Rf-15 or RB-35 ?

[driftmaker]

Honestly i just can't decide whether or not i want the Rf-15's which have the advantage of being floor standing or going with the Rb-35's which are priced very similar but have the single 8" woofer and plus ill need to buy stands for them.

As far as mids and highs for sound quality and soundstaging how are the Rf-15's compared to the Rb-35?

the lowend work is going to be done by a subwoofer, so lowend is not my concern.

my major concern is sound quality.

the size of the room is 21x13 so its a tad larger than a "normal" room and the seating positions are going to be 11 feet from the front.

At louder volumes will the Rf-15's with their dual 5 1/4" woofers give me that in your face movie experience and sound quality or will the rb-35's with their single 8" woofer do a better job for the cinematic experience..

ohhh the choices the choices!

[JewishAMerPrince]

Very appropriate question since I was at my local friendly Klipsch dealer this week contemplating a similar decision. To me the sound from the RF15s and the RB35s is nearly a toss up. The RBs have a slightly higher power handeling capability but it is too small to be significant. Don't underestimate the problem you will have finding solid stands for the RBs. Depending on the hight of the stands, cheapos are too light and can be tipsy. Plan to spend at least $100 on something substantial. Also, to be very subjective, should you ever plan to upgrade, I think the resale of the RFs may have an edge. The rest of your setup for cinema use could be a factor. Which center do you plan to use? etc.

To me, the look of the RFs is just much better than the RBs on stands.

Jerry Rappaport

PS my dealer's showroom is larger than you room and both the RF15 and RB35s were able to fill the room with clean sound. Unfortunatly, I am unable to comment on soundstage since they were each setup in different locations, and location effects soundstage tremendously.

JR

[driftmaker]

bump for more info

[Juba310]

J/w whats your budget? I'm guessing somewhere in the neighborhood of 500 dollars? Do you plan on upgrading into 5.1 sound later on, or remaining stereo? Also, what do you use as your subwoofer?

Knowing these questions would help

[driftmaker]

well the budget is really for someone on a budget.

as much as i try to stick to the "don't be in a rush and buy the quality peices as slow as you have too instead of buying all crappy peices" for my inital purchase im going with a 3 channel setup but hopefully at the time of purchase ill have enough to also get a Hsu Stf 2 ..

i am definately going 5.1 asap

my choice of center channel will depend on my choice of mains.

if i go with the Rf-15 then ill get the rc25

if i get the rb 35 then ill go with the rc35

im trying to keep the woofer sizes close too each other

as far as budget goes well its flexible enough for me to get the rb35's and rc35 but really if the difference between the two possible combos is null for a room like mine i really dont feel the need to get more than i need.

[Juba310]

I guess if you're going 5.1 asap, I'd go for the RF-15's... but if you plan on maybe taking a little longer, go with the rb's. If I were in your situation, I'd get the RBs, wait a little, and then save up for some nice mains (maybe like rf35s), and move the rbs to the surround position. Thats what I plan on doing with my RB-5ii's eventually.

[michael hurd]

If you are going with a subwoofer, then I would recommend the rb-35, and it has a slighly larger horn, and a larger woofer. The actual compression horn driver has a different part number. Sound quality should be the same.

[wheelman]

I may go with the floorstanders. Because of the size of the drivers will match well with the center. And that size woofer 5 and a quarter is really nice for imaging. Plus the benefit of having the exact drivers as your center you can't beat that. No stands to buy. I actually prefer smaller booshelfs for their stereo imaging. Unless your in a huge room. Then i like a bigger speaker. Your room is almost identical as mine. So is your seating arangement. Kind of a boomy lower midrange upper bass with that 8 inch woofer in my room. Fills it nice, but i prefer a cleaner midgrange.

[speed3]

Buy the RB 35's. They are a better speaker for the money. Much of the cost in the RF 15's is for the extra cost of the larger cabinet. 5 1/4" drivers in a Klipsch speaker?!?!? Think about it. Actually, I believe that the RB 35 sounds better than the RF 35, just a little weaker bass response, but I think they image better. I also believe that the RB 35 will have better resale than the RF 15.

[007]

I say go with the RB-25's. They can be had for less then 300 from a few places (for the pair) Then get an RC-35 (center is very important) and some RF-25's when you save the money.

Sub is up to you. The RB-35 would require you got buy larger speakers all around. It would be very expensive. The rb-25's are really not that much different but there is a big price gap. Then you will 6.5 inch driver all around.

RB-25 (pair) ~300 (6.5inch drivers)

RC-35 ~300 (6.5inch drivers)

RF-25 (pair)~600 (6.5inch drivers)

~1200 total

RSW-12 would ice the cake.

[wheelman]

I don't think you will go wrong with whatever you choose. Go with what sounds the best and looks the best to you. Rb-15 you will probally get the best imaging. If you like to rock get the rf-25, but then again these are just opinions. Alot of people are into bigger is better and room acoustics. Which is cool especially room acoustics. But i like to get speakers that fit my room acoustically. Try not to under power it or over power it. 1 inch bigger or smaller can make a huge difference in the performance in your room.