New Reference series pics

[ottscay]

I just realized that my post may have made it sound like I wasn't really enamoured by the look of the new Ref IVs. Obviously everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but I really like the new look...as long as it comes coupled with sound quality (I expect it will, but you know, confirmation is always nice). I personally have always preferred the all-copper dust covered woofers (although I admit bullet-covers etc would have looked sharp). I also prefer the elegance of the magnet grill attachment, and the cleaner lines. Others will obviously have different opinions, although if the sound quality is there, most will come around.

I was just confessing relief that the new Refs didn't look too much like the Reference Premier demos, because at this price point I'd have mortgaged my house in order to get them right away. Now I can take a more leisurely route...and wait to make sure they sound sweet enough to justify the total upgrade.

Note: Not that I love everything about the new lineup...I'm irritated that there is no real wood veneer on the top of the line bookshelfs...WAF will be much harder on getting four new surround bookshelfs that way. She's a musician, so I sure hope the sound quality justifies it and/or the timbre matches wewll enough that I don't have to replace my rb-75s.

[cjgeraci]

1.25" tweeter? Yikes, that's not a replacement for the RF-7, it's an RF-35 with veneer and an extra woofer.[]

Agreed. Even though the RF-7s are towers, at least they have decent volume inside the box. Love the tens and that horn.

Going to a max woofer size of 8 inch is obviously a concession - to slim down even the flagship Reference speaker - for the world of HT. Compensated by simply adding another woofer. Less cabinet volume and no more massive ports in the rear.

I'll reserve judgment until I hear the new models, including three eights and a smaller driver. But compared to RF-7s, my guess is........

Carl.

[skonopa]

Those new Reference do look nice, and thos RF-83s look like they would fit more nicely in my room. Like most others, I'll reserve judgement until I actually get to hear them, as well as see what the reviews are saying. Still, I just have a feeling that if there is a sound improvement, that it may not be a great enough difference for me to justify ditching my '7s for these, though. Now, the Reference Premier, that is another story. Still, always cool to see some new toys coming out. I'll have to badger Raven HT/Hi-Fi to get me a pair to at least try out (or I can talk him into letting go his beautiful Cherry RF-7s for a sweet price [6], and put those in place of the RF-5s I currently have back there).

[Remotia]

Boy o Boy you Klipsch guys are so freaking critical. Lets just take a step back and try to understand why this is the new flag ship. First of all, Most speaker manufactures that employ 8" or larger woofers into a tower speaker use a 3 or more way system. Klipsch uses only a two way system which is inherently inferior is a few aspects. They had to use a 1.75" tweeter to dig lower to compensate for the inability of a 10" woofer to produce midrange beyond ~3000hz and sacrifice some of the high frequency airiness of 1" tweeters. This system is clearly superior. They move back to an appropriate sized tweeter and shell off some of that responsibly to a 8" midrange woofer which can handle higher frequencies better than a 10. Also, three 8's is about the exact same surface area as two 10's so there is really not sacrifice of SPLhere. Overall I feel this design will be superior to RF-7's in every single way and my question is.is this system even a 2-way system? There is a good change two of those woofers are dealing with different frequencies than the third, perhaps leading to even more midrange clarity?<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

[Bill H.]

Romotia,

Welcome to the form. I really liked your explanation of the difference in the systems......

My question is: Will the new RF 83 require a large Amp (i.e. 200 + ) watts to power these.?

in past post, folks talked about needing larger power to achieve good sound from the RF 7's.

[westcott]

Boy o Boy you Klipsch guys are so freaking critical. Lets just take a step back and try to understand why this is the new flag ship. First of all, Most speaker manufactures that employ 8" or larger woofers into a tower speaker use a 3 or more way system. Klipsch uses only a two way system which is inherently inferior is a few aspects. They had to use a 1.75" tweeter to dig lower to compensate for the inability of a 10" woofer to produce midrange beyond ~3000hz and sacrifice some of the high frequency airiness of 1" tweeters. This system is clearly superior. They move back to an appropriate sized tweeter and shell off some of that responsibly to a 8" midrange woofer which can handle higher frequencies better than a 10. Also, three 8's is about the exact same surface area as two 10's so there is really not sacrifice of SPLhere. Overall I feel this design will be superior to RF-7's in every single way and my question is.is this system even a 2-way system? There is a good change two of those woofers are dealing with different frequencies than the third, perhaps leading to even more midrange clarity?<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

Don't you think a better solution was to go with a three way system and install a 4-6" mid range driver and new crossovers instead to compensate for the midrange imperfections? Or maybe two horns, like the Hereseys?

I personally think the 1.75" titanium dome compression driver is the reason the Rx7 series sounds better and tamer than any of their other smaller driven breatheren to date.

This has "cost savings" written all over it, IMO. I have watched as speakers in the Klipsch line have gotten smaller and smaller over the years. In all fairness, I have seen it happen with most speaker mfgs today. Not having to include a 10" driver in their speakers will be cost saving for the company, streamlining product requirements\inventory and improving margins.

[Remotia]

westcott , not necessarily so, sure smaller woofers can be more accurate, but at the same time they can't travel as far so while they may match the surface area of larger ones, they will not match the amount of displaced air.


IMO, the 1.75 tweeter made all the difference because it was the upper midrange driver (2000hz+). Yes, a 1.75" driver will sound better for midrange than an 8" woofer found on RF-5's. Hey, I am going to miss the RF-7's too, I just believe klipsch knows what they are doing and Im sure this new RF-83 will kick some tail. Lets not forget they are using different magnets now too! I bet the new RF-83 tweeter is something else. Im actually looking forward to listening to its advantages/disadvantages.


