement again, problem is im not in front of them, im beside them, so i caint really hear the rear channel! Its nice to own a Klipsch classic, there still worth what bought them for!! A reference home theater would be gorgeous. Not to many placement problems with the new line! Which is why im sure the discontinued the cornwalls! You have to own your own home, to own the K-horn, la scala, belles, cornwalls, chourus, fortes, RF-7s, and even the heresy, these are not apartment speakers whatsoever! The synergy, should be apartment line, those would work well, in that prospective! A free standing building for the others! I almost bought a total home theater package with smaller speakers, just for the fact, nothing matches what i have! And i was ganna run it by itself! Of coarse ill always keep the corns! Be carefull, the RF series, when i was looking at them, if you have kids the grill covers arent very strong, it wouldnt take much for a child to damage the cones on the woofers! I also like the cornwalls, for the fact that they caint get damaged as easy as the new stuff! My KG5.5s, got damaged, the kid threw a doll at them, when she was mad at her mom! Flatened the dust cover right out, and the grill cover showed not harm! Kids can damage anything, parents gotta make that a challenge for them! LOL! So when it comes to i have cornwalls and he has RF-7s, who gives a SH--T! You still own the best, you have Klipsch! And i like them all! Big or small, new or old! Theres no need for competition here on the BB! If anyone starts bringing speakers home, of other brands, you wouldnt even hear them, then youll realise what you really have! THE BEST! EXAMPLE i have 4 cornwalls here and the synergy SS.5s what a differene, but i still like them all! After arguing, or trying to prove to fellow BBs, i now realise that i own kipsch, and i own the best! As well as the rest of my fellow BBs! I am now upgrading my audio, doing a good job there, ill have a nice amp included in my upgrade in a week or 2! Im actually sick of buying speakers, after 26 years of ths hobby! Its time to get some quality audio, i just got a new Zenith DVD, with a $45.00 optical cable, the day baby was born! Ill keep the APEX on normal TV, and use the Zenith for audio purposes! Also bought the outlaw 1050, and the harman kardon AVR 120, and to boot the harman kardon FL8380! So im now on the road to the ultimate system, If i decide to move, that would be a challenge for us! Im now signing off from happy daddy land! Regards Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mobile homeless Posted February 10, 2002 Share Posted February 10, 2002 Holy Exclamation point, Jim. I live in an extremely small apartment on the beach in North Carolina. I have been renting here for nine years but am getting ready to buy the beast. Closing on Tuesday. IT's hard to own much size with prices on the coast here at $350 A SQUARE FOOT. You do the math. That being said, I am pretty sure I have the smallest abode for these vintage Klipsch Cornwalls, but with careful setup and system tweaking, I am getting sound that turns heads and drops jaws. Three people that have been here have left and bought totally new systems. One person with Wright Sound 3.5 SETs, walked into my second bedroom office after 30 minutes of listening and perused the Net for Cornwalls on ebay. He now owns a pair just won off ebay and is positively ecstatic. To say Cornwalls are not for apartments is not totally true... You have to be creative, however. But I am getting top notch sound right here to prove it. kh ------------------ Phono Linn LP-12 Vahalla / Linn Basic Plus / Sumiko Blue Point CD Player Rega Planet Preamp Cary Audio SLP-70 w/Phono Modified Amplifier Welborne Labs 2A3 Moondog Monoblocks Cable DIYCable Superlative / Twisted Cross Connect Speaker 1977 Klipsch Cornwall I w/Alnico & Type B Crossover system one online / alternate components / Asylum Listing f>s> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Cornell Posted February 10, 2002 Share Posted February 10, 2002 Moble With all due respect, id have to move continuos, for the fact, i couldnt behave in an apartment, dont get me wrong im not at all putting down apartments. i wouldnt behave myself, with the power im ganna have here! I do miss apartments, they were a lot warmer, for cheaper! Modular homes are built like S----T! I dont understand why we all compare our Klipsch speakers! Is there trully a point! The size factor is a thing to consider! Also with the series you have started out with! There trully is no center match or surrounds for the heritage, that didnt exist at the time! So thats why we have to use the heresy, or belles for the theater match! Were talking some room here! I dont have it! Dependng on your series, you sould really match what you have, and not compare it to the rest of the line! If your not happy with what you have, then my advise is to finish up with the same line you have! Synergy, synergy theater! Reference reference theater! Legend legend theater! Heritage your on your own! These shouldnt be mixed matched together! 