Just acquired an RP-1600SW to add to my RF7-I Home Theater.

[picky]

Hello everyone! I'm afraid it's been a few "minutes" since I last posted. For those of you who may remember me, I completed the building of my Klipsch HT back in 2004 and since that time, there have only needed to be a few equipment upgrades and repairs. But the theater is still very much alive-and-well. The mains are RF7 (first edition), center is an RC7, Surrounds are RS7 and rear are in-walls that are very similar to the R-5800 W II. The original subwoofer was an RSW-15. I started out with a 78" Stewart Filmscreen and a Sharp DLP Projector. Those have since been replaced with a 75" Samsung Series 8 flat-screen. Of course, over time, I upgraded the Pioneer Elite DVD player to a Blu-Ray and then again to a Panasonic 4K Blu-Ray player. My flagship, Pioneer Elite VSX-49TXi receiver is still kicking after having to replace the DSP card about 8 years ago, but it does not have any HDMI interface! Therefore, a lot of stuff is accomplished effectively using the 7.1 discreet inputs and outputs on the Panasonic 4K Blu-Ray player and the 5.1 (SPDIF) optical outputs from the video screen. Somehow it all works and is still impressive (to me).

 

That brings us to the subwoofer: My trusty RSW-15 (circa 2004) has been a real powerhouse of a sub. I found it to be viscerally impactive during motion picture scenes and because we collect a lot of music concert videos, the RSW-15 is also extremely musical, including with my CD collection and vinyl, in my humble opinion. So then, why replace it?

 

First, the sub is now 19 years old. Back in 2015, I had the internal amp's power supply let go when the 15" driver's voice coil went to ground. I had a local lab repair the amp and I replaced the driver with a new Klipsch OEM driver, thanks to the Klipsch parts department inventory. It was an expensive repair, but it bought me another 7 years use out of the sub. It failed again last September (2022).

 

So, having been without a sub for the past 11 months (brutal, huh? LOL), I finally had saved up enough money to buy a proper replacement: The new, RP-1600SW. The 110-pound sub (137 pounds shipping) took exactly one week to arrive (free shipping - Thank you Klipsch!) and this past Tuesday, this enormous, semi truck with a 48-foot trailer pulled up in front of my little house and delivered this monster of a sub to my garage. The box was 29" x 30" and would not fit through my 29" side door to the basement. So, my son Bill and I unboxed it outside and moved it downstairs with an appliance dolly. We temporarily placed it on the floor below our screen and in front of our theater seats. I must build a small platform to support it before I can install it in it's permanent spot, beneath our theater's bar, where the old RSW-15 had always sat, behind the theater seats and set to 180 degrees phase.

 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS:

 

After a busy day of installing the sub and and another day where I had other obligations, yesterday, I was finally able to re-calibrate my system with Pioneer's on-board, MCACC acoustic calibration system. It had been several years since I last needed to re-calibrate, so back to the Pioneer Elite owner's manual I went, as I no longer could recall the exact procedure.

 

After about an hour of "beeps" and "boops" and fiddling with some settings manually, I began using source material that I am very familial with, to fine-tune the system to my ears liking. I wound up with the two front RF7s set to large, all the other speakers set to small, the sub set to plus, the crossover frequency set to 80HZ so the RF7s can go deep and I added 3db volume to the rear channels and 2db volume to the sub. As for the sub settings, Phase is set to zero, low pass is set to 150HZ and volume is set to 9 out of 11. Yes, those design geeks at Klipsch do have a sense of humor: It's the only volume control I have that actually goes to "11"! The source material I used for now was Master & Commander DVD scene 4 "Under Attack", one heck of a canon-ball battle, the first couple of songs on the 1999 concert DVD of Peter Frampton: Live in Detroit and Top Gun Maverick, which I am seeing for the very first time (Wow, what a movie!).

 

I found immediately that the 1600 goes much deeper than the RSW-15. The visceral elements I had with the 15 were still there with the 1600 only better. Musically, I think I would say that I found the 1600 to be even more musical that the 15. It's subtlety has more finesse than the 15. The front port of the 1600 moves an incredible amount of air! In some scenes I thought we had the floor fan on!! Because of the 1600's exclusive, port design, not once did I hear any port "chuffing"! Nice job, Klipsch! It's incredible how much excursion the 16" driver has on the 1600! Overall, for the moment, I must say I am not disappointed with my purchase. I'm impressed. And I believe that once I get this monster under our bar in it's own little false corner, this sub is only going to sound better! Stay Tuned!

[picky]

Note: My above testimony has now been edited to include my first impressions.

