JamesD1957 Posted September 28, 2015 Share Posted September 28, 2015 Hi folks, new to the forum. I've never owned a Klipsch speaker, mostly because of the reputation of being too bright sounding. Well, I'm starting to crack a little and want to get a couple of questions answered. I realize these will be opinions, but I think this is the best source of information. 1. I have a Yamaha A-S500 integrated amp. I'm looking at the RF-82 II's which are now on sale at an attractive price. will my amp do justice to these speakers? 2. My listening room is wood floors and a window with blinds, but no cloth treatment. Will the Klipsch most likely be too bright for this room? Will a rug help? Honestly, I probably prefer a more "warm" sound, but I really like the Klipsch quality reputation. My budget is going to be around $1000 for the pair, so I really can't go much beyond these as choices. Also, for the record, I prefer a sound with a lot of "clean" bass. Don't want the chuffing sound that you hear coming out of cars, and I don't need the house to rattle. I just don't want to have to pretend I hear the bass. Thanks! Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willland Posted September 29, 2015 Share Posted September 29, 2015 Jim, Welcome to the forum. I've never owned a Klipsch speaker, mostly because of the reputation of being too bright sounding. Urban legend, don't believe it. Revealing, good and bad, yes. I'm looking at the RF-82 II's which are now on sale at an attractive price. The RF-82II's are a rock solid pair of floorstanders. I have a Yamaha A-S500 integrated amp. Will my amp do justice to these speakers? Sure worth a shot. How large is your listening environment? How loud do you like your music? I have never heard the Yamaha A-S500 but I am certain my A-S1000 would rock the 82II's. Bill 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Posted September 29, 2015 Share Posted September 29, 2015 From one Jim to another, Yamaha is nice and natural with sound,as are Klipsch. I run Yamaha with my Klipsch and have never had any issues with it being to bright. You'll have nice bass response with them and nice clear mids and highs. The speakers will bring out any imperfections in the set up or recordings for audio. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garyrc Posted September 29, 2015 Share Posted September 29, 2015 (edited) You probably should have some area rugs in front of the speakers, and some absorbers where the first reflections from the walls would happen. I don't think Klipsch is too bright with good recordings. The other side of the story is that some other speakers are "veiled" and "dull." Edited September 29, 2015 by garyrc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD1957 Posted September 29, 2015 Author Share Posted September 29, 2015 (edited) Thanks for the responses so far! Yeah, I've heard that Klipsch doesn't hide the problems with not so great recordings. That shouldn't be considered a minus in my opinion. If the speakers hide the flaws, what else are they hiding? I'd like to keep this going for the power concern. The A-S500 has "85 W X 2 High Power Output". That's from the Yamaha site. I'm not an engineer, so I really don't understand the whole watts per channel specs, and what they really mean. Some say you have to have 150 w per channel, others say differently. My gut tells me that this is a nice amp, and I see that the sensitivity ratings for the RF 82 II's is great. I feel they should be fine together. I do like to listen to my music at a fairly loud level, but what I'm calling loud others might call whispering! Besides, I have a built in volume limiter, and her name is Nancy : ) So, if anyone feels that the 85 just won't be enough, please respond! Thanks! Edited September 29, 2015 by JamesD1957 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD1957 Posted September 29, 2015 Author Share Posted September 29, 2015 (edited) IMHO more than enough. Thanks, and I did get and read your message. My current speakers are the Pioneer SP-FS52's. The Andrew Jones entry line. Are you familiar with those? What I'm getting from them is okay bass, but the mids and highs tend to get muddied from time to time, especially if the volume is up a bit. They have great reviews, and seem to perform above their price point. But, there just seems to be holes in the sound if that makes sense. I'd like to think these RF's can fill the holes. I'm much appreciating the responses that I'm getting from this forum! And, I don't want to be disappointed in these speakers! ; ) Edited September 29, 2015 by JamesD1957 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willland Posted September 29, 2015 Share Posted September 29, 2015 I'd like to keep this going for the power concern. The A-S500 has "85 W X 2 High Power Output". That's from the Yamaha site. I'm not an engineer, so I really don't understand the whole watts per channel specs, and what they really mean. Some say you have to have 150 w per channel, others say differently. My gut tells me that this is a nice amp, and I see that the sensitivity ratings for the RF 82 II's is great. I feel they should be fine together. As mentioned, that