Klipsch Reference RF-7 Speakers

[whell]

Here's my experience, for what its worth.

My Klipsch RF-7's are in a room that is approximately 13' X 22". They are on the short wall at the front of the room. I'm using Monster 1.4 Bi Wire speaker cables, connected to a Monarchy Audio ST-70 Pro amp. My "pre amp" is a Marantz SR 19EX receiver, with the Monarchy connected to the pre-outs of the receiver. Cables are Monster M1000i RCA's. The room is heavily damped with carpeting and cloth couches on the long wall and the short wall at the back of the room. I normally listen to CD's on a NAD T-550, with the Marantz set to "Source Direct", and using the D/A converter in the NAD.

I bought my RF-7's used from a local seller, so I did not have a concern about a break in period.

I listen to many genres of music, and am pleased with the reproduction of the RF-7's across the board. Of course, my system also doubles as a HT system. The best $500 I spend was acquiring the Monarchy for listening to music. I've also found that I give up none of the HT listening experience with this amp either. But for music, I get a sweet, liquid midrange that I had not heard before, controlled tight bass, and the treble is "just right" for my ear.

I do not experience the RF-7's as having a "too hot" top end. Treble tends to come through faily smooth and natural. The Monarchy has a "warmer" and more detailed sound than the Marantz's amp section.

I did experiment with the placement of the speakers for a week or two when I first got them. I now place the speakers in an approximate equilateral triangle, with the speakers at two points of the triangle, and my listening position at the 3rd point. This does wonders for imaging and creating a very realistic sound stage. Unfortunately, my listening position, I've found, is probably not in the most optimum position to experience the RF-7's low end capability. I have notices that if I move my listening position forward, away from the back wall, bass is more focused and pronounced. This also sacrifices sound stage, however. This hobby of ours is sometimes an excercise in compromise.

In summary, the best way to experience any speaker is in your own home. Every room has accoustical properties and challenges that must be overcome. Also, the RF-7's really do benefit from being matched with the right amplification, as several others have observed here.

I'm curious about the crossover modification that Leo and Dean have discussed here and in previous threads, but so far, I'm not "hearing" a need to reduce the high end output of my RF-7's.

[leok]

I suspect the sound problem at the dealer is the amp.

leok

[NOSValves]

Thanks for the reply Kelly !

[neo33]

"I suspect the sound problem at the dealer is the amp."

It may very well be the reason plus those RF7s only have a mere 50 hours.

[Guy Landau]

Neo,

For $600 you can get a pair of LaScalas http://www.audioweb.com/Ad/AdInfo.asp?adid=139098 .

[itsmyforte]

if those rf-7's have 50 hours on them then they are as broke in as they are gonna get. I would lean towards the amplification as the problem. the rf-7's are very revealing. what goes in comes out!

[neo33]

You mean the overly bright high-end is attributed to the home theather amp? I am not sure if I agree with your statement since horn speakers in general are known to be brighter then their counterparts.

This afternoon I went back to his shop to audition the RF-5s and the RF-35s in the same studio with the same setup (i.e. same amp and source). The RF-5s have about the same hours as the RF-7s and the RF-35s have about 75 hours.

When I listened to the same materials as yesterday, I noticed that there is slightly less brightness in the RF-5s and the imaging improved considerably. The vocal is much clearer then the RF-7s but still slightly muddled.

Now, when I moved to the RF-35s it was completely different. There was still a slight amount of brightness in the high end but much more pleasant to listen to. The soundstage began to open up and the imaging is quite good. Vocal is the clearest of the three floorstanders. There was a sense of slight smoothness to the music. Overall, the RF-35s was quite pleasant to listen to. The RF-35s cost $700.

I am not sure how to take this yet since I don't quite understand how it can vary that much within the same reference line. Now I can just imagine someone will come along to say that the RF-35s are more forgiving because they used a lower-grade drivers and crossover components. And I am not sure if I agree with that.

