My RF-7s - Review

[Bonzo]

With the impedance dips of the RF-7, I wouldn't recommend it.

[SWL]

With the impedance dips of the RF-7, I wouldn't recommend it.

I had a feeling. Thanks Bonzo.

[Pete H]

With the impedance dips of the RF-7, I wouldn't recommend it.

I had a feeling. Thanks Bonzo.

My Sansui 8080 drives them fine and sounds very good.

[stormin]

With the impedance dips of the RF-7, I wouldn't recommend it.

I had a feeling. Thanks Bonzo.

My Sansui 8080 drives them fine and sounds very good.

That reference was to driving two pairs of RF-7's at the same time. I don't believe your Sansui would be up to the task either.

I had my Chorus II's hooked up to Marantz 2325 for a long time. Then I decided it didn't have enough kick and I added a big QSC amp to the mix and wow did it wake up my speakers. The 2325 made for a very nice preamp with the QSC.

[CECAA850]

I ran a pair of RF-5's on a 100 watt Carver amp (and matching pre-amp) in my bedroom for years. I sold the RF-5's and replaced them with a pait of H3's. I honestly liked the RF-5's better. The H3's cut off the last octave of bass and no ammount of corner palcement can make up for that. The mids for the H3's, while clearer, are much more forward almost to the point of too much. Overall they're both good speakers, but the RF-5's to me, are a more well rounded speaker.

[Pete H]

That reference was to driving two pairs of RF-7's at the same time. I don't believe your Sansui would be up to the task either.

I didn't mean to drive 2 pair of 7's, but it does do fine with one. That said, I ran 2 m200t's bridged for a while and the 7's do come alive in the bottom end with the correct amount of power. I'm probably going to pick up an Emotiva XPA 5 and drive the lows with it and pick up a modest wattage tube amp for the highs and see what that does. I'm sure someone here has already done that, but I haven't found the thread yet.

[SWL]

I'm probably going to pick up an Emotiva XPA 5 and drive the lows with it and pick up a modest wattage tube amp for the highs and see what that does.

Active or passive?

I'm currently passive bi-amping my 7's with 475 watt Crown amps on the lows and a vintage Marantz 2230 on the highs with very good results. In addition to a heavily treated room the harsh highs have become much less of an issue. Someday, I intend on running tubes on the highs.

[Fish]

I have 7's and 20's,while I like the 20's fine they are not in the same league as 7's,imo.I like heresy's fine,they also are not even in the same sonic universe.Some like Lascalas,some don't,some like Fortes,I think they are fine but they can't hang with a 7 on any amp I've had,still imo.The point,we can all like whatever we want,and what sounds great to some may not suit others,thats ok too.

All a review for or against tells me is one persons preference,no more,no less,has no special weight,regardless of who it is.

[stormin]

The point,we can all like whatever we want,and what sounds great to some may not suit others,thats ok too.

All a review for or against tells me is one persons preference,no more,no less,has no special weight,regardless of who it is.

To take this point a bit further. Unless one has experienced a certain speaker in a persons room with the exact equipment listening to the exact same recording they don't actually know what that person is hearing anyways. It's all hearsay. I have and love Chorus II's and I've had so many different pieces of gear playing through them without actually seeing them sitting in the room you would swear it was a totally different speaker. My speakers sound d^^n good and will kick the sh^t out of me or anybody else that gives a listen.

I've heard people throw around one speaker has a mountain curve and another has a smiley curve. I can't stand either I reach for a flat curve. Again thats my preference. Speakers, rooms , equipment, recordings and choice of music all have a tremendous effect on the end result.

Klipsch speakers are very dynamic period.

By the way I consider my self a big rocker/ metal fan and I never could warm up to the KLF series so go figure. To me they were sceamers. And don't even start Cornwall fans.

[Pete H]

The point,we can all like whatever we want,and what sounds great to some may not suit others,thats ok too.

All a review for or against tells me is one persons preference,no more,no less,has no special weight,regardless of who it is.

To take this point a bit further. Unless one has experienced a certain speaker in a persons room with the exact equipment listening to the exact same recording they don't actually know what that person is hearing anyways. It's all hearsay. I have and love Chorus II's and I've had so many different pieces of gear playing through them without actually seeing them sitting in the room you would swear it was a totally different speaker. My speakers sound d^^n good and will kick the sh^t out of me or anybody else that gives a listen.

I've heard people throw around one speaker has a mountain curve and another has a smily curve. I can't stand either I reach for a flat curve. Again thats my preference. Speakers, rooms , equipment, recordings and choice of music all have a tremendous effect on the end result.

Klipsch speakers are very dynamic period.

By the way I consider my self a big rocker/ metal fan and I never could warm up to the KLF series so go figure. To me they were sceamers. And don't even start Cornwall fans.

I totally agree with what you've stated. My current room sucks acoustically, but I can dial in the room problems manually with the right receiver, processor and adjust for those deficincies and correct to a degree, but when they're upstairs pounding off of a EPS and drwalled wall on hardwood oak flooring, the sound is completely different than in the basement off of concrete walls and a half torn out ceiling. It affects the bass drastically as it will when I move it back upstairs where it belongs, as I'm changing the room dynamics drastically and vaulting the ceiling and adding much more accoustically reflictive material behind the drywall than it had prior to this remodle. Acoutics are so personal that there's no one on this forum that is listening to the same thing, even with the same equipment.

[Cody_Mack]

The point,we can all like whatever we want,and what sounds great to some mayI am looking fo not suit others,thats ok too.

All a review for or against tells me is one persons preference,no more,no less,has no special weight,regardless of who it is.

