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F3 vs. SF3 big dissapointment!


Himanshu_S

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I bought the F3's because I had listened to the SF3's at my friends place. Well now I'm into two months after purchase(because my friend went out of country right after I got my speakers) and I just had a chance to compare the F3's with my friend's SF3's side by side. And I was TOTALLY DISSAPOINTED! I have no idea where people get even the slightest idea that the F3's are more compared to the reference series. It doesn't even come close to SF3's! I hope the reference series doesn't sound like this one. The SF3's had a LOT more bass than the F3's. The only difference I saw was the port design. The SF3 were rear ported while the F3's are front ported. I thought this wouldn't make that much difference. But when I turned my F3's 180 degrees and only then I got the bass that I heard from the SF3's.

Now I am out of the return policy period so I can't return these. I don't know what to do with these speakers! Very very dissapointing experience. The worst thing is that I can't get another set of fronts to replace these crappy speakers because all of my other speakers are Klipsch. BTW, the test was only for 2 channel music. For movies, obviously the LFE goes to the sub so it's doesn't matter if my fronts are bad in bass.

I want to hear from Klipsch on what they have to say about the difference between SF3 and F3 and why the port design change? Also, is it possible for me to exchange my F3's for SF3's?? I will do it in a second!

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first of all im sure theres a difference between the two. the f3's should have a better overall sound(i havent been able to demo them yet). maybe your not paying attention to better sound because you care more about the bass. second, i think the f3s are equally capable of producing the lows when setup right. im guessing its a placement issue. tell us how there placed in the room and the room size,etc

scp53

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The problem is that his has the bass that should be there when there are two 8" woofers in one floorstanding speakers which supposedly goes down to 35Hz. The main purpose of floorstanding speakers is that you don't need the sub when playing 2 channel music. My room size is 20x12. I am not sure what difference does it make since the speakers were placed next two each other and receiver was set to fixed volume during testing. My listening position was same for both speakers. The receiver settings were not changed during testing either.

Please see attached text file for room setup.

Listening position was at the word "HERE". It actually didn't matter with SF3 but F3 was really bad on the right side and little bit better on the left side compared to listening postion at the word "HERE".

The SF3 was placed right next to the right front speaker.

RK. in above stands for the Audio Rack. Front speakers faced towards the rear speakers. The speakers were set to LARGE on the yamaha HTR-5790 receiver.

Thanks.

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Guest Anonymous

i'm sorry, but i will be the first to say that maybe your test was flawed and thats why they didn't sound as good there is a big design difference and the crossovers are different in the f-3 from the sf3's, but despite that i personally saw big improvement in sound, which leads me to believe that your test may have been flawed... tell me more on exactly how your "test" was conducted

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Ok. today I took my speaker to his house to see how it fares at his place. and wow there was no difference between his SF3 and my F3. Actually the F3 sounded a little bit clear than the SF3.

However, when I brought it back to my place the bass is gone!

Here's what I have tested so far to find out what the problem is:

Following applies to all tests depending on the receiver used.

1. STRAIGHT EFFECT in 5790 or "EFFECT OFF" in 5280.

2. 2-channel music only(Mostly rap).

3. Volume control was never changed during testing.

Testing in my house:

1. Fronts facing my rears, next to TV. approximately 3 feet away from back wall.

Outcome: Very little bass.

2. Same as one but with speakers about 5 feet from back wall and at angle like

\ TV /

Outcome: Very little bass.

3. Used Yamaha's mic to equalize all of the speakers.

Outcome: No difference.

4. SF3 sounded very good compared to F3's.

Testing in my friends house:

1. SF3's - Fronts facing in angled direction about 2.5 feet from back wall.

Outcome: damn good.

2. Same as above with F3's sounded just as good.

Now this lead me to believe that it was my receiver causing this. However, I tried a pioneer and it sounded the same in my room. what is the recommended to set it at large.

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What you are experiencing is an effect called a standing wave. Every room has these and at different frequencies depending on the dimensions of the room and the locations of the speakers. Really the only way around it is to install some bass traps (probably in the corners). If this is an option, then let me know and we can go from there. A quick read on the architectural forum will also give you more info than you'll ever need. However, I find it ironic that you don't notice any issues with the other pair of speakers...we know your speakers are fine (the sound good at your friend's house) and we know that the room effects aren't insanely large (the other speakers sounded fine). Have you tried moving the new speakers further into the corner, perhaps almost touching the back wall?

One other thing it might be is that the polarity is somehow backwards...try switching the positive and negative (red and black) at the input of just one speaker only at the back of the speaker...this will flip the phase between the two mains. Then determin if you now have less or more bass.

Btw, how big of a difference is the level of bass between your room and your friend's? We talking a huge difference or more of a minor difference? We talking like 20dB or 3dB?

Try listening to one speaker at a time and tell us what you think.

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I'm with the reversed polarity crowd. Take a real hard look at the way you have these hooked up in your home. Look at the back of your receiver also, sounds like somewhere you have the wires crossed. Everyones done it. Also try your receiver without all the gimcrackery turned on, maybe some effect is screwing up the response. Randy

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Allright sorry about last post. I was really sleepy and I kinda just started rambling off in the last sentence there.

Now to the speaker testing. I did believe that my speakers were just as good as the SF3, if not better. So now it had to be the room or polarity. So I moved the speakers to corners as per above. The rack was moved next to the TV on the left and sub was moved next to TV on the right side. The speakers were in corners and facing the listening position(angled). The sound improved quite a bit and the bass is now same as at my friends house. Today was the first time these speakers sounded the way I wanted them to sound like since I got them. Also, about the phase thing. I don't think they are out of phase. I ran AVIA setup and confirmed that they are not out of phase.

First, a big THANK YOU to all of you.

Second, an apology to Klipsch in blaming the port design change.

Third, Thanks to Klipsch for having kick *** sounding speakers.

Finally, No I will not sell my F3's or trade them for SF3's :)

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  • Klipsch Employees

----------------

On 2/19/2005 5:22:20 PM Himanshu_S wrote:

Allright sorry about last post. I was really sleepy and I kinda just started rambling off in the last sentence there.

Now to the speaker testing. I did believe that my speakers were just as good as the SF3, if not better. So now it had to be the room or polarity. So I moved the speakers to corners as per above. The rack was moved next to the TV on the left and sub was moved next to TV on the right side. The speakers were in corners and facing the listening position(angled). The sound improved quite a bit and the bass is now same as at my friends house. Today was the first time these speakers sounded the way I wanted them to sound like since I got them. Also, about the phase thing. I don't think they are out of phase. I ran AVIA setup and confirmed that they are not out of phase.

First, a big THANK YOU to all of you.

Second, an apology to Klipsch in blaming the port design change.

Third, Thanks to Klipsch for having kick *** sounding speakers.

Finally, No I will not sell my F3's or trade them for SF3's
:)

----------------

I just found your post...

I am glad that you found what you are looking for in the F3. I was going to offer to buy the from you. I love my F2's.

The new synergy series is a compleat make-over of the old.

New woofer, tweeter, horns, x over, cabinet, look....

some one on the forum said they have had problems with their grills staying on. Have you had this problem? My grill stayed on for about 30 min...then my wife ask me to take them off and leave them off.

....what a great wife....

9.gif9.gif

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