Okay. Plead your case for Klipsch...

[Raider]

Are the Klipsch really that good. Are they a speaker you will enjoy more and more, or only till the new wears off?

I've had my Klipsch RF-7/B&K based setup for the past 4 years  (see my system profile (click "system profile" tab on that page) for my complete setup specs), and I still cannot stop smiling everytime I hear that thing.  I still have friends coming over prefering to watch movies at my place instead of going to the movie theater (which is literally less than a mile from my house, and they are planning on building another one at the mall across the street from here - hopefully it'll have Klipsch speakers in it!).  Yes, I honostly think the Klipsch speakers are that good!  Yes, you could get better speakers, but at how much?

Put more simple, why did you buy Klipsch? Are they really competitive in both sonic quality and value, or more marketing sizzle. Real deal or not? Have you had long term happiness or not? What products do you feel Klipsch is competitive with; what do you consider their peer products (Reference line)

Thanks for an input, objective or subjective.

First and foremost - the reason by I got Klipsch is because I really did like the sound of them.  I've auditioned some pretty nice speakers, including Martin-Logans, Paradigms, Polk, Focal, Mirage, and a few others, and I found I still much prefered Klipsch.  It may be part due to the type of music that I primarily listen to (power/progressive metal), and it seems these RF-7s where made for it!  Agressive enough to really get into the metal, but refined enough to render the orchestral parts beautifully.  For movies, I've had a few really good "Holy $#!+" moments with these!  Just queue up Master and Commander and play that opening battle/cannon barrage scene for a really good example.  Also, I think Klipsch is an excellent, and probably one of the best, performance to value ratios out there.  Like I mentioned above, you could get better speakers than Klipsch, but for how much more?  Klipsch is hard to beat for the price/performance ratio.  And you can certainly do worst, much worst, such as that certain B-word manufacturer that I often recommend people to Buy Other Sound Equipment.

As to what to actually get, folks on here will certainly say to go for the Heritage, even if they have to obtained on the second-hand market.  If you have the budget, patience, and room to do so, I'd have to agree with them.

However, if you are dead set on getting brand-new (and yes the second hand market can be a real pain, especially if trying to find enough speakers to fill out a full surround-sound setup), then the Reference is certainly no slouch.  I've heard some of these Heritage setups, and they are very good, but, I am certainly not complaining about my own Reference setup, and it certainly seems to be able to hang with the best of them!

I've heard the new RF-83's just this past June, and I am very impressed with them.  Granted, I am not going to run and trade my RF-7s in for them, but if I had to do do it over all again, I'd get those RF-83s in a New York minute!

Regardless of what you end up getting, Heritage or Reference, you certainly will not go wrong in my opinion, unless you find you just don't like the sound of the Klipsch in general (and lets be honost, not everybody does, but then again, that is why there is a Paradigm, B&W, Martin-Logan, Polk, Mirage, and so forth).  But, hey, if you do buy Mirage, and/or Jamo, you'd still be buying a "Klipsch" brand, though! [H]

Thanks for the detailed and informative feedback.

[Raider]

I only plead for money.

Travis

That's why I prefer to drink at the house. []

Amen brother ...

Too much risk involved to you and others !

 

Not too sure about these guys.....

but I'll definitely have to buy 'em a beer if I make it to a Klipsch Pilgrimmage.

[Coytee]

Rader... these guys know more than I do about the different lines of Klipsch.

I've got some LaScalas along with some other goodies. I'm just outside of Knoxville, perhaps 3 hours from you.

You are welcome to come by and take a listen to see for yourself why I like Klipsch. I've been a Klipsch owner (LaScalas) for 27 years and counting. I'm 46 so I started young with them.

I fall into the "Get Heritage surrounding you" camp. I owned some Khorns also and was going to do 2 Khorns in the rear (unfortunately) and 3 LaScalas across the front.

Then, one day, I had an epiphany []

[wuzzzer]

I will be using a Yamaha RX-V657. How well sonically does Yamaha generally do with Klipsch?

Some say Yamaha is too bright, some say it isn't. I personally have only heard Sony, Denon and Harman/Kardon with RF-7s.

The RX-V series seems to have quite a few fans on here.

[jbsl]

I forget which national theater chain it is but they use Klipsch in all their theaters. If Klipsch is good enough to be used in theaters it will work great in your house.

"As a leading supplier of high-performance cinema speaker systems, Klipsch knows how to make the most out of film soundtracks and surround effects. The Klipsch KL-650-THX LCR loudspeaker brings that knowledge to the comforts of home. As part of the THX® Ultra2 family, this LCR reveals all the raw power and fine detail that the filmmakers originally intended."

http://www.klipsch.com/product/product.aspx?cid=739

I'm not sure how much the THX Ultra2 system set up costs but it would literally be like having theater quality speakers in youy home theater.

I have 3 La Scalas up front and some SB3s as rears with a RSW 12 and a Denon 4800 which sounds great!

Good luck with the search!