imperfectcircle25 Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 I just bought a pair of RF-7's and am sorry to see that they use the crappy binding post on them like they do on all thier other speakers. you would think at that price they could put in some decent posts. Anyways, has anyone upgraded them with something better?? How much of a job is it? i havent opened mine up yet to see what it looks like in there. id really like to put a nice set of WBT's or Cardas posts on them. Is it possible. Also any ideas on a replacement for the plastic feet they come with. i really like Klipsch but sometimes I wonder about them. A $2500 speaker with palstic binding post and feet, would it really cost that much more to put on a decent set of all metal post and footers....geez. Id pay anopther $100 for these things and I think most people would agree. I could understand it with my RF-3's since they were very budget oreiented but not on your top of the line speaker. Cmon Klipsch wake up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 Man Frank, you need to relax. O.K., the feet suck, so be careful moving them around. No spikes until you know exactly where you want to put them. Don't try to "walk" them either. I like the binding posts. Hey, low mass and simple. Why the hell do want to hang a ton of metal between the wire and amplifier? You aren't going to see anything spectacular when you open them up - pretty much the same deal as your RF-3s. What you paid for is a bigger cabinet, wood veneer (both sides), those big *** 10's, a pro-style HF driver, and a network with some response tailoring. In the end - a much bigger sound, more bottom, great top, much higher sensitivity, and the lower distortion levels that come with it. Drop some Auricaps or Kimbers in the HF section, a Solen or Dayton in the notch circuit and LF section, and parallel a 10 ohm resistor with the 2 ohm jobber and you're done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imperfectcircle25 Posted May 19, 2005 Author Share Posted May 19, 2005 Well for a $2500 speaker you would expect a decent set of feet and posts, comon ive seen $500 dollar speakers witk better post and feet than these! I donno I just like having a high quality post I know its not gonna make it sound better, just makes me feel better and they also dont loosen up as easy as the Klipsch one, as for the feet they are just hopeless. Im thinking of trying out some sound anchor bases. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imperfectcircle25 Posted May 19, 2005 Author Share Posted May 19, 2005 The RF-7's do use higher quality wire inside right?? The stuff in my RF-3's is crap. Doesnt the RF-7 use monster cable or sumthing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msst Posted May 20, 2005 Share Posted May 20, 2005 Yes, it has Monster Reference cable inside. I agree with you, I felt that Klipsch could have put metal feet and better binding post on those RF-7!!!! My KLF-20 have nice all metal/Gold heavy duty binding post that Klipsch put on those for the 1996 models, I would have atleast liked to see the same on the RF-7. That was my only two disappointments when I got my RF-7's. I've seen some people change their RF-7's with some nice metal feet but haven't seen any change the binding post yet, but I'm sure some have that are picky like me! If you look at Klipsch past speakers, they tend to have a history of not giving all that great binding post. I hope Klipsch will learn to up the quality with those, especially in the RF-7's price range! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ygmn Posted May 20, 2005 Share Posted May 20, 2005 ---------------- On 5/19/2005 7:17:01 PM imperfectcircle25 wrote: Well for a $2500 speaker you would expect a decent set of feet and posts, comon ive seen $500 dollar speakers witk better post and feet than these! I donno I just like having a high quality post I know its not gonna make it sound better, just makes me feel better and they also dont loosen up as easy as the Klipsch one, as for the feet they are just hopeless. Im thinking of trying out some sound anchor bases. ---------------- $2500??? WOW...you paid a lot....I think... If memory serves me right I got mine for aroun $1600ish.... As for binding posts....They work...and they work fine...not sure what is wrong with them for you that they do not function as intended...a place to hold speaker wires.... As for feet...I like em....mine work fine....no loose parts...speaker is stable.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frzninvt Posted May 20, 2005 Share Posted May 20, 2005 Hurry! Somebody call the waaaaaaaaaaammmmmmbulance! If it makes you feel better my Klipschorn's have the same type of binding posts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3dzapper Posted May 20, 2005 Share Posted May 20, 2005 One point to ponder: This months Stereophile has an article about those gold plated brass jumpers on the binding posts. The article is about a little box that someone makes to replace the jumper. (expensive?) It also discusses the improvement to be found by replacing the stock jumper with a short length of OFC wire. There may be something to this. Copper is a better conductor of electricity than brass, both are better than gold, but they oxidize into an ugly green. The gold layer is only to prevent that oxidation. There is also speculation about vibration and the jumper. Another subject touched on was vibrationary effects on crossovers. Again this makes sense to me. I have found some caps to be microphonic, very good caps too. Dean inadvertantly hit upon a solution years ago. When he build his first set of x-overs for his RF-7s, they did not fit in the enclosure. The external mounting of xovers removes them from the high pressure vibrations within the box. Without those wicked vibrations they have to sound better. This brings me to those heavily damped marble ALKs we drooled over last week. What a great idea! Even a dynamatted MDF enclosure on the floor should be a fantastic, inexpensive upgrade. Any