Cleve Posted November 9, 2004 Author Share Posted November 9, 2004 ---------------- On 11/8/2004 12:06:35 AM JLL wrote: I have been to both dealers many times before. Speaker shop is definitely anti klipsch and very pro b&w thats why they always hook up bw's to amps and klipsch to receivers. Also you cant determine the bass response at rowe that room isint ideal at all. Speakers are so backed up into the wall they cant even breathe. Bring them in your house and you will hear and feel the bass. Trust me the Rf-7's will sound alot better in your home than they do at speaker shop and rowe video. ---------------- Heh, it's cool to see this old thread of mine resurrected after several months. Maybe I'll stop up to Rowe today, and take a CD of one of my many bass test MP3's. Admittedly, the placement of the RF-7's wasn't terrific, but when I tested my CF-4s at Audio Classics, they were sitting many feet from corners and back wall in the Home Theatre room, and they still seemed to have lots of ummph there. No dealer seems to give Klipsch a prominent setting. I've been to Buffalo, Rochester, and Binghamton (haven't been to Syracuse yet), and I am underwhelmed. Heck, Rowe is the best of the three (in terms of Klipsch product line on display) and even there neither the RSW-12 nor RSW-15 were even hooked up! I wonder what kind of cash outlay would be required to become a Klipsch dealer? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picky Posted November 9, 2004 Share Posted November 9, 2004 Cleve: A VERY interesting thread! I too have noticed a couple of similar things regarding my RF-7s: - Although, I tend to disagree that RF-7's require at least 200 Watts to put out suffcient bass, I do believe that bass level has more to do with careful speaker placement within the room. I have my pair moved out of the corners slightly and tey do put out less bass than I actually expected. However, it was my plan from the beginning to allow my RSW-15 do all of the talking as I run the sub set to LFE and 80 Hz. This creates a seemless coversation between the sub and the 2 RF-7s. The sound is very rich and smooth, with plenty of bass for music or movies. -I too, have noticed that Klipsch dealers seem to provide a "less-than-showcase-quality" reveal for their Klipsch products. The prime locations seem to be taken up by models from B&W, Martin-Logan, and KEF, while the Klipsch are sometimes sitting in what would be considered just a hallway or trasisiton area. But, despite their "mal-treatment", I noticed immedately that the Klipsch still seem to shine regardless of their placement. For example, two years ago when my wife and I embarked on our theater-system hunt, we auditiones no less that 13 systems from approximatley 10 manufacturers in several stores. All of them except the Klipsch were showcased in prominent positions in dedicated rooms. In fact, one could have walked past the RF5s they had on display and not even notice them if they weren't turned on. But after hearing all of these other systems, we kept going back to the Klipsch because of theirimpact and the genuine realistic quality in which they portrayed they movie sound tracks. No other system impressed us like the Klipsch. We both looked at eachother within 30 seconds of hearing the same DVD soundtrack we'd played on all of the other systems. And believe me; I actually wanted the B&Ws to sound better becuase that was what I really had thought I wanted. My ears told me different and my wife agreed. We ordered the RF7s without hearing them because the RF3 & 5s sounded so good, we knew the 7's would be even better! We are not disappointed! So, although I am certain that the Klipsch could probably benefit from a more promient store placement, I suspect it was a marketing decision on the part of the stores to place their other brands in the best displays. But, then, if they did give the Klipsch the best spots, the stores would get stuck with all of those other speakers that went unsold! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dkp Posted November 9, 2004 Share Posted November 9, 2004 I just sold my B&K 307 receiver, which is 150wpc and purchased the Ref 31 processor and separates (also from B&K). Long story short-the processor had a bad rca jack on the back and is now in for warranty work so I am temporarily running my 5.1 system with a Yamaha 5560 receiver and running it through a B&K Ref 200.2 (mains), B&K ST125.2 (center) and Parasound HCA-1000 (surrounds). To say that I am amazed at the difference in bass response from the mains would be understating my feelings. The difference is enough where I continually check the sub to verify that it is, in fact, off. The RF-7s were no slouches in the bass department with the B&K receiver, but the difference between that and the 200.2 amp is simply incredible. There is just no comparison... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cleve Posted November 11, 2004 Author Share Posted November 11, 2004 Well, I did re-listen to the RF-7's yesterday at Rowe Photo. I was far more pleased with them than the first time. It might have been the difference in CD's playing between my first and second visit, because the RF-7's sounded rich and full, with the Mac's tone controls set flat. I did fiddle with the loudness, and the bass, but found they sounded best with the tone controls flat. The sound seemed natural, and good imaging, no lack in the bottom end, though I would have liked to have played some of my own CD's for comparison. The sound was 'reminiscent' of my own CF-4's, actually, though again without familiar recordings to test it's hard to compare. Some notes... As I walked in the audio room at Rowe, luckily the RF-7's were already playing a Jazz CD, powered by a McIntosh Mac6500 amp - the SAME combo that was playing during my last visit to Rowe in July. I said 'luckily', earlier, because it's such a busy 'meat-market' atmosphere in there. I spent 20 minutes in there, and no one came up to me to help me, as I stood there with test CD's in hand. Although I did tinker with volume, and tone control settings, I'm not pushy enough to change CD's or mess with the speaker/amp selector, so I left, even more disgusted with Klipsch's dealer network (no one assisted me in July either!!!) but paradoxically more pleased with the Klipsch product. Audio Classics was a better experience... I was helped immediately, and then left alone to listen. Now I've spent 40 minutes in total at Rowe in two visits, with nary a salesperson speaking to me. And I've purchased my Klipsch subwoofer, center channel and surrounds there! I'm sure no one remembers me... looks like the staff has a pretty high turnover rate (another bad sign) On the positive side, there must be a reason that the MacIntosh amp and RF-7's are the 'default' demonstration equipment in the 'high end' room. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjgeraci Posted November 11, 2004 Share Posted November 11, 2004 Ahhhhh.... that is more like what we are used to hearing from the RF-7s. Glad you heard what we are hearing. Whether it is a quality solid state amplifier or a nice push-pull tube rig, no problems with the RF-7 bass response. Carl. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texas42 Posted November 11, 2004 Share Posted November 11, 2004 I agree with you, the RF-7s do share a similar sound with the RF-7s. I currently own both pairs and swap them out on occasion. Not sure if it is because both are large 2ways or what as they both use different drivers and approaches. But, to me, both sound full and detailed with better imaging than my previous heritage gear. ---------------- On 11/11/2004 11:11:59 AM Cleve wrote: Well, I did re-listen to the RF-7's yesterday at Rowe Photo. I was far more pleased with them than the first time. It might have been the difference in CD's playing between my first and second visit, because the RF-7's sounded rich and full, with the Mac's tone controls set flat. I did fiddle with the loudness, and the bass, but found they sounded best with the tone controls flat. The sound seemed natural, and good imaging, no lack in the bottom end, though I would have liked to have played some of my own CD's for comparison. The sound was 'reminiscent' of my own CF-4's, actually, though again without familiar recordings to test it's hard to compare. Some notes... As I walked in the audio room at Rowe, luckily the RF-7's were already playing a Jazz CD, powered by a McIntosh Mac6500 amp - the SAME combo that was playing during my last visit to Rowe in July. I said 'luckily', earlier, because it's such a busy 'meat-market' atmosphere in there. I spent 20 minutes in there, and no one came up to me to help me, as I stood there with test CD's in hand. Although I did tinker with volume, and tone control settings, I'm not pushy enough to change CD's or mess with the speaker/amp selector, so I left, even more disgusted with Klipsch's dealer network (no one assisted me in July either!!!) but paradoxically more pleased with the Klipsch product. Audio Classics was a better experience... I was helped immediately, and then left alone to listen. Now I've spent 40 minutes in total at Rowe in two visits, with nary a salesperson speaking to me. And I've purchased my Klipsch subwoofer, center channel and surrounds there! I'm sure no one remembers me... looks like the staff has a pretty high turnover rate (another bad sign) On the positive side, there must be a reason that the MacIntosh amp and RF-7's are the 'default' demonstration equipment in the 'high end' room. ---------------- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klipsch RF7 Posted November 11, 2004 Share Posted November 11, 2004 I looooooooooooooooove my RF-7's!!!! Best speaker for the money bar none!!!!!!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radiob Posted November 11, 2004 Share Posted November 11, 2004 When was the last time any klipch speaker clearly articulates a bass guitar through a kick drum? Deep articulate, accurate bass, not klipsches gig. IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JLL Posted November 11, 2004 Share Posted November 11, 2004 The problem with klipsch speakers is that they are too damn good. My local dealer is speaker shop in buffalo and they never hooked klipsch up to any real powerful amps like they do with their B&w's,marin logans and paradigms. They know klipsch is already one of their best sellers and if they hooked it up to a powerful high quality amp noone would buy any of their other high end products like b&w and martin logan. So I actually think this is a marketing strategy. This is why I think klipsch is always handicapped when they are sold along with other high end speakers. Thus they still sound better than all those other high end brands even when handicapped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cleve Posted November 12, 2004 Author Share Posted November 12, 2004 ---------------- On 11/11/2004 11:16:48 PM JLL wrote: The problem with klipsch speakers is that they are too damn good. My local dealer is speaker shop in buffalo and they never hooked klipsch up to any real powerful amps like they do with their B&w's,marin logans and paradigms. They know klipsch is already one of their best sellers and if they hooked it up to a powerful high quality amp noone would buy any of their other high end products like b&w and martin logan. So I actually think this is a marketing strategy. This is why I think klipsch is always handicapped when they are sold along with other high end speakers. Thus they still sound better than all those other high end brands even when handicapped. ---------------- I'll have to stop in the Speaker Shop again sometime. It's a very small store, unless there's a room/floor I somehow missed. At any rate, as I mentioned in my previous post, I've been in Rowe Photo twice since July, and both times, the RF-7's were the speakers "playing" in the high end room. That tells us something right there, since there were $3200 per pair speakers that WEREN'T being used. Also, I did overhear a salesman telling a customer that he thought Bose was 'overpriced'. Guess it's not all bad, there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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