2 channel is the simplest way to go, its basic and simple, and that also could cost $! Maybe im wrong, but we should pull together, and consider what line of speakers each of us own, rather than put down! Some of the arguments are piontless! Like i said, at one time i was ganna 2 channel the corns, and get a smaller theater package just to match it! Also smoe of the problem is having 2 pair of corns, that makes it twice as hard to match! Im staying at 5.1, 4 corns and the academy, i think thats a good match! For the same amount of money, i could of had a theater in 9.1! I sure do love the vintage stuff, and 2 channel as well! I have 2 rockford fosgates and a K-33-E in a homemade box, all on 1 amp to get the theater bass! Now, NON KLipsch owners, you bet your *** i rub it in! And enjoy doing it! If i were rich, i would have the reference theater line, and all this! Well now in on rear channel, ill go with the KLF or another academy, id like to match the center! If i get the Klf ill have even another miss match! Its hard to get some heritage, also its hard to build it up! Ive seen all the new stuff, im impressed with all of it! Well, after being offline a while, i just thought id express some thought! Im back to work tomorrow, with less sleep LOL! Im in the meantime backing up, and upgrading the audio, i should of done this before i got the second set of corns! The KG5.5s were simple, to build home theater than the corns! I still have home upgrades i progress here! Well, im off! Regards Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mobile homeless Posted February 10, 2002 Share Posted February 10, 2002 Christ, Jim. Your new posting style reminds me of a Dead Boys song without the sound. What's going on in that modular home? I'm a bit worried... Should I send oxygen? kh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Cornell Posted February 10, 2002 Share Posted February 10, 2002 This is a 1996 These are the repairs in 4 years! 1- porch caved in repaired that! 2- Living roor floor fell in repaired that, Klipsch? LOL! 3-Light switches broke had to have them repaired! 4- door jam on back bedroom broke had to replace the whole thing! 5- Back bathroom door fell off the wall breaking my toe, so i just ripped the bathroom out for another room, thats the mod here now! 5- Livingroom ceiling fan fell down almost hitting the baby, anyone need a fan its still here, had to put a light fixture in place of it! 6- had to redo all doors they wouldnt close! 7- continuos cracks along the walls, top part! 8- dont buy a modular home LOL! Regards Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary W. Graley Posted February 10, 2002 Share Posted February 10, 2002 Wives are special that's for certain! The 7s are in place and might get to stay for a while, I'm tempted to take them back and get smaller stand type that don't take up as much room but to lose the sound of these...I just don't know. The RF3s I had JUST started to be broken in and sounded great, these sound a little raw and I hope they will break in as well? If I keep them! Well we will see what the next week brings, a friend where I bought these at said maybe I could exchange them for some Boston VRM-80, but I don't know how that would be... G2...going crazy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Cornell Posted February 10, 2002 Share Posted February 10, 2002 If you gotem keep them those are really nice! One cornwalls is almost the width of a set of RF-7s or RF-5s! LOL! Im not at all complaining, just stating facts, i do this once in a while! Let us know what you decide! Regards Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jethro Bodean Posted February 10, 2002 Share Posted February 10, 2002 Jim. Congratulations for being a new dad. That is really nice. I noticed on another forum that you had a complaint about webtv. I have had one for 3 or 4 years, so feel free to email me if you need some tips about this device. I am not a expert but do have several hours of experience. Deang. I sold my DQs account of space considerations. It was a good deal for me as it was to a relative, so I had visiting rights. Now for the bad part. What I did not count on was their divorce. After the smoke cleared the DQs went in the wrong direction! Have not seen them since. Now I will answer your next question. Right now I have all NHT speakers. I do like a lot of things about these and may keep them. One of the major criticisms of this brand is that they are too bright-harsh. Does that sound familiar to you Klipsch owners?? These are a bit on the hot side, but all speakers are that way in my only tv/sound room. I have a lot of glass so it is hard to tame this problem. Well now that I have exposed myself as the owner of another brand of speakers, I guess I will head for the bunker. Radar is on alert for incoming flames!! Jethro.... ------------------ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Cornell Posted February 10, 2002 Share Posted February 10, 2002 Its the remote keyboard, it drives me nuts! I have to constantly go back and fix things! Thank you im a happy dad! AGAIN LOL! Fellow members here remember my first born! Shes 23 months now! I have a lot of responsibility and can still keep the hobby going, right on LOL! NHTs arent to bad ive heard them, everyone cpmplains about everything! I just bought what looked to me as a fine Zenith DVD player, just to jump online to see all the complaints on it, i give up! I like it, thats what counts, and the same to everyone also! You like what you have, enjoy it! Now the Apex was cheaply made, but it got better reviews LOL $79.00 VS $159.00 whatever LOL! Well better run! Regards Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jethro Bodean Posted February 11, 2002 Share Posted February 11, 2002 Jim. Thanks for your reply. I have experienced the missing of the letters problem that you are having trouble with. What brand of keyboard are you using? I have used both a Sony and a Samsung. For me the Sony does a lot better job. In fact I hardly ever have to go back & fill in with the Sony. With the Samsung my sentences woud lok lik this sometims. Jethro....... ------------------ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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