Khorns/Belle/lascala vs. rf-7ii

[thisgsx]

For those of you that's heard these, how do the rf-7ii sound compared to the heritage's? I am in the process of upgrading my home theater, which is a mix of 40/40/20, movie/game/music. Setup will consist of the Marantz sr7005 or Marantz av7005 (if going with the rf-7iis) plus the Emotiva XPA-5.

[Audio Flynn]

I have not heard the RF-7 IIs.

If music is your lesser usage and SS is your amplification I would go with the RF-7 IIs.

If you would like to future proof for tubes and more music I would go with LS IIs.

Heritage music reproduction has been more realistic than Reference in my listening.

[gnatnoop]

RF 7's in a home theater would be fantastic. i auditioned 7's against khorns in the same room at a dealer, i ended up the the khorns but it was for a 2 channel application.

the 7's were extremely impressive.

[tragusa3]

I have LaScalas for theater and a buddy has Khorns for theater. I think there is no...better. Just slight differences. Likely the same would be true of the 7's. That being said, I would not be willing to change unless for Khorns, and even then, only for a sweet deal.

[SkyDover]

It's a bit of a tough question, it will depend more on how you like your sound. I have both, the Klipschorn's and RF-7. Both are very good. The RF-7 does a great job simulating the Klipschorn's if setup correct but only right in the sweet spot. The RF-7's have great voicing for HT but the Klipschorn does well at HT too if your corners allow the top imaging to setup for it, or you can move the top to toe-in for imaging if you are ok with misaligning it with the bass bin. I don't think you could go wrong with either, that's why I still have both. They both sound great! The Klipschorn's sound larger. Room size might be a consideration too.

[Chris A]

The RF-7 does a great job simulating the Klipschorn's if setup correct but only right in the sweet spot.

This is the difference (constant coverage) that you are looking for (IMHO) on top of much higher bass FM distortion of the RF-7IIs over the horn-loaded bass speakers, i.e., Khorns, La Scalas, Belles. Home theaters usually have more than one person in the audience, so having a "sweet spot" is not a good thing. I'd recommend Floyd Toole's book on this subject.

Chris

[thisgsx]

I don't have any good corners for the Khorns, but that really isn't a problem because more than likely I am going to be sealing them off. I will be going to a local Klipsch dealer that has both the Reference line and the Heritage line and I will make a comparison between them. I listen to mostly Trance, so that should be a test of how good the RF-7II or the Khorns can keep up with electronica. I currently have a set of the Klipsch RF-52, but I am either moving it into the bedroom or maybe selling them off and replacing them with a pair of Heresy's. Much of it will depend if I like the Heritage line or not. When I was at Best Buy, I had a chance to audition some other's; Martin Logans, Def Techs, Energys, and Bowers & Wilkens. All of them were auditioned through a Pioneer Elite SC-37, with my USB stick. All .mp3's were 320kbps. Song's listened to were Hed Kandi - Seemingly Sleeping, Hed Kandi - Beautiful, DJ Tiesto - Forever Today, DJ Tiesto - Sweet Misery, and Armin Van Buuren - Burned With Desire.

Here is what I thought of them....

Martin Logan Motion 12 - Sounded like crap! They sounded muffled and not clean at all. I believe my Klipsch 5.1 Promedia speakers did a better job!

Def Tech ( I forget which model, but it was one of the floor standing models) - It sounded a little thin, but cleaner. Better than the ML.

Energy's ( again I forget which model, but it was a floor standing model) - Again, it sounded thin, but bright and clean. On par or a little better than the Def Techs.

B&W 684B - These took it! They played cleanly, even at reference volume. Their imaging was excellent my brother and I had to double check to see if the center channel was on! The bass was lacking but the midrange and highs all but made up for it. It reproduced all the vocals nice and clean. Highs and mids have a very good balance between them. None of which was overpowering the other. They sounded airy, like if you were in the middle of a concert.

When I got home, since the B&W's were fresh, I immediately powered up my RF-52's and made the comparison. My RF's played everything a little cleaner. All the details were more alive and detailed, the bass had more authority than the B&W's. The only drawback was that my RF's didn't sound as full as the B&W, and because of the horns, they were brighter more in your face like if you were in the front of a concert, and not airy like the B&W's.

I've been having the upgrade itch for a long time so hopefully after this I will not have to upgrade my speakers ever again, thus that is the reason why I am considering the Heritage line.

[SWL]

Where are you located? Simply Stereo in Hoffman Estates, IL (NW Chicago suburb) has Reference and Heritage side-by-side in the same room hooked up to a switch board so you can go nuts and compare all you want. A less than perfect scenario but you can note the differences nonetheless.

[thisgsx]

I'm located in So Cal, there is a dealer about 45min away from me that carries both the Heritage and Reference line. Once I have a some spare time I'll have to make a drive out there and do a comparison.

[SkyDover]

Well, if you close the backs on the Klipschorn's it makes it much more workable in a room, than that is probably the way to go if you want a fuller and more airy sound. I use to own the B&W Nautilus 800 in Tiger Eye finish but was listening to my Klipshorn's more during that time and ended up selling the B&W. They were very heavy and a work of art but I still prefered the Sound of the Klipschorn's overall over it. Sometimes I regret selling the B&W because I really liked the looks of them and they sounded great but the room had both the Klipschorn's and B&W and my other half was on me enough to pick one and sell the other so the front room would have more space.