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RP-280F vs Quartet vs Heresy III


Grizzog

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  • 3 weeks later...

This often happens when the influence wears off,slim and sleek can never outweigh comfy, glad to see you've sobered up .

You said "outweigh"   :lol:

Are heavy, thick, & voluptuous synonymous with "comfy" when describing………speakers?   :P

 

Great review, well done, and an easy read.

Thanks for taking the time to share.

Edited by Arrow#422
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  • 2 months later...

Grizzog, would you say that the RP-280Fs sound thin or 'hi-fi' compared to the H3?

 

I've been putting together a lot of mental notes A/Bing my H2s (KP-201) and my 280Fs and I'm almost wondering if I'm doing something wrong. I always thought the RP-280F had a weakness somewhere in the mid-bass where the upper octaves of an upright bass strain to make it out or where some vocals sound nasaly, but compared to the Heresy it sounds like a pit in their response.

 

I do wonder if the 280F is, in fact, less sensitive, or at least a tougher load than the H2. I had a suspicion that lower volume positions (compared to the 280F) got higher levels out of the Heresies, but once set up to A/B, the difference is significant. I will say that the 280Fs are positioned outside them, and thus farther from the listening seat, but it still seems quite a difference.

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Cheap veneer is one thing, but the detail that makes me want to throw a tantrum in the middle of the grocery store is the final fit of the parts. The rubber horns are easily peeled back to reveal double-stick tape to hold them down onto the baffle. The horn does fit snugly into holes like a traditional speaker grill and they aren’t going anywhere, but I don’t want to see double stick tape on these - anywhere. Verdict: Put extra holes to place them in, charge me an extra $50, I don’t care. Get rid of the tape.

Maybe just don't peel them back? :)

BTW, even RF-7ii's use sticky tape to some extent. The main horn is screwed in but the horn lens on the outside is just tape. It was done because they were trying to get away from the holes in the RF-7 horns, which are actually much cheaper to make. RF-7ii horns with no visible holes costs like 4 times as much as RF-7's.

Edited by MetropolisLakeOutfitters
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Grizzog, would you say that the RP-280Fs sound thin or 'hi-fi' compared to the H3?

I've been putting together a lot of mental notes A/Bing my H2s (KP-201) and my 280Fs and I'm almost wondering if I'm doing something wrong. I always thought the RP-280F had a weakness somewhere in the mid-bass where the upper octaves of an upright bass strain to make it out or where some vocals sound nasaly, but compared to the Heresy it sounds like a pit in their response.

I do wonder if the 280F is, in fact, less sensitive, or at least a tougher load than the H2. I had a suspicion that lower volume positions (compared to the 280F) got higher levels out of the Heresies, but once set up to A/B, the difference is significant. I will say that the 280Fs are positioned outside them, and thus farther from the listening seat, but it still seems quite a difference.

You might say the 280s are a bit more hi-fi. I didn't find them thin, but they did have more highs, and brought voices more forward than the heresies. If you listen closely to how the voices sound, you'll hear the heresy box sing with the music, where it doesn't on the 280s.

I had used an SPL meter when I tested the three speakers, and all were within 1db of each other. Perhaps placement or the impedance dips/amp matching of the 280s are making them sound less efficient or thin.

That being said, we all hear differently so my perception of better highs could be heard as thin. I did end up getting RF-7IIs though, which have more of everything that the 280s offer.

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Cheap veneer is one thing, but the detail that makes me want to throw a tantrum in the middle of the grocery store is the final fit of the parts. The rubber horns are easily peeled back to reveal double-stick tape to hold them down onto the baffle. The horn does fit snugly into holes like a traditional speaker grill and they aren’t going anywhere, but I don’t want to see double stick tape on these - anywhere. Verdict: Put extra holes to place them in, charge me an extra $50, I don’t care. Get rid of the tape.

Maybe just don't peel them back? :)

BTW, even RF-7ii's use sticky tape to some extent. The main horn is screwed in but the horn lens on the outside is just tape. It was done because they were trying to get away from the holes in the RF-7 horns, which are actually much cheaper to make. RF-7ii horns with no visible holes costs like 4 times as much as RF-7's.

Yep, noticed that in the 7s as well. The 280s are just more obvious and the MDF isn't even completely covered under the horn. I had to peel it back to replace a bad tweeter driver.

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You might say the 280s are a bit more hi-fi. I didn't find them thin, but they did have more highs, and brought voices more forward than the heresies.

They seem to exaggerate or at least sound better at different frequencies to me. The ref premiere stuff tends to sound colorful in the high midrange / low treble area, maybe 2,000 - 4,000 hz. On normal rock/country music they sound great on the vocals due to this. I'm just guessing on the frequencies, I haven't measured, I'm just not sure how else to describe it.

The Heresy overall seems to be more neutral like the THX would be except there's an extra shimmer up high like maybe 10 khz, but without the coloration down a little lower like the RP's would have. Sounds great with instrumental acoustic guitar stuff but on normal music I prefer the reference premiere. RP's just sound more colorful and lively to me, at least on most normal rock/pop/country/etc. I'm not sure they would be considered "accurate" though. James speakers would be considered accurate by audiophiles yet they'd be less colorful.

I have the 70th anniversary Heresy and RP-160M's set up near each other and can easily swap back and forth, it's interesting hearing the differences on the fly.

