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Best Centre Speaker for RF-52 II Floor Standing Speakers


James W

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Hi There,

 

We've had a pair of RF-52 II floor standing speakers and an R-12SW subwoofer for a few years.

Unfortunately our subwoofer stopped working recently and we needed to take it back to have it serviced, repaired, replaced... We're still waiting on the result.

So we figured, while we're getting that fixed we might as well add the centre channel speaker to round our our setup.

At this stage we're only going for a 3.1 configuration.

 

However... Upon looking into the range of Klipsch centre channel speakers available I am thoroughly confused as to which one will be the best for our setup.

This is made even harder to nail down as the RF-52 II has been discontinued.

 

My confusion is compounded by the fact that I am no audiophile... So telling me the size of the tweeter and woofer and what materials they're made of doesn't really help me make a decision.

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

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The correct match is the RC52ll, but it's discontinued also, but maybe they can be found....https://www.klipsch.com/products/rc-52-ii-center-speaker

The RC62ll is the upgraded version (bigger brother) of the 52. They can be found used, it's a very good center

As WCD said, Cory @MetropolisLakeOutfitters is a dealer that might know which one of the newest centers would work the best.

It does help if all your speakers match, so if you can find a RC52ll or RC62ll....it would help.

 

A quick lesson to help figure out what speaker you might have

"R" means reference

"F" means floor standing

"C" means center

The 5 means the woofer (large) speaker is 5"

The 2 means there are two 5" speakers

The "ll' means series 2

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I had an RC-52 with RF-52II .  I currently have a RC-62 II with another system.  The 62 is a fuller sound, one of the hidden gems of Klipsch. I just looked, and there are new ones out there.  Search for “Klipsch RC-62 II” on amazon and eBay. $250-285. They’ve been discontinued, but there are new one out there.  I bought mine from Fry’s about 8 months ago.

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Yeah i'd get the RC-62II if possible.  The new ones will work well enough but they are more laid back, the reference 2's are brighter and you'll be able to tell the difference in this especially at higher volumes if you mix and match.  

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Thank you everyone for the feedback.

It has been most helpful.

 

I live on South Africa, so unfortunately the Ebay, Amazon, Fry's, etc. links won't work for me.

 

I can find an R-52C:

https://www.takealot.com/klipsch-reference-r-52c-centre-speaker/PLID52802977

https://www.klipsch.com/products/r-52c-center-speaker-blk-gnm

And an R-34C:

https://www.takealot.com/klipsch-reference-r-52c-centre-speaker/PLID52802977

https://www.klipsch.com/products/r-34c-center-speaker-blk-gnm

 

Would either of these be a good match?

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4 hours ago, James W said:

Thank you everyone for the feedback.

It has been most helpful.

 

I live on South Africa, so unfortunately the Ebay, Amazon, Fry's, etc. links won't work for me.

 

I can find an R-52C:

https://www.takealot.com/klipsch-reference-r-52c-centre-speaker/PLID52802977

https://www.klipsch.com/products/r-52c-center-speaker-blk-gnm

And an R-34C:

https://www.takealot.com/klipsch-reference-r-52c-centre-speaker/PLID52802977

https://www.klipsch.com/products/r-34c-center-speaker-blk-gnm

 

Would either of these be a good match?

Between those two I would go with the R34c.

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  • 1 month later...
On 2/4/2019 at 9:51 AM, Ceptorman said:

Between those two I would go with the R34c.

I agree with Ceptorman, the R34c would be the better of the two. Having owning one, I can vouch for it’s performance. However, when doing your bass managment on our AVR, set the crossover to somewhere between 100 and 150hz. You’ll get more dynamics out of it 😉 

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  • 3 months later...
On 3/26/2019 at 5:52 PM, felipe said:

I agree with Ceptorman, the R34c would be the better of the two. Having owning one, I can vouch for it’s performance. However, when doing your bass managment on our AVR, set the crossover to somewhere between 100 and 150hz. You’ll get more dynamics out of it 😉 

 

Curious why you suggest the 34C over the 52C? The 52C has larger woofers, closer to the size of his floorstanding speakers.

Also, with a crossover set that high, won't you have a big disconnect in mids and lows between the L, R, and center?

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"Best Centre Speaker?" Not a centre speaker!

 

As much as I like the look of centre channel speakers they are, by design, highly flawed.  See here this detailed Audioholics report with measurements that clearly demonstrates the folly of the horizontal layout and the benefits of using a regular vertical speaker for center channel duties. 

 

I've switched off my horizontal centre channel and I haven't missed it.

 

If I could get an acoustically transparent screen in my room I'd put in a normal vertically arranged speaker and switch my centre channel back on.

 

Hope that helps.

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