Tom Adams Posted February 13, 2001 Share Posted February 13, 2001 Well gang. In honor of my 45th year of life on this planet, I played hookie today and spent over an hour listening to a pair of RF-3's at my dealer. I've been considering these guys to replace my Heresy's. I'm not sure what I expected, I mean, I trusted the comments many of you have made, but I wasn't prepared for what I heard. We had them bi-wired to a Cinepro amp and was using a Denon CD player. In a nutshell, I was blown away. I listened to everything from Steely Dan, to Sting, to The Eagles, to Hiroshima, to Lyle Lovett, to...well, you get the picture. Everything on these guys sounded good. Highs were nice without being in your face. The entire mid was nice without being nasalie (sp?). The bottom was there and tight even at very low volume settings. Percussion sounds were very natural - especially cymbals, chimes, etc. And there was a definite sound stage. For grins, we A/B'd them against some B&W Nautilus 801's and they held their ground. A cute trick was to take the spikes off the back feet so the speakers were slightly angled upwarded. Any of you RF-3 owners tried this? It really opens up the sound even more. Anyhow, I was very very impressed with these guys. And then I got pissed. Why? Because I couldn't believe they were out-performing my Heresy's. How dare they? My babies since 1980 were being dethroned? Oh the injustice!! Is nothing sacred?? So I gathered my music, said "d*mn you Mark for letting me listen to those things" and sulked out the door. Back at home, I almost walked over to my Heresy's and kicked them. Then I said, ok, you got an hour to redeem yourself and I began playing the same music I used with the RF-3's. And little by little, my Heresy's began to show me that they still had game. At elevated levels, they were smooth and had punch. They could play highs just as well as those pesky RF-3's. Sound stage wasn't as nice, but vocals were right there. Some minor placement changes and ahhhh...my faith is restored. I'm sorry Mr. Heresy for ever doubting you. However, I still think those RF-3's are gonna wind up in my HT application with my Heresy's. Whew - I feel better now. Tom Adams Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfritzke Posted February 13, 2001 Share Posted February 13, 2001 Tom, Have you asked your dealer if you could bring home the RF3's for a REAL demo. Then you could do an A/B comparison of the two. The reason I ask is that I started another thread because I myself am trying to decide between KLF-30, RF-3 or Heresy II. Because I have yet to hear the Heresy, but have heard the KLF-30 and RF-3 in the same room and on the same system, I'd like to hear your comparisons between the Heresy and RF-3. Thanks, Colin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shock-Late Posted February 13, 2001 Share Posted February 13, 2001 Ooooh...this is a really, really beautiful post!! i'm almost crying! i was sure this would end like "well, i ditched those old heresies" but you didn't!! you're a great guy . frans Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLOOMIS914 Posted February 13, 2001 Share Posted February 13, 2001 cfritzke- So what did you think about the KLF-30's vs. the Rf-3's??? For me it was no contest the KLF-30's are a much more dynamic "lifelike" speaker. The Legend line has received a lot of praise from many and complaints from a few. I personally find mine awesome. Tom- Check out the KLF-20's or KLF-30's before buying the RF-3's My system: KLF-30's, KLF-C7, KSP-S6's, KSW-15 up front, KSW-100 rear sub, Marantz SR-8000, Toshiba SD-4205 DVD, Pioneer PDF-1007 301-CD Changer and Mitsubishi 35" TV & VCR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JCturboT Posted February 13, 2001 Share Posted February 13, 2001 I agree.. My friend was auditioning the KLF20s against the RF3s and the Legends just seemed to be a much "warmer" speaker.He actually was going to buy the RF3 until we listened to them both and decided to purchase the legends instead. Jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Adams Posted February 14, 2001 Author Share Posted February 14, 2001 cfritzke - Will my dealer let me demo them (or any other speakers) in-house?? Oh h*ll yeah. He's only *too* happy to let me cart stuff home (the bastid). Seriously though, I'm not really in the mode to purchase speakers right now since a new widescreen TV is the priority. And as with speakers, Mark's response to me saying that we can't do the TV thing now cause I'd have to sell my present A/V wall unit and I'd have no place to sit the TV until a new wall unit is built?? "No problem Tom, I can loan you a stand for as long as you need." Mark is a truly evil man. Anyhow, I fully intend to listen to some KLF's against the RF-3's when the time comes. But first, it's the TV. Naturally, I need to have the custom wall unit built for the new TV. And a new SVS sub would be nice. Of course I probably need to consider replacing that KV-4. And some more amp power would be nice. Hmmm...I wonder how another set of surrounds would sound? Could probably stand to replace all those pesky remotes with a Pronto. A DSS dish would be cool. And....... Tom Adams Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfritzke Posted February 14, 2001 Share Posted February 14, 2001 quote: Originally posted by BLOOMIS914: cfritzke- So what did you think about the KLF-30's vs. the Rf-3's??? For me it was no contest the KLF-30's are a much more dynamic "lifelike" speaker. See my full summary under my thread: "KLF-30, RF-3, or new Heresy". In short, I felt the same way about the KLF's as you do, just more "lifelike" than the RF-3's. I know this is a cliche, but I'll use it anyway - " the RF-3's sounded like good speakers, the KLF-30's sounded like live music". I'm guessing that the higher sensitivity of the KLF and its height had allot to do with that. Colin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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