felipe Posted March 3, 2019 Share Posted March 3, 2019 Hey all. I have recently come across an availability of a pair of RF-82s with the RC-52 and a pair of RB-51s for around 600 bucks. From the pics they look to be in excellent condition..no damage. I’ve no experience with these older reference models. How would they compare to the newest version of Reference Series? I currently have the R-820f’s with the R-34c and R-51m’s. Let me know your thoughts and/or opinions. Thanks!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willland Posted March 3, 2019 Share Posted March 3, 2019 I can not give you a direct comparison between the two setups because I have only heard the RF-82/RC-52/RB-51 combo. With that said, it sounded pretty darn good in my buddy's bonus room rig. I did suggest he move up to the RC-62 for his center but the RC-52 did an adequate job because his seating position was only about 7 feet away from it. The RF-82s were considered the "sweet spot" floorstanders in the Reference IV line. Great performance/cost ratio. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
felipe Posted March 13, 2019 Author Share Posted March 13, 2019 Thanks for the input Bill. I went online and did a little research on them. Seems like for the most part they are well regarded...with some saying that the high-end was “bright” and “fatiguing” to a degree. I find the new Reference Series neither “bright” or “fatiguing”. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pzannucci Posted March 13, 2019 Share Posted March 13, 2019 9 hours ago, felipe said: Thanks for the input Bill. I went online and did a little research on them. Seems like for the most part they are well regarded...with some saying that the high-end was “bright” and “fatiguing” to a degree. I find the new Reference Series neither “bright” or “fatiguing”. Much of the time when people say bright and fatiguing they have the speakers hooked to an AVR which is a less than stellar match for the speakers. The RF82 can be balanced if matched with the appropriate front end equipment. Mid/lower tier AVR need not apply or they will be aggressive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
felipe Posted March 18, 2019 Author Share Posted March 18, 2019 On 3/13/2019 at 6:04 AM, pzannucci said: Much of the time when people say bright and fatiguing they have the speakers hooked to an AVR which is a less than stellar match for the speakers. The RF82 can be balanced if matched with the appropriate front end equipment. Mid/lower tier AVR need not apply or they will be aggressive. I currently have an Onkyo AVR ( TX-NR787 ) which is considered a mid-level AVR...so I guess wouldn’t be a good match for the 82’s Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willland Posted March 18, 2019 Share Posted March 18, 2019 7 hours ago, felipe said: I currently have an Onkyo AVR ( TX-NR787 ) which is considered a mid-level AVR...so I guess wouldn’t be a good match for the 82’s I would not put my stamp on that. Most of the Onkyo/Integra gear I have owned has been pretty neutral in tone and has mated pretty well with all my Klipsch, including Reference. With that said, a mid level AVR by design, whether Onkyo or not, will not extract the best that the RF-82s have to offer for stereo music. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pzannucci Posted March 18, 2019 Share Posted March 18, 2019 1 hour ago, willland said: I would not put my stamp on that. Most of the Onkyo/Integra gear I have owned has been pretty neutral in tone and has mated pretty well with all my Klipsch, including Reference. With that said, a mid level AVR by design, whether Onkyo or not, will not extract the best that the RF-82s have to offer for stereo music. Bill I agree, that pairing shouldn't be terrible unless you are bothered by more in your face upper mids and highs. Good amplification that does not accentuate highs would be a necessity. Much solid state amps will sound harder on the highs with those speakers unless you like that sound. Many do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
felipe Posted March 19, 2019 Author Share Posted March 19, 2019 Thanks willand and pzannucci for the insights. My knowledge of amps isn’t that extensive...learned something new today 😉. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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