Yamaha should be plenty enough power unless you have a huge room and you like it loud. My Yamaha A-S1000(48.5 lbs beast) is not "150w/ch" but it's "90w/ch" drives my RB-75's like it has no right to. If you like the sound of the Yamaha but feel it is lacking a bit in the power department, move on up the Yamaha chain if you can afford it. Bill 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RT FAN Posted September 29, 2015 Share Posted September 29, 2015 The RF-82 II's you are considering are very sensitive, requiring very little wattage to throw off some impressive sound. Your amp should have more than enough firepower to drive them. I have always liked the Yamaha/Klipsch pairing, and currently run a CR-820 in my bedroom system with a pair of Klipsch Icon series bookshelf speakers. Good luck in your decision & keep us posted. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllenTacey Posted September 30, 2015 Share Posted September 30, 2015 85 watts is ok and the Yamaha might have a little extra dynamic range? Both of my amps have a lot to offer there one is 2.5 the other 1.93 so the one that is supposed to be 100 watts easily "expands" to 250. But everything is referenced from 1 watt of output. At 1 watt your 85 watts is equal to every other amp. Extra horsepower only offers a tad more detail rather than the loudness. I too have a built in volume control called Sue so my having 550 to 600 watts sounds more like 20 watts. Listen for the detail in all music and if you hear what I hear you will be very happy. If things are to bright search online for acoustic dampeners. I have a wish book that includes electronic dampers to get the tingle under control. When I was younger I told my best friend that you know your music is being played loud enough when you actually feel the music such as when the bass has you vibrating in your seat... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BusaDude Posted October 1, 2015 Share Posted October 1, 2015 If you like the Yamaha and the "sound" it produces, then stick with it... 85 watts per channel would do a fine job driving a pair of RF-82 II's. And unless you like listening to music/movies at constant high levels (105dB+), with lots of bass drums or synthesizers (or LFE movie tracks)... then you're probably not going to notice any lack of available headroom. Headroom being the power the amp can produce short term, over and above it's rated 85 wpc, without clipping. Assuming the Yamaha and RF-82 meet their rated specs. The Yamaha could drive the RF-82 to around 116 dB continuously (that's very loud). Though the Yamaha would probably be struggling a bit at that point to reproduce peaks above that level. Adding another 70 watts or so, to get to the 150 wpc rating of the RF-82 would net you not quite 3 dB more output. As each doubling of power will add 3 dB of output (assuming no efficiency losses in the amp and speakers). To provide 6 dB of headroom protection at that level, you'd need an amplifier capable of 600 watts per channel... which is the peak rating of the RF-82's. Enjoy what you have... and like many of us on here, you can always change or upgrade at some point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD1957 Posted October 1, 2015 Author Share Posted October 1, 2015 If you like the Yamaha and the "sound" it produces, then stick with it... 85 watts per channel would do a fine job driving a pair of RF-82 II's. And unless you like listening to music/movies at constant high levels (105dB+), with lots of bass drums or synthesizers (or LFE movie tracks)... then you're probably not going to notice any lack of available headroom. Headroom being the power the amp can produce short term, over and above it's rated 85 wpc, without clipping. Assuming the Yamaha and RF-82 meet their rated specs. The Yamaha could drive the RF-82 to around 116 dB continuously (that's very loud). Though the Yamaha would probably be struggling a bit at that point to reproduce peaks above that level. Adding another 70 watts or so, to get to the 150 wpc rating of the RF-82 would net you not quite 3 dB more output. As each doubling of power will add 3 dB of output (assuming no efficiency losses in the amp and speakers). To provide 6 dB of headroom protection at that level, you'd need an amplifier capable of 600 watts per channel... which is the peak rating of the RF-82's. Enjoy what you have... and like many of us on here, you can always change or upgrade at some point. Thanks for the explanation and for giving me a clearer idea of how the match would work! Much appreciated! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ski Bum Posted October 1, 2015 Share Posted October 1, 2015 (edited) JamesD, here is a peak spl calculator you can try to see how much power you use. It's fairly accurate compared to actual REW measurements. I agree w/ GPBusa, 85 watts should suffice for all but the most bombastic listening. Edited October 1, 2015 by Ski Bum Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest thesloth Posted October 1, 2015 Share Posted October 1, 2015 You without a question do not need a 600 watt amp. Are you cereal? