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Klipsch SF-3 vs. JBL E80s


D-Rex

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On 2/23/2005 8:38:30 PM tommyboy wrote:

One thing is that the F3's max out at 600 watts; the JBL's at 400. That's a diff of 200 watts. Not REALLY important, but important enough.

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if you can afford to buy an amplifier that can put out 400 clean watts (or 600 clean watts), you will not be considering these speakers

and any amplifier that puts out distorted high power will destroy either of those speakers before it gets to the 400 or 600 watt mark

the difference in the ratings are TOTALLY worthless.... esp for speakers in this price range

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I had some e100's I got in a trade,they sounded like some cheap Sony or Yamaha speakers,harsh highs and mutilating mids,the bass was just ok.My rb5s(that were to be moved to another set up) sound so much better than the e100s it was shameful to think JBL is a 50yr old company.I don't want to sound like a Klipsch partisan,I really would have liked to keep the JBL,they were only a few weeks old and I got em' for a song,and had a spot for em',they had to go.I would say to me there is no contest between the sf3 and the e100s,Klipsch easily.

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Minn

I'm not an audio pro or anything, but I've got SF1's that max at 400 watts. I've had these things up loud beyond belief, and it sounded crystal clear. I don't understand how I wasn't pushing them to max potential. It had to be in the 300 watt range due to how loud they were. I only have a receiver pushing 110 w/ per channel. Not saying that I don't believe what you're saying, I've just never heard anything like this before. If you could, please explain a little more. thanks

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On 2/23/2005 8:55:52 PM Fish wrote:

I had some e100's I got in a trade,they sounded like some cheap Sony or Yamaha speakers,harsh highs and mutilating mids,the bass was just ok.My rb5s(that were to be moved to another set up) sound so much better than the e100s it was shameful to think JBL is a 50yr old company.I don't want to sound like a Klipsch partisan,I really would have liked to keep the JBL,they were only a few weeks old and I got em' for a song,and had a spot for em',they had to go.I would say to me there is no contest between the sf3 and the e100s,Klipsch easily.

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Okay, from the sounds of it Fish, if you could pick up a pair of E100s for $300 or wait and save money for SF-3s (or another fine Klipsch floor speaker) then you would wait, no question. Is that correct?

Thanks,

D

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On 2/23/2005 9:25:52 PM tommyboy wrote:

Minn

I'm not an audio pro or anything, but I've got SF1's that max at 400 watts. I've had these things up loud beyond belief, and it sounded crystal clear. I don't understand how I wasn't pushing them to max potential. It had to be in the 300 watt range due to how loud they were. I only have a receiver pushing 110 w/ per channel. Not saying that I don't believe what you're saying, I've just never heard anything like this before. If you could, please explain a little more. thanks

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"loud beyond belief"

yes - klipsch speakers can play very loud.... but that is because they are so efficient... your SF1's have a sensitivity rating of 94dB @ 1watt/1meter.... simply put - at one meter from the speaker, one watt of power will produce a sound pressure level of 94 db

http://www.klipsch.com/product/product.aspx?cid=28&s=specs

when you double the power - 2 watts - the spl level only increases by 3 db - to 97 db..... if you keep on doubling the power - it gets louder...but you suddenly run out of power

1 watt - 94 db

2 watts - 97 db

4 watts - 100 db

8 watts - 103 db

16 watts - 106 db

32 watts - 109 db

64 watts - 112 db

128 watts - 115 db

all those numbers are for one speaker at just one meter - as distance increases, the volume will drop....and you have more than one speaker in your room

for a better idea of what sound pressure level your speakers and receiver can produce - use the following calculator

http://www.myhometheater.homestead.com/splcalculator.html

punch in the numbers for your room..... receiver power 110 watts, number of speakers, and the distances from your listening position.... be sure to scroll down for a pretty good chart that lists db sound pressure levels and gives examples

i stopped at 128 watts because your receiver is only rated for 110 watts per channel.... that also brings up another point - many receivers are over-rated by their manufacturers,.... the following site has measured rated power compared to real measured output...

http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Hollow/3401/ratevsac.htm

"It had to be in the 300 watt range "

impossible..... your receiver is only rated for 110 watts per channel.... that would be the maximum possible output

remember - WATTS are what the power is called going into a speaker and DB (or decibels) are what comes out of a speaker

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On 2/23/2005 9:39:03 PM D-Rex wrote:

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Okay, from the sounds of it Fish, if you could pick up a pair of E100s for $300 or wait and save money for SF-3s (or another fine Klipsch floor speaker) then you would wait, no question. Is that correct?

Thanks,

D

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Yep,thats pretty much it.As I said the rb5's flat put the 3x larger 100s to shame,even I was surprised.I gave em'a week to "grow" on me but I disliked em' more after a week than I did the first day.You gotta take into consideration thats just my take on the 100s but they could never do for me.I've had cheap speakers in other set ups that outperformed the 100s.

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Well, it almosts sounds like JBL and Best Buy have developed their own "white van" scam. I mean, these are $400+ a piece at BB and it sounds like they aren't worth $300 for the pair! I mean, I bought some nice sounding RB5s off EBAY for $330, including shipping! I even used them as mains for a few months and they performed well! I would be greatly disappointed if I spent $1K for JBLs that sounded worse (although I am actually looking for a B-Day gift for my dad, I still don't want him to have to suffer through listening to some poor quality speakers!)

Thanks for the input!

D

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I haven't listened to the JBL's but I do own a pair of SF-3's. I definitely enjoy them, it's a very full, crisp sound. I wasn't really interested in making the jump to the reference series because of the price difference, and I got a HUGE deal on the SF-3's. All I can say is you won't be disappointed if you go with the Klipsch.

The SF-3's are quite large too. I took my tape measure before I got them and played around seeing how big they were. But when you actually open up the giant box you're like damn...those are big speakers.

I love'em 1.gif

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