Edited by MetropolisLakeOutfitters
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Good review, very nice considering how hard it is to put what you hear into words, well done. One thing I do notice is whatever Klipsch speaker you listen to they all have a little in common, I guess it's just how they are voiced ?

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  • 9 months later...

Hello

 

Great review, thank you Grizzog.

I'm going to buy new speakers. Now I have a pair of chario speakers: they sounds smooth and precise but lack emotion. Their sound is shy for me.

I listen to rock, classical, electronic, sometimes jazz. I like very much piano, guitars and voices.

I like very much the rp 280, that I heard in a shop, and Heresy that I heard in a house of friends of friends. I know Heresy are different speakers, I know they have more of everything, also price, and it's relevant to me.

I know also that emotion is not universal and sound perception is different from one to another, but you heard both in the same condition, and I not.

I cannot buy both: I have to choose.

Are really the 280 a good compromise in terms of detail, emotion, precision and tonality for you?

 

Sorry for my english

 

Thanks

Simon 

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56 minutes ago, simon said:

Are really the 280 a good compromise in terms of detail, emotion, precision and tonality for you?

 

If you are talking about just music, I would go with the Heresy III. I liked them much better for music.

If it is a mix between movies and music, then it gets a little more difficult. The 280s are definitely brighter than the Heresy, and can add excitement to movies.

 

If it helps, I owned the 280s for a month before I moved to RF-7II. I also sold the RF-7II and had the Heresy the longest. I now have Chorus II and am very pleased. The heritage/extended heritage line is truly special.

 

I don't know what your budget is, but you may want to wait for the Forte III that is coming out, as that should be spectacular.

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22 hours ago, simon said:

Hello

 

Great review, thank you Grizzog.

I'm going to buy new speakers. Now I have a pair of chario speakers: they sounds smooth and precise but lack emotion. Their sound is shy for me.

I listen to rock, classical, electronic, sometimes jazz. I like very much piano, guitars and voices.

I like very much the rp 280, that I heard in a shop, and Heresy that I heard in a house of friends of friends. I know Heresy are different speakers, I know they have more of everything, also price, and it's relevant to me.

I know also that emotion is not universal and sound perception is different from one to another, but you heard both in the same condition, and I not.

I cannot buy both: I have to choose.

Are really the 280 a good compromise in terms of detail, emotion, precision and tonality for you?

 

Sorry for my english

 

Thanks

Simon 

 

I had Heresy's in the music room where I taught. Had them for 30 years.  At home, I've had RP-280f's for over a year now.  The Heresy has a better mid range than the 280's, and that's about where the advantage ends, at least to my ears.  The RP gets a slight advantage in the highs, and a BIG advantage in the lows.  If you listen to rock, and you want to go with the Heresy, you're going to want to add a subwoofer.  With that, the advantage goes to Heresy because of the superior mid range.  If I had to choose between the two without adding a sub, RP 280 wins every time, but I listen to mostly rock.  This is my opinion only!

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On 21/4/2017 at 10:53 PM, Grizzog said:

 

If you are talking about just music, I would go with the Heresy III. I liked them much better for music.

If it is a mix between movies and music, then it gets a little more difficult. The 280s are definitely brighter than the Heresy, and can add excitement to movies.

 

If it helps, I owned the 280s for a month before I moved to RF-7II. I also sold the RF-7II and had the Heresy the longest. I now have Chorus II and am very pleased. The heritage/extended heritage line is truly special.

 

I don't know what your budget is, but you may want to wait for the Forte III that is coming out, as that should be spectacular.

 

11 hours ago, JamesD1957 said:

 

I had Heresy's in the music room where I taught. Had them for 30 years.  At home, I've had RP-280f's for over a year now.  The Heresy has a better mid range than the 280's, and that's about where the advantage ends, at least to my ears.  The RP gets a slight advantage in the highs, and a BIG advantage in the lows.  If you listen to rock, and you want to go with the Heresy, you're going to want to add a subwoofer.  With that, the advantage goes to Heresy because of the superior mid range.  If I had to choose between the two without adding a sub, RP 280 wins every time, but I listen to mostly rock.  This is my opinion only!

 

Thank you very much. It's really difficult to choose. There aren't shops near my home that have both. So I must choose according to my memory. Luckily I heard them with similar amplifiers (NAD, same brand that I have). I will have another try next week!

 

Simone

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  • 3 years later...

Thanks for this review, it was exactly what I was looking for. I don't want to speak for you, but it would appear that for someone like me (on the fence between the RP-280Fs and Heresy IV's) that for the money (almost a thousand dollars difference) that there doesn't appear to be a thousand dollars difference between the two speakers.  I'm sure that it is subjective, but without buying both, which isn't affordable for most people to do or an updated review since 2016, I'm going to lean towards buying the RPs (skinnies).  I hope you are still checking these, as I would be interested to hear if you have changed your opinion. I listen to vinyl, streaming, and cds for my music and also movies. 

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  • 1 month later...
On 3/7/2016 at 6:24 PM, Grizzog said:

“I don’t need to hear if Mark Knopfler has a booger hanging out of his nose or not; I want to enjoy music.”

 

Best excerpt from a post here ever!!!!!! I agree, I’ve got a setting (pure direct Marantz pm8004) for super critical listening, outside of that I wanna jam for extended time periods.

 

 

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