To take this point a bit further. Unless one has experienced a certain speaker in a persons room with the exact equipment listening to the exact same recording they don't actually know what that person is hearing anyways. It's all hearsay.

Very well said. Fact is, my Heresys, on stands, in my small listening room, augmented with a decent little sub, in my face, practically near-field, can deliver the sonics that I am looking for just as well as the RF-7s can. That was the intent of my review; the RF-7s are not working for me presently.

Wait, did he say "Heresys on stands???"

Yep, that's what I said, and if you are definitely going to use a sub, or a pair of subs with the Heresy, then I invite you to try it. To me I think it will give a closer resemblence to the Heritage sound with the mids and highs up at your listening level versus on the floor angled up at you. Again, this may be well dependent on room size; I know it works very well for me.

Rick

[Invidiosulus]

I used to have my H1's up on stands.

Without modifying the crossover they sounded a bit bright in the top end.

A quick change of the mid and tweet on the taps on the autoformer and they were much more balanced.

My old living room was very small so having them up at ear level worked much better.

-Josh

[Pete H]

I'm probably going to pick up an Emotiva XPA 5 and drive the lows with it and pick up a modest wattage tube amp for the highs and see what that does.

Active or passive?

I'm currently passive bi-amping my 7's with 475 watt Crown amps on the lows and a vintage Marantz 2230 on the highs with very good results. In addition to a heavily treated room the harsh highs have become much less of an issue. Someday, I intend on running tubes on the highs.

I've already run the 7's with the Carvers driving the lows and the Onkyo driving the highs and quite a difference in the bottom. I think I'm going to try an active crossover and play with it to see what the results are. The 7's really love a lot of power on the bottom end, which I'm sure you already know. The biggest difference I've heard so far is when I run them with the Sansui and that has to be the pre amp electronics difference, because it's not a power issue if I'm relying on specs and wattage ratings. Bottom line, regardless of other opinions, is that I think the 7's are a very fine speaker that will always be running somewhere in my home and when I get the Jamboree's built, I'll see how they stack up against the big boys.

[Audio Flynn]

I think RF-7 owners need to step up with some rock solid tube power for those reference speakers. I'm definitely a heritage guy but I have spent some time with RF-7's and I see no way possible the little heresy's could hang with them if the RF-7's were powered with proper tube power. Yes they are never going to deliver the big boy heritage performance but Heresy's! they should trounce them without breaking stride. I think every amp listed in this review was being severely taxed (except the MC-250) trying to power the RF-7's which in turn severely skews the results.

I heard Mike Whell's RF-7 with origaonal crossovers several times and they were not lacking in much.

Heresey has little low energy information under 60 hz.

I can hear the crossover point in a RF-7 a little but it is not objectionable.

A Heresey cannnot compete. It would be interesting to run off my Chorus IIs agaist the RF-7 someday when I no longer work 65 hours a week.

[Fish]

The biggest difference I've heard so far is when I run them with the Sansui and that has to be the pre amp electronics difference, because it's not a power issue if I'm relying on specs and wattage ratings.

Thank YOU! That is a point I make here and everywhere,the pre is where it's at,it will make or break 7's.Of course you need a good source and solid power but all would be a waste without the right pre.

[Pete H]

The biggest difference I've heard so far is when I run them with the Sansui and that has to be the pre amp electronics difference, because it's not a power issue if I'm relying on specs and wattage ratings.

Thank YOU! That is a point I make here and everywhere,the pre is where it's at,it will make or break 7's.Of course you need a good source and solid power but all would be a waste without the right pre.

How do you like your Emotiva gear? I thinking about moving away from the Carvers and just getting the XPA5. We have many of the same components in our collections. If you like what you have and ever come across a set of RP3's or 5's, that you can pick up right (200-300) and you will be very suprised at what they put out.IMO

[cjgeraci]

The biggest difference I've heard so far is when I run them with the Sansui and that has to be the pre amp electronics difference, because it's not a power issue if I'm relying on specs and wattage ratings.

Thank YOU! That is a point I make here and everywhere,the pre is where it's at,it will make or break 7's.Of course you need a good source and solid power but all would be a waste without the right pre.

Wise Fish speaks the truth. Its the prepro that has the biggest overall effect on your sound. If you do not like your results and just change out the amps, you will likely be chasing your tail.

Carl.

[Pete H]

Wise Fish speaks the truth. Its the prepro that has the biggest overall effect on your sound. If you do not like your results and just change out the amps, you will likely be chasing your tail.

I had another thread going asking about pre pro's to replace the Onkyo to try and get a more musical pre and all of the HT switching and connectivity of the Onkyo. Any suggestions? 1,000-2,000.

[SWL]

The biggest difference I've heard so far is when I run them with the Sansui and that has to be the pre amp electronics difference, because it's not a power issue if I'm relying on specs and wattage ratings.

Thank YOU! That is a point I make here and everywhere,the pre is where it's at,it will make or break 7's.Of course you need a good source and solid power but all would be a waste without the right pre.

Wise Fish speaks the truth. Its the prepro that has the biggest overall effect on your sound. If you do not like your results and just change out the amps, you will likely be chasing your tail.

Carl.

I have found this to be mostly true as well. A preamp that sends a strong signal to the 7's is key but is not the "be all end all" to make them shine. A high current amp is still neccessary to bring the 7's to their full potential IMHO.

[CECAA850]

I had another thread going asking about pre pro's to replace the Onkyo to try and get a more musical pre and all of the HT switching and connectivity of the Onkyo. Any suggestions? 1,000-2,000.

I might have pointed THIS one out in the other thread. I get them mixed up.