Also, I dont feel this is cost saving at all. If you look at typicall high end speaker woofer prices. An 8" midrange driver may cost 150 dollars, while the 10" counter part is only about 170 dollars. Its almost always far more costly to add more smaller woofers than use less larger ones.

[Big Ears]

Just to chime in my two cents. I went to the demo set up at CES. I thought the new 83's sounded excellent. I was a little disappointed in the new plastic front panel, but with it's taller profile and 3 ports in the back, it's still quite a impressive looking loudspeaker.

IMO- I think the hard core RF7 rockers that love the "in your face" presence of the 7's might be a little let down by the 83's, while the clarity and detail oriented 7 owners will hear the refinements of the new flagship.

For me personally to do a fair comparison I'd have to get the 83's to concert levels and sit about 15 or 20 feet away from them. In the fifteen minute demo they sounded great. I thought the new surrounds were the biggest improvement and I liked the new design and shape. They sounded so sweet!

I may try to snag another pair of RF-7's before all of the thousand or so pairs left in inventory, are gone. A nice black, consecutive serial number, signed by someone named Klipsch, pair would be real nice! Hint/Hint

[TheSoundBroker]

I also went to the demo at the show and liked what I heard. The RF-83's with the new center were sounding very very good in the demo room (albeit with THX Ultra 2 subs because the new Ref subs were not available to hear yet). The new surrounds are a HUGE improvement...I thought they were Ultra's until I took a closer look.

Tweeter wise...my rep said that the tweeters in the Ref 7's were basically pro series tweets and were being totally underutilized. The new design actually has far more extended high frequency response (dead flat to above 20K) versus the 18K roll off of the current design. They are very proud of this new design and it is NOT an RB-35 tweeter or a cheap design. It is designed to match with the new triple 8" setup.

Also, the smaller RF-63 is probably no longer going to be the ugly step child that the RF-5 was. They expect it to be their best selling model...though they did admit they never in a million years expected the RF-7/RB-75 to sell in anywhere NEAR the numbers they did. What is missing is an equivalent kick butt bookshelf speaker ala RB-75...which was a giant killer. Not sure what the sales numbers were on the RB-75 but there will definitely be a hole in the line without an equivalent.

Looks wise, I like the new floorstanding speakers...sleeker, more WAF. Good as RF-7's were, that was a real world objection. The 83's are just a more finished looking product. Oh and thank GOD the new grilles have lost the plastic pegs from the RF-7's and gone to magnetics. I will NOT miss the plastic pegged-Rube Goldberg-stupid-thing-broke-again design of the RF-7's. Oops...it is still there on the subs...argh!

As for the new subs...I like them. Can't wait to feel what they can do. The RT-12 has to live up to the reputation of the mighty RSW-15. My rep promised me I wouldn't be disappointed in the least. Also, the top mounted controls are nice...but it does make it harder to stack them []

[MojoX]

That sounds nice! Do you know how much the RF-63 will cost? I am going to buy the RF-5 next week.Do you think it is much weaker than the RF-63? I could buy the RB-75 instead but I think for stero the RF-5 are better...

[Jay481985]

if you can find some rf-5 they stopped sending them to merchants since fall 05

[MojoX]

Yes, my dealer has them in stock. Together with the RB-75 he reserves them for me.Depending on how much my old speakers bring me on ebay I will buy the RF-5 (which is likely) or the RB-75 (when my old speakers fail to get my calculated price...)

[KlipsDude]

I am so glad I got a pair of RF-7 because I really love mine and I don't care for the new RF-35 look of the RF-83.

I think I'm going to look around my area for another pair of RF-7 before they sell out locally.

I have BIG doubts that it will sound as great as the RF-7 but we will see, Klipsch is known for giving better sound

for each new product, I hope so and not for more product margins!

[SoundBites]

The RF-5's are still available. I purchased mine brand new in the box at my local dealer for $700.00 a pair. Now that is a bargain! Now this is probably the best value I ran into. Bought these 6 months ago!

[Zargathos]

Sheeeooooot, that was a bargain! Congrats!

[westcott]

And I was just reviewing the website and specifics on the 8" drivers are missing for the R83 and it looks like the RC62 is also moving to two smaller 6.5" drivers. Just when I thought that at least all of the drivers would be the same size in the reference series. A disturbing trend.

[Praying Mantis]

I personally like the new line better than the old line. Without a doubt the new line sounds much better than the old line, not a tiney and boxy sounding

[Speedball]

Those new Reference do look nice, and thos RF-83s look like they would fit more nicely in my room. Like most others, I'll reserve judgement until I actually get to hear them, as well as see what the reviews are saying. Still, I just have a feeling that if there is a sound improvement, that it may not be a great enough difference for me to justify ditching my '7s for these, though. Now, the Reference Premier, that is another story. Still, always cool to see some new toys coming out.

This is pretty much spot on what I have to say about them.......[]

[Buckeye_Nut]

I personally like the new line better

than the old line. Without a doubt the new line sounds much better that

the old line not a tiney and boxy sounding

I agree.....

I recently listened to several models comparing old to new, and I chose

the new in spite of big discounts offered for the older models. I

thought the new models sounded cleaner and more refined. IMO...

buying a new model was a step up. When something new is released,

you can hardly blame fans of the old to be skeptical. As far as I am

concerned....newer is better........at least as far as this newest

generation of Reference line is concerned. Whether it's 1.75 or

1.25 or whatever doesnt matter. It's all about quality!!