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD1957 Posted October 1, 2015 Author Share Posted October 1, 2015 (edited) Okay, I feel pretty confident that my amp will produce sufficient power for what I'm looking for. Now comes the hard part, I'm looking at the RF 82 II's because of price point, but I see the RP 280 F's out there which I believe are the updated versions. For anyone in the know, if I were to run these without a sub, which of these choices would deliver a more "classic rock" type of sound? Looking for good (not bloated) bass response, and nice clear mids and highs. I tend to listen to jazz, classical, and a lot of 60's and 70's rock. Thanks! Edited October 1, 2015 by JamesD1957 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willland Posted October 1, 2015 Share Posted October 1, 2015 Okay, I feel pretty confident that my amp will produce sufficient power for what I'm looking for. Now comes the hard part, I'm looking at the RF 82 II's because of price point, but I see the RP 280 F's out there which I believe are the updated versions. For anyone in the know, if I were to run these without a sub, which of these choices would deliver a more "classic rock" type of sound? Looking for good (not bloated) bass response, and nice clear mids and highs. I tend to listen to jazz, classical, and a lot of 60's and 70's rock. Thanks! Tough question to answer because most on this forum have not owned both speakers or AB'd them. A few have so maybe they will chime in. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BusaDude Posted October 1, 2015 Share Posted October 1, 2015 Okay, I feel pretty confident that my amp will produce sufficient power for what I'm looking for. Now comes the hard part, I'm looking at the RF 82 II's because of price point, but I see the RP 280 F's out there which I believe are the updated versions. For anyone in the know, if I were to run these without a sub, which of these choices would deliver a more "classic rock" type of sound? Looking for good (not bloated) bass response, and nice clear mids and highs. I tend to listen to jazz, classical, and a lot of 60's and 70's rock. Thanks! That is the hard part, because the RP280F is brand new. Though there are posts here on the forum from people who have purchased them (you'll have to do a search), I don't know of anyone who has owned both. Also, I haven't heard either one of them, but their specs are almost identical... http://www.klipsch.com/rf-82-ii-floorstanding-speaker/details http://www.klipsch.com/rp-280f/details Being so close spec wise, you'd probably have to go listen to a pair of RP280F and decide whether the new "LTS Tweeter" in the RP's is worth the extra cash to you. That new tweeter accounts for probably 90% of the difference between those two models. Asking whether either of them provides a "classic rock" sound, which only you and your ears can answer, will get you numerous opinions. If you asked me about "classic rock" sound, I'd tell you to go find a pair of Forte II, Chorus II, KLF 20 or KLF 30. In my opinion, having owned all but the KLF30, they all sound great with rock music... and even being 20 years old, would put the RF82 and the RP280 to shame. Again, just my opinion as I've always preferred the 3-way sound of those older speakers. I only mention it, because you mentioned looking for "nice clear mids and highs". Those older 3-way models all have very nice, dedicated midrange horns and tweeter horns. The RF and RP are 2-way with the woofers crossing over directly to the tweeter. And I forgot to mention... from your original post... with the wood floors, having a rug or rugs in front of whatever speaker you get, will help out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD1957 Posted October 14, 2015 Author Share Posted October 14, 2015 The RP-280F's arrived today. First impressions are great looks and build quality. I really like the way the grills are fastened magnetically. Nice feature. After getting them hooked up, I have to say I'm amazed at how good they sound right out of the box. Can't wait to hear them after 50 or so hours! I was running a sub with the old set of speakers and turned it off. Just listening to these without the sub, I can't imagine why anyone would need a sub unless they want to peel the paint! Now granted I'm just using these for music, theater might need the rumble of a sub. The Yamaha A-S500 seems to be PLENTY of amp! So far, without a doubt these are the best speakers I've ever owned. I'll post back after I get a few more hours on them! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derrickdj1 Posted October 14, 2015 Share Posted October 14, 2015 (edited) It is nice to hear you like the speakers. The use of a sub -/+ user preference for music. Post some pics. Edited October 14, 2015 by derrickdj1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willland Posted October 14, 2015 Share Posted October 14, 2015 Glad to hear you are pleased with your choices. The Yamaha A-S500 seems to be PLENTY of amp! Good to know. I saw a used one on Audiogon a couple of weeks ago that sold for $190.00. I was very close to pulling the trigger. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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