[Audio Flynn]

Neo,

You are getting close but missing the point.

HT receivers amp section feeds inferior signal to the RF-7 tweeter. The tweeters in the other 2 are not as revealing.

The Monarchy power amp recomendation is a completely class A SS power amp. Not many companies make these SS designs. Monarchy is the only one that comes to my mind.

About the only audio nut on this 2 channel forum that has a HT receiver that he really likes is "Marks Dad"; his is a B&K HT receiver.

I have only heard B&K with Monitor Audio speakers; the amplification was very impressive none the less.

In recalling the last year I have listened to 8 or more amps for at least an hour with different Klipsch speakers in the past year. 4 of the 8 were quite unpleasant sounding.

Unfortunately dealers are selling Klipsch with a premise of how much slam they put out in action movies.

Music listeners are a smaller market segment.

[mobile homeless]

There are many high "Class A" biased solid state amps out there ala KRELL, ML, Classe, etc. FEW are inexpensive with Monarchy Audio being one of the only ones.

kh

[Bill H.]

neo 33,

I'll probably get slammed, but if you get a chance, try either the Creek 5350 amp or its little brother from Cambridge Audio. Both are excellent amps that To Me, produce a nice warm sound, and are not going to blow your Budget.........

I use an older Creek 4140MK II with my KG4's and love this simple system. JMHO

EDIT:

neo33- I guess the bottom line is What sounds good to Your Ears.......think of it this way, if you got the RF 35's (which it seems you are leaning towards), you will have saved yourself alot of Money. Good Luck

You are lucky to have such a good Dealer-who lets you make a good decision.

[neo33]

"HT receivers amp section feeds inferior signal to the RF-7 tweeter. The tweeters in the other 2 are not as revealing."

Audio Flynn, how do you explain the soundstage open up on the RF-35s and not on the RF-7s? And what about the difficulty I have with imaging on the RF-7s but not on the RF-35s? Also, not to mention that the vocal on the RF-35s is clearer and not muddled as on the RF-7s. The RF-7s' tweeters might be revealing but they should not have the above problems which the RF-35s don't seem to exhibit.

By the way, the receiver is the Denon AVR-2803 A/V Receiver and the source is the Sony DVP-NS999ES CD/SACD/DVD Player. Since he does not have any separate amps and preamp setup so I don't have a choice but to audition the Klipsch RFs on the existing equipments.

And just in case if you didn't already know, I am looking to buy one of these pair of Klipsch RFs for my all-tube two-channel systems.

[Audio Flynn]

Something is awry. Dealer should be doing something to diagnose issue if he/she can hear same phonomena.

If they cannot, that is sad.

It makes little to no sense.

I had a buddie force me to listen to Santana "Supernatural" on DVD on the RF-7 in an audition for him. Not my kind of software for an audition; it was horribly bright and harsh in the highs with very small soundstage in 2.0 configuration.

Store auditions make less an less of an influence on my decisions in the past 3 years.

Less than .5 of my "active" gear was store auditioned in an environment that was helpful at the dealer. Just had to get it home.

Tough decision.

Best of Luck

Rick

[DrPyro]

Agreed, something is definately awry! I have RF3s and when I listen to RF7s they sound much more natural on the higher frequencies. Not quite so metalic. What you are describing are just not what I would expect from the RF7s. IMHO, chuck that Denon reciever, I had a Denon 3801 and it simply killed the stereo music, expecially Classical! I maintain that the DSPs on the Denon are just not up to the challenge of the Reference Series, and the amps are quite noisy. Try the Ref7s with some seperates, alot of Klipsch dealers also carry B&K, so try something like the B&K Pre/Pro 50.

-Dave

[Deang]

I can tell you without a doubt -- your dealer had one of the RF-7's running out phase. You might want to go back and listen to the RF-7's again, and make sure they are wired correctly.

[Vital]

I second that~