thoughts? Rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted May 20, 2005 Share Posted May 20, 2005 I have found some caps to be microphonic, very good caps too. The inside of a speaker isn't a good place to be. OTOH, judging by the condition of many of the old Heritage boards BEC services, outside of the speaker doesn't seem to be much better, where the parts and connections are exposed to dust/dirt, moisture in the air, and changes in temperature if the speakers are positioned along the outside walls of a home. Until recently, just about all of my work on PCBs going back into a speaker have involved the application of a considerable amount of hot melt to either partially or completely pot the parts. A major pain in the rear, since it has to be applied in layers so I don't overheat the parts. I backed off on the practice after reading that only ceramic types are prone to microphonics. I also talked to Bob Crites about it, who told me he's actually beat/banged on different caps while taking measurements to see if his analyzer would show anything. BTW, and I probably shouldn't mention this - but Bob pounds the crap out of all of his parts before he installs them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3dzapper Posted May 20, 2005 Share Posted May 20, 2005 "I backed off on the practice after reading that only ceramic types are prone to microphonics." How about Hovland Musicaps? While trouble shooting an amp I was doing the old tap test. When i tapped the Musicap, thunk from the speaker, tapping nearby components and the associated tube did not produce that thunk. Granted, that was in a gain stage but lightly tapping with my finger does not approach the pressures and frequencies which are present in a speaker box. Not to mention strong magnetic fields to react with a foil cap's inductance. I have also found the same thing with a few epoxy encapsulated polys. I just feel that it might well be worthwhile for the end user to buy or construct a box for the network. After thirty years, those xovers Bob does have earned their cobwebs. Shoot, they are old enough to drink. I'm not a scientist and did not stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted May 20, 2005 Share Posted May 20, 2005 I don't use Hovlands. I once ordered some from Madisound. One bag had two 7mFd's, and one of them was so mushy I could gently press and deform it. The leads stink too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imperfectcircle25 Posted May 20, 2005 Author Share Posted May 20, 2005 I didnt pay $2500, but isnt that the retail price?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speedball Posted May 20, 2005 Share Posted May 20, 2005 At our local dealer it is $999.00 each. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imperfectcircle25 Posted May 20, 2005 Author Share Posted May 20, 2005 I think Hovlands are a rip off to be honest. Hey Dean would you mind giving me a parts list for doing my Xovers?? I dont wanna open them up yet since they are brand new but Id like to get an Idea of what I need. Also have you tried the Jupiter beeswax caps?? Ive heard good things about them. What resistors do you like?? Ive always used Mills MRA, but I may try out some of those pricey Caddock820 series this time around, they are expensive but ive heard they are the most transparent power resistor around. Have you experimented with various types of resistors and caps?? Happy Listening frank BTW the RF-7's are sounding great , I love them and they arent even broken in! Huge step over the RF-3's! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JewishAMerPrince Posted May 21, 2005 Share Posted May 21, 2005 Hey Imperfect If you think that the RF7 binding posts are weak, don't open the speaker. The XOver connection to the binding post will blow your mind with it's cost effectiveness. Jerry Rappaport Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Posted May 21, 2005 Share Posted May 21, 2005 Perfection at $1700 a pair,I want to live in that world. Go drop 50k then you will have a legitamate complaint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted May 21, 2005 Share Posted May 21, 2005 The whole concept behind klipsch is to provide a great sound without spending tons of money. Heck, I've seen crappier drivers on more expensive speakers that have super expensive binding posts...seriously, is this really an area that is going to improve the sound of the speaker? As for the wiring inside, klipsch originally went with Monster cable for marketing purposes only. When Monster started making speakers, klipsch stopped using their cable and went back to generic cheap cable that gets the job done. If I'm going to purchase a cheap (yes, this is relatively cheap in the audio world) $2500 speaker, then I'm going to want all that money put into areas of the speaker that will have a larger effect on the sound. Ironically, there are many that put the cheap RF-7 up in the leagues of these other super expensive speakers...obviously klipsch must be doing something right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msst Posted May 22, 2005 Share Posted May 22, 2005 DrWho, Klipsch is still using Monster cable for the Reference Line, states it on their website. I just got a brand new pair of RF-7 and Klipsch took Monster Cable Logo off their shipping box for the RF-7 but looking inside the RF-7, the cable says "Klipsch Reference by Monster". It's Monster Reference cable. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted May 22, 2005 Share Posted May 22, 2005 that's wierd...my source of info came from a klipsch moderator. Perhaps they're just using up the last of what they purchased or something and haven't gotten around to updating the website. Or perhaps they've decided to keep all the RF-7's the same to avoid any customer confusion or whatever...sounds like they decided it was cheaper not to bother finding a new cable provider for the reference lineup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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