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Vacuum Tube Valley Klipsch RF-7 Review


Deang

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I guess my hearing isn't as bad as I thought -- or this guy is as deaf as I am.

I believe this is the review that Bob Gassel told me about almost a year ago -- I'm surprised it took this long for it to pop up.

I think it's safe to say that if your speakers have the Klipsch label, regardless of model -- you are going to enjoying the music.

Congrats Klipsch!

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You know, Dean, you're already at the coveted and revered "Answering Machine" status. Posting these empty threads to further boost your post count is just wrong. And face it, Justin is un-catchable.

fini

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Here is a review you can read while waiting on DeanG.

"I demoed the RF's on several occasions, and found them to be unlistenable - especially in the retail environments and gear. Too shrill and sibilant, and unnatural in the mids, which seem to get overshadowed by the ear shredding. Just too fatiguing for my ears. They are Klipsch to be sure, but are in need of a bit of tweaking IMO."

Wonder how this will compare with the VTV review?

Keith

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When I demoed the RF-7s I brought in my own amp (the P6D) and cd player (a simple Denon that I'm used to). I knew that the high powered ss amps used by the store would sound terrible.

The salesperson was so astonished by the clean sound and excellent imaging, that he called in the other salespeople to hear it. They all said "I can't believe a Klipsch speaker sounds this good."

No Klipsch speaker that I've heard, including the RF-7s, RF-5s, and RB-5s, creates distorted or exaggerated sibilants. However most ss amps do, and Klipsch speakers faithfully let you know what the amp is doing.

leok

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"I demoed the RF's on several occasions, and found them to be unlistenable - especially in the retail environments and gear. Too shrill and sibilant, and unnatural in the mids, which seem to get overshadowed by the ear shredding. Just too fatiguing for my ears. They are Klipsch to be sure, but are in need of a bit of tweaking IMO."

Just so those of you know, I made that statement in the "taking the RF-7 to the next level" thread. It's OK, I wrote it, and you can quote me on it.

I have been dissecting the crossover issues in the Cornwalls too, since listening to Dean's RF-7's over the weekend was a real ear-opener. I now am beginning to understand why the '88 Cornwall II's were unsatisfying in 2 channel operation, and the '76 and '74 Cornwalls were much better. I don't think it's the alnico drivers as much as the crossovers. The PCB crossovers in the '88's are what I suspect is the biggest source of the sibilance and harsher sound in that pair.....and for the record, I used SS amps in all cases.

While the RF's can certainly benefit from tube amplification in the stock form, I suspect that Dean's RF-7's would perform much better than stock with SS amplification. I would be most curious to see how those RF-7's would react to the typical home theater receiver units. I suspect that I would find Dean's RF-7's to be very acceptable on SS gear, just as I find the original Cornwalls to be very acceptable - in fact, very good, on SS gear.

Me thinks we've opened a big can-o-worms here with the RF crossovers......a topic that I'm very surprised hasn't been explored here before. This is due in part to the heritage-leaning two channel members here.....but since Dean is one of our few hardcore RF 2 channel listeners, I must say that I have been watching his threads with some interest. I guess the RF tweaking had to start somewhere!

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Full credit needs to go to Leo who was the first to attack the crossovers -- I just threw myself on his coat-tails.

Incidently, the first time I heard RF-7's -- they were hooked up to Integra's $5000 flagship amp. The amp probably weighed as much as my whole rack. I've never heard the RF-7's not sound great. I've had them on both the Bryston 3B-ST and Aragon 4004 MK II with tube preamps -- and they kicked some serious arse in both cases. I do prefer the silky rich midrange of tubes over the drive and force of SS.

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