Reference 82 ll vs KF 28

[Ronald Galle]

New to the forum and just looking for some advice or input. I have listen to the RF 82 ll and the RF 62 ll towers both which I liked. Then a friend bought the KF 28 towers from Bestbuy so i went and listen to them they sounded good. My problem is where I live I can't listen to all three at the same time with the same material.

I am mainly setting up for home theater powered by yamaha rx-v671 in a fairly large living room 20 x 20 with 14ft vaulted ceiling.

My friends icon series center speaker did not sound as good to me as the RF 52 an 62 i heard. So i guess my main question to those who have heard these is the RF line really worth the extra money. and if you choose the RF's are the 82's that much better than the 62's. I will also say the 52 surrounds blew the 14's from bestbuy away.

Thanks for any input just looking for some help making up my mind..

[JasonJCarney]

Well... This really depends on a couple factors. How big is your room and how loud do you need your speakers to play? The RF series are the better speaker... But if you have a smallish room and don't need a ton of volume then the kf's will be great. The RF will have less distortion at higher volumes. If your room

Is big and or you need them to go quite loud then you'll be happier with the rf's. I have owned the 62ii's and 82's. Also the kf precursor the f-2 and f-3's. the RF 62's and rf82's are almost exactly the same. If I didn't own a sub I would go for the 82's. But if you are using a sub and crossing your mains at 70-80hz anyway then you won't notice a difference between the 62's and 82's. For home theatre with a sub I prefer the 62's based on size and price. But again if your just doing 2 channel stereo with no sub then you'll want the larger drivers on the 82's. That also applies to the kf's but as I said before the kf's will start to distort before the RF series.

[elitedemo]

I will also say the 52 surrounds blew the 14's from bestbuy away.
Thanks for any input just looking for some help making up my mind..

Welcome to the forum

You nailed whats going to be the biggest difference between the two, theres more center options and surround options with the reference series on top of them being that much better overall for the experience, for a better ht experience the reference will crush the icon and synergy sets. This isnt to say that kf 28s would be a bad choice but with that size room it needs some beasts to tame it. I personally liked the sound from a set of icon vf 36 but there just wasnt enough umph in the rest of it to keep me entertained.

Thats a ton of room to fill and very likely best left up to reference or heritage speakers to handle the job, if it were me I'd look to the rf82ii and above, or take a look back and find some used gear to cut cost and end up with better products

[derrickdj1]

The volume coming out of the RF 82 and KF 28 should be about the same. There will be a tonal difference since the drivers are different. You have a very large room to fill sound with, so the center for the KF 28 may not be big enough for your needs. Get two nice subs for that size room and go with a larger center channel. I also have a large space to fill and use a 9.2 setup to cover the area. I have the Icon V series which works great for me. I can hit 110 db watching blueray with no problem. I use front height speakers to add a vertical dimension to my HT due to high ceilings. Sub will also enhamce your music. The key for that size room is the subs. For synergy, stick with the same line of speakers, all of the Klipsch speakers sound good![Y].

[cornfedksboy]

Along the same lines, the center and surrounds made to match the Reference line are much better quality than the Icons. In a large room, I would think you'd be happier in the end with some RF-82s with an RC-62 center. And yes, you'll need a sub.

[JasonJCarney]

Sorry I didnt see how big your room was. You could still go with the rf62's and put the savings towards a better sub. The tweets are the same on the 82's and 62's. If your crossing them over at the THX reccomended 80 hz then it won't matter which you have. Although the 62's are for sale on this forum for $550 from Nezff and someone is selling a set of 82's for $800. Not sure what your local price is. If money is tight I suggest elemental designs. They offer alot of boom for the money. And you'll need slot of boom in a room that big. Of course checking the used market can be great too if your patient.

[Ronald Galle]

Thanks for the advice. I will probably go with the RF82's and the RC62 and the 52 surrounds. I have a Definitive pro sub 1000 which will have to do for now.

Will the Definitive sub preform just as well as a klipsch. Also will it be ok paired with the klipsch speakers? Again thanks for the input, the responses have confirmed the way I was leaning. RG

[elitedemo]

Its pretty hard for me to get a handle on the Def tec subs, from what I've looked at they are very generious or moderately deceptive to their listed specs for their speakers and subs regarding preformance. For instance this pro sub states it has a response to 18hz, its only 10" and its only 30lbs, even some more expensive ID subs dont make claims to that. If theres no +/-3 db near that number of 18hz the real dropoff response could be anywhere and its usually much much higher if they wont list it. I would upgrade it in the near future when your ready as I think you will want a top knotch preformer with those speakers. The sub doesn't need to be Klipsch and theres many other companies than can give you a bit better boom for the buck in this area. Do you have a pricepoint for a sub?

[JasonJCarney]

The rs 52's are a great choice. I heard the 42's, 41's, and 52's. The 52's are alot better IMO. More sound out of them. The sub will be fine. Better than most klipsch. To get more performance out of a klipsch you'll need to drop ALOT of cash on a klipsch to get top notch performance.