[billybob]

6 hours ago, picky said:

Note: My above testimony has now been edited to include my first impressions.

Hello again @picky... think the forum can use some reviews on that monster. Do remember when the AVR was repaired.

Maybe after the 1600 settles in you will say more.

Thanks!...

[wuzzzer]

Welcome back!  It’s Glen, right?

 

Glad you’re enjoying your new sub!

[Zen Traveler]

On 8/4/2023 at 4:50 AM, picky said:

The new, RP-1600SW. The 110-pound sub...

Hey Picky, welcome back! I didn't realize Klipsch had a new sub that could compete with the RSW 15. 🤔 That's good news and I have often/worried what I was going to do when either of my RSW subs bite the dust...It won't be good cuz we sure do like having that lower end covered, espessialy for multichannel music and concerts. 

[Zen Traveler]

On 8/4/2023 at 4:50 AM, picky said:

My flagship, Pioneer Elite VSX-49TXi receiver is still kicking after having to replace the DSP card about 8 years ago, but it does not have any HDMI interface! Therefore, a lot of stuff is accomplished effectively using the 7.1 discreet inputs and outputs on the Panasonic 4K Blu-Ray player and the 5.1 (SPDIF) optical outputs from the video screen. Somehow it all works and is still impressive (to me).

Yep. That's another thing. We had a similar thing happen with our Denon AVR-4806 and decided to replace it with the AVR-4311CI about 10 years ago and definitely don't want to replace it, although those Atmos units look cool, but pricey...If both it and the subs go out at the same time, I'm more than likely changing hobbies. 😐

[picky]

UPDATE

Hello again everyone! It's now been several weeks since I first took delivery of my Klipsch RP-1600SW 16" subwoofer. The first few days were spent enjoying it nearly in the middle of our theater room, while I constructed a sliding platform to support the sub's final location; in a false corner beneath our bar, just behind the theater seats, which is where our old RSW-15 sub had resided. The middle of the floor was hardly the best place in which to get acquainted with a new sub. Especially, in this case; this sub has so much excursion that with it facing our seats, literally every time there was a large burst of bass, a windstorm of air shot out of the port at our chairs. as if we just turned a large fan on "high"! That beast moves a lot of air!

 

However, now that it is resting in its permanent location behind our seats, everything is perfect! I have the sub set at 180 degrees phase, because it faces our RF-7s up front. The sub gain is set to #7. The low pass frequency is 150Hz, but the receiver sub setting is set to 80Hz (THX Compliant). This allows the RF-7's to go deeper (they are set to "large"). I am running the power switch at "On" (rather than "Auto" or "Standby") because power is cut to the sub when I switch my rack-mount Line Conditioner to "Off" whenever I am done using the system. System calibration was once again achieved using the on-board MCACC system in our Pioneer VSX-49TXi Flagship receiver (Circa 2004). I also made some manual adjustments to the system settings based on specific audio and video material playback and my own and my bride's hearing.

 

Thrilled Beyond Belief

Best described, this thing is a monster that plays well with others! I played so many movie scenes with which we were familiar, so many concert videos, CD cuts, everything. Comparing it to our beloved RSW-15, there was nothing the 1600 did not do better! The 1600 goes way deeper, is more impactive during explosions and such, is much more musical and at the same time, it handles lighter duty with finesse! It's acoustic impedance is so good using the new, Aerofoil port that we never heard any chuffing! We watched our Elton John 'Dream Ticket' concert DVDs. We heard so many lower notes that we have never noticed before. This is particularly true on the 2002 Disc #2 'London: The Royal Opera House' where Elton and his band play with the students of his old Alma Mater: The London Royal School of Music, a 95-piece symphony orchestra: Incredible! Disc #1 is from 2000 'New York: Madison Square Gardens'. An amazing concert which includes too many guests to mention, like Billy Joel. We ran segments of numerous movies: 'Flight of the Phoenix' (the remake) sandstorm scene, Master and Commander (the attack begins scene), 'Open Range' (the gunfight begins), and many more. This sub made our enter system sound better and to think it's all 23 years old!

 

My bride and I are thrilled with our investment in yet, another major Klipsch break-though product line! If you aren't aware, Klipsch now offers 4 subs in its Reference Premier line: The RP-1000SW 10", RP-1200SW 12", RP-1400SW 14" and RP-1600SW 16". They are all well worth checking out. With proper placement, I think you too, will be amazed. The RP-1600SW is nothing short of limitless!

-Glenn

 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/He5oUxsvmhfcb6qE6

[billybob]

An excellent review, as always.